Be like a wizard or a prophet? How do you approach the ecological crisis?

............................................................... Illustration is taken from this site.
by Rianne Kat

The wizard and the prophet
The topic of the philosophy night was human-nature relations. The other guest speaker was ecologist and nature coach Barry van den Ende. Bas Keemink, philosopher and stand-up comedian moderated the evening. Roughly 30 participants joined us in the cosy café while the rain was pounding the windows.

I started with a short talk to show the great diversity in ways people approach the ecological crisis. This is where the wizard and the prophet came in. They are metaphors developed by Charles Mann, a science journalist from the United States. The wizard sees the solutions for the ecological crisis in technological solutions that make people independent from the ecosystems they live in. When these technological solutions cause unintended ecological effects, a wizard will address these problems through yet another technology. The prophet, however, considers this way of working as being the heart of the problem. People should not try to conquer ecological boundaries, but find ways to live within those boundaries. This does especially require changes in habits and cultures, more efficiency, reduced demands, less consumerism, etc. Additionally, many prophets are also convinced that the human population should decrease to avoid ecological catastrophe. The preachy tendencies of many prophets – live modestly, don’t take more than you really need, don’t make waste – is what earned them the name ‘prophet’.

“How can these categories of wizard and prophet be used?”, one participant asked. “Does this imply that prophets don’t want to meddle with nature at all?”, asked another. After a bunch of clarifying questions, the conversation just flowed naturally. Most participants felt more connected to the prophet. Many shared the idea that technology has unintended side-effects and that it is arrogant to think that it can solve anything. Others also saw a deeper problem with the wizard: “Should we want to completely mould nature to our will? Who do we think we are?”. Some participants felt connected to the wizard as well and argued: “The mindset of the wizard can bring innovations that we need, but we need to listen to the prophet and become more economical, efficient and careful with the environment”.

Sustainability in people’s daily lives
After the sharing of thoughts on the ways to sustainability envisioned by the wizard and the prophet, we tried to bring the discussion closer to people’s daily lives. You can agree with the vision of the prophet, but do you also live like one? This was Barry’s cup of tea. Participants shared their own prophet-like attempts to live sustainably: “I try to ask myself ‘what do I really need?’ I brush my teeth and grind my coffee by hand so that I don’t use unnecessary electrical devices. But I also drive a camper from 1986, so I’m merely fiddling in the margins.”

We concluded that the ‘wizards’ in our society do not feel the need to give up anything. They want freedom to choose whatever they want, comfort and carefree joy. Their idea is that this lifetime will remain or will become feasible, when technologies like nuclear energy and geo-engineering are used. The ‘prophets’, including most participants in the café, feel the need to make different decisions, sometimes even give up on some things, and live closer to nature. They consider or have stopped flying or eating hamburgers. The participants, however, also realized that they could personally make very little difference, leading to the well-known feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy: “Can anyone tell me what to do?”, one participant asked, slightly desperate. Barry’s answer was: Trying to save the earth is too big, just do your best.” Someone else noted that being a prophet is not that burdensome: “Building your own tiny house is fun too!”