Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime
Bruno Latour
Latour is a whiner. I’m not saying that it’s not interesting just be ready for the tone. This is part academic pretense - after all why be an intellectual if not to pontificate - but also something of a disturbing trend amongst lefty commentators who seem to think that sticks and stones be damned, words certainly can hurt. So calling the current president (DJ Trump as of this writing) the “tweeter in chief”, does little to diminish the man and more than a little to undermine the tone of thoughtful consideration that I for one look for if someone is going to tell me what they think is true.
Ok, that aside why read this book? Latour makes an honest attempt to frame where we are, where we have been and where we need to go. Only lately does it seem like people are moving past the panic followed by hand wringing that has characterized a lot of the discourse for the last decade or so. So it’s nice to step beyond that and get a taste of a - what’s next proposition.
For Latour this is the acknowledgment of the end of the modernist project and the abandonment of the pretense that humanity is on a journey of increasing global connectivity. Added to this is the signal call to a post humanist view that takes into equal account everything from the earth's crust to the bottom of the sky. It’s not clear if one might dig deep enough or soar the lofty reaches and exceed this responsibility, but supposing he is right, the systemic nature of this perspective is probably the most resonant aspect of his proposition.
In the best tradition of givers of meaning he has to name it to make it real, so we are left with the notion of “Terrestrialism”. This reframing of our modus operandi is without question the most valuable insight in the book. While I found the diagrams thin at best… why does everyone feel the need to make some sort of all encompassing diagram of our existential purpose, as if our ontological imperative could be captured in a seat back safety brochure - but I digress… the underlying notion of reimagining how we think about our own responsibilities is stimulating. I walked away thinking… yeah I’m not sure I buy your version of things but I like how you are thinking.