This year I am going to write something short, daily, about what is going on – “2 cents on the Arrived Ecological Debacle” (2cotAED). I have to write it; you don’t have to read it. If you DO read it, feel free to tell me how wrong I am (and hopefully why). Re: the debacle aspect: in 2004 the English writer Sara Maitland wrote about the “pending ecological debacle.” The expression stuck with me; it’s a debacle because it was foreseen, warned about and was avoidable. Well, it’s no longer really “pending” is it?
Don’t read this blog post. Read THIS longer but more insightful one, by the ever-reliable Sharon Astyk, ‘This is Not a Problem”
The basic point is that a “good” thing might not stay that way – she gives several examples, the most salient is all that water that ended the Californian drought and filled the reservoirs. It meant lots of biomass growth, which is now (checks notes) burning, baby, burning.
She also, intriguingly, touches on “community building”, the ‘left’s answer to everything, and looks at what happened during COVID. Although (because?) she doesn’t explore complicated versus complex, or wicked problems/super-wicked problems, post-normal science etc, it’s really worth your time
I tackled something similar recently, but with far less aplomb, natch
Deinos? Ancient Greek, means lots of things.
See also (and it’s too corny for Astyk to have used), this –
A farmer and his son had a beloved horse who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbours exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild horses back to the farm as well. The neighbours shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the horses and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The neighbours cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg. The neighbours shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
marchudson.net 
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