We have previously discussed the need to overcome fear in regard to building a Total Green Future. This issue clearly resonates with a lot of people, as that article has the second highest readership to date of all the TGF originals (second only to When is it Right to Denounce Someone as an “Eco-fascist”?). Fear is paralyzing, and is one of the reasons why people tend to do very little in the face of the environmental crisis, certainly nothing that involves a proportionate response or any real sacrifice. In the discussion of fear we concluded with a thinking exercise where we imagine two different futures and explore how we feel about living in them:

Imagine it is the year 2050 and you’re sat around the kitchen table having a birthday lunch for a young relative. In the first future, you — along with most other people — were conquered by a paralyzing fear that resulted in an increasingly ruined environment. Your young relative asks bitterly, “Why didn’t you guys do more back in the 20s? Everyone knew what was going to happen!” In the second future, you — along with most other people — conquered fear, which resulted in a course-correction of the environmental crisis. Your young relative asks excitedly, “Tell us more stories about what you guys did back in the 20s! They’re so inspirational!” Which conversation do you want to have? Do you want to be considered a collaborator in a death cult, or a freedom fighter who sought to preserve life? That might seem like being forced into a false choice. But it’s probably not that far removed from the kind of conversations you’ll be having in 2050, for either the good or the bad. Do not let fear stop you being the person you want to be and having a legacy you can own with pride.

That works quite nicely as an initial motivational tool, but we soon hit a wall of lived daily experience when we are required to take action. You’ll notice that all the actions that people typically take — such as minor lifestyle changes, signing petitions, going on demonstrations — involve no real risk (remember, even XR protesters who ended up in court were only handed a six- or nine-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs: a nominal punishment for a nominal rebellion). People want to rebel without risk: unfortunately, this is impossible.

The “system” co-opts us by throwing us just enough crumbs that we worry about losing them: crumbs such as jobs that provide economic and cultural capital, and homes. We worry that if we embark upon risky acts of rebellion we might lose those privileges bestowed upon us by the system. But essentially, we are being bought off: it might not feel like being bought off as in the movies with a big envelope stuffed with cash, or funds being wired to our secret account in the Caribbean, but we are being bought off nonetheless. It gets worse, because for most people, those jobs are the equivalent of wage slavery and those homes are the equivalent of debt slavery: so we are actually being bought off by having our freedoms removed!

Rebellion requires risk. We have to learn how to manage the risk properly. In order to do this we have to understand the scale of the risk in the future relative to the scale of the risk of impactful actions today. If you’re reading this article, it’s not necessary to catalog the environmental problems we face: climate change, animal extinction, micro-plastics, pesticides, fire, flood, famine and plague (to name a few). We are already staring into the abyss, and if we do nothing of consequence (remember proportionate response and sacrifice) we genuinely risk a future where we tumble helplessly into that abyss (that’s a poetic way of saying we’ll be totally fucked then killed).

Relative to such a future risk, the risk involved today of losing a job, home or “good” reputation appears relatively small. Of course, we all have different responsibilities: the risk analysis of a person with others relying upon them is different to that of somebody who only has to look after themselves. However, we all face the same future risk, even if our ability to shield ourselves from the effects of that risk may vary.

Ultimately, we have no choice but risky options. Either we risk our access today to the few crumbs thrown to us and engage in effective acts of rebellion, or we risk the catastrophe of the future fully-unfolded environmental crisis. Make no mistake: avoiding risk today means loading up on risk in the future. We absolutely must learn how to better manage (read accept) risk today because it is by far the better option.