The Ten Days of Christmas Awareness, a collaboration by Deep Green Resistance (the book, not the group), and me; a primer on the integral, intersectional nature of existence with particular emphasis on this time, now.

“The media report on these crises as though they are all separate issues. They are not. They are inextricably entangled with each other and with the culture that causes them. As such, all of these problems have important commonalities, with major implications for our strategy to resist them.

“These problems are urgent, severe, and worsening, and the most worrisome hazards share certain characteristics.

“These crises have long lead or lag times. The problems are often created long before they become a visible issue. They also grow or accelerate exponentially, such that action must be taken well in advance of the crisis to be effective. Although an alert minority is usually aware of the issue, the problem may have become very serious and entrenched before gaining the attention, let alone the action, of the majority. Peak oil was predicted with a high degree of accuracy in 1956. The greenhouse effect was discovered in 1824, and industrially caused global warming was predicted by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in 1896. (Page 50, Deep Green Resistance by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen, Seven Stories Press, 2011)

“Hazards have deeply rooted momentum. These crises are rooted in the most fundamental practices and infrastructure of civilization. Social convention, the concentration of power, and dominant economic systems all prevent the necessary  changes. If I ran a corporation and tried to be genuinely sustainable, the company would soon be outcompeted and go bankrupt. If I were a politician and I banned the majority of unsustainable practices, I would promptly be ejected from office (or more likely, assassinated).

“They are industrially driven. In virtually all cases, industry is the primary culprit, either because it consumes resources itself (e.g., oil and coal) or permits resource extraction and global trade that would otherwise be extremely difficult )e.g., bottom trawling). Furthermore, industrial capitalism and industrial governments offer artificial subsides for ecocidal practices that would not otherwise be economically  tenable. Factors like overpopulation (as discussed shortly) are secondary or tertiary at best.”

(Page 50 & 51, Deep Green Resistance by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen, Seven Stories Press, 2011)