Yuen and Angus debate ‘environmental catastrophism’

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Replying to a critique in Monthly Review, Eddie Yuen says Ian Angus “misses my central problematic of politicization.” Angus says Yuen’s response displays “the most debilitating of common leftist neuroses.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The exchange below refers to two earlier essays:

The Politics of Failure Have Failed by Eddie Yuen, in the book Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth, by Sasha Lilley, David McNally, Eddie Yuen, and James Davis, (Oakland: PM Press, 2012)

The Myth of ‘Environmental Catastrophism’ by Ian Angus, a review of Yuen’s essay, in Monthly Review, September 2013

In the December 2013 Monthly Review, Yuen replies to Angus’s review, and Angus responds. Those articles are published below, with permission. Click here to learn more about Monthly Review, and to subscribe.


REPLY TO ‘THE MYTH OF ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHISM’

by Eddie Yuen

Ian Angus constructs a strawperson in his article “The Myth of ‘Environmental Catastrophism’” (MR, September 2013), which discusses Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth, which consists of essays by myself, as well as Sasha Lilley, David McNally, and James Davis.

The book is concerned with the political uses of catastrophe and whether actual catastrophes or catastrophic rhetoric can spur people to action. At the heart of Catastrophism is the question of politicization. My essay, which Angus primarily focuses upon, looks at the indisputably catastrophic and urgent devastation of the environment ­— from global warming to ocean acidification to the biodiversity crisis and beyond — and asks why environmental movements in the global North have not been effective at moving people to action by simply evoking the calamity of the situation. My contention is that the disjunction between the severity of the catastrophe and the inadequate solutions offered by mainstream environmentalism often leads to a politics of fear that is paralyzing rather than radicalizing.

In my piece, I examine a study which found that awareness of climate crisis does not necessarily lead to increased political engagement. My explanation for the findings of this study is that “by pairing catastrophic predictions with glaringly inadequate solutions, the (majority of) scientific and environmental communities have offered little to inspire mobilization.” The proof of this claim is not to be found in social science surveys, but in the absence of a climate movement that is in any way adequate to addressing the crisis at hand. While I acknowledge the tremendous efforts of a myriad of environmental movements globally, I regret that I do not share Angus’s optimism about the current state of climate politics. In the United States in 2011, both the Occupy movement and the political campaigns of both major parties scarcely mentioned the climate crisis. While I participated in the former and disdained the latter, it is significant that it is possible to not foreground the climate crisis in any political discussion in the current era. Since reference to environmental apocalypse is ubiquitous, as is witnessed by every other movie or TV show, the political invisibility of climate crisis, even on the left, must be explained.

Strangely, Angus misses my central problematic of politicization and faults me for various positions that I don’t, in fact, hold. He is wrong in his assertion that I, in any way, advocate not talking about environmental crisis. I find it bewildering that Angus reads this into the piece. Most readers have understood that I was criticizing mainstream power-neutral and class-blind environmental arguments. Even more erroneous is his contention that I in any way oppose environmental activism (I have previously co-edited a volume on social movements). I hope that curious readers will read the text and judge for themselves whether it is ambiguous on this point. All I can say is that I have never held the position that environmental crisis should not be talked about and acted upon urgently.

On the contrary, I argue that the environmental crisis is all too real and that red/greens need to intervene in environmental discourse and action in particular ways. I advocate addressing the environmental crisis in power-cognizant, historically grounded, and class-conscious ways that can shape and inform action to halt and reverse capitalism’s inveterate environmental destruction. My critique of environmental catastrophism is a critique of undifferentiated environmental politics that prematurely invoke “humanity” while ignoring gender, race, imperial, and class differences. Beware of plutocrats speaking of spaceship earth.

Angus also criticizes my essay for not covering ground that it never set out to cover, such as surveying contemporary environmental and social justice movements. My intentionally brief chapter of this intentionally brief book is not such an inventory.

The book takes stock of the various versions of apocalypse on offer with an eye towards placing them in a broader ideological context. My essay is a critique of the ideological assumptions of undifferentiated catastrophist politics in the global north. Environmental catastrophism is unique in that it addresses a genuine catastrophe which is well under way. But absent radical politics, mainstream environmental catastrophism is very likely to be mobilized by economic and national elites to reinforce existing inequalities and expand enclosures, commodification, and militarization.

Politicization is a more complex process than simply presenting the “correct line” to the masses. It is my hope and expectation that environmental and climate justice movements will expand and deepen in the upcoming years. But in my view, as the crisis deepens neoliberal environmentalism, in increasingly malevolent right-wing, Malthusian, and nationalist versions, can also be expected to grow and entrench racial, colonial, and gendered power relations. Moral condemnations of capitalism are important, but strategic assessments of the effects of undifferentiated catastrophist language are even more so. Galvanizing more people to action will mean talking about and challenging the ways in which environmental catastrophe makes some groups of people more vulnerable to harm than others.


A REPLY TO EDDIE YUEN

by Ian Angus

I’m pleased that Eddie Yuen has responded to my criticisms of his essay. The left can only gain from frank discussion of our differences.

Since he raises it as a particular concern, I will begin by saying that the issue is not whether Eddie Yuen favors environmental activism, but whether his approach may hinder the effort. Nor is the issue whether radicals should do more than just explain the science and effects of climate change: obviously we must, and I said so clearly in my article. If, as he now suggests, Yuen was simply saying that describing the environmental crisis is not sufficient, I would not have objected. But his essay said much more than that.

What my article primarily challenged was his sweeping attack on what he insists on calling “environmental catastrophism,” in a book whose express purpose is to argue that “catastrophic politics can backfire on leftists and radical environmentalists,” and “is an approach destined for the blind alley.”

I argued that the label “catastrophism” is inaccurate and divisive, that Yuen misunderstands the state of public opinion and of the environmental movement, and above all that he is wrong “to blame environmentalists for sabotaging environmentalism.”

Unfortunately, his response ignores most of what I wrote, and misrepresents his own essay.

In his essay, Yuen did not just “examine a study which found that awareness of climate crisis does not necessarily lead to increased political engagement.” He claimed the study “shows that once convinced of apoc­alyptic scenarios, many Americans become more apathetic.” He repeated that claim with a reference to geographer Cindi Katz’s 1993 statement that “a politics of fear … ultimately breeds hopelessness.”

And just in case we missed the point, Sasha Lilley emphasized it again when she summarized Yuen’s argument in the book’s Introduction: “The evidence suggests … that increasingly urgent appeals about fixed ecological tipping points typically fall on deaf ears or result in greater apathy.”

My article showed that the only study Yuen cites does not show any such thing, and that other more credible studies show the opposite. Now, when his evidence has been discredited, he dismisses as irrelevant the “social science surveys” that he introduced in the first place. He forgets that his entire argument rested on that study’s purported results. Only on that basis could he argue that “the politics of failure have failed” so a new “narrative strategy” is needed. His argument was built on sand.

Nor did Yuen simply say that the environmental movement has “offered little to inspire mobilization.” His much harsher claim was that by trying to alert the public to the extraordinary dangers posed by climate change — that is what he means by “environmental catastrophism”— scientists and environmental activists are promoting reactionary policies and strengthening the ruling class. As he now warns, “environmental catastrophism is very likely to be mobilized by economic and national elites to reinforce existing inequalities and expand enclosures, commodification, and militarization.”

Fear that the ruling class will co-opt our movements is perhaps the most debilitating of common leftist neuroses. Yuen’s essay and response display clear symptoms of that malady — and of the related delusion that by introducing some other “narrative strategy” we can inoculate listeners against ruling class ideology and “inspire mobilization.”

That is why his failure to discuss contemporary environmental justice movements is a significant omission. Those experiences show that growing awareness of the planetary emergency has not caused apathy or strengthened the right, but is actually promoting a global radical opposition to reactionary policies and authoritarian solutions.

That is what the ruling class fears. That’s why, contrary to Yuen’s repeated warnings, no significant section of the ruling class is using “environmental catastrophism” to promote reactionary policies. In fact (as last year’s U.S. election illustrated) our rulers are making extraordinary efforts to suppress awareness that any crisis exists, either by completely denying the existence of human-caused climate change, or by denying that urgent and radical measures are needed to stop it.

In my article I wrote that radicals must “work with everyone who is willing to confront any aspect of the crisis, from people who still have illusions about capitalism to convinced revolutionaries.” Similarly, in the same issue of Monthly Review, John Bellamy Foster wrote that building an “ecological popular front” is of paramount importance for the left.

A key part of that effort is giving active support to the scientists and activists who are trying to break through the capitalist conspiracy of silence on the climate crisis. If we instead denounce those key allies as “catastrophists” — an insult they’ve heard many times from reactionary climate science deniers — we will only isolate ourselves and weaken one of the most important movements of our time.


Eddie Yuen teaches in the Urban Studies Department at the San Francisco Art Institute, and is the co-editor, with Daniel Burton-Rose and George Katsiaficas, of Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement (Soft Skull Press, 2002).

Ian Angus is editor of the online journal Climate & Capitalism. He is co-author of Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis (Haymarket, 2011), and editor of The Global Fight for Climate Justice (Fernwood, 2010).

5 Comments

  • When others are not fully aware of the gravity of a situation and the certainty of an impending catastrophe, there is always a fine line between sounding ‘alarmist’ – and risk being ignored for that – and sounding highly convincing. Some can try one approach, others the other one and we can compare notes down the line – we probably need both. What is certain, is that climate change is a grave threat, including to the status quo, and that we need to inspire optimism and confidence to the public (and to a beleaguered working and unemployed class that sometimes is not patient enough to hear about global warming – fed up with mass media environmentalism lite) that climate justice and social change is possible in our lifetimes.

  • Dave, to put this in overly abstract and universalistic terms: You may be bold for talking about why no one’s talking about climate catastrophe. But Eddie’s bolder for talking about why no one’s talking about no one talking about climate catastrophe.

    Oracularly yours

  • I’m with Ian Angus all the way on this one. The debate around so called ‘catastrophism’ has already absorbed too much of our attention. This unfortunate term was part of an effort to make a molehill of a problem into a veritable mountain.

  • It seems to me that the issue here is that Eddie’s not critiquing Ian but Ian thinks he is. It certainly would have helped, in a number of places, if Eddie’s chapter had parsed “the environmental movement” in a manner parallel to his criticism of the mainstream, scientistic, and catastrophic environmental movement fails to do with “humanity.” Having been in grad school with Eddie, and knowing his history, I know he’s well aware of the greater quality and more effectively politicized and movement-building elements of the (intentionally and unintentionally) red-green elements of environmental justice and indigenous/slum political ecology movements across the global south. Ian is correct to
    At the same time, I think it is disingenuous of Ian to (at least implicitly) wholly deny that there has been dysfunctionally depoliticizing scientistic apocalypticism advanced on the red-green left – the melding of neoMalthusian STIRPAT and Ecological Footprint perspectives in publications related to Foster’s theory of the ecological rift combine social and ecological apocalypticism in wholly depoliticizing ways.
    I think Eddie should have been more specific about his reading of the study on apocalypticism and active political participation but a friendly reading of his chapter suggests that his point was that depoliticization follows from apocalypticism without analyses of power – as he suggests – and without alternatives – as Ian suggests. When my students read Foster, O’Connor, Benton, Harvey, and, even moreso, mainstream environmentalism they feel hopeless. When they read Eddie’s chapter, they became more auto-critical about their own interpersonal and activist practices. Ian’s quite right that when they read about environmental justice and indigenous political ecology movements they are moved to action far more but Eddie’s right that they are more moved by the resolvable social justice and environmental health moments than by the macroscopic and apocalyptic implications of scaling these movements “up”.
    Put another way, it seems pretty clear to me that Eddie and Angus agree on the vast majority of issues and another conversation is distinctly possible.

  • While, sadly, Ian Angus and I have often found much to disagree on, I wholeheartedly support his position here and thank him for tackling this subject. At some point we must decide we are not a bunch of 6-year-olds. This is adult-swim, and we must expect more of ourselves. We must expect that we CAN handle the truth and that we will respond appropriately to the evidence before us.

    Dave Gardner
    Director of the documentary
    GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth