From the Editors
AUTHOR CRAIG CHILDS is hap- piest on the edges of civilization, where amenities, in the traditional sense, are lacking but inspiration
abounds. So when writing in this issue of
Orion about the possibility of some future
disaster, an event that might cause a major disruption to the infrastructure that
many of us rely on (think water, electricity,
transportation), he is clear-sighted and
relatively undaunted. In “Rule of the
Phoenix,” an essay on the rise and fall of
civilizations, Childs makes a list of what
he’d grab while running out the door:
headlamp, metal water bottle, fleece
hoodie, lighter, a good knife or multitool,
good tweezers, bandanas, iodine, parachute cord, raincoat.
He calls these items “civilization in a
bundle, the things you might have trouble
getting your hands on if the bottom
Rome, the Hohokam couldn’t recognize
their demise until it was too late.
Unlike the Hohokam, we are well aware
of the factors threatening our own future:
overpopulation, species extinction, climate
change, and an overdependence on finite
fossil fuel extraction, among others. One
might think that given the severity of these
concerns, they would be worthy of debate at
the highest levels of government. After all,
while animals often have an instinctual ability to plan for adverse living conditions by,
say, squirreling away more nuts for a long
winter, it is only we humans who are able
to identify a complex issue, consider it, and
plan accordingly, ideally with an impressive
dose of innovation. We have the power to
e=ect change; it’s in our nature to do so.
But as environmental activist James
Gustave Speth writes in part two of his
manifesto for Orion, we can no longer rely
on individual politicians, or our govern-
ment as a whole, to address the sort of so-
cial, cultural, and economic transformation
that our nation and species drastically need
to remain viable. A future without climate
change is already beyond our grasp, but a
beautiful future still awaits us, Speth
writes, “if we are willing to struggle and
sacrifice for it.” Meaningful change, he
continues, will require a large-scale rebirth
of marches, protests, demonstrations, direct
action, and nonviolent civil disobedience,
as well as a reorientation regarding what
we as a people value most highly.
