Key Messages aus der Veranstaltung
#8 Verantwortungsvoller(-loser) Konsum
We urgently need narratives and visions of a future that is desirable, sustainable and practically achievable.
18. Oktober 2021
We urgently need narratives and visions of a future that is desirable, sustainable and practically achievable.
18. Oktober 2021
#8 Verantwortungsvoller(-loser) Konsum
Apocalypse, Utopia and Ernest Callenbach's Vision of an Ecological Future
Contemporary society and popular culture are permeated by narratives of catastrophe and apocalypse, and understandably so, given the direction we are heading in terms of climate change, excessive resource extraction and consumption, and unrestrained waste. While fictional disaster narratives may have once served to raise alarm and awareness of environmental issues, currently they contribute to a growing sense of fatalism and despair about changing course, evolving new behaviors and lifestyle practices and actually improving our lives in any meaningful way. What is urgently needed now are narratives and visions of a future that is desirable, sustainable and practically achievable. One such narrative was written in the mid-1970s and influenced a generation of activists, even allegedly inspiring the first Green Party in Germany, and remains as relevant and exciting today: Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia.