"The
myth of progress is founded on the myth of nature. The first tells us that we
are destined for greatness; the second tells us that greatness is cost-free. Each
is intimately bound up with the other. Both tell us that we are apart from the
world; that we began grunting in the primeval swamps, as a humble part of
something called ‘nature’, which we have now triumphantly subdued.
The very fact that we have a word for ‘nature’ is evidence that we
do not regard ourselves as part of it. Indeed, our separation from it is a myth
integral to the triumph of our civilisation. We are, we tell ourselves, the
only species ever to have attacked nature and won. In this, our unique glory is
contained. …….
…….We imagined ourselves
isolated from the source of our existence. The fallout from this imaginative
error is all around us: a quarter of the world’s mammals are threatened
with imminent extinction; an acre and a half of rainforest is felled every
second; 75% of the world’s fish stocks are on the verge of collapse;
humanity consumes 25% more of the world’s natural ‘products’
than the Earth can replace — a figure predicted to rise to 80% by mid-century.
Even through the deadening lens of statistics, we can glimpse the violence to
which our myths have driven us.
And over it all looms runaway
climate change."
Taken from ‘Uncivilisation
: The Dark Mountain Manifesto.’ by Paul Kingsnorth and Dougal
Hine (2009/10).
