“Recommendations for Before & After the Election
Set yourself an unconditional goal
Avoid doomscrolling
Take the perspective of the other side
Talk and listen to the other side
Create communities that cross party lines
Improve ecological resilience in your local place
Be kind to yourself”
Nate Hagens
A 20-minute talk by Nate Hagens, offering a “non-partisan” perspective on U.S. elections, and by extension any election worldwide.
Dear readers and followers of A Biosphere Project,
I had actually planned another Musing for this weekend with philosopher Ervin László as guest, but I decided last-minute to give the floor to Nate Hagens, with a message concerning the upcoming elections in the US.
Nate Hagens is an expert on the metacrisis we are in, and of which the climate and biodiversity crisis is a part.
In his podcast 'The Great Simplification', which I also referred to in the previous blog post 'What to do? (Reprise)', Nate Hagens has conversations with the great minds of the world about all aspects of this incredibly complex metacrisis we are going through.
He devotes a lot of attention to the issue of energy, and how our industrial civilization is literally blind to the extent to which we are dependent on fossil fuels, which is why we are failing to reduce even a minuscule amount of that fossil fuel consumption, despite the massive increase in “renewable energy” (windmills and solar panels are not “renewable,” they are “rebuildable,” and there is actually no such thing as “green energy” - every form of energy extraction consumes a piece of earth, and has an effect on our ecosystem).
But Nate Hagens is no doomsayer: he tells us a very very well-reasoned story about how everything will irrevocably become much 'simpler' in the future (hence the name 'The Great Simplification'), because we will have to drastically simplify our way of life if we are to survive. But that more simple world will also potentially become much more pleasant to live in.
But I didn’t really intend to talk about 'The Great Simplification' podcast right now, but rather about this message that Nate just posted on his second YouTube channel, called 'Frankly', in response to the US elections taking place next Tuesday, November 5.
In this a short talk of about 20 minutes Nate gives a 'non-partisan' view of those upcoming elections, which are taking place in an atmosphere of unprecedented polarization and fear of violent escalation of that polarization.
Rather than portray one of the two sides as the 'evil' culprit, Nate makes a call to look for what unites us rather than what divides us. Truly an important message, which is also of great importance to us in Europe: here too, the polarization of our society is becomig more and more intense.
But beyond that call for dialogue and mutual respect, it is also a razor-sharp analysis of how neither political party in the U.S. is doing anything substantial in response to the existential ecological metacrisis we find ourselves in. And this also applies equally to Europe: no party has an answer to the convergence of ecological crises that is becoming increasingly extreme and threatening not only our own survival, but the survival of all complex life on this planet. All indicators are set to dark red, but no political party can, may or will tell us where things stand (including the green parties in Europe), possibly also because a very large part of the population still does not want to hear it.
But for Nate, none of that is a reason to sit idle: he lists a whole series of things that everyone can start doing, no matter who wins this election, and that applies equally to anyone in any other part of the world. He encourages us to begin to form community in our own circles, to set attainable concrete goals, to begin non-violent communication with neighbors who voted for ‘the other side’, to try to sense points of view other than our own, to begin working without delay for ecological restoration at the local level, starting with where you live.
All recommendations I have also made, including in the recent post 'What to do? (Reprise)'. And that encouragement not to give in to despondency or pessimism is increasingly important. No, it doesn't look like the political system as we know it today will be able to turn the ship around, but that doesn't mean nothing can happen. We all need to find our agency again, the belief in our own abilities, the confidence that there are also greater forces at work that play to the advantage of those working for a new world, hard as that may sometimes be to believe right now. Everyone is invited to participate, at whatever scale and in whatever way. Building community from the bottom up, without going along with polarization, hatred, despair or pessimism, is the challenge we face. Building community to raise our consciousness to a new level, and expand our awareness in a way that will naturally motivate us to roll up our sleeves and participate in building a new world. We should not wait for the politicians, no matter who wins.
Possibly the results of the US election will already be known by the time you read this or watch this video. But it will not have become any less relevant or urgent. Because regardless of who won, it will be up to us. We, the People. There is not going to be anyone who will do it in our place.
So again, I would heartily recommend this beautiful and very inspiring message from Nate Hagens. And I would also once again ask you to take this message to heart: try to stir things up in your own circle, overcome polarization, answer distrust with dialogue, and also keep this in mind: we are embarking on an 'urgent one hundred year project' (see the previous blog post 'What to do? (Reprise)', and at no point should we be discouraged. It will be a long-term work, and also one that will be continued by our children, their children and their grandchildren. But the goal is worth the effort: a livable planet for our descendants and for all life forms with whom we share the planet.
Thanks for reading, until the next installment,
All the best to you,
Filip
