The Comb Lab letter : Global mutations; local scales
Climate change, geopolitics, cutting-edge technologies: our previous letter raised the question of the gap between the major changes underway, which involve the entire biosphere, and actions taken at local level. No region can claim to be exempt from the effects of these far-reaching transformations. So, in concrete terms, what criteria and indirect influences should be used to arbitrate competing uses of water, soil and forests? What local measures exist or need to be taken?
First of all we should point out that existing provisions are often oxymoronic: they are both indispensable and counter-productive. Essential, and therefore perfectly welcome, because they respond to imperative environmental needs. Counter-productive, because they are generally sector-specific. The electrification of the automotive sector has no retroactive effect on the carbon dioxide emissions caused by the clear-cutting of forests. Worse still, the extraction of rare metals releases carbon stored in the soil, while capturing and polluting groundwater. An oxymoron, because it directly contradicts the quest to decarbonise individual transport.
Exceeding planetary limits cannot be dealt with on a sector-by-sector basis, but requires a systemic approach. In other words, a problem in one sector has a knock-on effect on all other sectors, each of which in turn has a knock-on effect on the first and all other sectors: drying up of soils, acidification of oceans, loss of biodiversity in the skies, in wetlands, in the soil, and so on.
And yet… the electronic distribution of this text and its reading on the computer or telephone screen mean that mining must continue, a requirement for microprocessors. Similarly, ending our dependence on fossil fuels for heating means cutting down trees to produce logs, pellets and granules. Is our way of life proving bankrupt, or is the question being asked the wrong way?
Ever since the reality of climate change entered the public consciousness, societal debate has focused on the difficult social acceptability of the measures needed to reconcile the physical reality of planetary limits with a universally decent way of life.
In other words, we need to reconcile environmental justice with social justice. The problem is all the more immediate in that our position at the end of the food chain makes us the first victims of the perpetuation of the “planetary limits/extractivism-for-maximum-life-comfort” equation.
It has long been clear to everyone that mobilising for the reasonable management of ecosystems and the maintenance of human activities within planetary limits does not generate electoral or stock market gains. The background noise generated by market volatility, bellicose geopolitical recomposition and unbridled use of digital networks drowns out awareness of the urgency to act.
Faced with this form of headlong rush, we believe, along with many others, that we must relentlessly inform those around us. Inform about the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on our daily lives. Inform about the social consequences of inaction in both urban and rural areas. Inform about the financial cost of inaction. Inform so that combining environmental justice with social justice becomes an absolute priority in the public debate. So, with our partners, we are continuing to produce videos to keep people informed, with no time or space limits, through the Mallette des Combrailles. The next ones will deal with soil biodiversity and sustainable tourism.
In the field, Comb Lab is working with a Comcom in the Combrailles region to develop alternative forms of mobility as part of the Fabrique départementale des transitions. In another Comcom, we’re working with the elementary school of three communes to create an educational garden planted with trees. At the beginning of October, we are taking part in a “healthy eating” day organised by a local social action centre. We are raising awareness among schoolchildren and the general public of the close relationship between food diversity and soil biodiversity.
We attach particular importance to our commitment to the deployment of the Programme alimentaire territorial (PAT) in the Combrailles. Indeed, the prerequisite for any action aimed at mitigating the degradation of the biosphere is universal access to food that is sufficient in quantity and quality. Irish economist Philip Pilkinson noted in a study published on 5 July, 20231: “When people don’t eat as well as they used to, discontent and unrest grow.” The author sums up his statement in a striking formula: “Three meals separate civilization from barbarism”.
Aware of the importance of the food challenges posed by climate change and the loss of biodiversity, we have been involved from the outset, as part of a collective of citizens’ organisations led by Cisca, in helping to roll out an experimental social security model for food in the département.
All these concrete and useful actions are part of the “territorial resilience” action research project funded by Ademe (environmental protection and energy management) and conducted with our friends at Cisca (Clermont Auvergne Social Innovation Centre).
To complete the Mallette, to carry out our action research, to participate with various local executives and associations in the dynamics launched in the Combrailles region, to involve Comb Lab in innovative concrete initiatives. These are our pragmatic answers to the two questions with which we opened this letter.
1 https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2023/07/05/des-emeutes-de-la-faim-lepicentre-ukrainien-de-la-crise-francaise/