It’s all about Empathy
26. In transitioning from polluting to non-polluting activities, communities and companies shall be supported fairly.
We have finally arrived to this episode, and this crucial check in our pre-flight checklist, as if through layers of an onion to its core, and yet – its as though we have arrived back where we started. It’s about the people.
A good example of what not to do, regarding transitioning communities to the new economy, is simply shutting coal mines. This is what happened under Margaret Thatcher in Britain in the 1980’s, and many communities have never recovered. Glasgow, one-time ship-builder to the empire, lost ground to more dynamic economies around the world and for many years languished in economic depression – but in recent years has experienced a cultural renaissance. Could this have been brought about without the years of pain?
Of course it could, and in this episode we rehearse these and other examples to see what is possible, and take a deep dive into the question of mind-set.
Talking points:
- Shipping as a case study
- People, feelings, abandoned communities
- Proportions and emotional impact of climate crisis
- Technosphere: human context
- Five stages of grief, communities and politics
- Individual acts, collective acts
- The need for political leadership
- Transition in Glasgow
- Coal miners eg. in Poland
- Change in organisations
Links:
Timothy Morton extracts, and wikipedia
Five stages of Grief (Kubler Ross Model) – look out for the visualisations
Peter Haff – full paper on the Technosphere: Technology as a geological phenomenon: implications for human well-being
David Pocock, rugby player and activist
George Monbiot on mobilisation
Zapatista Principles
Clips:
Gordon Brown saves the world financial system (48:00)
Greta Thunberg goes to Poland to talk coal (15:10)
Simon Sinek on the Law of Diffusion of Innovation (10:56)
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