The Memory We Could Be: Overcoming Fear to Create Our Ecological Future

“Voskoboynik’s book offers an exhilarating introduction to our ecological crisis, what caused it, and how we can imagine a better future.” —Jason Hickel, author of Less Is More The Memory We Could Be moves beyond the sterile, technical language around climate change and ecology to humanize the abstraction of global warming and bring different voices into the conversation. Drawing on sources from anthropology to hydrology, botany to economics, agronomy to astrobiology, medicine to oceanography, physics to history, the author weaves a lyrical and powerful story of our relationship with nature. The book has three parts: “Past” addresses memory. Our inability to comprehend our staggering present partly lies in our ignorance of our staggering past. We peer into the black box of history to understand how we got here. We go on a journey across the roots of our ecological crisis, from the Roman Empire to the forests of Burma, from Congolese rubber plantations, to Colombian oil fields. “Present” illustrates how climate change is shaping our world today, explores how it relates to poverties and inequalities, and equips readers with a set of intuitive instruments to understand climate impacts. “Future” looks at alternatives and strives to illustrate in human terms the world we could lose and the world we can win. It asks what we can do and develops a transformative vision of a more ecological and equitable economy. The Memory We Could Be is vital reading for all of humanity. “A gripping review of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we may be headed.” —Michael E. Mann, author of The New Climate War

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Raoul Martinez 1. The Might of Memory      Authority and humility PAST 2. Separation      Relinquishing a way of thinking      Making connections      From machines to organisms      Looking forward 3. Origins      Beginnings 4. Colonialism: The Acceleration      The impact on nature      The impact on peoples      Work and slavery      The destruction of memory      Colonialism within countries      A Cold War consensus      Violence and technology      Neocolonialism: The metabolism of misery 5. Fossil Fuels, Furious Flames      The exceptionality of fossil fuels      Black gold: The story of petroleum      Oil and power      The deceit and the delay      Recovering our historical memory 6. Human Nature or Human Ignorance?      What human nature?      The myth of collapse      A history of knowledge and ignorance      Institutions and discussions      Laws and actions      Climate change and human influence      The impotence of knowledge      Science as a way of thinking      Science's contemporary challenges      Thinking ahead PRESENT 7. The Great Burning      Atmospheric basics      Knowing climate change      What we don't know: Uncertainty and humility      Interpreting uncertainty 8. Understanding Emissions: Where, Who, What, When and How      Where: Types of emissions      Who: Emissions and authorship      What: Temperatures and targets      When: Too little, too late      How: The carbon budget and the roadmap      Literacy and ambition 9. The Poverty of Wealth: Economics and Ecology      Metabolism      Prosperity      The true costs      Routes ahead 10. The World at 1°C: A Guide to Climate Violence      Extreme weather and climate conditions      The inequality of exposure      Social conditions      Climate violence and you      Poverties, strictures and precarities      A story we can't tell FUTURE 11. A Plausible Future: Approaching Apocalypse     Trendlines      Health      New horizons of heat      Adaptation and loss      Blame and opportunism      Ecological conflict      A world beyond 4°C      Reactions and responses 12. A Possible Future: The World We Can Win      Solutions in a complex world      Connection      Humility      Radicalism not romanticism      Avoiding false solutions      Democracy, diversity and accountability      The paradox of pace      The business of boldness 13. A Mosaic of Alternatives      An economy of life      Justice      Nourishment      The commons      Energy      Dismantling hierarchy      Care      Restoration      Adaptation      Education and culture      Healing      Reconstruction: Cities and space 14. What Then Must We Do?      Stepping into the sea      Connection and solidarity      Communication      Ordinary hope 15. Hope, A Horizon Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author About New Society Publishers

About the Author :
Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik is a young journalist and activist. His work has been published in Pacific Standard, Open Democracy, and New Internationalist. He is the co-founder and co-editor of www.worldat1C.org, a communications initiative designed to humanize the ecological crisis and clarify its causes.