The Disenchanted Earth: Reflections on Ecosocialism and Barbarism

by Richard Seymour

From Richard Seymour, one of the UK’s leading public intellectuals, comes a characteristic blend of forensic insight and analysis, personal journey, and a vivid respect for the natural world.

A planetary fever-dream. An environmental awakening that is also a sleep-walking, unsteadily weaving between history, earth science, psychoanalysis, evolution, biology, art and politics. A search for transcendence, beyond the illusory eternal present.

These essays chronicle the kindling of ecological consciousness in a confessed ignoramus. They track the first enchantment of the author, his striving to comprehend the coming catastrophe, and his attempt to formulate a new global sensibility in which we value anew what unconditionally matters.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Essays, Environment, Ecology

201 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2022

About the author

Northern Irish Marxist writer and broadcaster, activist and owner of the blog Lenin's Tomb.

Seymour is a former member of the Socialist Workers Party.

He is currently working on a PhD. in sociology.

Reviews

[Mathieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're all fucked. Like, mega fucked.
Straffe, ongebreidelde essays over de klimaatcatastrofe.
Jammer dat het vree links-intellectualistisch geschreven is, hiermee bereikt ge enkel een publiek dat het probleem al lang kent. Ik geef wel toe dat ik niet weet hoe ge het anders zou moeten schrijven maar met psychoanalyse van de maatschappij en Schopenhaueriaanse filosofie gaat ge de massa niet overtuigen van hun eigen domme ondergang.

En nu terug studeren voor mijn toekomst die absoluut catastrofaal zal zijn volgens dit boek :)

[Sam]

Some good thoughts in this collection of RS patreon essays from the past few years. Turned me off nuclear power completely as a climate change solution and had some nice poetic psychoanalytic stuff about nature and species grief that i vibed with

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elliptical collection of short sketches in which Seymour by his own account teaches himself ecosocialism. Sits oddly in places between grandiloquence and unfinishedness, but the combination of the rich, lovingly detailed prose he's been moving towards and the polemical scorn with which he began go together well here, and the notes are full of pointers to where else to explore.

[ash | songsforafuturepoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the mammoth problem of climate change - Seymour's brutally honest text offers no solutions, only reflections, from a leftist, anti-capitalist perspective that is evenly toned and offers both hope and despair, sometimes in the same essay.

I enjoy his writing - every sentence has deep nuance and he has a clear, passionate voice. His essays are analyses across disciplines - philosophy, ecology, politics, sociology, biology, history, paleontology, technology, and more - they allow a more complete understanding of how social and political decisions, the human psyche, and social movements impact the state of the climate today and across the past and future.

Some quotes that made me think:

"Capital has an apparatus of guilt that is related to debt. The innovation by fossil capital of the idea of an individual 'carbon footprint', another way of turning collective responsibility into personal debt, was a far-sighted investment in guilt."

(I found this quote and the concept of debt interesting. Currently reading Graeber's Debt - eager to compare both of their perspectives on debt.)

"The problem with cheap food is that it is only 'cheap' for capital: it really isn't remotely cheap for most of the world's populations of people, animals, and plants. It is in fact enormously expensive, and we are beginning to pick up the tab."

"The planetary conditions which enabled us hominids to emerge and evolve to our current status are contingent, a deep-historical fluke. We have no inherent right to survive, let alone dominate."

[Eleanor Ward-Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up as a gap filler while traveling back from Bath and in need of a book for the journey.
If at any point in the introduction I was hazy about the Authors Marxist views.
With chapters titled 'Disaster and Denialism' and 'The dark side of Carbon Democracy', I knew what I was in for by chapter two.

Despite the weighty doomsday-ie bent each essay takes it was a surprisingly enjoyable read, a familiar feeling was felt when readying Andrea Dworkin or other feminist polemicists.
The book waists little time on the nitty-gritty of the science around the climate catastrophe but instead enlists the reader to care not with pleas to change but with with a spearheaded anger at governmental malaise and inertness of dysfunctional democracies.
Most Interesting chapters were
'Nothing Beside Remain'
'Dropping Like Bees'

[Nina pasqualini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved various ideas from inside this book, such ideas included technopopulism and denialism, bees and nature as a subordinate realm (exploitation and the capitalistic circuit of production), and disenchantment. However, these ideas were undeveloped and the inclusion of all of the various subjects in many essays created surface-level and overdone liberal-esc tellings of the climate crisis. While it is a collection of essays, even the most accomplished philosophers and writers will not be able to pull off a 187 page book about biology, politics,psychoanalysis etc in relation to the climate crisis, it’s just too big of a topic. Maybe if Seymour only focused on the idea of disenchantment and social reactions he could have produced a more meaningful text.

[Oscar Jelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely troubling, as any serious book on our ecological predicament should be, and written with a mixture of lyricism and analytical clarity that I found very impressive - balances a hard-nosed assessment of past and present failures and looming threats with a genuinely poetic evocation of the many things we stand to lose. Maybe a bit underdeveloped in places, though its succinctness is largely a virtue; am hoping some of the themes will be recapitulated in Seymour’s upcoming book Disaster Nationalism.

[Kyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars.

I found this book really difficult to read, in part because I was reluctant to recognise the truth. It's easy to see inflammatory language as dramatics pursued by the writer in their chosen field, especially where the setting allows the author's personality to emerge more concretely. These essays, however, aren't that. They are just excruciatingly and nerve-wrackingly honest, underpinned by a moderate tone which doesn't portray any sense of pessimism or optimism. The narrative tone is cautious but suggestive, matching the choice of subject perfectly.

This book is not a place to turn to if you are desirous of solutions. The spirit of doomism and denialism which floats around social spaces, both in real life and online, fuels our desire to look for concrete technological, political and social fixes to set in front of the doomers with a flick of the hair. It is so easy, we say, because the cost of renewables has plummeted, this recent study claims XYZ, conservation efforts have brought X back from the brink. And this isn't to nag at climate optimists, I find myself often burrowing into ideas like that when I find myself driven to apathy. What Seymour suggests is that optimism is a self-deception, because if leaves many unable to deal with the facts.

(There are plenty of books suggesting solutions, from techno-meat to localised restoration projects. There is also an amazing Youtube channel devoted to ecosocialism and talking specifics called Our Changing Climate. They also discuss where eco-fascism finds its roots, and the pros and cons of already established climate solutions like electric cars).

Seymour perfectly weaves together the social and political underpinnings of climate (in)action with a meticulous knowledge and employment of academic fields like paleontology, ecology and biology with Lacan, Marx and Freud in equal dosage. More than that, however, this essay collection perfectly articulates our complicated relationship with the earth and animals. From the evolutionary perspective it stresses our existence as just another species. We are not masters of the earth, born for dominion, created by a deity and meant to reign in nature. We are but a product of the earth's functions, our existence is, in essence, a fluke we have massively capitalised on. What is oddly comforting in this assertion is the knowledge that the planet will survive whether we kill ourselves or not, will learn to flourish again, and may even, through an elaborate evolutionary trick, produce a near-hominid in a distant future. When we begin to think of our true place on this earth, a species angling for survival, it brings us to an understanding, reminding me of the "stewards of the earth" analogy often deployed as an explainer for native peoples' attitudes towards interaction with the earth. The "with" is terribly important. And not only this, but we are not guaranteed survival on an earth which regularly chokes off life anyway, as is the evolutionary/environmental run of things. A deity will not come to save us. We've been taking advantage of what is possibly a mistake.

The essay on animal intelligence is sensitive, astute and gives much food for thought. Bringing ourselves in line with animals by de-centering the human experience and understanding animals as existing AS ANIMALS and not as animals acting like humans is critical in confronting how non-special our species really is. Furthermore, we have to consider how the limits of human intelligence impair our understanding of animals. Not every club is ours to join. The essay on fire was another favourite, full of interesting information which demonstrates how the colonial mindset created the man-made wildfire (the oxymoron is intentional) because it rejected the understanding cultivated for centuries by natives and instead preferred to establish dominion.

My only complaint was that one essay "Unworldliness" danced between too many subjects and thus lost some of the linearity on which the central criticism should have been hosted. Furthermore, the language at times is slightly clunky. Seymour has a gorgeous narrative voice but it was belied in some very small sections by a convoluted structuring of the point/sentence. Generally I found this easy to work around.

My final point for potential readers is that I don't see this as a great introductory book on climate change and ecosocialism. Despite choice words to say about Attenborough in one or two essays, I maintain that his book is an amazing introduction which offers some real life solutions and will begin the critical thinking process. You can use this apolitical starting point to find your focus areas. These essays are great, although some do employ the theory of the Lacanian 'Real', for example, without explaining what that is, which may make it inaccessible to some. Of course you could also take the opportunity to research alongside it, but I think it is worthy to highlight that this may alienate some who do not have the same academic background.

This is the longest review I've written in a while, which I think is a testament to how these essays really have my brain whirring in a productive way.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to write a book like this.

[Darran Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of essays by one of our greatest public intellectuals. Seymour is a really excellent writer. We are launching this book at Bookhaus on Wednesday the 13th of April

[Ali Akbar Madraswala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragic, disturbing and laced with true. Capitalism is akin to fat. Only lots of capital is deemed attractive.

[Thomas Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to start out saying that I did enjoy the book. The writing is absolutely amazing. If I didn't have an understanding of the topic, he'd have explained it well to me. I believe that climate change *is* the greatest threat we face.

I just also believe that it should transcend people's rather narrow political thinking about it. No new system will fix what is ultimately a human problem. So, I wanted less... 'capitalism bad'... If any other system was in place we'd still be dying. We're not managing our pollution or efficiently controlling production right now. Glass would do, but we use plastic. Fashion manipulates people with shame into hyper-consumption. Whoever has the control of production would be equally bad.

Entering the book I was struck by his self awareness. He identified himself as privileged, but didn't leap into self-defence mode. Refreshing. He then took on the idea of 'we'... as in 'we need to tackle climate change'... and firmly honed his sights on big business, arguing that 100 companies produce about 71% of emissions.

The veracity of that claim... The Carbon Majors Report attributes carbon use back to the original company... You use petrol in your car, Shell is responsible for that value... Which strikes me as an interesting way to shift blame back down a line and gives the public the impression that we aren't *as* responsible... Which isn't as true as is suggested here.

I learned a long time ago that whenever a person employs a statistic, it is more important to examine the intent than the content. Here the intent is to say that large businesses damage the climate more than average people (even all those people's damage combined doesn't amount to a hill of beans). I think he chose a poor argument, but I think the weight of responsibility would find a good home on their shoulders.

Overall, he writes with a level of skill and elegance that would see him produce excellent fiction... Which he almost has done... (Sorry, but I do feel like a lot of the text was largely just sensational statistics read in a very purposeful way to back up a foregone conclusion)

The issue for me. He doesn't provide any solution. Just the same as every other critic of capitalism and big business and government and everything as it is... It's not hard to argue that it's destroying the world... That doesn't automatically make Marxism the answer... You do have to show us *why* you're so convinced it will work where other systems have failed. Hopefully that will come in his next book. I sense he isn't finished grinding this axe.


P.s.

Some of Seymour's essays in The Disenchanted Earth are a little obvious. Like how right-wing people laughing at climate activists is basically them enjoying the pain of those actively trying to save the world for said right-wing people's own loved ones. Kinda like laughing at a fireman trying to save your own kid from a house fire... But I think, because it goes unsaid so often, it is important to include that dynamic here; obvious as it is, someone might not have thought about that particular lunacy. Even if it did make me yawn.


Cool things learned:

They think Whales, owing to their ultrasound, can actually see inside other creatures/things.

Prairie dogs have distinct calls for things as specific as the hair colour, clothing and items carried for passing humans.

[lesboygenius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic prose that weaves Seymour's poetic writing with scientific and political thought in a style almost reminiscent to that of Loren Eiseley. The Disenchanted Earth is overall an enjoyable read that emphasizes the gravity of climate change and its roots in capitalist neoliberalism while simultaneously warning of the dangers of emerging ecofascist and other authoritarian movements that claim to offer solutions.

[Bhanu Dhir · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a series of essays that will upset you because they will challenge the fundamentals of your thinking, this is it. Chillingly prescient and well informed it clinically analyses the cause of and the only solution to climate change however unacceptable it is and however indoctrinated we have become to believe that our own carbon footprint is the problem.

[Lexi Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential for climate crisis understanding

[Nel Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting points on nuclear power stations and anthropocentrism, the rest was well written but nothing groundbreaking.

[Des hennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'll need your optimism of the will. But we are where we are. And that's not good.

[Ben Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random pick up in Shakespeare & Company in Paris.

Very interesting subject matter with each chapter feeling much like an introduction to the topic, not allowing you to get too deep before switching to an entirely new discussion… which came to be a little frustrating.

Richard Seymour felt little ‘try hard’ at times with numerous Keats quotes that told me little except “by the way, I read 19th century poetry”.

Fascinating however to read a little more about animal communication and behaviour in the chapter Scala Naturae which only bolsters my interest in reading Ed Yong’s: An Immense World.

Not a bad book, Monbiot does it better…

[Bernardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite writers and thinkers, reflecting on the climate emergency.