The rhetoric of "hopium" is failing as ecological overshoot deepens. "Hopium", a colloquial term that is a blend of the words "hope" and "opium" (as though it were a drug), represents a faith in technological and market-based solutions to address our multiple reinforcing crises, despite evidence to the contrary. We're living in the long defeat and we must own and confront it with courage. Award-winning essayist, Pamela Swanigan, joins us. Highlights include:

How children's literature is full of reverence for nature but children's literature analysis done in the academy is dominated by the perspective of human exceptionalism;
The role that Judeo-Christianity has played in promoting the worldview of human exceptionalism while destroying the millennia-old biophilic and animistic belief systems;
Why Pamela was astonished that she won the Berggruen Prize Essay Competition given the magical thinking of human exceptionalism and techno-solutionism embodied by the attendees;
Social reformer and US Commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs John Collier's concept of the 'long hope'- that indigenous cultures and their nature-sacralizing beliefs could help humanity survive after the collapse of techno-industrial civilization;
Why the delusional and pervasive rhetoric of hope among social change advocates (such as Jane Goodall and David Suzuki) defies evidence, and why we must embrace JRR Tolkien's concept of the 'long defeat' in order to courageously fight against ecological destruction and social injustice.

See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:

https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/pamela-swanigan

OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance

OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.

Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.

Learn more at populationbalance.org

Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Aliette Hovine

The AI-powered Podcast Player