This one is not likely going to catch on.
In the labyrinthine corridors of academic fantasy, where reality often takes a back seat to the whimsical, Geo Takach and Kyera Cook have delivered a masterstroke of hyperbole with their new creation: “environmental conciliation.” This term, aimed to bridge the chasm between environmental protection and Indigenous reconciliation through the power of arts-based communication, presumes to address crises that, upon closer inspection, might be less of a cataclysm and more of a construct of the modern academic echo chamber.
The treatise reads like a satire, earnestly proposing that painting, sculpting, and performing can somehow mitigate what they describe as dire environmental and societal injustices. One must pause to admire the audacity of suggesting that centuries of complex socio-political issues and so-called ecological degradation can be remedied with a palette and some brushes. It’s a charming notion—if only the foundation of these crises weren’t as overblown as the remedies proposed.
Takach and Cook’s narrative plows ahead with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop, weaving “decolonizing critiques” and “holistic environmental ideologies” into a tapestry that seems to depict a world on the brink of collapse—a portrayal that dramatically overestimates the severity of environmental shifts while undervaluing the resilience of both nature and human societies.
The invocation of “environmental conciliation” as a solution is a particularly delightful flourish. It’s as if they’ve proposed that the cure for a mild headache is a full brain transplant. The term itself is a new badge for the academic elite to wear, a token of virtue signaling that pays homage to the altar of crisis creation. The problems they aim to solve with their arts-infused approach—supposed rampant environmental destruction and the erosion of Indigenous cultures—are described with an urgency that seems misaligned with reality, inflated for the sake of securing grant money or perhaps, seminar invitations.
As we wade deeper into the quagmire of their argument, we find that the practical applications of their arts-based approach are as nebulous as they are nonsensical. The suggestion that social justice and environmental recovery might spring forth from the same well that fuels community theater projects is a comedic goldmine. One could almost envision the next UN climate summit held in an art gallery, where diplomats resolve carbon emission disputes through interpretive dance and collaborative collage-making.
In sum, Takach and Cook’s article does not just stretch the imagination; it vaults it into a realm where reality is optional, and every academic whim is entertained with the gravity of a Papal decree. It’s a bold exercise in the art of making mountains out of molehills and then proposing to level them with a paintbrush. Truly, if the world were as fraught with peril as they suggest, one might indeed hope for more pragmatic solutions. But since the imminent collapse of civilization is not as imminent as they’d have us believe, perhaps we can afford to chuckle at the notion of “environmental conciliation”—right after we finish our watercolor sunset.
Read this “research article” at your own risk of brain cell loss.
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People with worthless college degrees trying to make those degrees look meaningful and carry weight in society and even use them as cudgels to beat others into submission. That is post modern climate bullying. Quite sickening.
Their idea of a ‘just society’ is where they have all the money and rule over all others.
I would rather loose brain cells by drinking a bottle of fine wine; I will be better off for it.
Alcohol does not kill brain cells. that is an old myth.
oeman50 said “loose,” not “lose.” Alcohol improves creativity, even if it does sometimes impair accuracy.
I think the term “loose brain cells” is correct, brain becomes incoherent not lost. Unless too much alcohol will not only kill brain cells, it will kill a person.
I really think this is a reason to restart The National Lampoon.
Spot on, but only if it is all AI generated.
For a change, this “research” was funded by the Canadian government. At least we American taxpayers didn’t have to pay for it.
Fantasizing isn’t research. Bloviating isn’t research. Environmental conciliation is a made up term meaning nothing.
Redistribution of wealth and equality of outcomes seems to be the agenda. It’s Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. That’s for the hoi polloi, while the self appointed elite will enjoy all the goodies.
Hey, I’m conciliated already just looking at this beautiful NOAA visualization of the “CO2 Longwave IR” band 16 radiances from the GOES East geostationary satellite!
By the way, we are ALL indigenous to Earth. “Decolonizer” sounds like something you take for irregularity.
““Decolonizer” sounds like something you take for irregularity.”
Brilliant. 🙂 A fine stick to be liberally applied as indicated by progressive infestation.
A “purge” on steroids!
(Prescription only.)
… and it shall be known as … “Academia !” (hat-tip to the late, great, Douglas Adams).
“Never confuse education with intelligence. You can have a PhD and still be an idiot.” — Original source unknown
_ _ _ _ _ _
For those who may think this is a uniquely 21st century phenomenon.
“There is no idea so stupid that you can’t find a professor who will believe it.” — H. L. Mencken (early 20th century).
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” — Albert Einstein
“Social Engineering – The art of replacing what works with what sounds good.” — Thomas Sowell
_ _ _ _ _ _
Going back even further in human history …
“The authority of those who profess to teach is often a positive hindrance to those who desire to learn.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (circa 45 BC)
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” — Aristophanes (circa 446 to 386 BC)
Great quotes!
Blah, blah, blah, blah the “grownups” said to Charlie Brown
wow!
“This research is a reminder that a capitalistic society with colonial values is only one way of organizing civilization.”
Yuh, so we should have ivory tower intellectuals organize civilization! /sarc
Civilization and the technologies that support it such as fire, rope making, pottery making, metal working, monetization of trade goods, boats….took thousands of years of trial and error to improve to the point where they became useful to large populations….and these report writers think they can reinvent civilization in one report. They don’t even know what they don’t know.
I’m guessing they won’t have chili cheese-dogs, with extra onion, for lunch.
The imminent collapse of civilization may be more imminent than the author suggests.
Crash the energy grid and see what happens.
But it will only collapse in those western nations that have “Gone Green”.
Take down the western nations and see what precipitates.
Here is how Geo begins his self introduction and the “university” at which he …. does whatever it is that he does for pay:
“You have reached the virtual home of Geo Takach, Professor of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, found on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen and Xwsepsum families and ancestors on the southern shores of what are sometimes called Vancouver Island, British Columbia and Canada.”
In the 21st century, the primary cause for the so-called “erosion of Indigenous cultures” is trade, telecom and the wide distribution of computers and mobile phones, with the attendant plague of social media and the coming AI. Indigenous people (whatever it is that qualifies one as indigenous) must give it all up immediately and return to being hunter-gatherers, mud or thatch huts and cooking over wood and dung. To channel climate saint Greta, “How dare you ruin your culture like this!”
By the way, since my ancestors have been in North America for >3 centuries, am I not “indigenous?”
So one supposes that now afficionados of Lesbian Dance Theory will be energized by their new deep purpose. It’s not just hip-thrusts and girls anymore. They now dance to conciliate the environment and the indigenous.
The one constant in all the progressive chants and causes is that they never need actually *do* anything. Public imposture of virtue is the all of it. The louder the better.
No effort beyond poseurie is needed for a place of honor in the society of the righteous. Their lives go on as before, made fat and comfortable by the very people they excoriate.
‘where diplomats resolve carbon emission disputes through interpretive dance and collaborative collage-making.’
Don’t forget Underwater Basketweaving…
I’m still stuck on “indigenous colonization”. How does that work?
That might be when one native American tribe steals another native American tribe’s land.
And that has happened throughout history over the globe anywhere people have lived.
Yes, it has.
So who has more right to the land? The first stealer or the subsequent stealers?
Ask Israel.
Seems to me there are an awful lot of academic “Mickey Mouse subjects” doing the rounds these days.
Are you just now realizing that?
I did read it to avoid immediate duties. All of the numerous cited references are in the new millennium which makes one wonder if they are aware about the long realization that some indigenous discoveries were valuable and incorporated. It is also true that some modern knowledge has been aware of the complications, one example, Krech’s Ecological Indian. Two of the references were Columbus and other cannibals, neither checked here for homework. and
[https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowledge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-people]
Some so-called indigenous cultures were more civilized than others, a trait also evident in some invaders. The sometimes alleged cannibal central Texas coast Karankawa are long gone and the Hill Country Germans first got along with the Comanches.
The main question might be whether are they being more responsible than those they accuse, certainly lots of problems discussed here. American Scientist has been pushing the art concept, with one maybe not clearly stated argument that scientific figures have long been artistic in the sense that they are varying degrees of complicated interpretations, now with modern technology.
Nevertheless, Sigma Xi publisher of American Scientist should be proud of a recent president who stated when leaving–
https://www.sigmaxi.org/news/keyed-in/post/keyed-in/2024/04/11/passing-the-torch
“But today’s highly competitive landscape has culminated in the creation of a new kind of scientist: the accomplished technician who seemingly publishes a new paper every 37 hours. Such successes—or maybe we should call them abscesses—indicate not so much that certain individuals have mastered the publish-or-perish game, but rather that the standard that society has set for scientists is no longer tenable.”
No conciliation without compensation.
These study authors do have a point about stress reduction being helpful for people suffering from anxiety. Warmunism is about nothing but creating elevated anxiety so that people will “do something”. But of course that can lead to doing stupid and destructive acts, not helpful in resolving the source of the anxiety.
Chill, people … the world is not about to end unless the government does some particular thing. Life does not revolve around governmental action … or private actions intended to stimulate governmental action.
It’s creating a bunch of neurotics.
I think most readers of WUWT will see this UVic study as nonsense.
But, unfortunately, indigenous rights are a big deal in British Columbia (BC).
No resource development projects (fishing, logging, mining, oil & gas) can take place without local indigenous approval. As a result, investment in resource development projects in BC are fading away. It takes forever to get approval for any kind of project.
Environmental Mysticism.
Story tip:
Taliban to join UN climate talks: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2024/04/24/taliban-government-join-climate-change-talks-for-first-time-
Of course, the inevitable:
Asking for more funding…. thought so.
Story tip
Interview with Roger Pielke. 24:40 mins.
– – – – – – – – –
Conversations That Matter: Is 2050 a realistic net-zero goal?
When the cost of carbon mitigation increases the cost of living, voters turn away from protecting the environment and so do politicians
As we edge forward to a goal of net-zero in Canada and the United States, the reality of that aspiration runs headlong into the increasing need for energy.
The quest is underway, but at what cost? In British Columbia, the government acknowledges its commitment to net-zero will have a significant impact on the economy. That impact, in turn, will increase the cost of living and lower per-capita GDP.
https://vancouversun.com/news/conversations-that-matter-is-2050-a-realistic-net-zero-goal
If we are fortunate, Net Zero won’t exist on a national level in the United States after January 2025.
They talk about “societal injustices.”…
The real social injustice is that these clowns are paid and have positions in academia. !
(albeit in “communication and culture” whatever that is meant to be)
You might laugh but this is the best the CAGW crowd has to offer. Think about it they haven’t produced anything new since the 1990s. Their ideology is bankrupt all we have to do is push them off their pedestal.