Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

160 S farther horizons
the center of American politics neither left nor right but from
the status quo toward a livable and decent future. We must also
contend with the defects in culture, politics, science, and society
that caused the problem in the fi rst place. The modern project—
Promethean in its ambitions and Cartesian in its methods—has,
on balance, turned out badly: a reality inadequately described by
the vague and sterile word “unsustainable.” For whatever shortterm
good it brought in the end, it is a kind of protection racket,
in the poet Gary Snyder’s words:
economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of
greed which cannot be fulfi lled, sexual desire which cannot be
satiated and hatred which has no outlet except against oneself
[or] the persons one is supposed to love. . . . All modern societies
[are] vicious distorters of man’s true potential. They create
populations of “preta”—hungry ghosts, with giant appetites and
throats no bigger than needles. The soil, the forests and all animal
life are being consumed by these cancerous collectivities. (Snyder,
1969, p. 91)
Climate destabilization, in other words, is only a symptom of a
much deeper problem.
A great deal now depends on what we do to develop the
stamina, vision, and institutional resources necessary to carry the
best of civilization through to the other side. Immediate action to
reduce carbon emissions and preserve ecosystems will reduce the
scale and duration of the traumas they will otherwise experience.
Every effort to build local resilience and sustainable communities
that meet many of their own needs for food, energy, water, and
livelihood will minimize many of the risks people and all creatures
will face. Changes in education to equip children and young
adults with an understanding of the skills of self-reliance and ecological
design will enable millions to participate directly in the
making of the post-fossil-fuel world. Efforts to restore democracy,
restrain corporate power, reinstate public control over common