If the World is to be Saved

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Daniel Quinn is best known for his book Ishmael, which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991. But it is in his second book, The Story of B, that Daniel Quinn suggests the following:

If the world is saved, it will not be by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all.

This provocative quote suggests that no matter how many new laws are passed or programs put into place, we will continue to spin our wheels until we let go of the belief that humans belong to an order of being that is separate from and superior to the rest of the living community.

Presently, organizations and individuals are advocating for new policies and programs to reduce climate change, but they assume that humans can do so while maintaining their view that “man” can master the planet and place it under lock and key.

The last one hundred years have seen a rapid increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity made possible by the Agricultural Revolution. The world’s population, on its current growth trajectory, is expected to reach nearly 9 billion by the year 2040. Developing programs and policies to reduce our impact on the planet is what it is, but doing so while simultaneously giving life to almost 3 billion more people over the next thirty+ years highlights that it isn’t programs that will ultimately reduce our impact, but rather a change in attitude of how we live with the planet and other living species. New ways of thinking and living won’t emerge until we accept that current ones are not sustainable.