Derrick Jensen reminds us that this culture is insane--in its relentless destruction of the the natural world and its unwillingness to acknowledge or stop the destruction. Read the 20 premises of Endgame here: http://www.endgamethebook.org/Excerpts/1-Premises.htm
Endgame 1 & 2, and Deep Green Resistance
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zemblamat
MemberI picked up Endgame last night and began reading the short chapters haphazardly, mostly in vol. 2 where Jensen looks for solutions to "the problem of civilization." There's nothing quite like reading Jensen--I think because he's decided to just cut to the chase, to speak honestly, not to mince words. It's almost impossible not to be swept up in his passion, his crusade, almost impossible not to see that he's right when he says things like "this culture is insane." And at the same time it's impossible to get around the fact that we are creatures of this culture, we've been created by it as much as we have created it. Jensen reminds us of the way the world once worked, of what it might mean to live on this planet the way every other animal does, with a deep understanding of the many parts and how they work together. The chapters on dams are stunning. They just open one door of understanding after another. They show not only that salmon really are disappearing but also why this matters... by explaining how salmon are part of a cycle that's been working for a few hundred million years; basically the salmon transfer nutrients from the oceans (where they gain 90% of their weight) to the forest (where they return to die); as this cycle is interrupted by damns, the forests' trees and animals get cut off from the nutrients and the whole system begins to fail. In the last 100 years something like 200,000 dams have been built. They've just about finished off the salmon and with them the longterm viability of the forests. This is just one of thousands of ancient, natural cycles that industrial civilization has interrupted and is destroying. The cognitive dissonance of reading Jensen is knowing that the story he is telling is true and urgent and at the same time not being able to see how any of us can survive without the trappings of this culture which is killing the planet. It's like realizing that we are a kind of cancer. Can we stop ourselves?
Posted 1 year ago #