Gentle Decline 2/41: Community & Consistency

Hello. It’s been a hell of a year so far. Every time I try to write something coherent for Gentle Decline, I get either bypassed by current events, sideswiped by new research, or find that I have to put in hours on mundane work instead (which is also a little frantic, because the world is mad, and a mad world does not induce people to spend on marketing consultants). So at this stage I’m taking advantage of a bout of insomnia to just put words out there, and I’m in an anti-authoritarian state of mind.

[Gentle Decline is an occasional newsletter about climate crisis, and - more to the point - how to cope with it. All issues are free! If you want to help keep the lights on, you can do so via Patreon or Ko-fi. All support is appreciated!]

Positive Things

It only takes 3.5% of the population to change anything. Climate activism has measurable effects. Scientists have found nutrients that can help out declining bee populations.

Community is Resistance

I’ve gotten a good few emails and queries and other communications, for which the broad gist is “how the hell do we prepare for anything when all this is going on?”. Many of these are from people in the US, but a good few are elsewhere, because there’s unpleasant stuff happening in many corners of the world, encouraged by the apparently sudden descent of the world’s loudest democratic nation into overt fascism.

And at this stage, it’s important to recognise that that’s what’s happening. You all know my emphasis on the gradual nature of history by now, I think: nothing really happens suddenly, and anything that looks sudden only appears so because people were ignoring the evidence. The US has been on a track toward this since the 1980s, with the Reagan administration mostly setting things in motion. It’s not lost on me that Reagan was also a TV personality who didn’t have much idea of what he was doing himself, and could be directed by other people. The gradual nature of this slide means that a lot of the tools that are in theory there to fight against fascism have already been either taken away or reduced in effectiveness - this can be seen in things like the rise of student debt, the military as the only real social security mechanism, gerrymandering, a refusal to actually do anything about gun control, and efforts to turn politics and entertainment into one mixed bag of circus performance. This is true, to a greater or lesser degree, in many parts of the world.

So what can anyone do about this now? I gave some broad-stroke advice in the last issue, which came down to community (“Be generous”, in my own set of rules). I’ve been spending a lot of time this year on building my own community, and I really, really encourage everyone else to do the same. It very nearly doesn’t matter what the group is or does, as long as there’s a group - but at the same time, you need to watch out for who’s joining. “Everyone is welcome” cannot be a working principle anymore, because “everyone” can now potentially include some of the people you need to work against. In the softer version of this, if you let in wolves and sheep, the wolves win. In the more accurate version, if you let in the Nazis, your group is now a Nazi group.

My community for this purpose is the local SCA chapter, and it’s an oddly suitable one for climate preparedness. As a group, the SCA has what’s frequently called a strong post-apocalyptic skillset, and that can apply very well to small disasters as well as larger ones. We keep the Nazis out by being very clear that we’re an inclusive, multi-gendered, widely accepting group, and that we’re not going to put up with racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic behaviour, where behaviour includes interpretations of medieval history. It seems to be working; a friend in the branch west of here reported that they’d been asked at a demo if they were the same group as the woke crowd in Dublin. Functioning as intended, then.

One of the difficult things, though, particularly for people in the US, is going to be dealing with cops. I’m using this term deliberately, instead of “police”, or anything else, precisely because it encompasses more, and also because it has a slight air of cautious hostility. ICE are very much cops, no matter what their nominal position of authority is, and so are the various federal agencies, state police, and the sheriff and deputies. There are probably others I’m not aware of. Put bluntly: cops in the US cannot be regarded as friendly anymore (and there’s a certain naïveté in thinking they ever could, but that’s a different issue). Individual cops may be perfectly nice people (although, honestly, why are they still in that job if they are?), but when it comes down to it, they will arrest you, turn you over to other authorities, or shoot you when they are told to, because that is what they are paid to do. This makes cops part of the fascist forces, and as above, if you have fascists in the group, it’s a fascist group now. And this is as true for a knitting club as it is for the Local Anarchist Collective.

Which is well and good, but this isn’t a clear-cut line. What about military personnel? They’re not cops by the traditional definition, but the US authorities seem very willing to deploy them in that role. What about ex-police? Have they really quit, or is that an undercover operation? And honestly, I can be of no help with that. Just be aware that for everyone who’s a potential cop, it’s very likely that someone else is quietly leaving (or not ever joining) your community, and they’re the people who both need help and can offer help. Actual undercover police are beyond the scope of my advice, too - but if you’ve gotten as far as getting their attention, you’re either doing good things, or taking the heat off other groups doing good things.

And certainly, many people can get away without attracting the attention of the cops. But:

So what can your community do? How does a community even work? The very first thing is just to be in the same place (which can be virtual, if that’s what’s necessary). Talk about your thing, whatever it is - knitting, medieval history, gardening, being a tenant, doesn’t matter what. The second thing is to provide hospitality. Offer tea, coffee, beer, water, or whatever your culture uses. Provide some baked goods. Sandwiches are great. A hot meal, depending on your group, may not be overkill, assuming you can afford to provide it. The third thing is to help people with things, and this can be at a very simple level - giving lifts, helping carry things, providing transport to shopping, medical and vet appointments, assisting in yardwork; pretty much anything for which another pair of hands or set of wheels is useful.

And honestly, that’s about all you need to do. If you keep doing those things, the community will grow and develop, other people will start doing the same things, and before you know it, you’ve somewhere to go if floodwaters engulf your house or ICE turns up at the end of your street.

Links

Grist has a solid article about looking after your health in weather-related disasters, slow or fast. It’s a solid set of advice, dealing with mold, water- and mosquito-borne disease outbreaks from flooding, air pollution, and extreme heat. It also has good advice on accessing medical care, including for mental health.

A Tumblr piece on starting a more sustainable way of life. This is good stuff, not least because it’s achievable small things, not huge and impossible commitments.

Also from Tumblr, and relevant to the community message above, a Mutual Aid Masterpost.

Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds. There’s been a bit of a flurry of articles of late on the AMOC - not that anyone is even attempting to do anything about it, of course. I’ve written about it before, a couple of times.

And the EU, like me, is advising you to stockpile at least 72 hours worth of food.

Closing

Look, just hang in there, ok? Nobody knows where the world is going, but if we help one another, we can slow the roll enough to survive. Reply and tell me how you’re doing.

[Support this newsletter (and Commonplace, its (more) food-related sibling) on Patreon or Ko-fi. Major research contributions in this and all issues by Cee.]