Environmental literacy articles
From What Is to What If, by Rob Hopkins
This book reminds us that if we’re to achieve a positive future, we need to be able to imagine it. But we need to do this when, for most of us, this important human trait is undervalued and in danger of being snuffed out.
'One of the cofounders of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, Rob Hopkins has developed into one of the most important thinkers and communicators in the field of environmental and social change. Rather than dwelling on the harm we’re doing he encourages us to think about a more optimistic and positive future for the world. And this book reminds us that if we’re to achieve a positive future, we need to be able to imagine it. But we need to do this when, for most of us, this important human trait is undervalued and in danger of being snuffed out.
Having achieved a certain age, if not a corresponding sense of maturity, I remember games of make believe from when I was a child. These games mostly happened outside the formal learning environment – during school break times or in the evenings or weekends. Lessons didn’t include much opportunity for using our imaginations but, from the evidence presented in this book, school is the time when our “imagination muscles” need to be exercised and strengthened. We need our young people to be imaginative and to visualise the future we can have.
I’ve recently been thinking about the contribution of business to the climate, biodiversity and social crises we face. I’ve tried to imagine what it would be like if business leaders made better decisions by factoring into their decision-making, what the effect might be on the environment, on their surroundings. I’ve developed some learning material that gives them tangible, business reasons why they should think in this way. So, I was interested to read what Rob Hopkins’ ideas were around this.
And the ideas are audacious! He suggests that our survival depends on being able to reimagine most aspects of how society works. He wants our leaders (business, but also political and faith leaders) to value imagination in policy making, education, public life, planning, development, democracy and economics. This would be a massive change, but he also provides some real-world examples of where this has, to some extent, happened. The results of these “experiments” speak for themselves.
Despite my games of make believe when I was younger, I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly imaginative. Like many people, I tend to dwell on the negative aspects of change and the harm we’re doing. But after reading this book, I’m trying hard to think about the future I would like to see, rather than the one I fear we might be heading towards. If you’re looking for a serious, yet optimistic and practical look at ways to deal with our interlocking crises, this book will help.
Hopkins, R. (2020). From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want. S.L.: Chelsea Green.
On a Wandering Planet, by Jean Harrison
The story follows one, lonely driver as she tries to reconcile her initial support for the idea with her increasing isolation and dislocation from nature and from other people.
I’m not sure if this book is badly written or if it’s just the editing and typesetting that’s to blame but there are numerous typographical and other errors and the way the narrative is structured makes it a more difficult read than it needs to be.
Having said that, I managed to finish it in a couple of days, albeit while taking a short holiday!
The setting is reminiscent of J G Ballard dystopian novels – particularly Concrete Island where a driver is stranded for years between motorways after an undetected crash. But the premise behind this story is an interesting one – overcome the problem of traffic congestion by building more and more, larger roads (12 lane M25 anyone?) and then knocking down all the houses to free everyone to live in a campervan. Ostensibly, this is to protect the natural world by corralling all the people onto the roads and overnight stops (think motorway service station but with each parking space secured behind metal screens and locked doors) before fencing them off from the world beyond.
For most people, what begins as a sort of ideal situation quickly deteriorates into an unpleasant peripatetic life, moving as demanded by an authoritarian state from one soulless overnight stop to another. The story follows one, lonely driver as she tries to reconcile her initial support for the idea with her increasing isolation and dislocation from nature and from other people. Forced, against her will, to care for a feral teenager, she must find a way of saving her own sanity.
This is an original idea of what our dystopian future may look like. I only wish it had been edited more effectively.
On a Wandering Planet by Jean Harrison (Cinnamon Press, 2015)
This book appears to be out of print. I did find one copy that had just sold on ebay but otherwise, second-hand bookshops may be your only hope of securing a copy.
Godstorm, by Solitaire Townsend
This is climate fiction dressed up in an imagined past where the Roman Empire persisted at least until the 1600s, helped by the discovery and exploitation of oil.
Solitaire Townsend is a big voice in the world of corporate sustainability. I’ve read some of her blogs and one of her previous, non-fiction books, The Solutionists. I’ve been looking forward to this book since the author first made it public that she was writing a novel.
This is climate fiction dressed up in an imagined past where the Roman Empire persisted at least until the 1600s, helped by the discovery and exploitation of oil. So, we have citizens of London (Londinium) in Roman dress, enjoying Roman customs living alongside a city choked by the fumes from the oil-powered “charos”. And included in the persistent Roman customs is the spectacle of gladiatorial combat in the London Arena.
The main protagonist is Arrow, a retired gladiatrix who is now working as a governess and guardian for a single child. We soon learn that the child is important to some powerful citizens of the Empire, but only later do we learn how important.
The story keeps you absorbed but I did find that the ongoing catalogue of self-doubt and setbacks experienced by Arrow in her efforts to keep her charge safe became a bit wearing. Any normal person suffering this degree of violence, both physical and mental, would have crumbled before the halfway point. But of course, this is fiction! I also found the timeline for events given in Roman numerals a bit tedious, but it did mean you weren’t trying to tie the events to some specific point in actual history.
The underlying message is that continued and ongoing exploitation of oil is causing significant weather disruption (the Godstorms of the title) and damage to the biosphere and we must find a different future. Anything that can help persuade a sceptical audience of this fact is welcome. Solitaire Townsend is a strong advocate for the power of story to help with this, and her first novel certainly gives us a powerful story.
I’m looking forward to the sequel!
Venomous Lumpsucker, by Ned Beauman
If there could be an entertaining read about the horrors of mass extinction, this is it!
If there could be an entertaining read about the horrors of mass extinction, this is it! A satirical mix of climate fiction and extinction fiction, it exposes the scale of the issues we face as we potentially lose up to 70 per cent of the species on earth, but it does so with a wry humour. The eponymous “Venomous Lumpsucker” is not a creature you could warm to, but it provides a good illustration of the dangers of losing unusual species.
Central to the book is the idea of “extinction credits”. These are financial instruments intended to fund the protection of vulnerable species. But, as with the real carbon credits, devise various legal and slightly dodgy ways to subvert their purpose. This highlights how ludicrous is the idea of using financial instruments as the primary mechanism for solving our environmental crises.
I didn’t really warm to either of the main characters. However, the dilemmas each of them faces as they relate to the extinction crisis are examined carefully and thoughtfully.
This is a lively and interesting way of getting across the massive problem we’re facing as we drive more and more species to the brink of extinction and beyond. Using an unappealing fish, rather than one of the more charismatic species to show us what’s happening was a good choice and references to all the other unknown and, at present, unidentified also facing extinction was managed well.
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