Progress

Posted on by
Reply

The world is in a constant state of forward momentum. Whether it be the technological advancements that allow us to connect with others across the globe instantly or the social progress that allows the LGBTQ+ community to marry those they love. This momentum is far from a steady path, yet with every passing generation and year, societal values are ever changing.

Terror management theory interacts with this tug-of-war for progress in two primary ways. First, it serves as a backbone to why so many are reluctant to accept change, suggesting that people seek familiarity in community and norms when they feel under threat, feeding into discriminatory and conservative values, which in turn keep the flame of agitation alive, forming a feedback loop. Secondly, terror management theory also poses the opposite, that when people feel secure, they are willing to explore new cultural positions. This explains the wave of social progress seen following the industrial revolution. People are wealthier across the board, they have greater access to services and goods that enable this sense of security, ultimately allowing them to broaden their horizons and subscribe to progressive movements such as suffrage and racial equality.

While progress of the mind may be a constant, it faces a hurdle in the actual institution of policy. Those in power are generally those who face the greatest perceived threat to change, being some of the most wealthy and in the ruling demographic. This applies to national governance, but as I learned through my action project work with the UW chapter of the Institution Climate Action coalition, almost every legacy institution feels under threat and relies upon conservatism to maintain feelings of power. In the instance of UW and the ICA, we see a reliance on dirty money from fossil fuel companies.

These systemic layers of power are the primary reason why so many people feel powerless to institute change, and given that those in power are the last to adopt change, it feels like our society is much further behind than it should be.These feelings of powerless were present in our action project as much of the coalitions actions were easily brushed off. While this powerlessness is potent and hard to emotionally overcome, the most important pieces of social progress of modern history have all been led and supported by people without this institutional power, but are still able to stress the importance of progress and achieve their goals.

Final Blog Post: Solving the collective action problem

Posted on by
Reply

Collaboration Is a Key Skill. So Why Aren't We Teaching It?

My paper is about solving the collective-action problem that inhibits humanity from creating sustainable communities. I highlight five major key points.

  1. We must understand the insecurities created by fear of death.
  • Worm at the core gives examples of how insecurities lead to violent tendencies and self-destructive behavior
  1. TDM is essential for creating strong communities that are necessary for fostering sustainable habits
  • Worm at the core gives solid evidence that explains individuals with strong bonds are more likely to collaborate.
  • Strong communities mean that individual values and goals become group goals
  • People are more likely to live selflessly, this means giving back to the community in a sustainable way. Recycling, Reusing, etc
  1. We need to cultivate a culture that promotes sustainability
  • Cultures are a set of informal rules and norms, often times they are more influential 
  • Culture can spread awareness
  1. Sacrifice is needed for change
  • Self-sacrifice must be ingrained in a sustainable culture
  • Litfin mentions that a sustained cycle of life and death must involve sacrafice
  • The planets life-force functions on the earths organisms taking but also being able to give back
  • For example, planting three trees after cutting down three trees
  1. Solving the collective action problem
  • The tipping point (motivating the moderate voter)
  • Pressuring key legislature
  • Organizing a movement
  • Public accountability
  • Incentivizing the public

 

Although I don’t mention it very much in the paper, my project, beyond plastics, is about creating legislation that incentivizes people to recycle, reuse and reduce. It’s also very important to note that the legislation Beyond Plastics is trying to pass is intended to be the groundwork for future sustainable practices. But I think the most important part of the project is getting people to collaborate. To answer the question of solving the collective action problem, we can look at our group projects. The assignment is structured where individual goals are aligned with group goals, thus incentivizing individuals to work together toward a common goal. This is a selective incentive that is critical to understanding my paper. The paper is structured as follows, understanding how we can optimize individuals into a group activity and optimize groups efficiently and get more people involved in the group. 

My conclusion is this: Our deaths have meaning through our actions and the sacrifices we make. Our histories are built upon the collective contributions of every individual who has ever lived. Group action is crucial to progress, but individual action is the first step.

Creating My Own “Skin” In This Weird Game

Posted on by
Reply

A bird house hung on a tree in the quad

For years now, I’ve felt disconnected from the world around me. The hyper-individualization of the climate crisis led to internalized guilt, shame, and frustration, which manifested into defensive, nihilistic-like apathy. I knew composting one cup wouldn’t change the rate at which the oceans were heating, so why bother? I didn’t feel like I had agency, and more than that, I felt I didn’t have “skin in the game.” This is a concept taken from Britt Wray’s book, “Generation Dread” which has continued to resonate with me. I kept questioning: if we don’t feel that we have “skin” in the game, what inspires us to dream of and fight for a better future? 

Two deer eating grass I spotted on a drive.

Among many other lessons, this course taught me that while we may not be able to stop death, we do have agency and with it, the power to create our own “skin.” We have pathways towards managing death anxiety (TMT), we have resources to help us move forward (“Active Hope”), and most impactful (and cliche) of all, we have each other to help solve this problem. We inherited the sins of our progenitors, and while it’s unfair, we have to be the ones to fix them. I won’t lie that this is a daunting task, but it is powerful to realize that we are an agentic collective. While my action project felt disjointed, limiting, and generally not generative, it did help me recognize that despite a lot of outward apathy, all of my peers were dreaming of a better future, we were just worried our hopes would lead to disappointment. Moreover, the group project reminded me of group agency (our ability to do something together, even if it felt semi insignificant) and our shared purpose.

An owl in the tree spotted on my daily walk.

It’s also powerful to recognize that I have individual agency, that doesn’t detract from, but strengthens collective action. This was most inspired by systems thinking, which has allowed me to develop a greater understanding of the world’s complex integration systems and the importance of purpose. I have realized that to be part of collective solutions, I have to create my own purpose first. So, I began that process this quarter. I spent time everyday creating my own “skin” by taking photos of things that reminded me of why I had an incentive to continue fighting, hoping, and dreaming of a better future, which has been incredibly empowering. For the first time, I not only feel connected to the world, but able to do something to ensure its future – both by myself and collectively. 

Systems Thinking, Death, and Love

Posted on by
Reply

This class helped me put my actions within a larger context and taught me that death allows me to love the world more deeply. I was part of the Save the Orcas action project where my group and I created Instagram posts for their campaign. Although spending time with my group members and working together towards a common task was fun, I feel that my work did not substantially help the orcas. Even so, as activists, it’s important to celebrate the intermediate steps whenever we feel like we haven’t advanced our goals enough (Mary & Johnstone 223). While I did not feel like I helped orcas, this project taught me how to present information in consumable small bites and how to communicate in a visual manner. In this modern world where information flows at a rapid rate, to catch people’s attention I will need to communicate in an attractive and digestible manner. The result of my action project is not the end point but fits into my larger conservation journey.

One of the quotes that resonated with me the most is in In Praise of Mortality, Barrows and Macy say, “with only a short time remaining to the cities we have built… there is no other act but loving this world more deeply” (10). In the context of death, everything I have and everyone I love will be gone one day. It is because I know that painful time will come that I want to treasure and love them more deeply while I still have the time to. I don’t want to take anything for granted anymore and will treasure what I do have rather than continuously pursue something more. In the context of the Anthropocene where there is geological, atmospheric, and political disorder, perhaps this is exactly the time where I need to love the most. Because it is love that makes me treasure the falling cities at all. Love helps me look through the disorder and reminds me why I am fighting to better the world because I love this world so much in the first place. I will face death with love. I will face the incoming Anthropocene with love.

In the zombie apocalyptic video game “The Last of Us”, the two main characters admire a herd of giraffes that now roam within the fallen city. Journey’s End by Orioto.

 

Death Anxiety as a Barrier to Climate Action

Posted on by
Reply

Death acceptance is a valuable tool for building a more sustainable future. If humans overcome death anxiety, prioritizing natural systems and far out goals for the future become easier. This is because environmental movements often deal with long time frames and forward-thinking. Terror Management Theory suggests that humans intrinsically avoid death reminders. How can we think about climate change without envisioning a world in which we don’t exist? Thinking critically about sustainability means thinking beyond our own lifespans. 

In daily life, humans don’t often choose to think outside of our 100 years. Even though, geologically, 100 years is practically insignificant, our lifespan feels long and monumental. To think beyond 100 years is to perceive mortality. Humans disregard sustainability because it forces them to contemplate their own mortality. To live for the future is to acknowledge that you are acting to benefit a future that does not include you. Sustainability is hard because we don’t want to think about that. 

My experiences during our group’s action project directly counters this fear of mortality. By having conversations with people I normally wouldn’t speak to about death, as interviews for our video project, I opened the conversation to denial of death, personal beliefs, and our collective fears of the idea of not existing one day. What initially seemed like a rough conversation quickly began to ease my uncertainty and helped me form stronger bonds with the people I interviewed. 

While death anxiety may encourage us to limit our thinking in terms of sustainability, conversations about death give us room to process our emotions without falling into the false belief that we’re alone in our thinking. As we learned through Terror Management Theory and in this course, humans seem to internalize fears of death in similar ways. Discussing death directly addresses the elephant in the room. I found that after having a conversation about death, rather than spiraling in my mind, I was less adverse to thinking about large-scale worldly issues, like climate change. 

Death conversations increase humanity’s tolerance to mortality as a whole–a state we must reach to survive. We are mortal beings. Denying this drives us to ignore a future without us. Throughout history people even like to feel like they’re “building a better future” for next generations. To accept death is to open conversations about planet Earth in the coming centuries and prioritize protecting our natural resources for future generations. 

What Did I Learn This Quarter?

Posted on by
Reply

While my action project experience in this class could have been better, I am able to recognize the valuable lessons I learned from it – primarily about the importance of having a group leader. If we had one person taking charge, I think we could have gotten a lot more done. Regardless, I am proud of how we came together in the end to create engaging and informative content, despite our busy schedules.

In the context of our class, I found that our project, promoting the passage of legislation aimed to revolutionize plastic recycling in Washington, perfectly represents political ecology. We live in a system where we elect individuals to make environmental policy decisions on our behalf, and this recycling bill relies on them to pass it. I don’t want to say that my group’s action project was worthless (because I think there is a lot of value in public education), but we should acknowledge that a social media campaign will likely have a limited impact on the decisions made in Olympia.

Honestly, that is the reality of political ecology in the Anthropocene.

As far as the other action projects, WashPIRG’s Save the Orcas campaign was what finally allowed me to understand what our class was about. I could see that, like my group’s, theirs hinged on the actions of legislators, and that Senator Cantwell’s refusal to support breaching the dams might be motivated in some way by her fear of dying. Relatedly, the Ernest Becker group was contributing to the study of conceptions of death, which is beneficial in helping us to predict whether future environmental reforms might be possible in the face of climate disaster, given that Terror Management Theory explains our actions in response to death reminders. As this group mentioned in class, they were frustrated at the constraints they were given by the people in power over them, which is exactly what the ICA is for. This last group’s action project was directly investigating the political ecology of UW in the Anthropocene and trying to get our Board of Regents to follow through on their fossil fuel divestment commitments, again relying on people in power.

All in all, while it wasn’t my own group’s action project that led to me discovering the true meaning of our class, it was the action projects of our class in general that helped me to understand what it means to survive the political ecology of death in the Anthropocene.

How then shall I live?

Posted on by
Reply

My major takeaway from this course regards how I want to proceed with living my life.

We have learned that death anxiety rules our lives and decisions, and that we cope through various forms of terror management. This constant fear drives our species to war, industrialization, colonization, exploitation, and now to the brink of a planetary climate disaster.

One of our contemplative practices asked us to consider three mindsets. Where 1) the world is generally getting worse, 2) the world is generally getting better, and 3) the world is how it is. I find the 3rd mindset to be the most realistic and empowering. In this view, we see the world as it is without sugarcoating it or focusing purely on evils. In this view, humanity has agency. We can sit back and continue our trajectory toward a terrible future, or we can choose to collaborate, innovate, and save our species from collapse.

With this mindset of agency, I am struck by the question: “how then shall I live?”

I need to start with my forms of terror management. Before this course, my management consisted of spree online shopping to fill a non-existent gap in my life and constant distractions because silence allowed intrusive thoughts to run rampant. These are unsustainable strategies.

Professor Jem Bendall in his video about Deep Adaptation asks viewers to cherish what they have. To enjoy life in the short time that we have it. Though I talk about why I dislike Bendall’s perspective in another blog post, I have come to accept this concept when taken alongside the strategies presented in Active Hope, the relief and fulfillment of volunteer work like my action project for WashPIRG’s Save the Orcas, and the hope that humanity still has agency to change.

Image Credit: Syracuse Peace Council

To answer the question “how then shall I live?,” I must adjust my terror management. Rather than needlessly consuming, I can focus on being grateful for what I already have. Rather than constantly distracting myself, I can spend more meaningful time with friends and family to feel reassured that I have people I care about who also care about me. I can take part in local efforts that better my community and environment. I can make changes like being better about recycling and using my purchasing power to favor local, sustainable businesses. I can choose to live with hope.

There are easily implementable things I can do to live a more conscientious and sustainable life without drastically changing my lifestyle. I don’t know if this is enough, but I hope that between collective individual action, death anxiety harnessed by corporate inventors to find technological solutions, and global politicians trying to one-up each other, we will find a way to persist as a species.

Lonely in an 8 billion crowd

Posted on by
Reply

November 15, 2022.

It is the morning of a Tuesday, 10:30 am. I am heading to our class and everything feels so normal. When I entered the classroom, I heard some of my classmates talking about something, some with excitement and some with concern. “We hit 8 billion people tonight”, “That is a new record”….

Fast forward to this week, Most of our readings for last were about how birthrates decline. USA, Spain, Japan, China, Portugal and more, are countries that expect to have a declining population, some even going to half, by the end of the century. According to the Washington Post article, “More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, new poll says, as U.S. birthrate declines”, Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 were asked how likely it is for them to have kids at some point of their lives. The data made clear that less people wanted to have kids, but that is not what had my attention from the article. In 2018, the most popular answer of why adults without kids do not want to have kids, said that they just don’t have any desire to become parents. In the next research though, that took place on 2021, the most popular answers were medical issues, financial insecurity and lack of partner. That was so surprising to me. Eight billion people on planet earth, and people are still struggling to find a match. How is that possible?

I cannot answer that without referring to the pandemic. All of us felt isolated, feared for the our lives and the lives of our beloved ones. But the pandemic also brought to the surface. We all got a better understanding of climate change, of how vulnerable economies are, the impacts we have to the environment etc. I find a huge correlation to the changes in the responds and the “moments” of clarity that this pandemic gave us. If countries and governments want to find solutions to the birthrate that keeps declining, then they should probably start finding solutions to the actual problems that cause the uncertainty. Some days ago I saw a video about the creation of a “baby factory”, where lab babies will be created and developed in technological advanced wombs. Scientists will be able to interfere with every step of the development and potentially “fix” any anomalies that occur in the dna. With that technology, 30,000 babies will be born every year. That just left me wondering, is that another distraction so we don’t face the real problems?

Death Anxiety, Culture, and the Public

Posted on by
Reply

My group’s action project had a lot less to do with political policy and action than other groups. Instead of supporting real campaigns with campaign goals, we were tasked to make a video for the Ernest Becker Foundation introducing Ernest Becker’s work, death anxiety, and what the Ernest Becker Foundation did.

Initially, I found the project to be frustrating because of how limiting it was; as we mentioned in class, we were discouraged from pursuing a more critical lens regarding death anxiety, but we managed to get some in there regardless by having our experts touch on the biases in the research. I also wanted to be able to draw more concretely on what we had learned in class, but incorporating complex ideas would require complex explanations, and there just isn’t time for that in a video that’s meant to be consumable by the public. So instead, our video acted as a sort of survey introduction to the topic of death and death anxiety which did, in fact, raise some issues and/or goals for research on death anxiety in the future.

The aim of our video, in essence, was to get people thinking about the ways they thought about death and how that might be related to other cultural outcomes. The questions we asked our student-interviewees reflected this in particular (How often do you think about death? What do you feel when you think about death? How do people’s feelings about death impact our culture and broader society?). We were really surprised with how reflective students seemed to be in response to this question, and it gave us a bit more hope for the future.

The student interviewees’ responses, though, are symbolic of some of the goals that a video like this has. While there is no guarantee that this video will reach more than a handful of people, our video might encourage them to reflect on their own experiences with death and death anxiety to recognize the detriment it causes in their own life. Hopefully, as a result, they would engage in more compassionate behavior and reject cultural frameworks that perpetuate harm, slowly building towards a more equitable, just, and safe future.