Composter - third in our Eco-news digest
Composter is our weekly digest of news and views on all things climate and environmental action from the last week or so, researched and compiled by October Books Member, Liz Batten. Of course, we link the articles to books that you can read if you want to take a deeper dive into a particular topic. We hope you find it useful and do send us your news and views too.
Capitalism and climate
Many people have been connecting the dots between capitalism and the climate crisis and taking our thinking in the direction of how we build a future that respects planetary boundaries whilst ensuring human wellbeing and safety. Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth is one of the most well known of these. Reading Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams is a great introduction to the history of how the development of capitalism gave rise to the use of human beings as property and the destruction of the environment, purely for profit. Professor Matthew T Huber’s analysis in Climate Change as a class war, has a go at reframing class in the present context, but does he find a solution? Readers, over to you:
The importance of the language we use
The language we use is so important in creating the future we want to see. We have asked for equality when perhaps we need equity. We have asked for sustainable practices when perhaps we need regenerative practice. This article highlights the importance of the language we use when moving towards a more productive relationship between citizens and community leaders when we try to engage with each other.
“Language matters in shaping perceptions and guiding behaviour. The term stakeholder is widely used, yet little attention is paid to the possibility that its use may inadvertently perpetuate colonial narratives and reinforce systemic inequities” - what should we use instead of “stakeholder”? What might change?
Biomimicry
Many people feel that we are disconnected from nature and must rethink and re-word and rework our experience of being - and biomimicry is one way of doing that. It’s an idea that Clare has been using at October books and is one of the concepts behind Doughnut Economics. If we look to nature for solutions to human problems, new ways of being can emerge. The founder of the concept, Janine Benyus, wrote Biomimicry in 1997 (sadly now out of print), and hosts the Biomimicry Institute. She briefly explains her insights in this video.
The person who takes these ideas even further is Robin Wall Kimmerer who wrote Braiding Sweetgrass. Using her exploration of her indigenous heritage she closely examines how the language we use creates our world and what we can learn from Native American understanding. A joyful and uplifting book.
