pn955. Iaian Buchanan, Fatimah's Kampung, the Climate Crisis and more ...

This is an extract focussed on the climate change crisis from a longer paper on a mulitude of issues that you should read by Iain Buchanan (20.6.1942-8.1.2023). His obituary in the DomPost reads:

Geographer, author, and illustrator extraordinaire. Son of Prof. Keith and Ruth Buchanan (both deceased). Suddenly at his home in Malaysia with Maznoor by his side. Adored husband and best friend of Maznoor. Much loved father of Keith. Beloved brother of Jane and Bride, and brother-in-law of Graham. Loved and respected by all his nieces, nephews, and extended family. Messages to 14 Ames Street, Paekakariki. 

My thanks to Phil Morrison and John McKinnon, both former VUW Geography staff, for the connection.

We are at a truly critical point in the life of this earth. There is absolutely no question that our global environment is in crisis – and it is entirely our fault. Not least, we have upset the world's climate to a quite disastrous degree. Global warming is accelerating, with severe effects throughout the global eco-system. The polar ice caps are retreating, glaciers are melting; sea levels are rising and seas are dying through acidification. Some island nations, effectively, will disappear off the face of the earth. The world's forests – especially the critical old growth mixed forests – are shrinking, and soil erosion has long been causing soil fertility to decline over vast areas of the planet. And as a concomitant of this ecological devastation, the economic divide between the dominant rich and the dispossessed poor is in many ways much wider. We must never forget that the ecological footprint of the rich, harsh enough on the world as a whole, is especially harsh on the landscapes of the poor. We could go on. What matters, what is literally a question of life or death, is that our greed and our arrogance have brought havoc to the earth's eco-system.

And now, it is clear, that same greed and that same arrogance have brought havoc to the global economic system as well. These are, after all, merely two sides of the same problem. The global structure of our livelihood has, effectively, collapsed. We can, of course (and we will), indulge in plenty of crisis management. We are good at that. We will control the use of plastic bags. We will plant trees in towns. We will bring forward work on electric cars and solar power. We might even tax petrol a bit more. And we will pump more money into the banking system. But none of this will really work. And it won't work because the vital infrastructure for a truly sustainable world just isn't in place – our agricultural and fishery systems are criminally wasteful, our public transport systems are laughable, our personal consumption patterns are profligate and destructive, and our financial systems are short-sighted jokes. So the seas will go on rising, the hills will go on crumbling, and the haze will only get worse. 120 Iain Buchanan The issue is a very simple one. If we educated human beings are the guardians of God's creation – as we so often claim we are – have we really been doing our duty? Especially to future generations, to our children and our children's children? Or is our attitude to the earth a bit like the attitude of the stock market speculator – to hell with the long term, let's make the most of the short term? Perhaps there is something of this attitude in all of us. And, all too often, we dress it up with rationalisations about population growth and the need to keep expanding the economy. But in doing so we miss the point. Do we well-of people really need to be so well-of? Do we really need to waste as much as we do? Do we really think the poor have only themselves to blame? And do we really think that God's creation is infinitely expandable, subject only to our technological brilliance? In every crisis, perhaps, there is an opportunity. Hopefully, the economic collapse will show us, in the most tangible way possible, how truly and disastrously stupid we have been. Now, we must proceed with far fewer expectations, with far less profligacy, with far more humility. At the very least, let us hope, this will force us to tread more lightly on our environment. But I will conclude on a personal note. The launch of my book, Fatimah's Kampung, has brought together two quite different institutions – a university, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and a campaigning NGO, the Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP). For one with such jaundiced memories of academic life, it is heart-warming to see these disparate (but very interrelated) institutions joining forces on two of the most critical issues now facing us – those of conserving the environment and pursuing sustainable, and equitable, development. My hope is that this coming together will be a catalyst for much more cooperation, and that brave and serious minds in both groups will join with others, and do something to rescue us from the worst of the crisis we face now. Most particularly, perhaps, in framing that most elusive of all requirements – a truly holistic understanding of what is very much a holistic problem. But beyond this, perhaps Universiti Sains Malaysia and CAP can take two equally essential further steps: first, by framing holistic and integrated solutions; and second, in doing so, by having the courage, and the wisdom, to actually retreat for once – away from economic growth, away from speculative "development", away from technological adventurism – so the damage can begin to be repaired. Discovering Fatimah's Kampung 121 Fatimah's Kampung, more than anything else, is a symbol of our predicament. Some will say it is idealistic. Well, we use ideals to sell fast cars, fast food, cosmetics, jewellery, designer clothing, self-motivation courses, and exotic holidays. Perhaps a little idealism, in the service of children like Fatimah, is no bad thing. IAIN BUCHANAN

 mazhb44@yahoo.co.uk

BUCHANAN, Iain. 2008. Fatimah's Kampung. Penang: Consumer Association of Penang, pp. 1–120. ISBN: 978-983-3083-701.