“However bad you think it is, it’s probably worse than that”, said Professor of Philosophy, Rupert Read, beginning his talk for the South Yare Wildlife Group on the 26th of January 2023.

“Scientists only put into their papers what they think they can prove, and they think it is almost certainly worse than what they can prove.  Scientists are scared, angry, distraught, and haven’t the heart to tell us their worst fears.”

Professor Read’s talk was entitled “Dodo, Phoenix, or Butterfly”, and he went on to explain how we might carry on as we are while trying to make things less bad. There will be a series of collapse events, slow, or fast. Societies will collapse. This is the path we are on, he says; the DODO path. [To make it absolutely clear, this is the path of extinction]. Rupert believes some version of the Phoenix is what is more likely to happen, that we will prepare some sort of deep adaptation to the collapse events. We will suffer collapses, but recover from them because we are prepared [remember the Phoenix has to die first.]. A Butterfly future is what he hopes for, and this is why Greening Wymondham members Nicola Maunders and Mary Howard, who attended the talk, then invited him to give a workshop in Wymondham.

“Anyone who says they know for certain that we are headed for destruction without an escape clause should not be listened to, because no one can have that knowledge. We should aim for the butterfly route, as difficult as that would be.” Know the worst; imagine an alternative, take action today to make this possible.

The free event to be held at Abbey Hall in Wymondham on Monday the 24th of April will begin at 6 pm, with doors opening at 5:30. A short film, followed by a short talk given by Rupert Read, will open up to questions from the audience intended to help set the Agenda for the workshop. To help in this process will also be UEA Philosophy Professor and former Green MEP Catherine Rowett, who will join Rupert in answering questions.