Jobs, Jive, and Joy: An argument for the Utopian Spirit.

Climate catastrophe and civilization collapse (CC2) is not the future. It is our reality today. We are at the beginning of a calamity that will only get worse, if we are to believe the scientists who have been warning us of this disaster for many decades. What recourse do we have? Given the dire nature of our situation, should we turn to the government for guidance? FEMA, the office of the federal government mandated to contend with disasters, has recently instituted FEMAcorps to better respond to disasters of whatever sort. FEMAcorps follows the form of other government volunteer programs like AmeriCorps VISTA with a limited recruitment of youth (and veterans) that typically make a commitment of one year. FEMAcorps will be understaffed with hundreds of volunteers across the country in ten regions.

The promise of a Civilian Climate Corps, originally proposed in a Green New Deal, would expand on this model by increasing the number of participants, but still not in the numbers needed to do all the tasks that it proposes to undertake from reforestation to surveying residential solar needs. The concept behind the CCC is that it would be a decentralized operation collaborating with local agencies, both governmental and civic. If the parameters indicated in the legislation are followed then this may be a good initial start to a program that could be expanded as CC2 grows more severe.

The problem with turning to the federal government, given its limited recruitment of several thousand volunteers, for guidance is that the government will wait for disasters to drive the program and not the program proactively addressing disasters before they happen.

What could drive the expansion of the CCC is a massive local movement to undertake immediate remediation and to prevent, or at least forestall, disaster. This could take the form of a grassroots movement undertaking projects without waiting for government funding. Maybe foundation monies, individual fundraising, local government funding, or other imaginative appeals, could become a national political project, a movement for practical response to CC2. It is possible that pressure could force the federal government to respond with more funding and a much larger program.

The prospect of a grassroots movement like this is not utopian in the perjorative sense. All over the country there are projects to alleviate CC2, from local agricultural markets to small scale alternative energy programs. And recent polling demonstrates that youth want to do socially meaningful work. Bringing these two strands together could expand this sector. It should not be an impossible task.

So far none of this is radical, or even innovative. However, the motivation to create a movement of this sort requires a cultural revolution. As it stands now the impulse driving youth to want meaningful work is assumed to be noble because it is based on “saving the environment”—that is, an ethical choice. This means that the traditional work ethic plays a secondary role, at most, when it comes to volunteering. The work ethic entails following orders, not slacking, and providing proof through hard work that one is worthy of the task before one. As much as those who support the work ethic may dispute that it has anything to do with sacrifice, there is no other way to interpret it. Some in the work ethic camp even proudly admit that sacrifice is necessary and praiseworthy.

An ethical commitment is not identical with the work ethic as it is traditionally defined. The motivations propelling young people to commit to “saving the environment” draw upon emotions that should be readily recognized at supplying a sense of self-worth. Integral to this sense of self-worth is the recognition that one is seeking work that is admirable. And the benefit is happiness, though most people shy away from framing it this way. Yet, being admired for one’s decisions inflates one’s self-esteem and reinforces a person’s commitment.

Further, since these environmental tasks are done with others who share the same commitment, that sense of commitment is amplified amongst the group and an esprit de corps develops, which is another way of admitting that happiness is present and collectivized.

There’s a larger context here that eclipses the individual. Those who join a program, whether sponsored by one sort of agency or another, or whether they are employed in a small private venture like an organic farm, or volunteer with a reforestation group, are developing a new culture. A major component of this new culture is radical hedonism. Radical in the sense of going to the root of ethical foundations that motivate action and radical in the nature of transformative endeavors with others. Hedonist in the sense that seeking pleasure is inspired by a desire to satisfy psycho-physical impulses, which can take many forms beyond the sensual that it is reductively associated with. What we ascribe as simple pleasures, like dinner with friends, a walk in the woods, playing with children, and so much more, are often seen as short detours from an otherwise droll life. To expect that this should be otherwise and, moreover, to take up action that aims for its realization is to put us in total opposition to this culture.

Besides being associated with debauchery, hedonism has been slandered as a desperate individual attempt to seek personal meaning in isolation. There it leads to a dead end of addiction. Addictions aren’t necessarily fatal in a physical sense, but they are fatal psychologically—for example, by adopting a role that becomes an objectified persona: an artist, a neo-Nazi, or a nihilist, to mention a few of the more obvious addictions. The misery of everyday life doesn’t hide from public observation. Stories of one mental affliction after another appear in the news with a regularity that we would rather ignore. Serial killings are only the apex of this misery.

The old world offers nothing to salvage. Finding a new one must be centered on awakening our desires to live better, to experience meaningful engagement, and to find enjoyment that is lasting and not ephemeral.

CC2 presents us with few options to escape its devastating consequences. We already see the horrors visited upon areas of the world that are least able to survive. The only benefit, so to speak, of the future unfolding will be that it clears the air of nonsense, like the politicians’ excuses for the continuation of economic growth. We can already hear the sardonic laughter when that’s proposed.

The old world is dying about us and what is revealed with numerous brave protests and righteous, though small, ecological and community projects is that a new one is hesitantly being defined. We don’t have the luxury of waiting for the new world to be fully born before us, we are to be the agents that create it. And, precisely as agents of a new world, the legacy of the old world that acts as a residue impeding our actions and needs to be confronted and removed. The detergent for this job is radical hedonism.

Is it absurd to imagine that the motivation of the agents for a new world rest upon the desire to create a joyful world in harmony with both our psychic needs and the beauty of Nature? Certainly motivation of a radically different sort than the pecuniary presently assumed is essential given that most likely the collapse of the eco-social system will overtake present efforts to mitigate CC2. Resilient ventures need to be undertaken, but expectations that we have the time to provide some level of security is dubious. What the world is already experiencing in many “developing” countries is the worst nightmare of those of us in the overdeveloped world. We can’t expect that we will escape the consequences of CC2.

When that happens, the thousands who are involved in local projects will be inundated with hundreds of thousands more, maybe collectively across the world many millions. Some needing rescue and others offering aid. The collective vanguard already providing essential goods and services must be prepared to encounter this influx, which means that before collapse occurs they must be increasing their ranks. Here is where the utopian spirit becomes meaningful and where radical hedonism acts as an attraction.

Very likely the years ahead will call upon legions of apostates from drudgery. Where the old world promised luxury, the new world provides ludicism. Where the old world promised fame, the new world opens to friendship. And where the old world rewarded obedience, the new world has time for contemplation and autonomy