First Steps Towards a Viable Anthropocene
From Planet 245
by Ian Rappel
In a series that proposes how society could change in response to Covid-19, conservationist Ian Rappel critiques corporate carbon offsetting, and imagines a manifesto for tree ‘ownership’ that could be a counterpoint to such neoliberal practices, in light of plans to send a sapling to every home in Wales.
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next…. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.Sign in to read more
About the author
Ian Rappel is a radical geographer, activist, conservation ecologist and land manager living in Talgarth. He has been working in nature conservation for NGOs and in academia since 1993. He is the Director for the College for Real Farming and Food Culture at the Real Farming Trust, and a curriculum and land advisor to the Black Mountains College in Wales.
