The Gaians: A dystopic fantasy

 "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,/Nothing is going to get better--it's not." --Dr. Seuss, "The Lorax."

Imagine, if you dare, a worst-case scenario, (short of the total extinction of humanity and all higher life forms).  Unfortunately, that is not difficult these days, with the rapid acceleration, worldwide, of climate-related and environmental catastrophes, coupled with the increasing strains on the global market economy caused by inflation and supply-chain disruptions, and on our political culture, both here and everywhere else, by the rise of corporate-backed brutal, thuggish fascist regimes, with contempt for truth, science, democracy, civility, and diplomacy alike. Future prospects have never looked as grim as they do today. So let's venture imaginatively a bit deeper into this unfolding hellscape of the future--in order to seek out the last "truffula seeds" of hope....

The grisly details--if you have been paying attention--have already haunted your imagination: ecological collapse; mass starvation and die-off of most of humanity; vast swarms of desperate refugees, both from the superheated global South and from inundated coastal cities worldwide as the polar ice sheets collapse; small, fiercely defended islands of extreme wealth and privilege (for a while) in a rising sea of poverty, starvation, and violence--whether from murderous drug gangs, tyrannical fascist regimes, rival warlords and their armies, or whoever...all coupled with relentless pandemics, including an epidemic of suicides, especially among the young...

But let's zero in a bit to the small, scattered colonies of survivors here and there. These fall into two broad categories: survivalists and Gaians. Survivalists are those people, mostly from rural areas, who have abundant survival skills already, and who own lots of guns. They will, no doubt, build walled fortifications to protect themselves, gun down anyone who approaches, and divide other survivalist enclaves into either rivals or allies in an endless war of attrition for vital, vanishing resources. Life will be ugly and short for them, most likely; they will likely have to indenture themselves to fascist thugs and their armies in order to survive, and of course, they will be easy prey for scurrilous demagogues (like Trump, Erdogan, or Bolsonaro) who celebrate, reward, and encourage their violence.

Urban areas will most likely disintegrate into hellscapes of starvation and gang violence (as is already happening throughout Mexico and Central America). And that leaves...the suburbs.

Most suburbanites, of course, will die fairly quickly, as their college degrees, SUVs, mortgages, and ornamental gardens will do them little if any good as things fall apart. Some, of course, will emulate their rural survivalist counterparts by building walls, getting big dogs, and packing lots of guns--but lacking both the land-based resources and the skills, they will be hard put to survive the destitute and violent predators who will attack their fortified homes relentlessly and mercilessly for whatever they can steal.  And that leaves the Gaians...

The Gaians are those who saw what was coming and have prepared for it systematically in advance--not by fleeing to the countryside in pursuit of a survivalist fantasy, nor by walling themselves in with lots of guns, but by reaching out and making friends with their neighbors, and by devoting their time and energy to learning Gaia, teaching Gaia, healing Gaia, and creating Gaia. By growing gardens, growing community, and growing awareness. By practicing Permaculture, but also teaching it to others, whenever, however, and wherever possible. And by pledging their lifelong allegiance--not to any nation-state, ethnicity, religious organization, or drug gang--but to Gaia--the only living planet we will ever know.

Gaians--like everyone else--may well need to defend themselves from marauders as civil society collapses and vast swarms of destitute people may turn violent and predatory in order to feed their children. But their first task--as they organize themselves into neighborhood Garden Guilds--will be to generate enough surplus from their regenerative methods of growing food to set up distribution centers for the needy and destitute--and then teach them Gaian consciousness and Permaculture skills as well.

Many Gaians (like everyone else) will die violent, horrible deaths, of course, but their training in meditation skills like Tonglen and nonviolent resistance (Satyagraha) will prepare them emotionally, helping them overcome their fear of death in order to reach out to, and teach others, whether by precept or example, right up to their final breath. As with the early Christians in the Roman empire, their fearless willingness to face death rather than compromise their principles will inspire many others to embrace Gaianity as well.

And fortunately, no one needs to “convert” to Gaianity, since everyone who breathes air, drinks water, and eats food is already a Gaian. It is not a “belief system” so much as it is a way of knowing what is already self-evidently true: that we are a part of, not apart from, Gaia — the only living planet we will ever know — and will survive only if we learn to work with Gaia rather than against her — energetically, ecologically, and ethically.

And who knows--after the Great Die-Off has run its course, Gaians may proliferate, sowing their Truffula seeds of Tonglen, Satyagraha, and Permaculture to engender a whole new culture, in a symbiotic, rather than parasitic relationship with our magnificent, wounded living planet.

None of this may happen, of course. But it is worth trying...worth living for.