And so comes to the conclusion of this photographic series over the course of the last 3 weeks which showed a total cross section of people who are unified in time and space (each shot taken within minutes of each other) yet who seem to share, less a sense of community and more a sense of isolation, despite living side by side. I think often we feel disconnected to those around us because we are convinced we are the only ones who have a non-stop train of fretful thoughts about every single aspect of our lives and everyone else is just going about their business.
I touched on this subject in my speech at my book launch (link here if you weren’t there & want to see) and how the aim of my photography was to show that we are in fact living the same life, sharing the same concerns and if we could just share our internal anxieties (instead of our surface level achievements) we could break out of our separate realities and become a unified collective that would allow us to identify with each other. And this is something we desperately need to be able to do if we are going to successfully tackle the destabilisation of the climate.
Due to the latest scientific findings, an increase in reporting from the media, driven by the actions of the youth strike led by Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion, there has been a global awakening and even though it has initiated an international movement it has also generated as much anxiety as action. We are all now living in fear of how it is going to affect us and yet we are still viewing it from an individual perspective .
We are all currently trying to do our bit but our individual choices will ultimately not make a difference. Yes, we need live by example and to do everything we possibly can to alter our approach to living so we can wean ourselves off emission heavy consumption, whether it be through transport, meat or fast fashion, but those choices will not save us. Small alterations in the way we live will not be enough. Business as usual is over. We need the entire system to change. We need concrete legislation from our governments to initiate the massive shift that is required. We need to make ecocide a crime so that the polluters have to clean up their own shit and not put the onus on the consumer.
And we need change now. Not by 2050. That is just a generational shunt. This shit is clearly happening in our present, not a far flung future. And the situation is now desperate because we have been patiently waiting for our elected representatives to make the necessary changes that could steer us onto a sustainable path but after nearly 30 years and a relentless amount of stalling it is very evident that not only are they not going to provide solutions, they are in fact blocking them. They are not leading the way, they are standing in the way.
And we do not have time for that. We have left it too late. We have squandered all the time we needed to do this incrementally. Drastic actions are now required but drastic action is not happening. No-one in power is taking the necessary steps. Where are the leaders that will take us forward? We shouldn’t have to appeal to leaders who we need to convince, we should have leaders who want to convince everyone else.
There is simply not enough time to deal with obstacles in the road. Even if we had everyone 100% on board, from the top to the bottom, we would still have to go flat out on everything to halt and then reverse the effects of our emissions but we can’t because weak leaders and the greedy corporate cunts that put them there are preventing progress and we need to somehow get them the fuck out of the way. And the only way we can do that is to take them on as a single unit. We must become a global community than transcends national identity, colour and religion. If we don’t see each other as the same we are fucked.
But with continued discord and division in seemingly every country across the globe it would take something gargantuan to unite us and let us focus on the matter in hand. And ironically the threat of climate breakdown is the common enemy that should be allowing us to put our differences aside and join forces but it isn’t quite doing the job. Yes, there is a growing sense of communal necessity around the world but we need to get everyone on board in every single place on Earth immediately to have a chance in hell.
The only chance we have as a species to survive is to recognise that we all now have the exact same problem and the sooner we can join together sufficiently as a species the greater the chance we have to survive. We all share the fundamentals: we all need to food, water, shelter and people. None of us can live without these things but we can do without everything else. And these are the things that will be in jeopardy in the future.
The next major rebellion begins next week on October 7th. You might think that you are not the same as the people in the XR or do not agree with their methods but rebellion is now all we have. This will not happen unless we take a stand. We need to keep rattling the cages of those in power. And as I repeated mantra style over the course of the last rebellion, if you are anti-extinction you are in the rebellion.
It is not a type of person. It is not restricted to a demographic. It is literally everyone and we have to join together. The XR is not a solution in itself, the solution will be to give up everything we are currently doing, and start again. This is not a case of having our cake and still being able to eat it. The ‘cake’ has got to so we can build a better one. So we can put the human race back on a sustainable path, a path that continue. This one cannot. This is a dead end.
The world we have built cannot carry on in the same way. But you have to ask yourself, is that such a terrible thing? The changeover will be messy but there is undoubtedly a better version of human society than the one we are currently in. One that only really benefits those at the very top and everyone else suffers as a result. I don’t see rampant consumerism, soulless employment, addiction (in all its forms) and relentless anxiety over shit that doesn’t matter working for anyone. It isn’t making any of us particularly happy, so what are we really afraid of giving up? What are we protecting? The pursuit of pointlessness? We know its all nonsense so why cling on to it?
And for all concerned individuals, if you want to show your support for the rebellion you don’t necessarily have to go and get arrested on paint an X on your back. We just need to show them we will not just give up and let them destroy everything. We have to take a stand. And remember, you are not owed an existence. There is no entitlement to living. Nature’s system is designed so that you have to fight to survive. And as much as we feel the laws of nature do not apply to us, we are not exempt. We are going to have to battle for our lives. Just like every other species on this planet.
And yes, I got all that from a bunch of different people mooching around Portobello market…these shots were actually all taken in-between and during shooting my mini ‘docs’ and there are still a couple more episodes to come because, even though everything above is categorically happening, we still have to somehow continue with our lives as normal. We still need to work, we still need to earn money, we still need to do everything we were doing while we wait for the shit to hit the fan, which for me, is the most surreal and hardest aspect of all of this but life goes on..which is, in fact, the aim of all of this…