Rangelands in a Planetist Future.

Abstract

On the threshold of the new millennium the world is being changed by the combined forces of globalisation, tribalisation and technological change. A new interdependent planetary society is emerging. This paper describes the nature of this emerging planetary society, the forces which are creating it, and a new paradigm called Planetism which will accompany its birth. The values of Planetism, the values of the 'Spaceship Culture', will dominate by about the year 2020, and will shape the global market place of the early 21st century. The development of Planetism is slowly replacing the Modernist culture which has dominated most of the 20th century. While the urban areas have mostly moved on to Planetism, the cosmonaut culture, most of our rangelands are still dominated by Modernism, the Cowboy Culture. However, every year there are more cosmonauts and fewer cowboys. If we are to improve effective communication between the city and the bush over the management of rangelands, it is important to understand the mindsets of both the city and the bush. While there are cowboys in the city there is a much higher proportion of them in the bush. Much of the conflict over the rangelands is due to the fact that the city looks at the rangelands from a cosmonaut perspective, while the bush looks at the same rangelands from a largely cowboy perspective. Many people in the rangelands see themselves as making a stand against rampant cosmonautisation. Many of the cowboys of the rangelands are still locked into the old modernist mindset, based on the superiority of western values, culture, science and technology and an endlessly expanding frontier. The city has moved on into Post Modernism and is busy synthesising values from a wide range of cultures other than the western dominant culture. The outcome of this synthesis will be Planetist. The people of the cities have become interested in the culture of the Australian Aborigine, whereas those in the bush, while mindful of this culture tend to still look at it with a paternalist and Modernist mindset. The global adoption of the Spaceship Culture and of its paradigm, Planetism, is both inevitable and desirable. We need to adopt processes to reconcile the city and the bush by easing the bush into the world of the cosmonaut, while reassuring the bush that these changes are necessary and are not necessarily threatening. Those in the bush who are taking Custer's Last Stand against perceived threats such as Wik need to be reassured that the future is not so bleak. The dominant mindsets of the bush leadership is engendering a bleak cowboy 'battlers' outlook. While these mindsets persist, reconciliation of city and bush will be difficult. Key words: Modernism, Planetism, cosmonaut, cowboy, indigenous