"The world we have created is in great danger of destruction"

Climate change: Environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht proposes a new form of governance - 20 Minutes

• Former academic, environmental specialist, Glenn Albrecht published his book "Emotions of the Earth" on February 27, 2020.
• The Australian is known for having coined the term  solastalgia  to define the depression felt by people who are victims of a degradation of their environment and their habitat.
• According to him, faced with climate challenges and the new world that is looming, a new, more intense form of democracy must emerge, in which all living organisms on this planet would have their place.

What if, after this coronavirus crisis, we changed everything? It is in any case the will of many scientists and intellectuals, crossing the line, for weeks, with blows from the stands and calls to common sense, with a capitalist society that they judge in agony.

One of them, Glenn Albrecht, had gone further. Before them, before this crisis. Sensitive for many years to the devastating effects of climate change and the degradation of biodiversity, this Australian, environmental philosopher and former professor of sustainable development at the University of Newcastle, published, at the end of February, a veritable ode to the nature and planet Earth:  The emotions of Earth (*). A title imbued with unconditional love for our world. And whose subtitle resonates even more strongly in recent weeks:  New words for a new world.

In your book, you explain that the crying of non-humans built you as a man. You lived, as a child, between concrete and nature. Is this environment at the origin of your sensitivity to "emotions of the Earth"?

I grew up in southwest Australia. It is one of the places on the planet where biodiversity is the richest. When you live there, you feel like you are part of a vibrant ecosystem. As a child, I was able to develop my love of nature by interacting with what is called the bush, where snakes, birds, kangaroos are an integral part of the landscape.

As an adult, I was able to fully experience this love of my land, and of the non-humans who live there, plants and animals. It's part of me. I'm connected to nature and I can't help looking for it wherever I go. For example, in Paris, I went to the Jardin des Plantes because I wanted to see birds. I wanted to see life, other than ours. And I'm also happy to tell you that I found them (the birds)!

Are you worried about global warming? In the 5th episode of our series “2020, new crazy years” we offer a little psychological test #solastalgia #ClimateCrisis https://t.co/PBEafrlOpK via @ 20minutes pic.twitter.com/u91t1u8Dg4

Did the violent fires that hit Australia, from November 2019 to January 2020, accentuate the suffering linked to climate change, which already existed and which you call solastalgia (**)?

Yes. We can even speak of tierriatrauma (***) because it happened suddenly, and the impact of the fire was terrible. People have died or have had to leave their homes. Over a million non-humans, animals, were burned alive ... When you think about it, it's unimaginable! It is a real shock for this whole society. These fires in Australia also generated solastalgia, but afterwards. When all these people returned to where they left their belongings, at the mercy of the flames, and they discovered their environment completely destroyed.

How do we live after that?

The world we live in today has nothing in common with that of our ancestors. Nor even with that of our grandparents. But we are behind it so we have to deal with it. We have never had such events before. In any case, not so violently. Our species has never experienced such a radical change in the past.

There, in just a decade, we experienced a great variation in temperature almost everywhere, especially in Antarctica. The fact that we have no experience of change makes us shocked and speechless at this. And we have to react with a form of understanding that we have never experienced before. So, my goal was to succeed in putting words on these new emotions that we did not know until then.

24 dead, 485 billion dollars in damages, more than 1 billion animals victims of the flames ... #AustraliaBurns https://t.co/HGvHVgbA7Q via @ 20minutes pic.twitter.com/yzaSFjAqRm

You say that the younger generations are separating from nature and life more than the previous generations, and that things are not getting better. Yet many young people around the world are fighting for the planet.

The fact is that generation Z and all the others took part in the current civilization which I call the Anthropocene (****). The Greta generation and those who want to get out of the Anthropocene era, I call them the Symbiocene generation (*****). Movements like XR, School Strike, are absolutely vital to turn the tide and stop the Anthropocene. We need the help of the younger generations to invent a future in which people want to project themselves. But without an optimistic, positive and constructive vision of our future to give us a direction to go, the protests are futile. The younger generation suffers from an emotional mess with nature. And each generation moves further away from it.

The Symbiocene era would therefore allow us to build a much better future than that which awaits us today. You have to give hope and offer creativity to people. Without it, the horizon seems very dark and without emotions. We cannot just complain and protest, wondering why we are there today.

What do you think of the policies that are being carried out around the world? Are capitalism and environmental protection compatible?

For me, capitalism is the pure representation of this domination of man over the rest of nature. But the world we have created is now under serious threat of destruction. In Australia, politicians are part of movements founded by the oil and gas industries. Politicians have therefore created a corrupt world. We can no longer trust them to take care of future generations or this planet. They do not understand !

The policies that interest me today are those that include life. We have to create a new economy, a new way of doing politics. And I think that democracy, which remains the best system we have, is no longer sufficient. We can no longer live without taking into account the other living organisms on this planet, big or small. A new, more intense form of democracy is to emerge.

Glenn Albrecht, specialist in environmental issues, was in Paris at the end of March to promote his book "The emotions of the Earth". - Réda Settar

Do you think we still have time? Some speak of a first deadline in 2040…

There are two ways of seeing things: the first is to say that we do not have enough time, so we sit in a corner, and we put our hands above our heads while swinging back and forth. And maybe death will come quickly and our suffering will not be too long. Or we decide to rebuild and declare that we do not accept this future.

Creativity, intelligence and life seem to me much more interesting than depression, death, and extinction. And which side are you? It doesn't matter if it takes ten years or twenty years, or even until the end of this century. The important thing is to start today. Once you become aware of this possible future around life, creativity and intelligence, the path is already half made. We have a choice before us, which seems easy to me if we are clever.

As for the pessimists, I have no time to waste with them. If they are in my way, I will pass them over.

(*) The emotions of the Earth. New words for a new world , by Glenn Albrecht. Ed. The links that liberate. In bookstores since February 27, 2020.

(**) Solastalgia: feeling of desolation caused by the devastation of its habitat and its territory.

(***) Terriatrauma: existential trauma caused by the gravity of the state of the Earth.

(****) Anthropocene: term which comes from geology. Refers to thermo-industrial civilization. Glenn Albrecht considers this civilization as "negative, and potentially destructive". He calls it "the exterminator of emotions".

(*****) Symbiocene: era following the Anthropocene. In the Symbiocene, according to Glenn Albrecht, the human footprint on Earth will be minimized.

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20 seconds of context

Passing through Paris in early March, Glenn Albrecht had made a stop by writing 20 Minutes . Even though the coronavirus was inexorably spreading over the world, and the bush fires that had hit its country, Australia, for several months had finally been suppressed. But the news that followed - the health crisis, then the confinement of the country on March 17, for almost two months - made us postpone the publication of the interview that the philosopher had granted us. Today, when the deconfinement of France has started, this exchange with the creator of the term "solastalgia", around a possible new world and a new era seemed to us to unexpectedly echo the current changes. That's why we decided not to wait any longer to publish it.

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