“To captivate and to transform are the most fundamental ambitions of activism and art,” is what Jonathan Safran Foer puts forward in his book We Are The Weather. Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (2019). “Which is why climate change, as subject matter, fares so poorly in both realms.” Hear hear. Look look. Up up. And digest. I, for one, have been urging myself the last couple of years to intersperse my essential non-fiction reads with books on the topic. Some more literary, some more scientific (on the mysterious web of life as in always more trees please): I consider it a must to understand how to live on this shared planet of ours.
But captivating? At the moment I am struggling to get through the 256 A4-ish pages of Regeneration. Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation (2021) by American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist Paul Hawken. Centered around major themes such as oceans, forest, wilding, land, people, food and energy, it is packed with numbers and figures - along with some breathtaking images - on how to help the planet regenerate itself. Because she can and she will, if - and that is where human agency comes in - we let her.
To be clear: regeneration is the process of replacing or restoring damaged or missing cells, tissues, organs, and even entire body parts to full function. All living organisms, including plants and animals, have some ability to regenerate as part of their natural maintenance of tissues and organs. Zoom out to the interconnectedness of all organisms on planet earth and a burgeoning regeneration movement is spreading rapidly throughout the world, illustrated by inspiring figures such as Jane Goodall, Isabella Tree or Mary Reynolds.
Putting life at the center of every action and decision. Take that as one major guiding principle, like the Colombian president just did at the opening of the Biodiversity COP16 *. Clear and straightforward. And still: why do I have to pause for nights in a row to be able to absorb? Is it the sheer mass of mostly US data that overwhelms me? Is it the focus on carbon capture or not and the limiting expectations which Hawken addresses notwithstanding the title **? Or… is it the overloading presence of solutions that turns on my fearmongering monkey mind who cannot believe we are still in this big (boring!) mess?
According to Hawken: “What is holding us back today is not a lack of solutions. It is the lack of imagination of what is possible.” And also: “Our beliefs do not change our actions. Our actions change our beliefs.” So back to art and activism which share the letter a - not for no reason the first letter of the alphabet - of action. Equally the last chapter of Regeneration: as a keystone species ***, like the beaver and the wolf, humans are on planet earth to balance the natural ecosystem. To keep it alive. Instead of extracting, to focus on the life enhancing capacities of the earth. To regenerate quoi. If that does not captivate or transform you or me, what else will?
* “We raise the idea of being a world power of life. When faced with the question of what most affects life on our planet, we have to say nothing more than we, humanity. Today, a ghostly and somewhat deceptive reality seems to appear: there seems to exist a humanity contrary to life, deceptive because humanity against life is also humanity against humanity.”
** Ending the crisis does not complete the challenge of global warming: that is a century-long commitment. By 2030 collective action by humanity will have reduced total greenhouse gas emissions by 45 to 50 percent.
*** Keystone species are those that provide vital ecosystem services which are essential for the survival of other species in the ecosystem. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it.