Adaptation and mitigation

"Shortly before he died, Plenty Coups, the last great Chief of the Crow Nation, told his story - up to a certain point. 'When the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground,' he said, 'and they could not lift them up again. After this nothing happened" (source). It is precisely this point – that of a people faced with the end of their way of life – that prompts the philosophical and ethical inquiry pursued in Radical Hope.

In Jonathan Lear's view, Plenty Coups's story raises a profound ethical question that transcends his time and challenges us all: how should one face the possibility that one's culture might collapse?"

Lear, J. (2006). Radical hope: ethics in the face of cultural devastation. Harvard University Press.

Vertiginous Life provides a theory of the intense temporal disorientation brought about by life in crisis. In the whirlpool of unforeseen social change, people experience confusion as to where and when they belong on timelines of previously unquestioned pasts and futures. 

Through individual stories from crisis in Greece, this book explores the everyday affects of vertigo: nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, the sense of falling, and unknowingness of Self. Being lost in time, caught in the spin-cycle of crisis, people reflect on belonging to modern Europe, neoliberal promises of accumulation, defeated futures, and the existential dilemmas of life held captive in the uncanny elsewhere.

Knight, D. M. (2023). Vertiginous life: An anthropology of time and the unforeseen (1st ed). Berghahn Books.

Is an ecological society possible? Capitalism fuels our global crisis, challenging the biosphere, impacting people, yet a sustainable society is possible if we recognize our place in nature, embrace equality, learn from nature, and strive for a new societal vision.

Magdoff, F., & Williams, C. (2017). Creating an ecological society: Toward a revolutionary transformation. Monthly Review Press.

Another end of the world is possible. Navigating the environmental crisis with resilience, integrating diverse perspectives, and recognizing the interconnectedness between humans and the environment, where survival is just the beginning. 

A few subjects explored in this book: Experiencing the impact. Resilience after disasters. Mistrusting hope. Integrating other ways of knowing. Accepting our feminine side through ecofeminism. Weaving connections—between humans—with other-than-humans. The inner path and the outer effect—survival as the first step. 

Servigne, P., Stevens, R., & Chapelle, G. (2021). Another end of the world is possible: Living the collapse (and not merely surviving it). Polity Press.

An educational game that models the outcomes, at a population level, of different ideologies towards resource sharing. It is intended to help “explain our epidemic of distrust — and how we can fix it!”

Case, N. (2017, July). The Evolution of Trust.