"The Patterning Instinct" and "The Web of Meaning" set a very high bar for a third book by Jeremy Lent. Now, we expect perhaps more than anyone can deliver. However, Lent's work is precisely in the right direction: how to form an ecological civilization in the aftermath of a collapsing industrial-consumer political-ecological overshoot we are already experiencing.
I doubt that Jeremy will be able to 'cover' the myriad methods of transformation that will have to be developed along the way. Nobody else had dared tackle that monumental task yet. I am certain that much of the transitional methodology will have to evolve by using our human patterning instincts and the meanings of our most cherished values.
This will be an important book guiding us to a better understanding of the only option open to humanity in the Anthropocene: an ecological civilization.
'The Patterning Instinct' and 'The Web of Meaning' have indeed set a high bar but I can imagine that they will have formed a very solid thinking foundation for this new book which I am looking forward to with some excitement (though it has hard to be excited about anything right now in the human world!!)
You hit the mark for me with: 'These are not unfortunate side-effects of our way of doing things—they are its founding principles'.
I also think the remarks about the overview effect are beautifully rendered in Samantha Harvey's novella 'Orbital'. So many observations from the astronauts and cosmonauts, I could quote but find this one the most insightful:
'And we stand there gaping. And in time we come to see that not only are we on the sidelines of the universe but that it's a universe of sidelines, that there is no centre, just a giddy mass of waltzing things, and perhaps the entirety of our understanding consists of an elaborate and ever-evolving knowledge of our one extraneousness, a bashing away of mankind's ego by the instruments of scientific enquiry until it is, that ego, a shattered edifice that lets light through'.
Look forward to reading. I do however hope it highlights that no saviour , or someone else, is going to re- design/create the systems we are enmeshed in. Our “leaders” certainly are un-able/willing to lead the way. Readers, and just about everyone else, is called to task - working with others to undertake this. I fear this work will not begin in earnest until our communities are hit by crisis, and we will relearn value, and need of the “other “.
Absolutely! We are all co-creating the future together. No-one else is going to do it for us. At least, not in a way that works for anyone other than them!
Jeremy's argument that we need a profound transformation in how we organise society is persuasive. However, the change ahead may not simply be a matter of adopting better values or redesigning the economic system. A deeper process may already be underway.
The industrial economy was built on continuous expansion. It assumes rising consumption, rising production and growing markets. But that model is becoming unstable as energy becomes more difficult to obtain, resources become constrained and households can no longer afford large amounts of discretionary consumption.
When these pressures combine, the result is not just environmental crisis but economic contraction. In other words, the future may not be an expanding green economy but a shrinking industrial economy.
Paradoxically, this contraction could reduce many of the environmental pressures. A society with fewer long supply chains, less mass production and less discretionary consumption would inevitably produce fewer emissions and less ecological damage. Less aviation, fewer manufactured goods, reduced freight transport and simpler lifestyles all mean lower resource use.
This does not mean the transition will be easy. Economic contraction creates instability in systems designed for growth. However, it will also open the way for a different form of economic life.
As large industrial systems weaken, more activity is likely to return to localities. Food production, small-scale processing, repair, and local services can expand even while the larger industrial economy contracts. Employment lost in discretionary sectors may gradually shift toward essential activities.
In this sense the emerging economy may become both smaller and more local. The reduction in scale could bring a reduction in environmental damage, not primarily through policy but through the simple fact that societies will be operating with fewer resources.
Jeremy is right to argue that our present system cannot continue indefinitely. But the path away from it may not depend entirely on deliberate reform. It may come through the natural evolution of an economy moving from expansion toward contraction, and rediscovering local systems that are more compatible with the limits of the natural world.
Congratulations, Jeremy, on the publication of Ecociviliation and for having a substack, which enables bluesky-ing easily, Just_This @rmm1124.bsky.socialCareening toward a Precipice
open.substack.com/pub/jeremyle... i've searched for the Table of Contents to Ecociv to no avail and sent an email to Penquin on March 6th re this but haven't had a response to date; i've noticed lately that ToC aren't published as a matter of course as in days of yore. regards, Risa Mandell
That you're a pal of Douglas Rushkoff would be your biggest recommendation, if I didn't already know how brilliant (and sympatico) you are. Really enjoyed your car chat with him. Do folks here know about it? On the Team Human podcast, fairly recent.
"The Patterning Instinct" and "The Web of Meaning" set a very high bar for a third book by Jeremy Lent. Now, we expect perhaps more than anyone can deliver. However, Lent's work is precisely in the right direction: how to form an ecological civilization in the aftermath of a collapsing industrial-consumer political-ecological overshoot we are already experiencing.
I doubt that Jeremy will be able to 'cover' the myriad methods of transformation that will have to be developed along the way. Nobody else had dared tackle that monumental task yet. I am certain that much of the transitional methodology will have to evolve by using our human patterning instincts and the meanings of our most cherished values.
This will be an important book guiding us to a better understanding of the only option open to humanity in the Anthropocene: an ecological civilization.
'The Patterning Instinct' and 'The Web of Meaning' have indeed set a high bar but I can imagine that they will have formed a very solid thinking foundation for this new book which I am looking forward to with some excitement (though it has hard to be excited about anything right now in the human world!!)
You hit the mark for me with: 'These are not unfortunate side-effects of our way of doing things—they are its founding principles'.
I also think the remarks about the overview effect are beautifully rendered in Samantha Harvey's novella 'Orbital'. So many observations from the astronauts and cosmonauts, I could quote but find this one the most insightful:
'And we stand there gaping. And in time we come to see that not only are we on the sidelines of the universe but that it's a universe of sidelines, that there is no centre, just a giddy mass of waltzing things, and perhaps the entirety of our understanding consists of an elaborate and ever-evolving knowledge of our one extraneousness, a bashing away of mankind's ego by the instruments of scientific enquiry until it is, that ego, a shattered edifice that lets light through'.
Look forward to reading. I do however hope it highlights that no saviour , or someone else, is going to re- design/create the systems we are enmeshed in. Our “leaders” certainly are un-able/willing to lead the way. Readers, and just about everyone else, is called to task - working with others to undertake this. I fear this work will not begin in earnest until our communities are hit by crisis, and we will relearn value, and need of the “other “.
Absolutely! We are all co-creating the future together. No-one else is going to do it for us. At least, not in a way that works for anyone other than them!
Looking forward to exploring your latest thinking Jeremy. The DTN Network has been a source of many inspirational conversations, no doubt this book will be the source of further inspiration! https://deeptransformation.network/share/R_FdnwBDF1kfDNpX?utm_source=manual
Jeremy's argument that we need a profound transformation in how we organise society is persuasive. However, the change ahead may not simply be a matter of adopting better values or redesigning the economic system. A deeper process may already be underway.
The industrial economy was built on continuous expansion. It assumes rising consumption, rising production and growing markets. But that model is becoming unstable as energy becomes more difficult to obtain, resources become constrained and households can no longer afford large amounts of discretionary consumption.
When these pressures combine, the result is not just environmental crisis but economic contraction. In other words, the future may not be an expanding green economy but a shrinking industrial economy.
Paradoxically, this contraction could reduce many of the environmental pressures. A society with fewer long supply chains, less mass production and less discretionary consumption would inevitably produce fewer emissions and less ecological damage. Less aviation, fewer manufactured goods, reduced freight transport and simpler lifestyles all mean lower resource use.
This does not mean the transition will be easy. Economic contraction creates instability in systems designed for growth. However, it will also open the way for a different form of economic life.
As large industrial systems weaken, more activity is likely to return to localities. Food production, small-scale processing, repair, and local services can expand even while the larger industrial economy contracts. Employment lost in discretionary sectors may gradually shift toward essential activities.
In this sense the emerging economy may become both smaller and more local. The reduction in scale could bring a reduction in environmental damage, not primarily through policy but through the simple fact that societies will be operating with fewer resources.
Jeremy is right to argue that our present system cannot continue indefinitely. But the path away from it may not depend entirely on deliberate reform. It may come through the natural evolution of an economy moving from expansion toward contraction, and rediscovering local systems that are more compatible with the limits of the natural world.
Congratulations, Jeremy, on the publication of Ecociviliation and for having a substack, which enables bluesky-ing easily, Just_This @rmm1124.bsky.socialCareening toward a Precipice
open.substack.com/pub/jeremyle... i've searched for the Table of Contents to Ecociv to no avail and sent an email to Penquin on March 6th re this but haven't had a response to date; i've noticed lately that ToC aren't published as a matter of course as in days of yore. regards, Risa Mandell
That you're a pal of Douglas Rushkoff would be your biggest recommendation, if I didn't already know how brilliant (and sympatico) you are. Really enjoyed your car chat with him. Do folks here know about it? On the Team Human podcast, fairly recent.