Living in truth in a time of ecological ‘emergency’ and emergence: Vaclav Havel as eco-guru

Abstract

This article argues that Vaclav Havel’s critique of technophilia has a lot to teach us about our collective response to the climate and ecological more-than-emergency. Havel highlights how consumer society endlessly tempts us to live within the lie that ‘everything is going to be okay’. His critique helps reveal the illusions that we need to shed in order to live in truth today. These illusions currently bind together too many ‘greens’ with the so-called ‘progressive’ element of the ruling class. Instead, the article argues that if we are being honest with ourselves, then the only way we can avoid collapse is by creating an ecological civilization by way of transformative adaptation.

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