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Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition
Climate change is the greatest challenge that the world has ever faced. In this groundbreaking new book, Alastair McIntosh summarises the science of what is happening to the planet - both globally and using Scotland as a local case study. He moves on, controversially, to suggest that politics alone is not enough to tackle the scale and depth of the problem. At root is our addictive consumer mentality. Wants have replaced needs and consumption drives our very identity. In a fascinating journey through early texts that speak to climate change - including the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh , Plato's myth of Atlantis, and Shakespeare's Macbeth - McIntosh reveals the psychohistory of modern consumerism. He shows how we have fallen prey to a numbing culture of violence and the motivational manipulation of marketing. To start to resolve what has become of the human condition we must get more real in facing up to despair and death. Only then will we discover the spiritual meaning of these our troubled times. Only then can magic, new meaning, and all that gives life, start to mend a broken world.
285 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
10 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Alastair McIntosh
34 books51 followersAlastair McIntosh is an Isle of Lewis-raised writer, broadcaster and campaigning academic best known for his work on land reform on Eigg, in helping to stop the Harris superquarry; also for developing human ecology as an applied academic discipline in Scotland. He holds a degree of BSc in geography, submajoring in psychology and moral philosophy from the University of Aberdeen (1977), an MBA, specialising in finance, from the University of Edinburgh (1981) and a PhD by Published Works on liberation theology and contemporary Scottish land reform from the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster (2008).
His book, "Soil and Soul" (Aurum Press, 2001), has been described as "No Logo in a Fair Isle jumper" by Susan Flockhart of the Sunday Herald, “world-changing” by George Monbiot, "life-changing" by the Bishop of Liverpool, and "truly mental" by musician Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Other books include a poetry collection, “Love and Revolution”, from Luath Pess (2006); “Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition” – published by Birlinn in June 2008 and described by Michael Russell MSP, the Scottish Government’s Minister for the Environment, as “a profoundly important book”; and “Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality”, due in October 2008 as a Schumacher Briefing (Green Books) with endorsement and research funding from WWF International.
He has also featured in the Wall Street Journal for knocking a psychological hole in Gallagher's Silk Cut cigarette advertising campaign; served as a consultant to Groupe Credit Mutuel, France’s largest mutual bank, on the meaning of mutuality; sits (unpaid) on the Sustainability Stakeholders Panel of Lafarge, the biggest construction materials company in the world, that he helped to see off from the Harris superquarry; he has lectured on the theology of land reform at the Economics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences; served as a theological consultant on nonviolence to the World Council of Churches; and every year, for the past decade, has addressed 400 senior military officers on the Advanced Command & Staff Course at the Joint Services Command & Staff College. He is a Fellow of Scotland's Centre for Human Ecology, a Visiting Fellow of the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster, and in 2006 was appointed to an honorary position in Strathclyde University as Scotland’s first Visiting Professor of Human Ecology. He is a regular presenter for Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland and has some 200 items of published work to his name, many of which are available at www.AlastairMcIntosh.com .
Alastair’s work seeks to connect people, place and spirituality into a more full understanding of community. He sees global crises as crises of the human condition requiring evolution that is more cultural than political, economic or technical. Spirituality for him is “that which gives life” and specifically, “life as love made visible.” As a Quaker, he approaches this from both Christian and interfaith perspectives. Walter Wink has described him as, “in my opinion, and apparently in many others, one of the best theologians in Scotland today.” Others consider his views heretical, and in 1996 his teaching post at Edinburgh University was controversially axed in connection with his work challenging corporate and landed power. He lives with his wife, Vérène Nicolas, in the Greater Govan area of Glasgow, where he is a founding director of the GalGael Trust working with local people in hard-pressed circumstances. He and Vérène often undertake events jointly.
His book, "Soil and Soul" (Aurum Press, 2001), has been described as "No Logo in a Fair Isle jumper" by Susan Flockhart of the Sunday Herald, “world-changing” by George Monbiot, "life-changing" by the Bishop of Liverpool, and "truly mental" by musician Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Other books include a poetry collection, “Love and Revolution”, from Luath Pess (2006); “Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition” – published by Birlinn in June 2008 and described by Michael Russell MSP, the Scottish Government’s Minister for the Environment, as “a profoundly important book”; and “Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality”, due in October 2008 as a Schumacher Briefing (Green Books) with endorsement and research funding from WWF International.
He has also featured in the Wall Street Journal for knocking a psychological hole in Gallagher's Silk Cut cigarette advertising campaign; served as a consultant to Groupe Credit Mutuel, France’s largest mutual bank, on the meaning of mutuality; sits (unpaid) on the Sustainability Stakeholders Panel of Lafarge, the biggest construction materials company in the world, that he helped to see off from the Harris superquarry; he has lectured on the theology of land reform at the Economics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences; served as a theological consultant on nonviolence to the World Council of Churches; and every year, for the past decade, has addressed 400 senior military officers on the Advanced Command & Staff Course at the Joint Services Command & Staff College. He is a Fellow of Scotland's Centre for Human Ecology, a Visiting Fellow of the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster, and in 2006 was appointed to an honorary position in Strathclyde University as Scotland’s first Visiting Professor of Human Ecology. He is a regular presenter for Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland and has some 200 items of published work to his name, many of which are available at www.AlastairMcIntosh.com .
Alastair’s work seeks to connect people, place and spirituality into a more full understanding of community. He sees global crises as crises of the human condition requiring evolution that is more cultural than political, economic or technical. Spirituality for him is “that which gives life” and specifically, “life as love made visible.” As a Quaker, he approaches this from both Christian and interfaith perspectives. Walter Wink has described him as, “in my opinion, and apparently in many others, one of the best theologians in Scotland today.” Others consider his views heretical, and in 1996 his teaching post at Edinburgh University was controversially axed in connection with his work challenging corporate and landed power. He lives with his wife, Vérène Nicolas, in the Greater Govan area of Glasgow, where he is a founding director of the GalGael Trust working with local people in hard-pressed circumstances. He and Vérène often undertake events jointly.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 14, 2008
At one point in his magnificent new book Alistair McIntosh explains the distinction between optimism and hope: the former alleviates suffering by denying reality whereas the latter draws on inner resources which can coexist with pessimism. With the accumulating evidence on climate change, he points out, at time 'one cannot help but hear the thundering hooves and feel the hot breath of the apocalypse cantering by'. And it is for this reason, he points out, that he has 'been forced to abandon optimism and take recourse in hope'. For as he points out, hope, unlike optimism, is a spur for action, not a substitute for it.
While McIntosh does an admirable job of summarizing the science, economics and politics of climate change in the first section, it is the second part of the book that forms the meat of his argument. A tour de force rendered in flawlessly prose, the section draws on philosophy, theology, poetry, myth and literature to situate the real root of Hell and High water in the human condition. The modernity ushered in by the Enlightenment may have introduced much that is worth celebrating, but the rationality in the form of logical positivism that accompanied it has helped break the link between the inner realm and the outer world that nurtures its -- man and nature, soil and soul. The dissociation of sensibility first set in motion with the reformation and the suppression of imagination (faerie) has led to hollowing out of the human psyche; leading vacant souls ripe for colonization by consumerism. Emptied (and disparaged in the case of the New Atheists) of the spirituality that sustains inner health the culture satisfies its quest for meaning (the liminal) with a variety of addictions that approximate the experience (the liminoid). It confuses 'having' with 'being'.
McIntosh does not offer easy answers, but he does have a 12-step program for the regeneration of the human spirit and revival of its link to the world around it. I do not agree with all but that is more because of practicality than my view of their usefulness. But like Chris Hedges, McIntosh makes the important distinction between the irrational and the non-rational (love, hope, spirit et al), and stresses that the later needs to be reconciled with practicality in order to bring about meaningful change.
I had picked up this book as a diversion for an evening, but once I started reading, I had to hold everything else and immerse myself in it. I was overwhelmed. George Monbiot had it right: McIntosh IS a world changing author.
While McIntosh does an admirable job of summarizing the science, economics and politics of climate change in the first section, it is the second part of the book that forms the meat of his argument. A tour de force rendered in flawlessly prose, the section draws on philosophy, theology, poetry, myth and literature to situate the real root of Hell and High water in the human condition. The modernity ushered in by the Enlightenment may have introduced much that is worth celebrating, but the rationality in the form of logical positivism that accompanied it has helped break the link between the inner realm and the outer world that nurtures its -- man and nature, soil and soul. The dissociation of sensibility first set in motion with the reformation and the suppression of imagination (faerie) has led to hollowing out of the human psyche; leading vacant souls ripe for colonization by consumerism. Emptied (and disparaged in the case of the New Atheists) of the spirituality that sustains inner health the culture satisfies its quest for meaning (the liminal) with a variety of addictions that approximate the experience (the liminoid). It confuses 'having' with 'being'.
McIntosh does not offer easy answers, but he does have a 12-step program for the regeneration of the human spirit and revival of its link to the world around it. I do not agree with all but that is more because of practicality than my view of their usefulness. But like Chris Hedges, McIntosh makes the important distinction between the irrational and the non-rational (love, hope, spirit et al), and stresses that the later needs to be reconciled with practicality in order to bring about meaningful change.
I had picked up this book as a diversion for an evening, but once I started reading, I had to hold everything else and immerse myself in it. I was overwhelmed. George Monbiot had it right: McIntosh IS a world changing author.
August 26, 2018
If I had to briefly summarize: "Consumerism is the black hole where your soul used to be. The decaying state of the Earth is a reflection of our rotten human society. Solutions pending."
I am not familiar with McIntosh as a writer, but he has lots of speculations: some are witty, some are thought-provoking, and many are non sequiters. Although any author would struggle to fully tackle a daunting topic like climate change, McIntosh's version is a bipolar long-form essay that progresses like a snowball rolling haphazardly through a forest, stopping dead at a conclusion that isn't really a satisfying end. Don't get me wrong; several times while reading I stumbled across a quote and thought, "Wow. That is really deep." Themes that McIntosh discusses at the intersection of environmentalism, capitalism, ethics, classical history, and media studies I've now recognized in non-fiction books that I've read since. I even made good on my promise to myself to become a week-day vegetarian because of this book! But much of Hell & High Water reads like McIntosh's stream of consciousness reactions to the Great Immensity (TM!) of the climate change problem - flitting from tangential thought to tangential thought. Add in the constant references to places and traditions of the British Isles with which I am wholly unfamiliar, and I finished the book confused about what it's all supposed to mean. At its best, this book is an invitation to a philosophical debate about humanity's relationship to nature. Otherwise, it's a reflection of how we all feel confronting climate change - grasping at answers and coming up with more questions.
I am not familiar with McIntosh as a writer, but he has lots of speculations: some are witty, some are thought-provoking, and many are non sequiters. Although any author would struggle to fully tackle a daunting topic like climate change, McIntosh's version is a bipolar long-form essay that progresses like a snowball rolling haphazardly through a forest, stopping dead at a conclusion that isn't really a satisfying end. Don't get me wrong; several times while reading I stumbled across a quote and thought, "Wow. That is really deep." Themes that McIntosh discusses at the intersection of environmentalism, capitalism, ethics, classical history, and media studies I've now recognized in non-fiction books that I've read since. I even made good on my promise to myself to become a week-day vegetarian because of this book! But much of Hell & High Water reads like McIntosh's stream of consciousness reactions to the Great Immensity (TM!) of the climate change problem - flitting from tangential thought to tangential thought. Add in the constant references to places and traditions of the British Isles with which I am wholly unfamiliar, and I finished the book confused about what it's all supposed to mean. At its best, this book is an invitation to a philosophical debate about humanity's relationship to nature. Otherwise, it's a reflection of how we all feel confronting climate change - grasping at answers and coming up with more questions.
September 18, 2012
It takes quite a bit of effort to salvage something useful out from underneath the mystic jibberish that pervades McIntosh's proposed "solutions" to the crisis in climate. That said, the direction of his book is well-taken, if articulated in way wholly unpalatable to me.
March 13, 2019
This book can be a lot to get through, but despite its age it is still a valuable asset in the climate change debate.
September 21, 2013
GREEN AND WOOLY
Alastair McIntosh rose to prominence with his thought provoking "Soil and Soul". In his latest offering, commissioned by an editor at Birlinn publishing, the aim was to stimulate debate, for an up and coming Scottish parliamentary election, in relation to Climate Change. It is a pity that McIntosh didn't stick to his brief.
"Hell and High Water" is a book of two parts. The first section is a concise summary of the effects of Climate Change that uses the IPCC's 2007 report as its basis and relates the issues primarily to Scotland. He also contemplates the tentative evidence that suggests that climate change will eventually reach a tipping point when the magnitude of its effects will (apologies) snowball, and provides a reasonable critique of those who are sceptical of the science of climate change as a phenomena related to human activity, including the infamous Channel 4 "documentary" by Michael Durkin.
So far so good, but then things seem to go seriously astray in the second part where McIntosh, to quote the blurb, goes on "a breath-taking journey through myth, philosophy and literature, ... [revealing] the psychohistory of modernity . . . To address what has become of the human condition we must learn to see beyond despair and death." Sounds nice, but in effect it is a melange of ideas, spiced with quotes from Plato, scriptures, the epic of Gilgamesh, the lyrics of the Beatles, Leonard Cohen and Deep Purple, his accounts of cosy chats he's had with industry at Green-Business get togethers, or lectures he has given at "Britain's foremost military staff college" (presumably a euphemism for Sandhurst?). It made little sense. The writing is flecked with platitudes, and the ideas get so woolly that it would seem that this section wasn't written but knitted, with a good many dropped stitches and loose ends to boot.
Overall this isn't a book, unlike Soil and Soul, which I'd be happy recommending anyone to read. While the first section is a workmanlike summary of the threat of Climate Change its hardly brilliant; the second part is a mess of ideas, few of which make sense, and the majority seem lazy, ill defined and frankly irritate. A disappointing book.
Alastair McIntosh rose to prominence with his thought provoking "Soil and Soul". In his latest offering, commissioned by an editor at Birlinn publishing, the aim was to stimulate debate, for an up and coming Scottish parliamentary election, in relation to Climate Change. It is a pity that McIntosh didn't stick to his brief.
"Hell and High Water" is a book of two parts. The first section is a concise summary of the effects of Climate Change that uses the IPCC's 2007 report as its basis and relates the issues primarily to Scotland. He also contemplates the tentative evidence that suggests that climate change will eventually reach a tipping point when the magnitude of its effects will (apologies) snowball, and provides a reasonable critique of those who are sceptical of the science of climate change as a phenomena related to human activity, including the infamous Channel 4 "documentary" by Michael Durkin.
So far so good, but then things seem to go seriously astray in the second part where McIntosh, to quote the blurb, goes on "a breath-taking journey through myth, philosophy and literature, ... [revealing] the psychohistory of modernity . . . To address what has become of the human condition we must learn to see beyond despair and death." Sounds nice, but in effect it is a melange of ideas, spiced with quotes from Plato, scriptures, the epic of Gilgamesh, the lyrics of the Beatles, Leonard Cohen and Deep Purple, his accounts of cosy chats he's had with industry at Green-Business get togethers, or lectures he has given at "Britain's foremost military staff college" (presumably a euphemism for Sandhurst?). It made little sense. The writing is flecked with platitudes, and the ideas get so woolly that it would seem that this section wasn't written but knitted, with a good many dropped stitches and loose ends to boot.
Overall this isn't a book, unlike Soil and Soul, which I'd be happy recommending anyone to read. While the first section is a workmanlike summary of the threat of Climate Change its hardly brilliant; the second part is a mess of ideas, few of which make sense, and the majority seem lazy, ill defined and frankly irritate. A disappointing book.
September 28, 2013
Was forewarned about this book's discussion on spirituality, still I did not expect the extent of it. Part I is a quick summary of what we already know about the dangers and likely inevitability of climate change and its deleterious effects on human society. Part II takes a very unconventional turn into the history of how the West had turned away from the 'inner life' towards only what is quantifiable ie Science and the Enlightenment since the 17th Century. The author argues that the ancients (Socrates) already knew about limits and the hazards of insatiable appetite for material consumption, which leads to violence - the root of all our problems. It is time now to reflect on needs rather than the many wants created by advertising and the insanity of consumerism. McIntosh is hopeful, but not optimistic, that incremental steps in this direction would help. The message is logical but yet arguably insufficient, a case of too little too late I would think.
August 20, 2009
Refreshing spiritual perspective on how society must change to tackle climate change. Actually got to meet the author, intense character and presence.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews