I've been asked to elaborate more by a few of you... so this thread will expand on what I've seen.
Firstly, let me say that I did watch the movie and that my FB feed has been filled with reviews, critiques, and commentaries by people I would generally call allies in all of this.
Firstly, let me say that I did watch the movie and that my FB feed has been filled with reviews, critiques, and commentaries by people I would generally call allies in all of this.
What I've seen is a handful of people who get what the film was about. These people already were "collapse aware" and knew that green energy is a superficial response to a deep relational crisis.
I'll let William Catton's 1980 book Overshoot stand in for their position.
I'll let William Catton's 1980 book Overshoot stand in for their position.
The majority of responses were not this thoughtful. They were mostly defenses of heroes, claims of misinformation, rebuttals of specific facts while ignoring deeper arguments, and emotional responses of despair -- in various combinations depending on the people involved.
I learned long ago that psychological defense mechanisms are why memes spread. So you can see which threats were activated depending on the counter-memes that came forth.
What we can see is a lot of people who still have colonized minds operating within a dying civilization.
What we can see is a lot of people who still have colonized minds operating within a dying civilization.
They respond to surface-level frames (such as what was said about a specific person or the datedness of an individual piece of information) in order to protect themselves from the truth that their civilization is dying and will take many humans down with it.
I led workshops called "Managing Planetary Collapse" in 2018/19 with people who accept this reality and are in a post-doom exploration about how to be Earth Regenerators.
The people I gathered are honest with themselves and have spent years dealing with their grief to get here.
The people I gathered are honest with themselves and have spent years dealing with their grief to get here.
Real sense-making would acknowledge that over-consumption together with over-population have been talked about for decades. They were the mainstream environmental discourse of the 1960's and 70's -- yet largely disappeared from the discourses of the 90's and afterwards.
Instead we had marketing campaigns and a new form of consumerism of ideas to "convince and persuade" people to adopt consumer lifestyles that are more green.
Note how this is very different from studying permaculture, going off grid, and learning from indigenous communities.
Note how this is very different from studying permaculture, going off grid, and learning from indigenous communities.
Nearly all of the regenerative work has grown from a decolonized mindset that recognizes that all civilizations collapse, the planet is already in overshoot, and the only viable future is one that enables bioregional economies to emerge as the future indigenous peoples of Earth.
You probably won't see this truth emerge in discourse about the film because it is mostly a memetic defense pattern among people who feel threatened, yet are not far enough along in their grieving or decolonizing of their minds to accept what is truly needed.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
