The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkableby Amitav Ghosh
This is an exhortation to think apocalyptically from a writer of several outstanding books. I know the author as a novelist, but he offers a literary perspective on one of the most significant existential issues of our time. He does this effectively in a captivating extended essay.
He contends that the bourgeois experience is the foundation of the modern novel, which emphasizes linear time, individual moral journeys, and the predictable rhythms of everyday life. Climate events (such as superstorms or sharp sea level rise) are abrupt, extreme, and collective; they just seem too unlikely or "unrealistic" for the prevailing literary genre. According to Ghosh, this emphasis on the individual has led to a more widespread cultural exile of the concept of the collective, which is exactly what is required to solve a collective problem such as global warming.
Ghosh examines the historical factors that contributed to the current crisis, highlighting the ways in which colonialism, empire, and the emergence of the carbon economy are all intertwined. The book emphasizes that Asia, with its population and rapid industrialization, is central to both the causes and potential solutions of the climate crisis, but also faces the most devastating human consequences. He draws attention to the historical injustice that allowed the West to develop through carbon-intensive industrialization while limiting similar paths for countries in the Global South.
The book argues that contemporary political systems are inadequate in addressing the issue, pointing out that political discourse has shifted too much toward individual moral reckoning as opposed to systemic, group action. According to Ghosh, the self-interested nation-states that make up the current global political structure are essentially unable to coordinate the required worldwide response. He points out that the planet just cannot support the same high-consumption, resource-intensive lifestyle, challenging the Western-promoted idea that all countries can and should strive for it. He points to figures like Gandhi as having provided an alternate, low-carbon path that was ultimately rejected.
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He contends that the bourgeois experience is the foundation of the modern novel, which emphasizes linear time, individual moral journeys, and the predictable rhythms of everyday life. Climate events (such as superstorms or sharp sea level rise) are abrupt, extreme, and collective; they just seem too unlikely or "unrealistic" for the prevailing literary genre. According to Ghosh, this emphasis on the individual has led to a more widespread cultural exile of the concept of the collective, which is exactly what is required to solve a collective problem such as global warming.
Ghosh examines the historical factors that contributed to the current crisis, highlighting the ways in which colonialism, empire, and the emergence of the carbon economy are all intertwined. The book emphasizes that Asia, with its population and rapid industrialization, is central to both the causes and potential solutions of the climate crisis, but also faces the most devastating human consequences. He draws attention to the historical injustice that allowed the West to develop through carbon-intensive industrialization while limiting similar paths for countries in the Global South.
The book argues that contemporary political systems are inadequate in addressing the issue, pointing out that political discourse has shifted too much toward individual moral reckoning as opposed to systemic, group action. According to Ghosh, the self-interested nation-states that make up the current global political structure are essentially unable to coordinate the required worldwide response. He points out that the planet just cannot support the same high-consumption, resource-intensive lifestyle, challenging the Western-promoted idea that all countries can and should strive for it. He points to figures like Gandhi as having provided an alternate, low-carbon path that was ultimately rejected.
View all my reviews
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