Thinking Like Losers: Failing and Mourning as Lost Dimensions of Environmentalism

For environmental thinkers of different stripes—from techno-scientific ‘eco-pragmatists’ to climate activists—the concept of human failure—whether psychological, moral, or spiritual—is at odds with the language of hope needed to generate meaningful action. As Clingerman’s work on geo-engineering attests, failing to adequately meet the challenge of climate and ecological crisis is frequently expressed as a state to be overcome, through divine or human techno-scientific intervention. Against such a view, I want to propose failure as generative of environmental ethical thinking, particularly in times of mass extinction and irrecoverable ecological devastation. I do this by linking failure with two concepts that have become important to environmental humanities scholars: first, the concept of mourning as an ethical disposition (via the philosophies of Benjamin, Freud, and Derrida) that can foster more just, compassionate and sustainable ways of living. Second, inviting further interaction with Clingerman’s work, I propose to link failure to the concept of environmental hermeneutics, by understanding language itself as a sign of human failure.