Naomi Klein: addicted to risk?

Naomi Klein gave a TED presentation in January. The whole talk lasts 20 minutes – I’ll pick out her theme about stories. She asks why do people keep gambling with the environment? Why take the crazy risks we do? What greed, hubris, recklessness was evident in BP’s approach to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill … she referred to the power of story: narratives of frontier, pioneer, destiny, apocalypse, salvation are at work. An assumption of limitlessness is the master narrative. But we are hitting limits. So the message becomes about ignoring the creeping fears. Now, we begin drilling for oil in very dangerous places. For example the tarsands in Alberta, that she described as terrestial skinning, producing 3x as much greenhouse emissions as other kinds of extraction, devastating forest. A belief persists that at the last minute we will get saved – geoengineering projects, giant experiments where science states the risks are entirely unknown. Yet these stories can be greeted with relief, euphoria. We do not have to change our habits after all. She concluded we need new stories badly, with different kinds of heroes facing different kinds of risk – confronting recklessness head on, putting precautionary principle into practice, maybe using direct action. Replacing a linear narrative of endless growth with circular narratives: reminding us that what goes round comes round. This is our only home, there is no escape hatch. Call it karma or physics (action / reaction), but stories that hold life is too precious to be risked for any profit.

For Naomi Klein’s talk, go to:

http://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_klein_addicted_to_risk.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-01-20&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Advertisement

---