Intro

• Climate change → more frequent & intense natural disasters, impacting already disadvantaged communities
• Shifts in temperature, seasons, weather trends too rapid for most species to adapt to; too fast for our brains to grasp change of reference for extreme weather
• ⇒ Solastalgia — ****a deep longing for the natural world that we know is never coming back
• Even in states like Kansas, etc., changes to rainfall, more droughts → serious effects on agriculture
  • Outside Alaska, Minnesota = fastest warming state in the US!
• “We must begin a transition to a new kind of environmentalism that reflects the way the actual environment works. Not a demonstration of individualism or moral superiority, but an actionable, scalable model for a new way of life rooted in collective support and universal justice.”
• We feel uneasy in liminal spaces (dark stairwells, rest stops, the time after a breakup...), and right now the whole world is one → it’s time for a radical change
  • Concept from philosopher Samantha Earle
  • During normal times, don’t have critical awareness or ability to radically imagine, but liminal spaces → so much uncertainty about the foundational principles by which we live that “anything is possible”
  • “There is creative power in discomfort.”
• Climate change is now too intersectional to ignore...
  • Conversation on solutions has focused too much on adaptation vs transformation
  • Kate Marvel → this moment demands courage, not hope— cannot try to feel more comfortable, but rather confront the chaotic and uncertain reality
• Central to problem = ownership → our task must be to establish new power structures → less systemic problems
  • Decentralisation → focus on deeper relationships between people and with nature, trust, etc.
  • Idealized model of how we treat our friends and family, but on a global scale
  • Climate change = symptom of the problem, not the cause
  • Ex. Project Drawdown → most effective solutions include educating girls
• Will present what radical change may look like in each decade through the 2040s

2020-2030: Catastrophic Success

• How to handle climate refugees?
  • Michael Gerrard → could be provided permanent residency, distributed in countries proportionately by historic national emissions
• Increased frequency of climate and weather disasters: droughts, storms, fires
• Radical changes: granting legal protection and rights to the Earth, nature; criminalising actions with climate change harm

2030-2040: Radical Stewardship

• Establishing not just renewable energy, but a renewable economy, governed by a new kind of politics
  • Move past capitalism → circular economy acknowledging planetary boundaries
  • More literacy in not just carbon footprint, but all metrics and impacts of society
• Global sharing of ideas with local production → stewardship economy
  • Urbanisation, more focus on services/experiences than goods
  • Change in materials from concrete, electrification > coal for heating
  • Eventual elimination of air travel → global hyperloop (slower, but dealt with it— 2 days from NY to London)
  • Regenerative agriculture
• “By 2040, the world cut its emissions by two-thirds of current levels, but even with that reduction, temperatures continued to rise. Even a partial collapse of the glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland created a sea-level emergency.”

2040-2050: New Technologies and New Spiritualities

• What’s the verdict on geoengineering?
  • What happens if, despite dropping emissions, the climate tipping points are already triggered?
  • Carbon sequestration by bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS): growing plants, burning them for fuel, and capturing emissions? → could threaten food supply if implemented at large scales
  • Instead, convert CO2 back to oil and coal → pump back to oil fields, mines
• Humanitarian geoengineering?
  • Spraying aerosols becomes a huge lever of political power and manipulation, risk of authoritarianism

Epilogue

• The most important thing we can do about climate change is talk about it
• “We need to relearn our interdependence.”