Session 8. A possible ecological future

The climate emergency is already here, knocking loudly on our door. The terms we used in the past to refer to extreme phenomena are now obsolete. Fires are no longer sixth generation. Hot nights are no longer tropical but torrid and even hellish. We now speak about climate turmoil and droughts have become mega-droughts. Eleven thousand premature deaths in Spain alone in 2022 due to hot temperatures… We have entered a new reality. What ecological future are we heading towards? None of the other great crises facing the world will define the 21^st century as much as our response to this unsettling question. Is the ecological collapse of the Earth system inevitable due to the anthropic forces that have been unleashed? Is there still reasonable room for hope as regards avoiding the worst-case scenarios and consequences? What can we learn from the last fifty years in order to improve this possible future? How can we build active political, social, and cultural resistance that will make a certain difference? What is our personal stance with a view to this emergency?

• Cristina Monge, political scientist, president of the “Más Democracia” (More Democracy) association
• Antxon Olabe, environmental economist and essayist, author of Necesidad de una política de la Tierra (The Need for an Earth Policy)
• Andreu Escrivà, member of the Group of Experts for the Climate Emergency of Barcelona, author of Contra la sostenibilidad (Against Sustainability)