Environment

As the climate warms and the ice melts, the Arctic could become the next great theater of global cooperation—or a battlefield.

Representatives from the world’s indigenous people had a prominent place on the global stage for a few days in New York. At the UN World Conference on Indigenous People, they demonstrated that they are not alone in their struggle for rights, but rather constitute a global movement.

September 21st was written into history when, according to the organizers, approximately 400,000 people marched on the streets of Manhattan in what was called the People’s Climate March, the biggest mobilization around climate change in history.

Today it often feels as though we are hopelessly mired in apocalyptic thinking, both in our social movements and in popular culture. From Hollywood blockbusters to art house dystopias, and from hip-hop lyrics to “serious” literature, images of irreversible climate chaos, interminable warfare, and total societal collapse seem increasingly inescapable.

It is not pleasant to contemplate the thoughts that must be passing through the mind of the Owl of Minerva as the dusk falls and she undertakes the task of interpreting the era of human civilization, which may now be approaching its inglorious end.

With genetically modified organisms, we could be having another Galileo moment. American biotechnology corporation Monsanto and its lobbyists are today’s Church. And independent scientists speaking the truth about GMOs and their impact on society, health and environment are today’s Galileos.