Abstract
This chapter uses magic realism to describe the paradox of “thick world, thin places.” Modern energy opens many portals to an upside-down realm superimposed atop our day-to-day reality. The chapter then examines the energy orthodoxy, picturing it as a non-negotiable way of life that is premised on negotiating ever new ways of life. Next, it describes the energy orthodoxy as trapped in a paradox of strength-weakness. High-energy civilization is strong enough to shove walruses off of remote cliffs, but too weak to control the snake brain of human impulses.
The American way of life is not up for negotiations
George H.W. Bush at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro
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Briggle, A. (2021). Walrus Guts and Snake Brains. In: Thinking Through Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53587-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53587-2_3
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