by Alicia Priest
The Germans have a word for it: weltschmerz, world-pain, a feeling of deep sadness for the evils of society. Can you relate? Let’s be honest—anyone with a working brain knows that it’s not easy being happy in a time of unparalleled environmental destruction and rampant political corruption. The more you know, the more your heart aches. Or breaks. I’m sure there’s a connection between the tragic state of our world and growing levels of apathy, cynicism, resignation, escapism, and depression. On this ailing earth, many of us are mentally unwell.
But as any healer knows, sickness does not inevitably lead to death. Before you reach for that remote, pop another pill, or scratch yet another consumer itch, consider this: maybe, just maybe, the planet’s prognosis isn’t as terminal as the mainstream media make out. Could there be cause for hope? Absolutely, says Paul Hawken, whose books include Natural Capitalism and the just-released Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. A California-based entrepreneur, environmentalist, and social activist, Hawken believes humanity is collectively and instinctively rising to the challenge of an unprecedented man-made crisis in an extraordinary—yet near-invisible—way.
Hawken spoke in Victoria last month as part of the Gaining Ground Summit, a conference on sustainable development. In his well-attended talk at Victoria’s Royal Theatre, he defined this response as a “movement” made up of hundreds of thousands—if not more than a million—non-profit and non-governmental organizations working around the world. This movement has three prongs: the environmental movement, the social justice movement, and indigenous cultures’ resistance to globalization. In Canada, groups range from the Canadian Ape Alliance (advances conservation of all great apes) to the Canadian Native Friendship Centre (advocates concerns of aboriginal peoples) to the Council of Canadians (promotes progressive policies on a range of issues such as clean water, safe food, and public health care).
Leadership aimed at addressing these life-and-death issues will never come from so-called political or corporate leaders. The global political world is largely corrupt, Hawken said. And because the legacy of this corruption is currently playing out, don’t expect any sudden improvements.
“It will be the stroke of midnight for the rest of our lives,” he cautioned.
Change for the better, however, is also in play, in the form of millions of smart, tireless, and dedicated people working (many as volunteers) on solutions to everything from climate change to human rights abuses. And while these grassroots efforts may seem insignificant compared to the Darth Vader-like forces that be, Hawken believes they will percolate from the ground up, spread, and ultimately prevail.
But if this social phenomenon is so massive and widespread, why haven’t we heard more about it? Because the movement, having no name, no leader, no central location, and no ideology, has been ignored by the media, Hawken said. It also, he quipped, “has no charismatic male vertebrate in charge.” What it does have is ideas.
Historically, disorganization and shapelessness have not won any victories. But Hawken believes that what worked in the past won’t work now. The movement’s amoeba-like qualities may be its greatest strengths. Just as the immune system—amorphous, incredibly complex, and mysterious—gears up when confronted with a threat, so pockets of humanity are rising up in a spontaneous, yet splintered, fashion. Their aim is not to save the world so much as to remake it.
Hoping to encourage networking and counter despair, and thus spur on the good fight, Hawken and colleagues have created an evolving global database of environmental and social justice organizations called WiserEarth (wiserearth.org). Hawken has become something of a non-leader of this leaderless movement.
But is he onto something? Can all these groups, working separately but for similar goals, change what appears to be an intractable state of affairs? Hawken closed his talk with a reminder that many audience members have felt severely ill and then, over time, experienced their immune system rallying and transforming them from sickness to health. Will that same happy turn occur on a global scale? “I don’t know,” Hawken said. “I hope so.”
Hope is healthy. So, too, is a little knowledge of history. Humanity has overcome some terrible tribulations in the past. Perhaps with the efforts of the untold thousands that Hawken describes and who often toil in obscurity, the “irreversible” slide to ecological ruin may not be a fait accompli.
Alicia Priest is a Victoria freelance writer who hopes so, too.
