COLLAPSE | Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq

You connect the idea of collapse with some sort of general crash – of a person, a company or a system. Usually, however, collapse is no surprise: there are signs in advance. Mankind has increased dramatically in the last 2,000 years. We already exceeded the one billion mark in 1800: today there are well over 7 billion of us. And all of us consume resources – raw materials, land, and water. Accordingly, the state of the planet has deteriorated dramatically – dwindling rainforests, overfished oceans polluted by plastic, and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air.

The dogma of growth
It’s quite apparent that this cannot go on like for long. And yet politicians and business leaders use a supposed lack of alternatives and alleged constraints to justify their adherence to the dogma of high growth. But that is based on ignorance - or are they lies to protect their own interests? Our children will grow up to live in a world dramatically different from that of today. The consequences of the thoughtless greed for things, boundless mobility and the growing disparities between rich and poor have long been visible. And they are complex. The melting of the poles or glaciers as a result of global warming is still relatively easy to understand – but it does happen a long way away... But in many parts of the world, living conditions are dramatically deteriorating due to climate change: soil loss, catastrophic droughts, floods, conflicts over resources. And so ultimately, migration, war and terrorism can be interpreted as signs of a collapsing system. But what’s typical of any collapse is this: once it’s there, it’s already too late.