{"id":11627,"date":"2021-03-08T14:26:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T19:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=11627"},"modified":"2021-11-02T09:10:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T14:10:47","slug":"another-cheap-ecocultural-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/03\/08\/another-cheap-ecocultural-manifesto\/","title":{"rendered":"Another cheap ecocultural manifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manifestos are back in style (if this one<\/a><\/em>, this one<\/a>, and this one<\/a> are any indication).<\/em> Here’s my latest crack at a fairly simple statement of principle. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson of the field of environmental studies, to which I\u2019ve dedicated more than three decades of my life, is that there\u2019s a civilizational task ahead of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(When I say \u201cus,\u201d I mean to invoke humanity, fully aware that it\u2019s a category that\u2019s far from unified and settled. What \u201chumanity\u201d might be remains an open question. And when I say \u201ccivilizational,\u201d I mean to indicate the immense complexity of ideas and practices that hold together much of the human side of the world as we know it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task is that of instituting two radical and simultaneous shifts, one \u201cexternal\u201d and one \u201cinternal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The \u201cexternal\u201d shift is from ways of living premised on the inevitable exhaustion of temporarily available resources (fossil fuels, among others) and despoliation of our collective habitat, to ways of living premised on relations of sustainable solidarity linking broad swaths of humanity with the nonhuman, creaturely world. In other words, on ecological sustainability, non-toxicity, and biophilic solidarity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cinternal\u201d shift is from ways of coexistence premised on intergroup rivalry and competition\u2014among states and supra-national alliances, economic classes, races, nations, cultures, religions\u2014to those premised on species-wide solidarity, dignity, and respect. In other words, on equity and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades-long efforts to demonstrate that the \u201cexternal\u201d shift could somehow be accomplished without the \u201cinternal\u201d one have failed. Without the \u201cinternal\u201d shift, any efforts to advance the \u201cexternal\u201d requirement will be stymied. Ecological sustainability and social justice go hand in hand.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge is civilizational, which means it is daunting. But this also means that there are countless ways to move forward: on the material, technical, sociopolitical, cultural, economic, ethical, aesthetico-perceptual, and other dimensions of this dual shift. The main requirement is that the imagery and narration infusing any strategy and coordinating its moving pieces be clearly and effectively articulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why culture, in my estimation, comes first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture means not just you and I, but who you think you are, and who I think I am. Who you think I am, and who I think you are. And so on down the line for all the I\u2019s and you\u2019s we might come across. How we talk to each other about these things, and how we see them, hear them, feel them, smell them, taste them, envision them, teach them, grow them, eat them, drink them, excrete them, and bury them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where we start, even as we figure out what each of us does to take our own steps forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manifestos are back in style (if this one, this one, and this one are any indication). Here’s my latest crack at a fairly simple statement of principle. The lesson of the field of environmental studies, to which I\u2019ve dedicated more than three decades of my life, is that there\u2019s a civilizational task ahead of us. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[520594,196,660440],"tags":[399,123625,660298,520595,660300,552094],"class_list":["post-11627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-politics","category-ecoculture","category-manifestos-and-auguries","tag-climate-justice","tag-environmental-justice","tag-manifesto","tag-manifestos","tag-principles","tag-statements"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-31x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9894,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2018\/10\/28\/time-for-eco-revolution-a-manifesto\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":0},"title":"Time for eco-revolution (a manifesto)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired by the daily litany of depressing news (and by reading Latour's Down to Earth), I've succumbed to the temptation of writing a manifesto. Manifestos are cheap, I know, but we have to start somewhere. (And so many questions arise as you write one: about the proper balance between critique\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2018\/10\/weed-pavement-275x183.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10247,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2019\/10\/14\/long-term-civilizational-prognosis-a-hypothesis\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":1},"title":"Long-term civilizational prognosis: a hypothesis","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a hypothesis: If the human community exists in some more or less unified form in 880 years (in the year 3000 by our calendar), that feat will have been accomplished, at least in part, in and through the emergence of an ecological religion. What does this mean, and how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2019\/10\/Crop-Circle-Jellyfish-Oxfordshire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13063,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/12\/03\/the-global-precariat-and-its-enemies\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":2},"title":"The global precariat and its enemies","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"To put things in the simplest terms possible: The global climate precariat -- all of those whose lives and communities are endangered by the storms, floods, droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, and wars produced or intensified by a destabilizing global climate system -- are a vast segment of humanity. It is growing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12559,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/05\/31\/ecodeco-a-manifesto-in-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":3},"title":"Eco+Deco, a manifesto in progress","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of the best art exhibitions today show that the socially engaged art world is undergoing two shifts that some of us in the environmental humanities have been advocating for some time: they ecologize and they decolonize. An excellent example of this is the second edition of the Toronto Biennale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13434,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/12\/09\/angel-of-apocalyptic-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":4},"title":"Angel of Apocalyptic History","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My talk at the recent \"Apocalyptic Anxieties\" conference, at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is available for viewing at the SFU Institute for the Humanities YouTube page, or below. Here is an abstract of the talk: From the Angel of Apocalyptic History to the Optimism of the Will: Climate Hope\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13170,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/03\/25\/space\/","url_meta":{"origin":11627,"position":5},"title":"Space","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Like atoms and galaxies, days are full of space. What if the ways you take up this space\u2014the pauses, transitions, and gaps between doings\u2014shapes the world as much as the doings?* Do we fill the space with restless preoccupation? Death drive compulsions? Nervous uncertainty? Or curious delight at the poignancy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Manifestos & auguries"","block_context":{"text":"Manifestos & auguries","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/manifestos-and-auguries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/03\/337391531_160407500262880_4823906716886936177_n.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/03\/337391531_160407500262880_4823906716886936177_n.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/03\/337391531_160407500262880_4823906716886936177_n.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/03\/337391531_160407500262880_4823906716886936177_n.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11631,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11627\/revisions\/11631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}