This website and group have got me worried HERE . As any regular reader of this blog will know, I am an entrenched anti-capitalist and advocate of systemic change and am committed to assist in the self assembling evolution of an advanced economic system that measures societal success in Natural, Social and Economic Capital; a system that writes nature into the DNA of government and international policy and delivers net biodiversity gain and an end to the Sixth Extinction. Effectively this boil downs to a challenge on the global Capitalist Oligarchy and the GDP paradigm and a call for a new Oligarchy/Benevolent Ruling Class of Ethical Capitalism/Sustainability that co-ordinates systems that optimise benefits for society and nature- a more down to earth ruling class that manages systems that provide net biodiversity gain and more equality and individual empowerment. An end to the rule of the disaster and casino Capitalists, an overthrowing of their empire and the establishment of a new nature and people focused world order. (so not particularly much to ask!)
So surely low carbon birding and a call for reducing carbon emissions (global warming is one of the biggest threats to our ecosystems) amongst birders should be right up my street. Indeed it is! However this group have a different message, its a message that strongly criticises globalism. It attacks ecotourism HERE and claims that carbon offsetting is a sham HERE. Basically the group advocates staying at home and cycling to your local patch and getting the train to go birding. So what's wrong with that?
What's wrong with that is by adopting a simple life choice strategy (a 3 point plan), is what is left out from adopting a complex and advanced life choice strategy. A 3 point plan (or whatever off the shelf simple world view you like from any cult or religion or dogma including the capitalist dogma of GDP growth, free markets and small government- another 3 point retarded plan) is dangerous by it's omissions of values and things that could be embraced into a more complex world view. Simple world views and three point plans are enticing and seductive because they hack into our desires for an easy life and a shirking of responsibility, an excuse to avoid facing our fears and pushing our limits, a comfort in doing less, challenging wrong doers and an excuse to not throw ourselves into complexity and danger. By doing that we become paradoxes, enemies of what we advocate as we allow our enemies (the global capitalist oligarchs and the unsustainable systems they govern) to get on with it, while we cycle around and enjoy long train journeys wasting time as the natural world crumbles into oblivion. . That makes us Retreaters, defeated, Nietzsche's cave dwellers, doing exactly what the oligarchs want- give up, accept a lack lustre life style and believing that doing very little can have a massive impact- its a delusion. It's the biggest delusion of our time- that if we all do a little bit it will amount to a lot. Absolutely not- nothing multiplied by nothing a trillion times still equals nothing. We are all a little bit already, there are 8,000,000,000 of us on this planet. You can't get much smaller than that so as an individual (one part of 8 billion and if you include the other organisms we share this planet with we as individuals are one part of trillions- our individual lives are microscopic already) you have to change nearly every aspect of your life style to be that little bit of change and then yes all those little bits add up to something big. Doing very little as an individual and get a big return is a teenage, childish desire. A delusion. A delusion that leads to judging others that are actively engaged in their own pursuits to build the sustainable global economy- working hard and busting their bollocks in running bird tour companies, running NGOs in rainforests, purchasing reserves, building green economies, inventing new technologies etc etc.
A low carbon birder is a Capitalist lackey. A brainwashed drone, serving the will of the Captialist oligarchs, convinced that they are saving the planet rather than saving the Capitalists. Its a hack. They remind me of these slave maker ants HERE
Low carbon birding its basically saying don't support conservation NGOs, dont visit their centres (which are often remote and away from train stations), don't support eco-tourism projects in the developing world, don't explore the natural planet, don't have global adventures (how can anyone cycle to New Zealand or Australia), don't support the green economy by buying an electric car, don't lobby government for technological change in long distance travel (e.g. high speed rail networks across Africa instead of flying to nature reserves and lodges or pressurise the government for low carbon planes such as hydrogen planes or new flight technologies) , dont set up green businesses, don't provide the solutions, don't join campaigns to call for corporate responsibility and oligarchical accountability, don't look at your investment carbon and ecological footprints or the company you work for and their carbon and ecological footprints or the products you buy and the corporations you support by your consumer behaviour or your energy supplier and just obsess on retreating into a fairy tale where some simple low energy lazy and unimaginative life choices can make any difference at all to the impending doom approaching and don't go world birding, don't go Western Palearctic birding and basically, for the projects I co-ordinate, it's basically saying don't travel to the Azores, don't visit Beddington Farmlands unless you cycle there or get the train and don't travel to Eastern Europe and visit and support the birding and conservation community there.
Simple world views are ostracising and exclusive, self righteous, small minded and dangerous.
There are very tough choices and trade offs for all birders and conservationists. There is no easy 3 point plan to live by. There is nothing but an epic war of infinite complexity and extremely complex decisions that we can only make with a fired up open mind that rejects linear and binary thinking. We need to find ways of building on the established birding and nature conservation economy, evolving it and directing it in the direction of low carbon, making it less capitalist focused and more affordable for all, for profits to circulate amongst local communities instead of pseudo-capitalist bird tour company owners on their third Jag, for stringent meaningful carbon offsetting schemes, to encourage citizen science led nature reserve purchases, to lobby our governments for systemic change (we need proportional representation to block minority rule in parliament for a start) , for birders and conservationists to detach from the disaster capitalist economy (stop working for and buying from those corporations!- support local business and ethical businesses) etc etc etc. I could go on and on and on.
Embrace complexity, each one of us has an optimum state that we should seek to evolve into and that means wiring into the ecological cosmos and to avoid the comforts of, in the case of birders, much less than mediocrity. Staying on your local patch and avoid foreign birding travels and adventures is accepting being crushed by the global disaster capitalists.
Avoid the comforts of destitution and defeat.
This scheme is the kind of thing that I think is more along the right lines and direction we need to be heading in: THE INGLORIOUS BUSTARDS
4 comments:
Recently rediscovered your blog post & the more recent one regarding an article in the Birdwatch magazine. While I agree with some of what you're saying, I also disagree with some of your interpretations and assumptions, so many months later would like to comment. To start, I completely understand & accept that it's complex - personally never said it wasn't & am not the person you're describing. However, as I contributed to 'low carbon birding' by writing a blog, I fear you are partly aiming this at me. Yes, I choose to use public transport and enjoy doing so, but whats negative about that? There are multiple reasons why one might use public transport - you are focusing only on one and assuming it's the only reason. And why does that stop me from thinking about the complexities of it or making other decisions & changes as well? I do indeed think a lot about consumption, for example, support local/ethical businesses & wherever possible don't buy it in the first place (whatever it is). Also support NGOs etc etc and the list goes on. So yes, there is so much more that can and needs to be done.
Lots more could be said, but just one final comment for you to consider: we need a fully circular economy. That should include not buying new electric vehicles but retrofitting existing vehicles. It should be possible and would be much better. If well made a car should last decades and should be possible to repair, not replace. We live in a world with limited resources. In addition, don't forget that not everyone can afford a (any) car or regular travelling / holidays, so it isn't simple enough to tell birders to buy electric vehicles to 'do their bit' or to encourage all birders to holiday abroad, while dismissing local birding & public transport etc, as not everyone can. Not everyone can afford an electric vehicle. We're conditioned to forget about cost of producing products, for example (even greener technology comes at a cost). So the sooner we focus more of reusing, repairing & improving existing products, the better.
Hi Amy,
yes agree with you I think on all that. Certainly not aiming that at you personally- big fan of yours. Not a fan at all of some of the people behind the group 'Low Carbon Birding'- some of them nasty and bitter (jealous ex-travellers who are broke and broken I've heard from others) .
Yes I've done a lot of work on the circular economy and sustainable travel- experimented with train journeys to our project sites https://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/09/euro-trip-day-4-5-day-in-belgrade-and.html?m=0
and also driving across Europe instead of flying (I think that is worse than flying!?). Main work on circular economy has been on the Beddington Farmlands incinerator and worked on various strategies for local authority with Bioregional/Extinction Rebellion etc.
It's all extremely complex with complex trade offs and also needs to consider the adaptability of ecological systems to climate change (i.e. although I agree ideologically we need to apply the precautionary principle when confronted with possible chaos). Main consideration are also the counterfactuals ie. what would happen if people didn't fly (in the absence of green travel options) to ecological areas to purchase land for ecology or build community resilience, eco-tourism etc. sometimes collateral damage is less damaging than doing nothing or staying local.
What we need is advanced ecological economics where natural capital and carbon use is measured adequately and priced into the economic system- in order to achieve net biodiversity gain or net zero we need the necessary algorithms that generate those targets and can measure that. Society needs to be governed by those algorithms- i see that as the single most important challenge for the next generation (actually the only challenge that matters maybe). That algorithm will be extremely complex. Simple populist narratives are often ways for the super-elites and global oligarchs (who control the mainstream left and right political super-tribes) to shoulder the blame and responsibility of their unsustainable empires onto the masses- stay local, own nothing and do bugger all (to lower the carbon footprint of the masses and collectively reduce planetary stress while neutralising them from competiting for equality, multi-value system- so business as usual for them, poverty and destitution for everyone else) while they continue with their extractive unsustainable agenda, enslaving the world and building personal paradises in a wasteland world at the expense of people and planet. That's why I've charged low carbon birders with being capitalist lackeys- those simple stories they propagate are stories from the super rich to hold down the masses and continue to lord over the unsustainable system and a grotesquely unequal human society and increasingly nature less planet.
The end game is not a simple narrative- its an extremely complex puzzle in which everyone must play to win.
Hi Peter, apologies for the slow response. You ought to chat to Javier (who runs the "low carbon birding" twitter), as he's nice and open to discussions. Would be better to discuss etc I think. Don't know much about most of them. Interesting to read about the long distance train travel!
Agree it's complex but would still like to see certain "low carbon" ideas come to the fore, but for everyone though, even the stupidly rich and powerful (in fact, they need to change the most) somehow. Of course this requires big changes - probably a miracle. Yes I know that's a crazy idea but some of these changes would lead to a better way of life. e.g. imagine a world not dominated by cars! Cities, towns & suburbs not filled with congestion (either parked or stuck in traffic). Improved air pollution/quality, fewer RTIs etc etc... The obsession with cars is stupid. Most car journeys are unnecessary and are an inefficient way of travelling particularly if it's 1 person doing a fairly local journey. They waste so much space that could be better used and better modes of transport (especially for local journeys) already exist, like bikes - eCargo bikes are easily as good for local trips. A lot of people already don't own cars due to cost (me included), many households don't have any, and many more people might come to realise the high cost of cars that they used to not think much about. Many people don't actually need their own car. I do think car sharing schemes are better - like community ones where one can borrow a car only when needed and share costs with friends/neighbours/family. Of course, realise that for some a car is necessary, but for many that is not the case. Not having a car does require different planning, but is doable. I've just bought my own "vehicle" but it's a bike not a car because the costs are much lower and, having had access to a car to borrow, have realised that even if I could afford one, it would be a waste of money. Wished I'd cycled more when younger but was put off by our car dominated world, and still keep witnessing bad behaviour by car drivers. Personally don't see a shift away from owning cars as a bad thing or making us poorer, because it could improve things. It could also see a much needed improvement in public transport. Fareham is built up and effectively a sprawl gradually merging with once distinct settlements, yet has some terrible bus route, or lack of. Not suggesting one should not travel or never drive - I won't turn down many lifts (depends, sometimes don't fancy the trip), and may occasionally still borrow a car though am trying not to, but I don't like the car dominated norm. EVs have a part to play of course but personally I think eCargo bikes have a bigger role to play overall, although my bikes is an "ordinary-ish" bike for now, but racks supporting c32kg of gear is more than enough for me to carry for most trips!
Also, given that travel may not always be possible (e.g. lockdowns, who know that could happen again), work should be done to find a way to continuing to support eco-tourism & communities even if visiting isn't possible for some time.
Personally think we need to go further than simply "net zero", in the same way I disagree with some other "net" instead of absolute ideas. Agree the whole economy needs to change to prioritise nature as well as being circular. Wish more positive changes had happened before I was born.
Yes sounds sensible, agree we need to de-carbonise and make the transport system more efficient. The drum I beat is that should not be done at the expense of any gains achieved by the environmental movement and that means no ecological cost to be paid for addressing the climate emergency. There's a danger of the solution adding to the problem with Greenwash narratives (with commercial agendas behind them) shouting over the top of genuine ecological narratives. That's my issue with some Low Carbon birding story variations.
As we all talking about systems here, global climatic systems and ecosystems it's not really possible to design solutions unless at system scale and that means looking at fundamental values in the value systems and algorithms (the GDP paradigm, corporate value systems, values in social media algorithms, big data company management and objectives, the computerisation of democracy etc etc). Tinkering around with symptoms is necessary to band aid over the problems of an end stage system but ultimately there will be too many symptoms to deal with and fundamental systemic change will be essential and will be extremely quick. We seem to be sprinting towards that tipping point! In the meantime if it makes people feel better doing whatever they can in symbolic ways than why not.
Post a Comment