{"id":3758,"date":"2013-06-11T09:14:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T08:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=3758"},"modified":"2013-06-11T09:14:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T08:14:23","slug":"time-to-learn-to-stop-worrying-and-to-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2013\/06\/11\/time-to-learn-to-stop-worrying-and-to-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to learn to stop worrying and to love ..."},"content":{"rendered":"

No, not the bomb, in the\u00a0Dr Strangelove<\/a> sense. \u00a0Rather, in a John Foster sense, it's climate change:<\/p>\n

this irruption of the ineliminably wild back into lives which had forgotten it.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was one of the main themes of John's I-SEE seminar<\/a> in Bath the other week in which he explored a wide-ranging set of post-sustainability issues. \u00a0One of the reasons I like reading John's books is the arresting nature of his language. \u00a0I turn pages, anticipating the next assault on my senses. \u00a0It's the same when he gives talks. \u00a0Here are a few sound bites<\/p>\n

The global alarm clock must be set very firmly to snooze<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sustainability policy and planning is trying to do serious engineering work with a set of lead spanners<\/span><\/p>\n

Conceptual vertigo: we keep on pretending because we daren't look down<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A peculiar form of life endeavour: the project of having projects<\/span><\/p>\n

Willed optimism warps thought (and inhibits learning)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A point that struck me with some force was John's argument that sustainability\u00a0is now a hegemonic future-focused discourse which\u00a0occludes concern for the present, and that, because the present was the\u00a0originally focus of environmentalism, we no longer have adequate language to focus on the natural world as it is now. \u00a0This loss of a present-focus applies to environmental education as well, it seems to me.<\/p>\n

All this reminded me of Chesterton's epic poem of white horses<\/a>,\u00a0which seems more apt by the day. \u00a0In this, Mary, the mother of Christ, says this to Alfred, ahead of his battle with the Danes at Ethandune in May 878:<\/p>\n

\u2026\u00a0The wise men know what wicked things<\/span><\/p>\n

Are written on the sky,<\/span><\/p>\n

They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing the heavy purple wings,<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the forgotten seraph kings<\/span><\/p>\n

Still plot how God shall die.<\/span><\/p>\n

The wise men know all evil things<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the twisted trees,<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the perverse in pleasure pine<\/span><\/p>\n

And men are weary of green wine<\/span><\/p>\n

And sick of crimson seas.<\/span><\/p>\n

You and all the kind of Christ<\/span><\/p>\n

Are ignorant and brave,<\/span><\/p>\n

And you have wars you hardly win<\/span><\/p>\n

And souls you hardly save.<\/span><\/p>\n

I tell you naught for your comfort,<\/span><\/p>\n

Yea, naught for your desire,<\/span><\/p>\n

Save that the sky grows darker yet<\/span><\/p>\n

And the sea rises higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Night shall be thrice night over you,<\/span><\/p>\n

And heaven an iron cope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have joy without a cause,<\/span><\/p>\n

Yea, faith without a hope?<\/span><\/p>\n

...<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I live 5 miles from 'Ethandune'.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, not the bomb, in the\u00a0Dr Strangelove sense. \u00a0Rather, in a John Foster sense, it's climate change: this irruption of the ineliminably wild back into lives which had forgotten it. This was one of the main themes of John's I-SEE...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-talks-and-presentations"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}