“Being an earthling in the present moment is an intrinsically sad proposition; arguably even sadder than previous incarnations due to the social dimension of disaster, hastening an already too fleeting finitude. In simpler terms, it did not need to be like this. Humans did not need to trash the planet. They – we – could have lived in a more mindful, respectful, sustainable relationship with it. Rather than treating the planet like a rented Airbnb, we could have recognized it as a beautiful, living home: one with which we have been briefly entrusted and feel a pride in passing on in good condition. But of course we did not. (We moderns, that is. Indigenous people the world over understood the stakes in scaling and speeding things up and put various checks and balances in place to avoid this scenario. And for this far-sighted wisdom they were treated as “backward” or “savage” by supposed advanced civilizations, who were too boorish to see the limits upon which they trampled.)”(36) Pettman and Thacker’s SAD PLANETS takes this [...]