Guest article by John Foster, University of Lancaster, UK, and author of After Sustainability.
Note from Jem: In previous essays, I have criticized what I regard as the authoritarian sentiments and imaginations of some environmentalists. I have articulated an approach that focuses on freeing us from the manipulative and exploitative systems that accelerate environmental destruction. British Academic John Foster is one intellectual who I have debated on these topics. He penned a reply to my recent essay, and I am sharing it here to encourage dialogue about the future of environmental politics in a fracturing world. Over to John…
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There is a peculiar challenge in debating how a society should prepare for its own possible collapse. The usual rules of political argument – the cut and thrust, the simplification of an opponent’s position into a convenient label – begin to feel not just unhelpful but actively dishonest. When the stakes are this high, the window for meaningful action this narrow, and the situation so unprecedented, we owe each other something more than polemic. We need to accept that we can’t know what might work to reduce harm and give future generations of humans, and other species, a better chance.
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