In professional and academic fields (like mine), virtual work will have replaced some of the travel that accompanies these, in addition to having become an increased part of daily activities. The arts and recreation will have changed, too: writing in The Guardian<\/a>, Charlotte Higgins points out that “hybridity \u2013 adapting events to have a combined online and live existence \u2013 is surely here to stay.” Politics might be more divided, with the pandemic having strengthened the populist movements that were already sliding off the highway of consensus reality, but that’s not certain. At the same time, as a silver lining for many of us, the world will have begun reckoning more directly with inequality — not only due to coincidental events like the killing of George Floyd, but due to the recognition of the differential health impacts and risks associated with pandemics, with climate change, and with everything else that can go or is going awry in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Three overarching trends seem most clear: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first two trends reflect a “localization” that is consistent with visions of a more ecologically sustainable, or “ecotopian,” future. Until the airline industry figures out how to fly us around on solar and wind energy, it’s pretty safe to guess that we’ve passed “peak global tourism”; there may be brief rebounds and upswings, but the longer term trends won’t be skyward. This also means that a greater reliance on what’s around us — neighborhoods, cities, ecosystems, ecoregions — might come to seem more rational than neoliberal globalism had taken them to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The third trend, however, suggests greater dependence on a system that leaves us vulnerable both to digital forms of warfare and terror and to technological catastrophe. It’s not crazy to presume that the next pandemic will be a technological one — a digital virus or plague, a general systems breakdown, or even the technological equivalent of a world war. We are already in what realists would describe as a technological cold <\/em>war, and both ends of the digital frontier — the legal end represented by behemoths like Amazon, Alphabet\/Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Huawei, Tencent, et al, and the shadowy underworld of cyber crime and piracy, state-sponsored cyberwarfare, cryptojacking, ransomware<\/a>, illicit porn, IoT attacks, and all the rest — are evolving rapidly and uncontrollably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s how the movement to build a more ecologically and socially just and sustainable world ought to factor these things into its calculus of strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For those working to make socio-ecological change, the internet is indispensible. It is how we communicate today, how we share information, get informed, and build community, not just at the global level but locally as well. Yet we must prepare for a time when it may “go down.” It’s important, then, to make the internet more socially regulated and more secure, less vulnerable to being hijacked by shadowy actors or <\/em>by authoritarian state interests. Media ecology<\/a> — both in the sense of understanding and managing the political-economic systems<\/a> that allow media to function as they do and<\/em> in the sense of the “ecologizing” of media<\/a>, the making of all media into eco<\/em>media<\/a> — will be critical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, however, an ecologically sane future requires rebuilding local and regional networks of food production, manufacturing, waste reduction and upcycling, and everything else. The globalized world will need to remain global in its communication infrastructure — and get much better at that, so that it isn’t torn by rival realities with their own “alternative facts<\/a>” — but it will also need to become better buttressed with local supports in the material<\/em> production of reality. Local and regional ecological knowledges<\/a> will need to get integrated into production chains so as to facilitate the building of sustainable food systems, energy systems, and economies that could<\/em> stand alone if they had to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Long-term ecological integrity is hardly possible without <\/em>that <\/em>local attention. This is where technological innovation will be most needed: in the design of locally and ecoregionally rational food systems, energy infrastructures, and transportation systems, which would make every city a green city<\/a> in a sustainable ecoregion<\/a>. That, in turn, requires considerations of social and community equity<\/a> that are far from today’s reality. In the long term, there’s no way around any of this, and it will take tremendous resourcefulness and motivation (which is where the arts<\/a> and religion<\/a> come in, but those are topics for another day<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the vision for green, socially-just progress<\/a> (a vision that’s well presented in David Newell’s recent book Global Green Politics<\/a>). If vision was viral, we’d have a chance. But against the interests of globally organized (and disorganized<\/a>) capital, working legally as well as criminally to support its short-term economic goals, it will be uphill all the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we look back at this time a few decades hence, what changes will we take the pandemic of 2020-21 to have ushered in? How will it have transformed work, recreation, travel and transportation, food, politics, and everything else? The following are some initial thoughts toward a hopeful eco-justice based perspective on how the world […]<\/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":[660440,689701,691215],"tags":[399,628305,660376,16834,520633,4482,660379,454994,660375,454968,4478,123658,660342,660377,660378],"class_list":["post-11801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manifestos-and-auguries","category-media_ecology","category-politics_postpolitics","tag-climate-justice","tag-covid-19","tag-ecojustice","tag-environmentalism","tag-futurism","tag-globalism","tag-green-cities","tag-green-politics","tag-international-green-movement","tag-localism","tag-media-ecology","tag-optimism","tag-pandemic","tag-post-pandemic","tag-predictions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-34l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1060,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2009\/04\/16\/lessig-on-the-ecology-of-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":0},"title":"Lessig on the ecology of culture","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to Mediacology for sharing this presentation on \"Green Culture\" by Lawrence Lessig from the recent Green Festival in Seattle. Lessig is the guru of the creative commons movement, and his talk, on what he calls \"cultural environmentalism,\" is really on media ecology, i.e. the \"ecology\" of cultural production and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11165,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/10\/26\/an-average-pandemic-era-pre-election-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":1},"title":"An average (pandemic-era, pre-election) Sunday","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've begun posting updates on media coverage related to the U.S. presidential election (and related issues, such as social media disinformation) on my blog e2mc, which I've restarted to accompany my course \"Media Ecologies and Cultural Politics.\" Here is the latest post, which summarizes some key stories from yesterday's Sunday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/e2mc\/files\/2020\/10\/1603632404_the_new_york_times_-_oct_25_2020_downmagaz_com-edited.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10458,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/03\/30\/pandemic-politics-on-disaster-capitalism-socialism-and-environmentalism-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":2},"title":"Pandemic politics: on disaster capitalism, socialism, and environmentalism","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This was originally posted over a week ago, but then taken down by request as it was being considered for publication elsewhere (but not published there). A shorter version of it appeared yesterday at VT Digger. The school I work for, the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1035,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2009\/02\/26\/green-cultural-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":3},"title":"Green cultural studies","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Cultural studies\" refers to the study of cultural objects, meanings, and processes, and their production and use in contemporary society. It is an interdisciplinary field with a twin commitment to intellectual rigor and social relevance. While the \"rigor\" piece sometimes means \"objectivity,\" often it involves a questioning of the assumption\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/05\/08\/cape-winds-next-gen-ecology\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":4},"title":"Cape Wind’s next-gen ecology","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"How refreshing to be finally moving into the era of green-green conflicts -- ecological controversies in which both sides claim to be defending what we used to call \"nature\" (or \"the ecology\") and both actually make a good case for it. The Cape Wind energy project presages the kind of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-culture"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecoculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"istock-offshore-wind-.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2010\/05\/istock-offshore-wind-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6451,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2013\/01\/18\/introducing-e2mc-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11801,"position":5},"title":"Introducing e\u00b2mc","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"e2mc, short for \"evolving ecological media cultures,\" has gone online. e2mc\u00a0begins as the class blog for the University of Vermont course \u201cMedia Ecologies and Cultural Politics.\u201d Its long-term goal is to become the online face of the UVM Ecomedia Studies Lab, which is still in development. The blog is open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/e2mc\/files\/2013\/01\/7229651-albert-einsteins-famous-matematical-equation-e-mc2-written-on-a-chalkboard2-300x201.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801","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=11801"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11815,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801\/revisions\/11815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1-300x400.jpeg?resize=196%2C261&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/7sit26zvbjo21-400x299.jpeg?resize=307%2C229&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"