[iDC] Introducing: Real Costs & Oil Standard

[Julian Kücklich]

Hi Michel,

 > But we are all part of that system, so that any approach that blames
 > capital, and does not want to change its own behaviour, is going to be
 > unproductive.

I agree, it's counterproductive to think of oneself as somehow outside 
of capital, or outside of "the environment", for that matter. My point 
was, however, that the current ethics of repression works through 
moralising everyday behaviour, so now I have to feel bad every time I 
consume one of the commodities of climate change (energy, water, meat, 
etc.), and the ff plugin introduced through this list is an agent of 
this new ethics of repression.

But as everyone who has ever read a novel from the Victorian era knows, 
repression doesn't make unwanted behaviour go away - it just hides it. 
Emission certificates are a brilliant example of how one can destroy the 
environment and still have a clean environmental conscience. I am just 
waiting for the next plugin, which enables me to counter-balance my 
ecological sins by purchasing indulgences every time I book a flight, 
order a book, or leave my computer running overnight.

> Now the key question is how you change the meta-system, giving the 
> record of
> failure in this regard, and the obsoleteness of industrial era leftism? My
> suggestion would be to tone down the useless anti-capitalist rhetoric, and
> to tune up the post-capitalist practices.

Indeed. But what are these post-capitalist practices? Surely you are not 
suggesting that by minimising our ecological footprints we will somehow 
"change the system"?

- Julian.


-- 
julian raul kücklich, ma

http://www.playability.de