Misanthropic, borderline ecofash narratives about humanity’s relationship with nature have become way too common in discourse about climate change, highlighting the urgent and critical importance of a social ecological approach.
The list of artists used is in the outro.
Introduction – 0:00
Human Domination – 3:57
The Critical Nature of Social Ecology – 7:09
Outro – 12:46
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Music:
Sun (prod. salmon the ghost)
outro music: Cedar Womb by joe zempel
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCuMhK75-tYDMV_7nEExFmg
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Sources & Resources:
https://www.panarchy.org/bookchin/ecology.html
source
When people view others like parasites then is it any wonder that people treat them like garbage or doesn't want to help them. Because the only sensible thing to do with parasites is to get ride of them or cull them. Sadly alot of people honestly believe that millions if not billions should die just to maintain the status quo of insane infinite growth and endless, unsustainable consumerism. The system we live under IS parasitic, and encourages the very worst behaviors in people just to barely survive this capitalistic rat race.
These suggestions are no more realistic than demanding the end of all war. Humans are destroying their natural environment for the same reason other animals destroy their environment; we got too good at surviving and benefiting our own survival. In most species this eventually results in a population bottle neck, but humans have found a way around that as well.
Humanity isn't a parasite. We're just another species of animal on this earth that got too good at benefiting itself. The one thing that makes us unique is our complex consciousness and decision making abilities. We are uniquely able to plan for the future and we need to do that on a large scale. However, we also need to acknowledge that human nature contains greed, selfishness and competitiveness just like any other animal and we'll always have to struggle against that dark nature both other humans and within our selves.
Have you ever read dune? I feel like your sietch would be a dope place to hide from a burning sun
Hmm…
In my quietly misanthropic youth, I sometimes fell into the human parasite line of thinking, and I'll still sometimes return to it when I'm deeply mired in existential depression, but my position has since evolved into the realization that the true parasites (if any) are the obscenely rich, the 0.01%, the oligarchs and kleptocrats. We've just been dancing to their tune because they've tried to make it nearly impossible to survive any other way.
Your mentioning that destructive parasitism tends to be caused by a disruption in an ecosystem gave me some pause. I think we can see many ways in which the general human ecosystem has been disrupted… but what of the super-rich? What disruption caused them to become destructive parasites? What hole in themselves are they trying to fill with all the wealth and power they are extracting and hoarding?
I'm sure a lot of us can speculate possibilities, but it still leads me back to something else I realized a number of years ago: One of the many things we need to do if we are going to save ourselves is a deep and thorough psychological analysis of the obscenely rich and power-hungry. Unfortunately, like with many of the other things we need to do, how to go about it is something I don't have a good answer for yet.
I’m a parasite 😓
Start on your street, get your neighbors involved in community gardening, nothing happens alone but we gotta start somewhere. If communal gardening isn’t an option where you live, just try to extend a system of mutual aid for your neighborhood. My two adjacent neighbors are both developing gardens and we have a small flock of chickens.
Such a great video!
Oh man I fucking love you, why are so underrated 😭
You're right, currently humanity is not a parasite, we are a malignant tumor. Our best case scenario is becoming a parasite but at the moment, no such apparent luck.
Misanthropes deeply disgust me.
Karen: Look at me! I know to despise [some obviously repulsive quality]. Surely nobody can rise to my level of wisdom without becoming a misanthropic piece of shit!
Seriously, legitimate criticisms of Our Species can make the world a better place but spare us the vitriolic venom! Long Live Humanity.
very nice, you changed my mind. I should have asked myself WHY are we behaving like this. There is always a root to everything that is happening. And I just told myself we were parasites.
Make humanity, nature, wildlife and earth 100% strong ageless sustainable solarpunk immortal utopian resilient future
Ooh, fantastic vid! I’m really getting into sustainability and I’ve been wondering about this topic. I’m also have an interest in MTG’s color pie philosophy and there’s this concept of Green vs. Blue, of nature vs. civilization. There seems to be this thing that Green must be a rejection of civilization, but it ignores how humanity is born from the natural and originated from it. Are beaver dams natural? Or ant/termite/bee colonies? Were the traditional ways we used to build home on the frontiers?
I do not think humans are unnatural, as our intelligence is born from evolution, which is natural.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be whether or not humanity is natural or not, but when did we develop “unnatural” behaviors? Was it in 10,000 BCE? 5000 BCE? 300 BCE? 1800 CE?
It’s definitely an interesting topic, and thank you for providing the words to articulate these thoughts.
I just live how positive your overall message is it's inspiring especially in a time where people are so disheartened an negative
For the algorithm
beautiful video, kudos
Humanity IS Nature
Hey so American here. I don't know how much is known about American Evangelicalism in the Carribiane, but the humans as a parasite narative sounds almost identical to the doctrine of Calvanism, where American Evangelicalism gets it's ideas from. Calvanism boils doen to being a good person is highly ineffective and that the only way to gain god's favor is to accept yourself as a dirty evil sinner and to accept that Christ is the only good. Sums up to "I know I'm horrible, but there is nothing I can do about it and thats ok because Jesus" the parasite idea can summed up as "humans are inherently bad for the environment so we shouldn't bother trying to be better" i wonder if the human parasite mentality is influenced by Americsn Evangelicalism
Human parasitism is also SUPER embedded into a lot of the religions that took over the world. The notion that humanity and the physical world is a foul, horrible thing that needs to repent or be destroyed is insanely popular.
Thank you for combatting the misanthropes out there. Only mankind has the capacity to preserve life on this planet in the long term. I recommend watching Isaac Arthur's channel to get a view for how mankind can and will rectify the problems of Earth going forward into the future. Have optimism for humanity for we strive forward.
The Ecology of Freedom is an immensely important book. However I do have one major criticism of Bookchin in that text; he fails to distinguish between Hierarchies of expertise, leadership and competence, from hierarchies of coercion and exploitation. This is something which he does address in his late works, in which he acknowledges the necessity of leadership, for example, but it is something which I really wish he had edited into later editions of EoF.
Dear Andrew, loved your presentation.
But now what?
After ± 2000 years of human intellectual development that resulted in
mass population growth,
mass production,
mass consumption.
How do you want to turn back the clock to Arcadia?
Who is the artist of the artwork from 0:01?
Just watch the Parasyte Anime
“Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.” ―Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
We are living at a time that is birthing a new system… We the people should be a part of manufacturing the new system
Are there any benefits to the current system or downsides to your proposed system?
I am a year late in commenting but 20 years late in hearing this. I have back ground in environmental anthropology but lost a lot of hope and drive over the years, especially when find out a lot of my professors looked down on practical applications of the subject. We need people to keep communicating this message of hope
I know you're right, and I know it's possible to do all this, but damn if it doesn't feel daunting
If humanity is a plage that what are you smarty paints?
Meh, I don't care anymore. There is a simple solution that should have been implemented decades ago. The world is this way by people's choice.
Mao: I have the record for the most people starved to death on this server
This guy: hold my beer
This video is not a bad demonstration that modern leftist education can be more destructive than no education at all.
Humanity should be a steward of the land. But don't think the Marxist undertones in this video is the ultimate solution. I think centralized power is a huge danger. But I could be misinterpreting the message. Great content.
Thank you for your video, but I still feel a level and anger and despair at things, despite the hope you have given me.
So many of us are born into this awful system that strips us of our natural roots and connections with the world, and makes it so that trying to break out of it is practically impossible. How can I make a change when I can barely take care of myself? And much less, take care of myself in a system that is made to make it hard for me to take care of myself?
If I were to entirely stop engaging with the system in order to live a life aligned with my beliefs, I’m fairly certain I’ll die fast. Not like there are many places where people hand out free food. The only thing I can think about is growing my own food rather than buying from the supermarket, which is great and all, but still requires that I have private property/permanent property for me to do so. It also requires a lot of space that I don’t have/can’t afford here in the city.
I’m at a loss, but refuse to turn to doomerism. painful
Capitalism is the parasite not humanity
🙂
That's funny, cause it acts exactly like a virus, accumulating all possible resources and spreading to all possible areas. Life is a virus.