Web 2.0 and climate change: Tim Rayner interviewed
Posted on 27. Aug, 2010 by timrayner in The movement
On April 1, 2010, Lucie Crise, a journalist for the French magazine Rue 89, wrote to me with the following questions about Coalition of the Willing. Answers were provided in writing. Francophones can read the published interview at Rue89.
————————————————————————-
What do you see as the problem with the current politics of global warming?
Global warming not only presents a major ecological crisis but a global political crisis as well. It is clear from the failure at Copenhagen that the international system of states is inadequate to enable a response to the challenge of global warming. Many people blame political leaders for the failure of the talks. But the problem is not the leaders – some of whom seem to be genuinely concerned to respond to global warming. The problem is the system of competing states, the inter-national system, which was born at Westphalia in 1648 and which has come the define “the political” generally. The global capitalist system has grown up through competition and negotiation between sovereign states, facilitated by international law. Today, the competitive nature of the system makes it impossible for states to band together in a global federation even to avert the disastrous consequences of global warming. The political system that we’ve inherited from the past is actually preventing us from dealing with the problems of the present and future. It is a disaster. But this is how things stand today.
Global warming calls for a new political ecology. This problem is like nothing the human race has faced before: it is global in scope and potentially cataclysmic in its effects. And the political system that we have at the moment prevents us from even responding to the problem. Our only hope is to transform the political. Fortunately, this is not as difficult as it sounds: the infrastructure that will enable this transformation is already in place and the process is underway. “Coalition of the Willing” is less a new idea for tackling global warming than it is an attempt to focus attention on how new internet technologies are already transforming the way that people all over the world understand themselves as empowered political agents. I think that in the next few years global climate action networks will play an increasingly dynamic role in world affairs, as people come to appreciate the impotence of the international state system for tackling global warming. The way ahead lies in global grassroots action, coordinated through online platforms for participation. If we continue with politics as usual, there is no hope for the future.
How could web 2.0 be a part of an ecological war?
The internet is rapidly evolving from a space for sharing information to a space for collaboration. The open source movement is leading this development. Ten years ago, “open source” was a collaborative approach to designing software online. Today open source is becoming a generalized “culture” – an attitude and approach to designing innovative solutions to all sorts of problems, in business, government, and the not-for-profit sector. Our idea in “Coalition of the Willing” is that an open source approach to the war on global warming could transform the nature of the struggle itself. Currently people all over the planet are waiting for their governments to take action on this problem. For people who care about the future of the planet, it is deeply frustrating to see how slowly the process is going. But we don’t need to wait for governments to fight this war. If we set-up a series of online platforms for collaboration that enabled people to freely contribute to the grassroots struggle against global warming, we’d not only facilitate new ideas, interventions, and initiatives, we’d facilitate the kind of global transformation in political consciousness I spoke of before. By creating together across borders, working towards common goals, people could realize a new form of political identity beyond the nation state. This, I think, is the ultimate contribution that web 2.0 could make to the ecological struggle.
In Beyond Copenhagen, you wrote that Web 2.0 could provide people all over the world with the opportunity to creatively engage the problem. Do you really think that people will act?
Three things would be required in order for it to work. First, the sites would need to be state-of-the-art platforms that mixed cutting-edge collaborative and crowd-sourcing technologies with seriously cool design. If the sites are easy and fun to use, people will want to explore to them. Second, we’d need to organize some high-profile collaborative projects to start the sites. If people saw that business, activist, and design teams were already using the sites to collaborate on new initiatives, they’d be more likely to pitch in or start projects of their own. Finally, the sites would need to be properly promoted. “Coalition of the Willing” could be part of this. At this stage, the film is a think-piece and optimistic manifesto. But once the sites it describes come online, the film could become an advertisement.
Do you think that it will change anything at the current apathy as you describe it? How could they make a difference?
The reason people feel apathetic about global warming is because they believe that there is nothing they can do to make a difference beyond consuming less, which isn’t much fun. The truth is that there are all kinds of things people could do – form groups, pool ideas, get started on creative projects… It is unnecessary to tell people what needs to be done. The world is full of talented, smart, and creative people who are perfectly able to dream-up actions and initiatives of their own. This is the beauty of the open source way: you don’t organize people from above; you prepare the sites and spaces in which they can self-organize from below.
What do you mean by “creatively engage”? Is this about imagination?
Imagination is important, but what we need now is collaborative action. The three sites that we describe in “Coalition of the Willing” are aimed to enable people to participate in designing and actioning real solutions to the problems thrown up by climate change. This approach is already being applied to humanitarian crises about the world. We could take the same approach to the climate crisis – indeed, we need to do this.
Are individualism and consumerism reasons to the global warming?
Consumerism is a major part of the problem. Capitalist economies are premised on the idea of constant growth, and to achieve this they need to be constantly introducing new products for people to buy. These products are manufactured cheap in the developing world and shipped all over the planet, all at a considerable ecological cost. Why do people feel the need for all these new products? It is because people have become used to defining themselves in terms of the social status they derive from new products. Consumerism has become part of how people form their sense of individual identity. All of this needs to change, but it won’t be easy, and it won’t happen fast.
You say (in Swarm Politics) that “The story of sorryeverybody.com illustrates how an online initiative can focus and coordinate the action and desire of a multitude of people in geographical space. It shows how, under the right conditions, a site, or series of sites, can trigger a human swarm that centers about an issue of common concern and functions as a locus of empowerment”. Don’t you think that these kinds of mobilizations are quite different from each other in their stakes?
People participate in swarm movements for all sorts of reasons, it’s true. But these movements don’t take shape without some common problem or concern that binds the swarm together. It’s only when people recognize that they share a problem or concern with others that they are inspired to action. Take the example of sorryeverybody.com. The people who contributed to that site were no doubt upset about the re-election of Bush for all sorts of reasons. The site took off, however, because it provided an opportunity for them to give expression to a common desire – to apologize, on behalf of the US, to the rest of the world. The opportunity to act together towards a common goal was inspiring and empowering for them. Swarm movements take shape when a mass of people see the opportunity of acting together towards a common goal.
Could you explain swarm politics in a few words?
Swarm movements take shape when a mass of people see the opportunity in acting together towards a common goal. Individuals gravitate towards the collaborative work as a source of empowerment, and they participate for the hit or experience.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Appropedia.org, Chris Watkins. Chris Watkins said: Web 2.0 and climate change http://www.ur1.ca/1hddp [...]
[...] of The Willing” dirigido y producido por el grupo británico Knife Party, con guión de Tim Rayner y colaboraciones de más de una treintena de estudios. El film se apoya en un texto de conciencia [...]