Hi, welcome to For F*ture’s Sake! A half-assed attempt to turn this filthy, stinking tanker of a civilisation around. A hearty welcome to the handful of new subscribers. I’m guessing you're all Russian bots, but I don’t care. I’m just grateful for the dopamine hits.
Reading time: 4 minutes
"Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”
- D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
I wonder how Bill Gates spent his first week in control of Margaret Keenan, aged 90, from Coventry. Since she became the first person on this flat earth to receive the microchip — I mean vaccine — Gates and his sinister cabal are one step closer to achieving their master plan; building a communication device to summon our lizard overlords.
At a base level, conspiracy theories are funny. They're easy to sneer at. But they’re also poisonous. They wreak havoc on society, and sadly, lots of people believe them.
The true absurdists
We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.
When dealing with tall tales, experts suggest empathy is the best approach. Ridicule only entrenches the conspiracy theorist’s beliefs.
I empathise with the climate deniers. There's method to their madness. By admitting climate change is real, they’re accepting capitalism is finished. And that means bidding adieu to their authority, power and economic model — knowing full-well, it’s the primary driver of climate change.
And for some, that’s got to be a scary prospect. Any kind of paradigm shift is tough. Don’t we all fear death in one way, shape or form?
But empathy aside, one tactic none of the how-to-deal-with-fake-believe experts suggest, is to simply turn a blind eye. I know it works for me:
It allows me focus all of my ridicule and ire toward the real jokers — the true absurdists in this madcap story — the politicians, economists and business leaders who admit to our existential problem, yet continue to believe the existing market structures can solve them.
Faced with the dire warning that our 4.5 billion year-old planet is rapidly destabilising, the powerful cling doggedly to the belief that a decades-old economic model will guide us to safety.
But it can’t and it won’t.
It’s got its priorities skewed.
Economy and climate are interlinked.
All to often, when True Absurdists ask questions about economic growth, they get answers about climate catastrophe.
Whether it’s the decimation of a modern city by hurricane Katrina, billions of dollars damage from Australian bushfires, or a locus plague wiping out crops in East Africa, the argument for who should be top dog at the decision-making table — ecology or economy — is ridiculous. Their fates are clearly and irrevocably intertwined.
Yet, in a world of suits and summits, a complacent calm exits. And the economy alone continues to be the headline act. This is unsustainable.
The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, recently called climate change “the battle of our lives” but one “we’re not winning. He urged “stronger political will and urgent climate action to save our planet and our future.”
Take me to your leader
So, when Guterres is briefing our lizard overlords on their first day ruling planet earth, maybe he’ll mention Gregory Landua’s philosophy.
If so, this is what he should urge:
We only have one earth. And while it’s human inhabitants are divided, we still have a unified biosphere — but it’s running out of patience.
You must apply Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic at scale. That is to say; acknowledge care for people cannot be separated from care for the land. These relationships are deeply and profoundly intertwined.
Don’t trust a government, economist or business leader who’s not invested in ensuring a thriving world for your great, great, grandchildren. They’re just a bunch of jokers — true absurdists.
By all means, invest your scaly, lizard dollars in any business or economy that will improve the health of the biosphere. But avoid, like the plague, the ones that don’t.
Feel free to join in the endless political and business discussions about implementation strategies, systems and models, but recognise this: The biggest investment opportunity of the 21st century is ecological health. All other asset classes are derivatives of this venture. Governments, venture capitalists and the like, who are not engaged in this regenerative economy will find their assets stranded and their asses handed.
Mother Earth is the lender of last resort. She is the real Fed. Default on your loan and your wrongdoing will be the least of your worries.
This, my lizard overlords, is your fiduciary duty.
Dreaming a different future
By the end of this From What If To What Next podcast on Doughnut economics, I imagined listeners standing on tables shouting '“O captain, my captain!” Or better yet “O transition, my transition!”
UK Economist Kate Raworth and Amsterdam’s Deputy Mayor, Marieke van Doorninck had me doing doughnuts in my car at the prospect of a genuine alternative to growth-based economics.
A doughnut baked in Oxford but served in Amsterdam is a tasty sample of a city truly embracing the needs of all, but within planetary boundaries. Yummy!
If you have any thoughts, I’d be delighted to hear from you - just hit reply. Otherwise, you'd be doing me a big favour by forwarding this to someone else who you think might enjoy it.
Thank you for you reading and take care - Scott