{"id":40101,"date":"2020-12-09T00:15:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T00:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=40101"},"modified":"2020-12-09T00:15:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T00:15:14","slug":"collapsology-is-this-the-end-of-civilisation-as-we-know-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/collapsology-is-this-the-end-of-civilisation-as-we-know-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Collapsology: Is this the end of civilisation as we know it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coronavirus pandemic has sparked a surge of interest in ‘collapsology’, a movement based on the assumption that declining resources and climate change will bring the world extremely close to destruction. Voice of London takes a look at people who believe society is collapsing, and what they do about it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The grasshopper spent the summer singing while the ant worked hard to store up food for the winter. The grasshopper quickly dies of hunger and the ant dances the cold season away. Aesop’s fable ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ sums up the moral lesson to work hard and plan for the future, and recently it has taken on a new meaning.<\/p>\n

In light of COVID-19 taking the world by storm, it has become increasingly clear that our societies are fragile. Showing us that we are never that far away from mass panic, that we are so reliant on everybody else, and that we need to do better. This virus has brought the world to its knees. However, it was already starting to crumble before.<\/p>\n

Although a traditionally French ideology, the concept of collapsology has crept its way into London life.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Infographic by Arwa Nadeem<\/p><\/div>\n

At the root of this concept is Pablo Sevigne, a French philosopher who published a book called \u2018How Everything Can Collapse\u2019. Collapsology is a new term that was invented to try and bring together a number of disciplines that look at systemic risk in different areas. For example, climate risk, water stress, financial instability, economic boom and recession cycles, energy depletion\u2026 The list goes on.<\/p>\n

This string of environmental crises and the consequences of how we choose to live our lives will soon trigger a breakdown in our food, water and energy supply systems, which will ultimately bring down the somewhat stable political structures we know today. Looking at how far humanity has come in the past centuries calls to question: what are the dynamics of exponential growth in a limited world? And the answer to that is collapse.<\/p>\n

Once You Know<\/h2>\n

Once You Know<\/em>, written and directed by Emmanuel Cappellin in collaboration with Anne-Marie Sangla, is a film about climate-induced collapse and our chances to collectively prevail. Voice of London speaks to the director Emmanuel Cappellin, who shares his motivations for this film and his thoughts on the concept of collapsology.<\/p>\n