Thread by @SteB777

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I've been worried about misunderstanding.

There is much discussion and despair about where to now' for the left and progressives, after Trump's victory.

I have a suggestion, I've been trying to get across for decades.
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We need a completely new approach to politics, that totally encompasses the reality of the climate and ecological crisis.

However, I'm not simplistically saying the left and progressives should simply embrace environmentalism, because this has had its own limitations.
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Rather I'm suggesting, a totally new approach, that overcomes the built-in limitations of both approaches, due to their traditions, which then got incorporated into the fabric of the thinking of both approaches.
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Before I go on, I need to outline my thinking, or rather non-verbal thinking, because I have anauralia i.e. I have no inner monologue at all, and I don't think in words, or language logic. Meaning, what I say, is often misunderstood.

4/iflscience.com/people-with-no…

People will say, but how do I write these threads. The simple answer, is that until I type or speak, I don't know exactly what I'm going to say, I see it for the first time when words appear on the screen. However, I have got a good grasp of what I want to say.
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What this does, is it allows me to see whole big pictures, everything all together, not cluttered by words and language logic. I have no idea how many others see things like this. I am only aware of one other person who sees the climate crisis like this, @GretaThunberg.
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I have no idea if @GretaThunberg thinks totally without words. Maybe she thinks in words, and can detach herself from them when she thinks about the whole situation. But I know only Greta seems to have seen things like I do.
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I was stunned when I first heard Greta's speeches. She was saying things, I'd realized for the last 50 years, and yet it was the first time I'd heard it from anyone else. I saw problems and gaps, in the thinking of ALL other thinkers on the subject, but not with Greta.
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Specifically, what I am talking about is seeing the whole big picture in a joined up way.

Thinking, is like navigation, or following directions. You only have to take one wrong turn, and you're heading in totally the wrong direction, without realizing it.
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I've read more than is good for anyone. I think, ah they've got it, but then they head off totally in the wrong direction, without ever realizing it.

When you see things in wholes, the whole big picture, you never make this mistake. You're aware it might be the wrong route.
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Whereas someone following a narrative, from their inner monologue, goes wherever their language logic takes them. It is the reification fallacy, where ideas/words become more real to people, than the reality those ideas/words describe.

11/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reificati…

It's not I'm infallible. Rather, my certainty is based on not knowing what the right direction is, but knowing what the wrong direction is. So I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers. But what I'm absolutely certain of, is what the wrong direction is.
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The foundation of all correct thinking for the future is summed up perfectly, by @KevinClimate “There are now no non-radical futures". This should be the foundation of any credible political discourse for the future. It will be radically different.

13/bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/04/18/no-…

This where all political narratives, and ALL ideologies, get it totally wrong.

They start off from the point, of how someone thinks things should be, and then argue out from it. There's no thought about whether this is consistent with sustainability and planetary boundaries.
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It's all thinking about how things should be ideally, from someone's wishful thinking. Whereas the planetary boundaries, the limits to ecological sustainability, determine, the boundaries of what is possible.

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Nearly all thinking in Western culture is bizarrely based on how people, think things should be, not on how they can be. There's no realization of the ecological limits of our world. That's why we're pursuing infinite growth, in a finite world, and no one is seeing that.
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This is clearly a fault of Western cultural thinking, which has now being adopted by all powerful people, countries, and powerful bodies in the world. So it is no longer just Western thinking, but the thinking of all powerful entities.
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I can be quite certain of this, because no indigenous culture I'm aware of, has ever made this core thinking error, and they all intuitively understand that we must live within the planetary boundaries of natural systems.

18/stockholmresilience.org/research/plane…

Therefore, I propose that any new political approach, must start off from the fundamental position of aiming to live within the planetary boundaries.

Anything else is mistaken, erroneous thinking, and totally unrealistic.
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Whilst I'm sure most ecologically literate people would agree with this proposition, you don't have to dig too deep, to find many of these people, engaging in unrealistic thinking, heading in the wrong direction, where they forget this core principle.
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The core mistake of most thinking in our modern culture, is to get totally lost in thinking about how things should be, totally losing sight of the big picture of the ecological limits, which our societies must conform to, to avert civilization collapse.
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Some people will rightly ask, why am I so bothered about our civilization, if it's as flawed as I say it is.

It's very simple. The only way we can feed 8 billion people is with the organization of this civilization. If we let it collapse, there will be mass starvation.
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There are people, who think it would be no bad idea if the population was much smaller, and we could start afresh. This perfectly illustrates the profound thinking errors of our modern culture, thinking in a bubble.

If billions were starving, no one would be unaffected.
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It would create literal hell on Earth, something beyond any dystopian fictional imagining of it. That is why we must also aim to hold everything together, when we are trying to rebuild this system, to stop this happening.
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What I say, is not idealistic, just an idea, ideological thinking. It is about survival, and the only way for humanity to survive, without catastrophic collapse. It must involve cooperation for the common good.

It's necessary, not a choice.
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I won't get too much into this here. But what I'm saying is that the left, progressives must all accept that the main challenge of the future, is going to be living within the planetary boundaries, and everything should come out from that. It should not be just another issue.
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Likewise, environmentalists, climate activists, must reach out from preaching to the converted, and engage with ordinary people, to get across how they are trying to protect their best interests.
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None of this will be easy in a system, actively trying to gaslight the public into ignoring the climate and ecological crisis, and trying to cover-up for the vested interests those in power are supporting, which are putting us all in very real danger, here and now.
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This is a way forward for the left and progressives, whilst at the same time, climate activists and environmentalists, can reach everyone. To get across that there are “There are now no non-radical future" @KevinClimate.
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This is a huge impediment, to realistic realization of our situation, that politicians, can pretend that they are not going to put our lifestyles at risk, by taking expensive climate action, when not taking it is totally endangering people's lives.
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Not ending the burning of fossil fuels, rapidly phasing them out, is the surest way there is, of totally ending the present lifestyles of ordinary people in rich developed countries, in the most abrupt and unpleasant way. Think of Valencia type events all over.
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The utter and complete dishonesty, of both the Trumpian right, and neoliberals (Trump is also a neoliberal), like Joe Biden and @Keir_Starmer, who dishonestly pretend, that current lifestyles can continue, well into the future.
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The assumption of our present politicians, right, centre and left, is that climate impacts, won't impact hit us seriously, until late in the 21st Century, so they can pretend economic growth and fossil fuel burning is possible for many more decades.

33/theguardian.com/environment/20…

They're failing to realize we are in serious peril now, not just in 50 years, after they'll be dead. They're totally ignoring all these extreme weather events, and threats like AMOC collapse, and not realizing things could happen, much sooner than they mistakenly think.
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Look at the public backlash in Spain, against the government, local and national, to the King, after what happened in Valencia, and the failure of government, to protect them.
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Public perception can, and will change very quickly. But on the current path, there will be no political parties, politicians, or political apparatus to provide the leadership necessary, when that happens, as it's been hollowed out by billionaires and vested interests.
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This is why I am asking the left, progressives, climate activists and environmentalists (anyone not in total denial of climate change), to come together, and help to create a new movement, for the people. We desperately need real leadership.
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