In one of our lectures at Konstfack, we tuned, via Skype, to Mark Drewell from South Africa to hear some of his views on the current hot topics for our planet. The uniqueness of this online “mini-lecture” was not just in the form and the medium that was used, but also in the message. Mark paraphrased James Martin and his book The Meaning of the 21st Century, which actually has a whole school build around and named after it. Martin uses an analogy named “Into The Canyon” to describe the situation of our civilization as we face many signs telling us there’s something wrong with the way we’ve been dealing with the world.

“The Canyon” is a metaphor for the downfall of our species, considering the increasing number of social, ecological, political issues we have to deal with—inequity, population overload, intolerance, carbon overload, etc. The metaphor says that we’re heading down the canyon at full speed, and predicts the bottom-most point will be reached as we start experiencing vital problems–such as water scarcity–on a worldwide level.

Despite this pessimistic-looking first half of the metaphor, Martin also argues that some of the best ideas are generated under the pressure of this bottom-out effect. He states that we have to establish the appropriate circumstances for a growing natural capital as well as tolerance, harmony, etc.; all of which eventually lead to a perfect balance.

Mark, our Skype lecturer, finished off with three quotes from Paul Hawken, who obviously sees the fun and the challenging part of all of the big issues discussed above:

The great thing about the dilemma we are in is that we get to re-imagine every single thing we do… There isn’t one single thing we make or one single system we have that doesn’t require a complete remake… What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to essentially completely change this world.

Seeing this challenge as a set of privileges granted to our generation, rather than a difficult task that must be accomplished, will surely help us embrace it.