Secession as the Lifestyle Enemy of Climate Change Solutions
How people secede from society, and why it is not an answer.
Secession is to separate. It is to withdraw from a whole, from a union, or from a federation. It means that you go your own way and reject the limitations inherent in oneness, wholeness, and responsibility. As climate change becomes increasingly insidious and established, people everywhere on all sides are seceding. People are leaving for gated communities, insulated jobs, and better climate locations. We are separating politically, socially, and economically. We are separating religiously and even militarily. States in the US have movements that want to secede, some of them backed by militias. We are retreating into our own little colonies as a defense against the impending climate disaster, which we rightly see — even if we don’t say it — as an existential threat.
This is a natural, if devastating, response. Psychologically, it is caving in. It is capitulation. We are giving up on any ability to solve climate change, and instead taking up defensive positions. People on the right have organized. They have their guns, they have their ideas. People on the left are just starting. They realize that if they have food, food may become a scarce commodity, and they may need to defend it. A commune or an oasis is not enough…
