Just below the Arctic Circle
in Siberia, temperatures hit 92°F the other day. The permafrost of the region is
melting, resulting in rampant and out of control wildfires and a 1000-mile long
burning curtain of smoke and, most disturbingly, increased methane release. Does this qualify as an "oh shit" moment?
Perhaps not. It seems likely nothing will. Not the flooding of Manhattan
subways. Not increased wildfires and droughts. Not the disappearance of bees or
monarch butterflies. And not the disappearance of Arctic sea ice. Not "the
warmest year on record" followed by "the warmest year on
record." Not the violent disruption of the jetstream. And not Siberian heat
waves.
It may be that, somehow,
nothing can qualify as an "oh shit" moment. Could it really be that
we will just trundle off into the long night of extinction indifferently? Unknowingly?
Unknowingly. Perhaps there is
something to pursue in that word “know.” In certain Romance languages, the verb “to
know” is the same as the verb “to taste” - in Spanish, “saber”
and in French, “savoir.” This means that in order to know something you must
taste it. It reminds me of a story a feisty old sociology professor told us in
college. It seems there was a group of tourists visiting Texas and, seeking an
authentic culinary experience, they went out for some barbecue at a ranch. The
roast meats were good, if slightly "different" tasting, but the guests enjoyed
the food. After dinner, they inquired to
their hosts as to what manner of preparation was used on the barbecue chicken.
The guests were informed them that they had eaten barbecued rattlesnake for
dinner. The cosmopolitan travelers proceeded to vomit up the
delicacy.
And so it is with our baking
planet. The cataclysms are unfolding, the mercury is rising and people are
witnessing these events. However, we are unable to name the events for what
they are. Ideology interferes. Culture interferes. The events are put in the "unthinkable” mental bin. Na na na na na!
This isn’t happening! This isn’t
roast rattlesnake! This is delicious roast chicken!
The events occurring in
the material world are unthinkable because they are the result of a belief
system which defines the lives of so many: Progress is good. Progress took us from
hunting and gathering to agriculture to industrialism to the information age. We did this with the fossil fuels and grit and innovation. Ergo, fossil fuels
and grit and innovation are good. Ergo, they cannot result in planetary
devastation.
Perhaps all that can be said to people contorted into such a mental knot is this: It's time to wake up and taste the rattlesnake.
Note: The elegaically poetic phrase “the long night of
extinction” is from Derrick Jensen’s 2012 book, Dreams.
