Can Life Prevail?

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Can Life Prevail? A Revolutionary Approach to the Environmental Crisis  
Author(s) Pentti Linkola
Language English, Finnish
Subject(s) Philosophy, environmentalism
Genre(s) Non-fiction

Can Life Prevail? A Revolutionary Approach to the Environmental Crisis (Finnish: Voisiko Elämä Voittaa) is a book by Pentti Linkola.[1]

Editions

The book was originally published in Finnish as Voisiko Elämä Voittaa by Tammi Publishers in 2004.

The first English edition was published by Integral Tradition Publishing in 2009, and the second English edition was published by Arktos in 2011.

Contents

Chapter 1
Finland
  • Humbug
  • The Finnish Body
  • Sales Season
  • What is the Majority and What is the Minority?
  • Life Protection, Utopias, and Agriculture
  • Against Highway Crime
Chapter 2
Forests
  • The Old Forest of Talaskangas
  • The Green Lie
  • It is Dark in the Woods
  • The Forest Covering in Finland Must Be Restored
  • A Logging Story
  • Is the WWF Favouring Crime?
Chapter 3
Animals
  • From Gunslingers to Environmental Disaster
  • An Animal History of the New Age
  • The Ethics of Environmentalism
  • The Suppressed Nightmare of Conservation
  • The Cat Disaster
  • Joyful Chickens and Sad
  • The Animal Protector As an Apostle of Doom
  • Aspects of Animal Protection
  • Animal Rights in the Bible
  • A Look at Vegetarianism
  • The Value of Humans and That of Animals
Chapter 4
The World and Us
  • A Refresher Course in the State of the World
    • Man: an Irresponsible Thief
    • Will the Population Explosion be Averted — or Will Awareness of It?
    • The Reality of the Population Explosion
    • The Value-Basis of Protecting Life
    • The Doctors' Burden of Sin
    • Tabula Rasa: a Clean Slate
    • The Protection of Life and Humanism
    • Unless Man Grows Humble...
    • A Protector of Life is Forced to Compromise
  • The Intolerable Misfortune of Technology
  • Women As the Protectors of Life
  • Human Nature and History
  • The Decline of the World Knows No Mercy
  • The World at the Turn of the Millennium
    • Democracy: The Seal of Ruin
    • What Do We Mean by “End of the World”?
    • Is There Anything Good in Us Humans?
  • Bull's Eye
  • A Perspective on the State of the World (The ABC of the Deep Ecologist — Part One)
    • Philosophy for the Everyman
    • There is No Place for Nihilism in This World
    • The Useless Strategy of Man
    • The Objection Raised by the Deep Ecologist
    • The World's Greatest Love
  • A Perspective on the State of the World (The ABC of the Deep Ecologist — Part Two)
    • The Insight of the Deep Ecologist
    • War
    • Democracy: The Religion of Death
    • The Heresy of Non-violence
    • Changing Morals
Chapter 5
The Prerequisites for Life
  • The Sum of Life
  • On the Reversal of Finnish Society
  • Can We Survive? A Model for a Controlled Future
    • A Demographic Plan
    • Energy
    • The Collection of Carbon Dioxide
    • Agriculture
    • Traffic
    • Foreign Relations
    • Industry and Wares
    • Construction
    • Education
    • Law and Order
    • Subsistence Economy
    • Money
    • Information Technology
    • Power

The ABC of the Deep Ecologist

  • Philosophy for the Everyman
  • There is No Place for Nihilism in This World
  • The Useless Strategy of Man
  • The Objection Raised by the Deep Ecologist
  • The World's Greatest Love
  • The Insight of the Deep Ecologist
  • War
  • Democracy: The Religion of Death
  • The Heresy of Non-violence
  • Changing Morals

Measuring satisfaction and happiness

The only criteria to measure the satisfaction, happiness and future faith of citizens and societies are the following:

  • the number of suicides
  • the need for psychiatric services and medicine
  • the need for drugs and alcohol
  • the endurance of relationships or the number of divorces
  • the degree of firmness and warmth in gender relations
  • the degree of harmony and respect between citizens
  • the quality of the environment

A Model for a Controlled Future

  • A Demographic Plan
    • Procreation should be licensed: on average, every woman should be allowed to bear only one child.
    • The opulent excess of fat, even obesity, would be decreased by regulating, controlling and normalising the nutrition, vitamin and hormonal levels of adolescents.
  • Energy
    • Fossil fuels, including peat, will be abolished.
    • Firewood will be used in heating and its use will be tightly regulated.
    • The necessary electricity will be produced by wind power.
    • Other power plants will be demolished.
  • The Collection of Carbon Dioxide
    • The forest industry will largely have to be shut down.
    • Firewood will be harvested from fast-growing deciduous trees in small, carefully outlined areas.
    • Fire-fighting troops will be trained to carry out efficient actions on terrain devoid of forest roads.
    • All wastelands, banks and fields that absorb little or no carbon will be forested.
    • Hunting will also be rendered more effective.
  • Agriculture
    • Farming will be organised in small units, while machines will be abolished.
    • Greenhouses will operate — when at all — exclusively by solar energy during the warm season.
  • Traffic
    • The main rule will be for people to live in their native areas and home districts.
    • Private car and motorboat traffic will cease.
    • Metal, plastic and rubber junk will be in little demand in the future.
  • Foreign Relations
    • After all international trade agreements will have been revoked and all trade coalitions abandoned, foreign trade will drop to a minimum.
    • Products of handicraft, woodwork and foodstuff such as fish and berries will be used as exchange currency.
    • Mass travel will end and will be replaced by hiking in one's home area.
    • Foreign visas will be issues to hikers moving on foot and by bicycle.
    • All air traffic will cease.
  • Industry and Wares
    • Industrial manufacturing will be subject to licensing.
    • Most business enterprises will come to an end.
    • Only sturdy, well-built equipment will be used, which will last several generations.
  • Construction
    • The construction of new buildings will cease.
    • A small number of public buildings will be left intact to be used as schools and conference halls or to host cultural events.
    • Holiday resorts will be demolished and replaced by tents, as holidays will take place in the wilderness.
  • Education
    • The school system will be cherished as the most precious aspect of society.
    • Civil skills include responsibility towards one's neighbour, nature and mankind; social skills, behavioural education and practical abilities.
    • The school system will root out all competition from society.
    • Universities will be maintained whatever their cost.
    • While art and music will be widely practised and taught, heavy or bulky equipment and buildings specifically devoted to the practice of the arts will be abolished.
    • The school system, like the whole of society, will be extremely prejudiced against technology.
  • Law and Order
    • The people most responsible for the present economic growth and competition will be transferred to the mountains and highlands to be re-educated.
    • Property crimes will be punished harshly.
    • Society will forbid the consumption of drugs, including tobacco.
  • Subsistence Economy
    • Most commodities will be rationed.
    • The hysteria about freshness and hygiene that has caused such waste and frantic traffic will come to an end.
  • Money
    • Monetary transactions not aimed at immediate material acquisition will come to an end.
    • Stock markets will be shut down; investments will stop.
    • The only function of banks will be to store currency, allow small-scale withdrawals and lend money.
    • Payments will be made face-to-face, as automated systems of money transferral will only be seen in museums.
  • Information Technology
    • All information technology will be moved into the trash bin of history.
  • Power
    • A government led by a few wise individuals is necessary to protect the people from itself.

References

  1. Linkola, Pentti (2011). Can Life Prevail? A Revolutionary Approach to the Environmental Crisis, 2nd edition. Arktos. ISBN 978-1-907166-63-1

See also

External links