Once a month, The duty challenges philosophy enthusiasts to decipher a current issue based on the theses of a notable thinker.
The idea of offsetting the environmental impacts of our lifestyles is not new. Historians like Jean-Baptiste Fressoz show that the concept of compensation was already used in the 18th century.e century to compensate for environmental damage caused by industrial installations.
Today, faced with the scale of the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis, recourse to offsets, particularly carbon offsets, is increasing. A common example is illustrated by announcements from states and companies committing to planting trees to offset their CO emissions.2.
The risk of such announcements is to present these compensatory measures as solutions to current ecological crises. However, these compensations serve to remedy the destruction inflicted on ecosystems while preventing us from having to rethink our lifestyles. This is a bit like continuing to sail in a boat that is taking on water by applying patches, instead of changing boats, as more and more researchers are suggesting. This ship that has led us into troubled waters is that of Western dualist modernity, built on the abstract idea of a separation between humanity and nature, between modernity and tradition.
A leading figure in decolonial thought, Arturo Escobar challenges the idea that there is only one universal and superior way of being in the world. In his book Feel-think with the Earth translated into French in 2018, the American-Colombian anthropologist calls not to “change the world”, but rather to “change the world”.
To face the ecological crisis, we must move away from our way of being in the world which leads to its destruction, because our choices arise from our ways of doing and living in the world. Now, there are many ways of being in the world, just as there are many ways of sailing the oceans.
To discover them, Escobar proposes the idea of “feeling-thinking”, which consists of establishing a new way of living in relationship with living beings and the territory. It is about thinking about the relationship with others and territories both with the heart and with the mind, rather than reasoning abstractly from decontextualized knowledge.
The illusion of a solution
Let us paint a portrait of this ship which has been entering increasingly tumultuous waters for several decades. Scientific reports continue to warn: the global ecological situation is critical. The severity of the level of biodiversity erosion now pushes researchers to speak of “biological annihilation”.
Extreme weather events are increasing in all four corners of the planet. The unprecedented scale of the forest fires in the summer of 2023 in Quebec illustrates the climate emergency and reminds us of the need to take immediate measures to reduce our carbon emissions on a global scale. However, States are struggling to agree to take such measures.
Many researchers thus highlight the mixed results of the Dubai conference on climate change (COP28) in December 2023. The idea of compensation was omnipresent there through hundreds of events devoted to carbon credits. These credits aim to offset CO emissions2 through various actions, such as planting trees. Indeed, the tree is a prodigious being for capturing carbon, particularly that emitted by industrial activities.
The idea of carbon offsetting by planting trees appears to be a miracle solution: it is now possible to emit a ton of carbon somewhere and cancel it out with a ton of carbon absorbed elsewhere. The scales are balanced. There is no loss or gain, because we plant trees to absorb the carbon emitted.
Although planting a tree is a laudable and useful gesture, many scientists nevertheless warn us. It is indeed necessary to qualify. Let’s take the example of extractive industries which provide wood or mineral resources used in our everyday objects. Emit carbon by destroying an ancient forest, a jewel of biodiversity, cannot be compensated by planting trees.
In Quebec, old-growth forests are essential to the survival of caribou, which feed on lichens and shelter from predators. In our temperate climate, lichen grows very slowly, growing about 5 to 8 mm per year.
Old-growth forests generally consist of a diversity of trees, such as older trees, snags, and species capable of growing in the shade of other trees. They have a unique and complex forest structure, providing habitats for numerous wildlife and plant species. Compensating for the loss of an old forest by planting young trees would possibly balance carbon losses and gains in the short term, but would induce definite losses at other levels, such as that of biodiversity.
Rethink our way of being in the world
To get out of this sinking boat, authors like Escobar propose to radically rethink our way of being in the world. Escobar calls for a move away from a dualistic worldview that opposes and hierarchizes nature and culture, humans and non-humans, modernity and tradition. He suggests thinking about alternatives to modernity (and not alternative modernities) and leaving room for the existence of several worlds. In a way, he suggests getting out of the boat that displays universalist colors in which we find ourselves embarked.
In the dualist perspective of Western modernity, scientific knowledge is elevated to universal knowledge, capable of objectively accounting for the real world. This universal knowledge is proclaimed superior to traditional knowledge. Humans are presented as separate from nature and capable of dominating it. The current ecological crises, however, are a blatant reminder that humans are closely dependent and part of the ecosystem they inhabit.
Escobar is among the authors who propose to overturn our ethnocentric vision and think about the world from a relational perspective. Humans are no longer separated from nature, they are a part of it, just like the non-human. The woodland caribou becomes an actor with intrinsic value, just like humans, the forest or the mountains. The territory, whether in the form of a lake, forest or mountain, becomes a sensitive entity, a living space. There is no longer a hierarchy between humans and non-humans. They exist through the relationships they form with each other.
In this relational perspective, the forest can no longer simply be understood in an instrumental or usage approach. The forest is no longer a resource separated from humans who exploit it or (re)plant it as they wish. It becomes a living entity with which humans and non-humans form relationships.
This relational approach thus makes it possible to move away from the logic of compensation presented as a solution to the fight against climate change. It shows that plugging the holes in the boat’s hull will not be enough to get out of the storm in time. We have to change boats.
Open the way
Instead of getting stuck in a destructive dualistic view of nature, Escobar suggests adopting a broader perspective, that of the pluriverse, where many worlds coexist. He thus proposes to leave room for other worlds which are not anchored in a modern dualist vision. He underlines the need to abandon the attempt to impose a universal vision of a world which would be superior to any other.
Escobar’s proposal consists of collectively rethinking less destructive ways of social life and relationships with nature. Changing the world would involve fundamentally rethinking our relationship with nature.
Instead of planting a tree to compensate for a destructive lifestyle, it’s about adopting a more holistic approach and questioning our ways of producing and consuming. So, replacing a functional kitchen with a new, up-to-date kitchen takes on a whole new dimension.
The production of new cuisine from forest or mineral resources extracted from the habitat of a caribou herd can no longer be simply compensated for by planting trees. Indeed, once we think about the radical interdependence between caribou, humans, the forest and the ecosystem as a whole, the idea of carbon compensation no longer appears as a solution to ecological crises.
Thinking in terms of relationships implies that our existence depends on the entities around us and the relationships we form with them. Humans are not superior and separate from these entities. Ultimately, our destructive and compensatory activities simply do not balance.
Compensation is not a new concept. It has been around for a long time. It was the subject of lively debates during COP28 in Dubai. However, studies are multiplying to document and confirm the accentuation of the critical state of the viability of the planet. This calls into question the effectiveness of measures taken so far to respond to ecological crises attributed to anthropogenic activity.
Compensation only allows the destruction to be temporarily and superficially healed. Escobar’s proposal invites us to fundamentally rethink our relationship with the world. She suggests exploring possible solutions rather than patching up the ship of modernity.
To suggest a text or to make comments and suggestions, write to Dave Noël at [email protected].