Apocalyptic thinking

Feeling a bit like I need to be back in the forest today. Mr Yunkaporta's book comes back to me every day, but it feels a little distant. Another book I also started reading when I was reading "Sand Talk" is Lewis Dartnell's "The Knowledge: How to rebuild our world after an apocalypse". It's safe to say Dartnell and Yunkaporta hold rather different conceptions of "The Knowledge", "rebuild", "our", "world", and perhaps even "apocalypse". Dartnell is an "astrobiologist", preferring to look for signs of life on Mars rather than consider what is happening to life on Earth.

I mean, I knew what I was getting myself into. I hope there's not need to clarify that I didn't choose this book because I believe in any of the central assumptions. I was intrigued not by the central conceit but rather by the promise of simple explanations of the underlying, basic production techniques of materials and products that are now produced in giant complex factories. Things like – how do you make quicklime from scratch? What's the process for producing methanol? Whilst the setup and the inherent assumption throughout that returning to the current hyper-industrial nightmare of "modern civilisation" would be something one would want to return to rather than celebrate the death of is irritating, it has been a pretty illuminating book in terms of explaining basic industrial processes and technologies.

It's also made me think a bit more about what it is "we" should be aiming for. Whilst it feels extraordinarily pompous to bother developing some kind of plan for "humanity", I do feel like I need some kind of general philosophy of good (communal) living and some sense of what might be a realistic path to ...uh, continuing to exist in reasonably happiness as a species. Anyway, Dartnell's book has kind of reminded me that whilst the full Deep Green "the last 12,000 years were a terrible mistake" approach is attractive to me, I'm also very attached to the things like safe emergency surgery, vaccinations, and certain aspects of mechanisation. Running hot water is excellent, I'd be sad to miss it. The current pandemic has really brought home how amazing modern medicine is, even as it simultaneously shows how effective very simple medical interventions (hand washing, vapour-blocking masks, and physical distancing) can be when it comes to communicable disease. I have no desire to die of a tetanus infection like my great grandfather did, and I'm glad to live in a society where it's extremely unlikely I will.

I think maybe what set me off today was reading "Are there too many people? All bets are off" in The Guardian, which suggests that the carrying capacity of Earth is about 3 billion humans, and we're on track to have 10 billion pretty shortly. There's obviously a limit, but to ask the question is to beg another. Too many people for what? Too many people under what conditions, living what lifestyles? Ultimately a massive population increase can't have helped, but it's not like current lifestyles are sustainable in the long run regardless.

So, I guess I'm back to my original question. What can we keep of our current lifestyles, and what has to go? Maybe that's not right. What do we have the opportunity to get rid of? And perhaps that's the danger I don't want to look at. The ugliness we have to fight over. Because there will be people who want to decide *who* needs to be tossed aside. There will be people declaring that certain people are a lifestyle choice they're willing to sacrifice. And we have to fight that, and all the other shit. And lately, apparently we also have to talk some oafish fuckwits occupying Australia's government offices from talking themselves into a war with China.

I thought of an extraordinarily ugly word the other week. It suddenly popped back into my head. "Compassionista" – used as an insult by Australia's rabid right-wing fringe (you know, the ones who have their own broadsheet newspaper thanks to uncle Rupert). This apocalypse we're already in, this shit situation, this "inconvenient truth" – it needs Compassionistas. It doesn't need more books about "how to prevent the climate crisis" or manifestos or white papers or any more of that bullshit. Yunkaporta reminds us that everything is about relationships. You have to keep the energy flowing, maintain relationality, care and be cared for.

I don't know where I was going with this. I guess out of a funk, I was hoping. I'm still foolishly seeking ...enlightenment? The Plan?

Maybe I already have it: Small footprints and big hearts.

Are there too many people? All bets are off