A Fallacy of DGR Thought

The following quote is a statement released from Deep Green Resistance, Austin as as a description of the look of a post-deindustrialized society:

“We can see rivers running free and unrestrained to the gulf with no dams to stop them. We see the creeks and streams that feed these rivers, flowing undeterred by human interference. Rainwater collection is a staple of every building that stands, as are berms and swales that ameliorate the effects of drought. Native plants have reclaimed their rightful place within the landscape, acting as restorers of botanical balance. Damaged land has been bioremediated by dedicated communities of knowledgeable people working with nature to repair broken ecosystems. Large, four-legged animals are returning to the prairies, with buffalo herds once again covering the earth and mountain lions stalking the hills. The red wolf has finally come back home, and with her, the sense that we are not always at the top of the food chain. Cows are disappearing from the fields, allowing the exhausted grasses to thrive once again. Common spaces bursting with healthful edibles are everywhere, accessible to all. The endless noise of civilization has finally faded, allowing us to hear the beautiful symphony of nature that has been blocked out for as long as we can remember.

Our culture has also had to transform. We see ever more autonomous and healing communities practicing direct democracy and moving consciously away from industrial lifestyles. Trade and barter economies have sprung up everywhere, eradicating wage slavery and classes. Communal living is common and accepted, as is nomadism. The punitive justice system is being replaced by a system of restorative justice. Patriarchy is disappearing from our cultural memory, replaced by matrifocal and matrilineal societies. Women have complete reproductive and personal autonomy, as has always been their right. Queer liberation for everyone is one outgrowth of this, as we distance ourselves from harmful myths of the dominant culture’s gender binary. A constant and ongoing process of decolonizing our minds and hearts has begun. Reparation and respect long overdue are being given to the indigenous and other people of color. Creativity has been reawakened by this life-affirming culture shift. The concept of decay has been accepted and embraced, and we are learning how to grieve together. Folk wisdom and storytelling traditions allow us to build communities that share an ethos and an ability to live sustainably in our surroundings.

Our futures extend beyond our lifetimes, as we look forward to seeing what life will be like for our children and for theirs.”

There are natural issues which I have from ideas such as this. They tend to be rather similar to my arguments against Anarchy governance. The formal problem with Anarchy governance is the destruction of the empathic narrative and thus the creation of an anti-stasis system which will naturally degrade. This is because the Anarchy governance is a previous mode of historical development and only leads to future modes of development such as our current one. The idea of natural regression falls under the same fallacy of thought.

The common answer by some of the more hardcore members of the deep green and environmental movements is that the success of our species and our planet hinges upon the complete destruction of all things civilized. The idea behind this is that we are completely helpless in our ability to sustain civilization as it is and we will destroy ourselves—we do in fact see just that happening now. Unfortunately for them a regression is simply not going to work.

When the absence of technology is reintroduced to the world and we as a global people again integrate ourselves with nature we will definitely see a cleaning of the earth. The unfortunate reality for the believes of this philosophy is that they cannot change the way humanity works. Even if the entirety of humanity were to believe this to be a just cause, something which surely could never be achieved, the ideas and concepts of such would change as generations passed. Eventually, whether it be three generations or three hundred generations (baring in mind we would again return to 30-40 year lifespans) we would reinvent science, industry, and technology and then recreate industrial civilization. What is worse is that these people would have an earth much less than the one we started upon and in doing so would destroy the limited resources in a much more concentrated fashion leaving them with less room to find the error of their ways and the technology to save themselves. Essentially we would only halt the destruction of the human species while also increasing the assurance of our doom.

We cannot look away from the errors which our civilization has created. We cannot help but notice the death and destruction we cause to the planet and to ourselves. We can scarcely begin to clean up our own waste without the worry of “it is already too late.” But, beyond all of this negativity we have to understand and to hope that we have the power to save ourselves. That through our science and our ingenuity we can maintain industrial civilization while destroying everything which creates the destruction of our world.

So many species have been killed by the human animal, but is it right to simply retreat and allow them to remain dead? Humanity has the power to restore the animals of nature (even the extinct ones) to fruition. Our world is covered in waste which will not recycle itself naturally for thousands of years and we want to justify leaving those toxic elements to continue to pollute and poison in the absence of civilization? Such reprehensible irresponsibility when we already possess the science for atomic recombination so that this waste is returned to usable base materials. There is a host of technology available to us to cure the ills of the world—beyond capitalism.

We are embarking upon a road which will take us to the end of human society as we know it. There are multiple turning points along this path and tribalism and deindustrialization is one of those paths, but it is the wrong path. It is the path of those who wish to run from the problems of our world, who wish to not take responsibility for all that humankind has created. We have a responsibility to our world and to ourselves to combine humanity and nature once again, but that combination cannot be found going backwards.

Humanity and nature can coexist in harmony and sustainability within our future if we only believe it.