Main Drivers of Collapse, Ecocide, and Likely NTHE - Dowd

This 56-minute video by Michael Dowd elaborates on what a large body of historical and ecological evidence suggests are the four main drivers (and causes) of collapse, ecocide, and likely Near-Term Human Extinction: (1) Civilization itself, (2) Science and Technology, (3) Progress and Development, and (4) Growth Economics. Dowd also shows how anthropocentrism (human-centeredness) is the worldview context out of which these self-destructive and ecocidal drivers emerge. This understanding is vital because most proposed "solutions" or "fixes" to abrupt climate mayhem (global weirding) just exacerbate ecological overshoot, which is our real, intractable predicament. They also nearly all rely on the very things driving collapse and ecocide in the first place.

FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH RELIGIOUS NATURALISM

[Boudica]

So you're telling me there's a chance.

[meidaslisa]

Thank you Michael Dowd. You appear periodically with an even better video and resources just when we need them most!

[TennesseeJed]

"The truth will set you free, but first it'll piss you off" sums up a lot for me, sort of a mini Kubler-Ross refresher. William Catton Jr's observation of yeast in a wine vat really illustrates our hubris as if we were smarter than yeast.

Thanks again Reverend Reality Dowd for reminding me of the greater thou, I reckon that's what great theologians do best. Thanks again for what you and your wife do to soothe souls and migrate trees.

[headshot]

Overcome fear by accepting the inevitability of your end. We all die. Get over it. While you wait, help relieve the pain and anguish of those around you.

[kwood]

These videos are such a gift - thank you so much for sharing. For so long, I felt alone in my thoughts on this. To hear them stated and elaborated on so eloquently as you do is music to my soul Michael.

[alexspringett]

As you say Language is everything - here in the UK the media describes the situation as 'the fight against climate change', doesn't really give the impression its going to be a kind effort towards the planet does it! I wonder if the media will ever get around to discussing overshoot ?! As always excellent work

[gritskennedy]

AGREED i have been saying this since i was 15yrs old! I even wrote an entire composition a report on nuclear waste and the nuclear holicost that had been left for future generations to suffer! There should never be created anything that has no certain path or method of stopping or reversing!

[oneirishpoet]

Thanks for sharing your meaningful insights and perspective in these videos, they have helped me begin to have a greater acceptance of the certain collapse that is to come. Since 2012 when I realized we were headed towards total ecological collapse within a few years I have been. Really depressed and anxious while also trying to live my life serving my wife and dog and the patients I care for at the hospital. Some days it all seems so meaningless and I feel like just lying down and not getting up again...

[oliviachipperfield]

Another awesome presentation!
Lately I have been thinking a lot about death. I find that the more I think about my inevitable death, the more I feel comfortable with it. I'm not talking about suicide, necessarily, but that I am reaching a greater acceptance of civilizational and environmental collapse. Although there are many people that I love dearly, I feel that our species is a most unfortunate evolution. I am trying my darndest to not be a bitter misanthrope lol. When its time to die, I will turn my body back over to the earth, giving thanks for my time on this glorious planet. Perhaps in death, I will be of more use to the earth - fertilizer, food for other species. I feel that it's the least I can do! 😀

[rotortiller]

My own life's journey at 61 runs together with the whole message of this video, born into a family living on a mixed farm with no electricity, running water or telephone it has been a race to get into this competitive destruction event of and get as much as you can while you can because that was what seemed to be the normal conditioning of progress.
Denial is a stronger resource than truth in every aspect of our society in shaping our collective willingness to prove our value and secure our richness.

[Matt-fzvm]

Thank you for the work you're doing.
🕊

[marirose]

Thank you ❤❤❤. Your series have been pivotal in my understanding!

[sirierieott]

Wonderful summary of a sorry situation.
I’ve been finding my own way for the last 25 years after 25 years in advertising in London. The obvious conclusion to this anthropocide is a new refreshed Earth eventually. Thank you for your work, you’ve been a great source of reassurance in my own path of following: ‘action is the antidote to despair’.

[miguelangelgonzalez]

Extremely accurate & positive that is

[steveberkson]

Keep pounding the drums..for my part I try to live right, love it while I(we) can. I’ve passed a couple of your talks forward, family and friends..I try..

[uncastyphoon]

Have you read Wendell Berry? In a less direct way he espoused the worthiness of right action and humility, specifically as it pertained to agriculture and farming but the philosophy had much broader application. I am happy that you have squared away your position towards G.McP. A metaphor I use for our predicament is this: a single person (represents civilization) can push a car to a cliff edge and but once it goes over the edge he does not posses the ability to stop it, and certainly not the ability to pull it back

[bumblebee]

Human beings are ephemeral, but the biosphere is enduring.

[emilegirard]

Another wonderful video, thank you Michael.

[interstellarphred]

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no when the levee breaks.

[islandvibez]

The Southeast Asian Haze of the 90s and 00s are absolute signs of ecocide. The Indonesian gov't permitted massive burning of carbon-rich peat swamp forests to clear the land and plant the palm oil in a hastily done manner.=