Davide Castro
Ecology: The Obstructionist Sentimentality
We should renounce sentimental ideas about the Universe because humanity does not have a natural balance to return to. Our existence is contingent and beyond our control. We should not have a romantic attachment to nature for the precise reason that doing so undermines the very efforts of addressing the ecological crisis. The present political classes seem utterly useless in addressing this due to their limited vision in line with capitalist interests. We require extreme measures to combat the ruthless market forces that are deepening the crisis.
We can apply this same logic to the Liberal idea of sentimentality regarding the eradication of poverty. Market forces and large multi-national corporations have taken advantage of the desire of the liberal classes to do ‘something’ about the state of affairs byway of a clever marketing strategy. The anti-capitalist desire to do something to help the other is incorporated into the very capitalist consumerist logic. For example, by purchasing a cup of coffee from Starbucks, a small percentage of their product’s cost goes to recognised organisations and charities in the developing world. According to Starbucks, by purchasing a cup of coffee one is fulfilling the duty we are told is necessary to save the world from ecological crisis, namely buying into an ethical experience.
This apparent evolution in capitalism causes a serious problem to sustainability and progress. The convergence between consumerism and the ethical dimension instils the notion that we are absolved from our consumerist tendencies, even under the implications of unethicality. The same goes for when people purchase ‘organic’ products. We do not really believe these products to be better; instead we choose to believe it because it makes us feel better as consumers. As vegans would rightly point out, whether one consumes an ‘organic’ chicken or non-organic chicken, the ethical implications are much the same, the end being symptomatic of exploitation. Thus the consumption of ‘organic’ products serves to halt the necessary changes to consciousness. Capitalism, in this way, has evolved to make us believe that it can resolve the predicaments facing the world.
People talk about revolution; they talk about radicals and the need for change. We hear the rhetoric transform into a battle between the 'normal guys' and the freak of nature 'radicals'. We are scared of the term itself; it embodies a representation of 'evil'. We think of dictators when we hear the word 'extremist' or ‘radical’. Should we not reverse the argument and, with it, transform our understanding of this language?
Is radicalism not what the current European governments embody? Their manipulation of the electorate through spin tactics, great public relations and economic policies they tell us to be a 'necessary evil'? Is extremism not precisely going on a crusade by invading countries that refuse to abide by Western principles of governance?
And indeed, if we are to talk about mass murderers, should we not include Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Obama and G.W. Bush in the same 'bag', to name a few? Yes, these people were revolutionary too; revolutionary in the sense they committed mass murder. Power structures and populations complied with it.
It set a terrible precedent.
This is the extremism that we have, where people commit suicide because they have been led to the 'extreme' of the 'normal'. It is the extremism that perpetuates a system of hierarchy in politics where Governments invest in the protection of financial capital assets to the detriment of populations whom they are meant to represent.
It is the extremism that calcifies the 'status quo' as the utopia of the Liberal political class, with its unwillingness to subjugate its inner core. It is the extremism that sees children dying of hunger and men killing for money. It is the extremism that says constructed suffering is okay, like it is okay for these words to erase and not be elevated to UPPER CASE.
This approach observes that we are finite beings and cannot ever have control over our biosphere even though we are capable of destroying it and upset its balance. This relationship between humanity and nature operates in the same way as religion posing as an unquestionable authority that imposes limits on how we conceive of ourselves. It is important to understand ecology outside of the Liberal paradigm because nature is destructive. At any point in the history of the planet, things could have taken a different route. Species have evolved partly as a result of destruction and catastrophe. For example, the oil and energy we rely upon exist as a result of a myriad of natural disasters. The true dimension of the crisis cannot be resolved by returning to what liberals call “the earth’s natural balance” because there is no natural balance to return to. In the liberal paradigm, Nature was naturally balanced before we offset the balance by polluting it.
Sentimentality is obstructing progress. Every day we are told how much we are contributing to Earth’s demise, destroying Mother Earth and upsetting the natural balance of life. It is the Liberal feature film where Nature is characterised as harmonious and beneficent and Earth as the nurturing and benign ‘Mother Earth’. We are told that as a result of our disturbances we have to act ethically and morally. Liberals contend that attacks against the biosphere, such as global warming, are violations of the earth’s sacredness. Given so, humanity is portrayed as guilty and must thus learn to avoid causing harm by treating it better.
Obstructionist Sentimentality
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