Image Source:  NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg

Attribution:  By NASA/Bill Anders

Dec. 16, 2024

A Note to the DeepTime Reader:

According to my understanding of the great 2oth century psychologist, Carl Jung, engagement with

the Shadow in one’s psyche is required in the maturational process.  I understand this to be true at

both the individual and the collective level.  A central theme in this article points to the nihilistic

Shadow aspect embedded within the collective consciousness of our global economic/political/social

systems, with the importance of integrating that Shadow aspect as part of the process of withdrawing

power from those systems.  The lead title of this blog points directly to the message from that dark

Shadow aspect of our global systems as they are currently structured, a Shadow aspect that is

primarily buried in our collective unconscious.

 

WTF: Let’s Just Kill Them All

An Ecological Civilization is Necessary

 

Admittedly, the lead title of this blog post is raw and horrific, but I believe it accurately

describes a nihilistic energy nexus embedded within our global economic, political, and

social systems.   An insane nexus, living within our collective subconscious and/or

unconscious, contributing to our path of planetary ecocide and human extinction.  This

nexus is entirely a collective one, a nexus to which no sane individual would ever

subscribe.

 

As an “environmentalist” the last 25 yrs. or so, I have done quite a bit of reading on our

environmental cataclysms.  However, it wasn’t until late 2023, while reading about the

starvation death of 10 billion Alaskan snow crab in the Bering Sea, the WTF insight

rushed into me. The raw message from the dark corner of our global economic system,

WTF: Let’s Just Kill Them All.  I was completely flabbergasted by such a huge number

of living beings dying, with no ability to envision ecological destruction on such a scale.

From 2018-2022, a marine heat wave reduced the normal amount of sea ice, leading to

a smaller “cold pool” on the ocean floor.  A sanctuary for young snow crab.  Scientists

indicated warmer temperatures can lead to starvation and disease, and with less food

available in a smaller “cold pool” mass starvation ensued.1

 

Our global economic system, which has pumped massive amounts of GHG emissions

in our atmosphere since the 1800’s, has rapidly warmed our climate.   Any specific

heat wave event may not be attributable to global warming, but there is no question

the frequency and intensity of them has increased.  At the very least, the marine heat

wave killing 10 billion Alaskan snow crabs was made much more likely due to human-

induced warming.

 

Not long after the WTF insight, I ran across a 2011 Mother Jones article, authored

by Noam Chomsky, identifying the near institutional imperative in our market

systems to destroy nature.2 I was pleased to see affirmation of the WTF insight,

although some embarrassment ensued with the immediate recognition of the likelihood

of a high number of others with a similar understanding.  Just not on my radar, and

obviously late to the party, although with very blunt phrasing.

 

In his analysis of our global economy, the environmental author, David Korten,

discusses the fatal flaws of what he identifies as the Sacred Money and Markets

narrative, noting the Nobel Laureate economist, Joseph Stiglitz, refers to the same

phenomenon in similar terms.  A narrative that embraces the following: Earth’s

resources are valued only for the profit they provide, limitless consumption is the

path to happiness, competition and greed guide the hand of the free market providing

prosperity for all, concentrates power in the hands of financial elites, while

creating moral and legal structures for profit.  Noting this narrative is taught at all the

world’s leading colleges and universities, Korten states it is false on every point, as well

as being immoral.3

 

Ever since our numbers and impacts have achieved the level of a geological force,

the global economy operating under this fatally flawed narrative has become an

existential danger to our Living Earth and humanity.   A fatally flawed system blind to the

now catastrophic consequences it produces.  The tragic death of 10 billion Alaskan

snow crab, from the lens of our global systems, are just collateral damage.

 

This ecologically destructive event is a glaring example of at least 200 years of

depredations by our global systems.  The ongoing occurrence of similar events in the

news seems to have little impact on our collective behavior, so far.  Examples include:

 

In the 2019-2020 Australian bush fires, it was estimated at least 1 billion

animals had been killed, both wild and domestic, with some species facing

extinction.4

 

The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave killed an estimated 1 billion marine

organisms on British Columbia beaches, with scientists fearing far worse

consequences.5

 

The Dorset Wildlife Trust indicates insects are dying out 8x faster than larger animals,

with 41% of species facing extinction, due to habitat loss and the overuse of pesticides.

The report notes this level of extinction has not happened since that of the dinosaurs.6

 

In 2022, the inaugural UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal convened, with the

UNEP Director stating, “nature is dying the death of a billion cuts.”  Antonio

Guterres, the UN Secretary General, commenting “…we are committing suicide by

proxy.”  Initial conference goals were to conserve 30% of all lands and seas by 2030,

reflecting the urgency involved.7

 

The 2024 World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report indicated there had been a

73% decline in over 35,000 wildlife populations from 1970-2020.  It warned of

dangerous tipping points approaching, possibly irreversible, calling for a “huge

collective effort” the next 5 years to address the twin crises of climate and

biodiversity.8

 

These events, conferences, and reports are examples of the proverbial tip of the

iceberg.  An iceberg whose level of destruction is such that planetary ecocide is a

term that can be applied to the path we are on.  In the face of all this information,

combined with events in the natural world, calls for transformation of all sectors of

human activity manifest at the highest levels.

 

The UN IPBES 2019 report, recognizing up to 1 million species may face extinction

in the coming decades, calls for transformation:

 

“…a fundamental system wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals, and values.”9

 

The 2022 World Scientist Warning of a Climate Emergency indicates the Earth is

“unequivocally” in a climate emergency.  Humanity is in ecological overshoot, well

beyond Earth’s regenerative capacities.  The report notes unlimited growth cannot

happen on a finite planet, with a call for “holistic and transformative change.”10

 

Thomas Berry, in his book, The Dream of the Earth, discusses the necessity for

humanity to move into the Ecological Age.  A transformational movement that is equal

to, or greater than, the depredations spanning the last 200 years or more of our

scientific/technological/industrial era.  A movement where humanity seeks to establish

a mutually enhancing relationship with the life processes of our Earth.11

 

David Korten, environmental author, echoes the necessity for transformation,

pointing to the necessity of developing an Ecological Civilization to save humanity.

Embracing the extremely long view of evolutionary development leading to ever greater

complexity, he cites evolutionary biologists conclusion life on Earth began 3.6 billion

years ago.  Life’s evolution led to the creation of self-aware consciousness in the

form of the human species, which has become the dominant species on our Living

Earth.  Holding Earth’s destiny in our hands, he states we behave as harmful

adolescents, with the only way forward to pass what is tantamount to an initiation

rite.  Passage of this initiation rite involves creating an Ecological Civilization, and he

notes the 2000 Earth Charter embraces the worldviews and values of this kind of

civilization, without using this phrase.12

 

In 1994, the Secretary General of the1992 Earth Summit and Mikhail Gorbachev,

launched the Earth Charter initiative.  Following input from an extremely wide

variety of stakeholders, the Earth Charter was introduced at UNESCO headquarters

in Paris.  Since that time, thousands of organizations and individuals have endorsed it.13

 

The Earth Charter is a brief document whose primary themes are echoed in the call

to develop an Ecological Civilization.  In the preamble, the dangers of our crossroads

moment are highlighted, combined with the necessity to come together as one human

family to birth a global sustainable society.  The Earth is recognized as alive with a

unique community of life, with humanity as part of a vast, evolving universe.  The value

of all beings is strongly emphasized, along with life’s interdependence.  The current

dominant patterns of consumption and production are identified as causing ecological

devastation, risking the destruction of Earth’s diversity of life, as well as that of

humanity.  Citing universal responsibility, the Earth Charter calls for transformation of

lifestyles, values, and institutions, linked with the critical necessity of strengthening

democratic values and institutions.  Everyone and every sector of human endeavor are

called to engage in creative leadership in birthing a sustainable society.14

 

Since the birth of the Earth Charter in 2000, the concept of an Ecological Civilization

has become mainstream, with the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference subtitle:

Ecological Civilization-Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.7

 

Despite the widespread recognition of the critical need for transformation at the highest

levels of our global civil society, the psychic and actual investment in our global systems

give power to widespread attempts to minimize, or even deny, the urgent need to do so.

 

In the 2024 Guardian article, Fury after Exxon chief says public to blame for climate

failures, Exxon CEO, Darren Wood said the world would not reach net zero by 2050,

had waited too long to develop carbon free technologies, with the public unwilling to

spend the extra money for lower carbon fuels, asserting big oil was not responsible for

the climate crisis.  His comments acknowledge the reality of this crisis, but despite this

recognition, Exxon-Mobil, the largest investor-owned oil company in the world, has

aggressive expansion plans, as do other major fossil fuel producers.15

 

The nihilism within CEO Woods statements is pervasive, combining a series of

minimizations with justifications for continuing Exxon’s expansion plans.  Plans that

preserve Exxon’s short-term profits, with apparent full knowledge of the tragic long term

consequences. With his ideas expressed in mainstream media, the likelihood of other

fossil fuel titans holding similar views is truly chilling.  Fossil fuel corporations are the tip

of the spear of the global death economy, emblematic in their modus operandi of the

globally predominant values and paradigms supporting this death economy.  Infected by

a toxic nihilism, fossil fuel corporations know only one way forward, deepening the path

to planetary ecocide.

 

The renewable energy and EV revolutions have reached unstoppable exponential

growth, and combined with a plethora of other technical developments and societal

actions, fossil fuel use will decline ever more rapidly.   An International Energy Agency

report indicates clean electricity will be 42% of the global grid by 2028, with global EV

sales increasing from 5% in 2020 to 18% of the global market in 2023.16

 

Refusing to accept these realities, fossil fuel corporations will face increasingly difficult

financial challenges, with the inevitable stranded assets.  The likelihood of this relatively

long term outcome will be a contributing factor in the demise of the hegemony of fossil

fuel corporations.  However, there is no doubt other powerful levers will have to be

employed, levers beyond my knowledge base and the parameters of this article.

 

Tragically, to one extent or another, every one of us is enmeshed within our death

economy, attached to values and paradigms supporting it, as it destroys the world

around us.  However, all is not lost, with a plethora of beneficial historical and recent

movements and actions by uncounted numbers of people and organizations which

temper the primary thrust of our death economy.

 

High level examples include the 2016 Paris Agreement, signed onto by 196 nations,

pursuing a goal of limiting warming of the global climate to no more than 1.5 C.17

In 2022, more than 190 countries at the inaugural UN Biodiversity Conference agreed

to the goals of protecting 30% of lands and seas by 2030, a timeline reflecting the

urgency of our biodiversity crisis.18 In 2022, the US Congress passed the Inflation

Reduction Act, the largest climate legislation in history, with the potential to lower US

emissions up to 32-42% from 2005 levels by 2030.19 In 2023, 193 nations agreed to

the UN High Seas Treaty, seeking to preserve 30% of the high seas by 2030,

reflecting the urgency of our biodiversity crisis, with the ultimate goal of 66%.20

 

In 2016, the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation founded the Half-Earth Project.

This non-profit organization formed after E.O. Wilson, an internationally recognized

biologist, published his book: Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life.  Project goals

are to conserve at least half of all lands and seas for nature, creating safe zones

that will save about 85% of all species.21

 

The effect of all these highlighted examples, combined with the unknown and

uncountable efforts throughout all societal levels, embrace a germinal sustainable

revolution.  To date, a movement lacking the power to spark the transformations

required to successfully traverse our crossroads moment.

 

Deconstructing the Sacred Money and Markets narrative, as outlined by David Korten,

is very useful in withdrawing power from our global death economy.  The writings of

Thomas Berry are also highly useful in this regard, as would a wide array of similar

authors in the environmental and political science fields.  This paper asserts the

importance of identification and discussion of the WTF insight as part of this process

of withdrawal.

 

Beyond this kind of examination process, the delineation of a sustainable vision must

be brought into the forefront of our social conversation.  David Korten, in Ecological

Civilization: From Emergency to Emergence, envisions sustainable communities

interacting synergistically with each other, living within the regenerative limits of their

bioregions, comprised of government and business sectors accountable to civil society,

with power localized and equitably distributed.  He affirms humanity will only prosper as

we get our numbers and relationships right with the Earth, as well as with ourselves.22

 

Additionally, the worldview and values of the Earth Charter, outlined previously,

give an indication of the tone and orientation of an Ecological Civilization.  Very

important among them is the idea Earth is alive with a unique community of life, all

beings have value in and of themselves, humanity is part of an evolving universe, with

democratic values and institutions critical to a sustainable world.13

 

There is no real way to predict what a centuries long sustainable revolution would

create for our world, but elements of the following vision must be established.  A

global civilization comprised of a healthy, smaller, stable human population, living in

sustainable cities/towns/villages within their bioregions, fed by an organic and

regenerative agriculture, with settled areas floating among a sea of permanent natural

reserves covering at least half of our Living Earth.

 

Within the context of the ongoing crises of the twin cataclysms of global warming and

the mass extinction of species in the 21st century, this envisioning of an Ecological

Civilization seems impossible to achieve.  Realistically, the 21st century will see ongoing,

ever more frequent and intense cataclysmic events directly and indirectly related to

these twin crises.  There will be a great deal of chaos and disorder.  However, in the

middle of this cauldron, if the next few generations can create a net zero world, set

aside half the Earth as permanent nature reserves, and eliminate all major sources of

toxic pollution, a promising beginning will have been created.

 

Of assistance in this century will be the increasing collective understanding our global

systems are not aligned with the forward progress of evolution, recognizing our ongoing

chaos and disorder as reflective of this lack of alignment, combined with the recognition

of the increasing demands of the universe to engage in synergistically creative

responses.

 

Thomas Berry, in his book, The Dream of the Earth, points to the coming Ecological

Age being equal to, or greater than, the depredations or our scientific/technological/

industrial one over the last few hundred years or more.  Linked with this healing process

is the long term one of seeking a mutually enhancing relationship with the living

dynamics of our Earth.11 This is obviously an ongoing, ever-evolving effort, one that

will take centuries to arrive at a full flowering.

 

Thomas Berry has been called an eco-theologian, and in his book, The Great Work,

he writes of the universe as purposeful, affirming the idea of destiny for everyone alive

today.  Born into this time with a role to play in humanity’s transition, everyone is

provided by the universe with the resources required to fulfill their unique role.  Far more

than individual destiny is the collective, generational one of the Great Work, passed on

to succeeding generations.23

 

Echoing a similar theme, Pope Francis in his 2015 Encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care of

Our Common Home, highlights the theme of everyone having a role to play, using their

pain for the world to guide them.  Profoundly important is his emphasis on the wisdom

there is no such thing as an insignificant act.24 Through affirmation of this simple and

powerful truth, the Pope directly addresses that sense of powerlessness shared by just

about everyone in this cataclysmic time.  Upon reading this affirmation by the Pope,

there resonated a deep chord of recognition, something which I will never forget.

 

Given the degraded condition of our Living Earth, it is safe to assume a universal pain

courses through the hearts of the 8 billion people alive today, much of it pushed down

into the unconscious. The urgent and multiple calls for humanity’s transformation at the

highest levels of our civil society reflect far more this universal pain, rather than the

scientific data confirming these realities.

 

Let everyone seek to engage in their unique personal and collective roles at this

crossroads moment in the history of our Living Earth.  Let everyone recognize the

sustainable revolutions to come are nothing less than the struggle for the soul of the

world. A centuries long struggle, a geological instant, guided by the sustainable vision

of creating an Ecological Civilization.  The successful flowering of such a struggle for

the Earth’s soul will result in a restored and revitalized Living Earth, as well as the

continuation of the human species. From the lens of the 21st century, this envisioned

Ecological Civilization linked with a revitalized Living Earth will be almost a totally

transformed and unrecognizable one.  The result of a Second Renaissance in human

history, far more powerful than the Renaissance of the Middle Ages.

 

The vision of an Ecological Civilization can easily be accused of being naïve and

utopian, but this interpretation lacks any real veracity with the acceptance of the real,

inevitable, and profound conflicts endemic to the human race as this vision is pursued

over the coming centuries.  Future conservatives and liberals, or their equivalents,

will have decades long battles over the multitudinous choices to be made as humanity

seeks to become a partner with our Living Earth’s processes.  As long as the basics of

this generations long effort is commonly shared, we’ll be alright.

 

Respectfully Submitted

Dave Mitchell

Kansas City, Mo.

 

A retired LCSW social worker, with a history of providing primarily intake and case management

functions with the chronically mentally ill in both outpatient and inpatient settings.  In the mid-

1990’s, I observed Missouri winters becoming just a little milder, beginning a decades long process of

reading about our climate and mass extinction cataclysms.  Since the early to mid 2000’s,  there has

been a series of  volunteer engagements covering a very wide variety of activities with several

organizations here in Kansas City.  These have included:  the local Kansas City and Mo. Sierra Club,

350KC, Citizens Climate Lobby KC, Climate Action KC, training with the Climate Reality Project, and

several years hosting periodic environmental interviews on KKFI, Kansas City’s community radio

station.

 

In preparing to submit this article, it occurred to me that a discussion group of several sessions once

every two weeks could be very fruitful.  Please let me know if any of you are interested in doing this,

and will explore possibilities.  I lack hosting experience on Zoom, and would have to receive

guidance on how to set up a discussion group on this site.   I assume these tasks can be

mastered, and hope there are several of you who might be interested.

 

 

 

Footnotes

 

1              10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea.  Scientists and  fishermen are working to learn why

5/5/23  Kirsten Debroth   Alaska Public Media   KMXT-Kodiak

https://alaskapublic.org/2023/05/05/10-billion-snow-crabs-disappeared

 

2              Noam Chomsky, Mother Jones, 4/21/11

Noam Chomsky: Is the World Too Big to Fail?  The contours of the global order

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/noam-chomsky-american-empire

 

3              Ecological Civilization and the New Enlightenment   David Korten

Duke University Press   Tikkun  Vol. 32  Issue 4   Research Article  Nov. 1, 2017

https://read.dukeupress.edu/tikkun/article-abstract/32/4/17/132917

 

4              Death from Space   Australia Fires—terrifying satellite image shows thousands of blazes raging across the country over

the last month  1/8/20 James Oxenham   The Sun UK

https://thesun.co.uk/news/10679168/australia-fires-satellite-nasa-from-space

 

5              Heat Wave Killed an Estimated 1 Billion Sea Creatures and Scientists Fear Even Worse   7/9/21   Deepa Shivaram

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/09/1014564664/billion-sea-creatures-mussels-dead-canada-british-columbia-vancouver

 

6              Action for Insects   Dorset Wildlife Trust

https://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-do/act-for-nature/action-insects

 

7              COP 15 Ecological Civilization Building a Shared Future For All Life on Earth

2022 UN Biodiversity Conference

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/COP15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-

 

8              2024 Living Planet Report   10/10/24

www.worldwildlife.org/publications/2024-living-planet-report

 

9              Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’   Press Release  May 5, 2019

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

https://ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment

 

10            World Scientists Warning of a Climate Emergency  2022

Oxford Academic   BioScience Vol. 72 Issue 12  Dec. 2022

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/12/1149/6764747

 

11            The Dream of the Earth   Thomas Berry   Sierra Club Books   1988

 

12            Ecological Civilization and the New Enlightenment   David Korten

Duke University Press   Tikkun  Vol. 32  Issue 4   Research Article  Nov. 1, 2017

https://read.dukeupress.edu/tikkun/article-abstract/32/4/17/132917

 

13            Earth Charter    https://earthcharter.org

 

14            Earth Charter   https://earthcharter.org

 

15            Fury after Exxon chief says public to blame for climate failures  3/4/24  Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/04/exxon-chief-public-climate-failures

 

16            International Energy Agency Renewables 2023 Executive Summary

https://www.iea.org/reports/renewables-2023/executive-summary

International Energy Agency Global EV Outlook Executive Summary Apr. 2023

https://www.iea.org/reports/global/ev-outlook-2023/executive-summary

 

17            The Paris Agreement   https://unfcc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement

 

 

18            COP 15 Ecological Civilization Building a Shared Future For All Life on Earth

2022 UN Biodiversity Conference

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/COP15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-

 

19            A Turning Point for US Climate Progress: Assessing the Climate and Clean Energy Provisions of the Inflation Reduction

Act   8/12/22   Rhodium Group

https://rhg.com/research/climate-clean-energy-inflation-reduction-act

 

20            Ocean Treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks

BBC Science News   3/4/23   Esme Stallard

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64815782

 

21            What is the Half-Earth Project?  E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation

https://eowilsonfoundation.org/what-is-the-half-earth-project

 

22            Ecological Civilization: From Emergency to Emergence    5/25/21   David Korten

https://davidkorten.org/ecological-civilization-from-emergency-to-emergence/

 

23            The Great Work   Thomas Berry   1999

 

24            Laudato Si’   On Care For Our Common Home   Encyclical Letter   Pope Francis

Libreria Editrice Vaticana    Vatican City   2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Applies a deep time evolutionary perspective to: Ecology/Sustainability
  • Learning Stages: Lifelong
  • Type: Article
  • Keywords: nihilistic nexus of our global systems, mass extinction, global warming, global death economy, Sacred Money and Markets narrative, transformation, sustainable revolution, centuries long process, Ecological Civilization, personal and collective destiny/tasks, Earth Charter
  • Posted By: David Mitchell
  • Date Added: January 15, 2025