The glacier fell. What should grow from it?

Nepal’s flood is not only a climate disaster. It is a warning about the exploitative stories that have shaped our economy, our politics and our idea of what it means to live well.

Nishchhal Kharal, Freedom Studio

Two weeks ago, a glacier collapsed in the Himalayas along the Nepal-Tibet border, sending a massive flood of water and debris downstream and devastating communities just outside of Kathmandu. If you have watched those videos, it is just horrifying. It looks like the whole of the earth itself has suddenly broken open. But how did this really happen, leaving more than 1,300 people dead to date and nearly 5,000 still missing?

The immediate cause is now clear enough. High in the Himalayas, a huge glacier broke off from the mountainside and caused a massive flood that accumulated debris downstream. If we follow water back up the mountain, to the thing that thawed the permafrost that held the glacier in place, then there shouldn’t be any doubt that it was rising temperatures in the mountains, caused by two centuries of burning fossil fuel.

But on a deeper level, it is more than the greenhouse effect that caused this disaster. Though by demanding a loss and damage fund, rebuilding roads and bridges, and even slowing down the burning of fossil fuel, most of the problems for Nepal and for other countries that are in high risk of climate catastrophes won’t be solved. If we really want to prevent such a disaster in the future, then we need to start asking a more uncomfortable question: What kind of story have we built our economy around?

The story of endless growth

For centuries, the dominant economy has been functioning with the story that free market, free exchange of goods and services will ultimately make life better for everyone. But this is just a part of the story. The underlying logic of this system is the maximization of profit and the compulsion of economic growth, endlessly. To keep profits rising, this economic system requires cheap factors of production that push down production costs. As one of the major factors of production is raw materials, the current system is extracting from nature without taking the consequences into account.

Global material extraction has more than tripled since 1970, wildlife populations have fallen by nearly three quarters in the same time span and still about 1 billion people live below the extreme poverty line. Though we have already been overshooting the planetary boundaries and have been unable to uplift people from poverty, the economy is still growing and the system still doesn’t seem to take pause.

“Though we have already been overshooting the planetary boundaries and have been unable to uplift people from poverty, the economy is still growing and the system still doesn’t seem to take pause.”

For the economy to grow, businesses must sell more and we people must buy more, forever. And today with the booming advertising industry, demand is forced upon us. Just look at your social media, a steady stream of advertisements remind us what we supposedly lack: food that is unhealthy, fast fashion we don’t need, gadgets we can’t afford, a body that is unnatural and house without home. We are really wearing down the planet to produce and imagine things that simply suffocate ordinary people. The economy is already stuck in this constant loop of growth, which I believe common people do not even need to this extent and, anyway, all this consumption stopped making our lives better a long time ago.

Finding alternative stories

Art credit: Freedom Studio / Sunil Arts

In the flood-affected villages of Nepal, money is not the priority – people’s lives come first. We are seeing how people are behaving inside a disaster, carrying one another, sharing food, shelter, clothes and giving what little is left. Though being one of the poorest countries on earth, within days Nepal’s people have poured billions of rupees into relief, most of it raised from inside the country itself. The selfish, profit maximizing creature of economics textbooks hasn’t showed up in the disaster to the Nepali people. Instead, we are seeing solidarity, care and giving just because someone else was in real need.

“People may call me naive, but more and more I think that part of the answer to the ecological disaster and restlessness we are seeing in humans is to slow down.”

I have spent many months in the grassroots of Nepal, sleeping in homes where people have almost nothing by the measure of the market, and everything by the measure of a life. This is a kind of wealth that doesn’t appear in the formal economy. Reflecting on those days, I wonder whether endless economic growth truly reflects human needs, or whether it increasingly manufactures new needs and then sells them back to us.

People may call me naive, but more and more I think that part of the answer to the ecological disaster and restlessness we are seeing in humans is to slow down. Starting to consume less as individuals, starting to treat belonging to community as a form of wealth, and starting to connect to the world as a form of freedom. I am not trying to romanticize poverty, and I understand people need material security, good healthcare, education, infrastructure, decent work and freedom to live with dignity. But I am challenging the  current economic system’s hold over us, continually pushing people to consume more.

What should grow from it?

If something should grow from this disaster in Nepal it is not only a demand for a “loss and damage fund”, not only the rebuilding of stronger roads and bridges, not only improving disaster preparedness, and not only pushing for Global North countries to transition away from fossil fuels. Rather, we need to grow the culture, protect the narrative, and plant a new story of what we consider to be a good life.

For generations, we have told ourselves a story where more means better, but what would happen if we told a different story? A story in which successful life, a successful society is measured not only by how much we produce and consume but mostly by whether people feel safe, dignified and connected with each other.

“Now is the moment to rebuild a culture where belonging is a form of wealth, care is valued and connection to nature is part of what it means to live well.”

The solidarity that we saw after the flood in Nepal is a small glimpse of that alternative. It has shown us that we, humans, are able to organize around values over profit. But solidarity only won’t solve climate change alone. We need better systems, stronger institutions and accountability from those who have contributed to this crisis.

After every disaster, people will start rebuilding the roads, the bridges, the towns. The government will calculate the cost of reconstruction and measure what was damaged. Perhaps while doing all of this, we should start asking another question too: What story are we rebuilding? Because if we rebuild the same system, with the same assumptions, and again tell ourselves the same story of endless growth, we may be able to reconstruct the village, but another, bigger catastrophe will not be far off. Therefore, now is the moment to rebuild a culture where belonging is a form of wealth, care is valued and connection to nature is part of what it means to live well.

By: Nishchhal Kharal, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Freedom Studio

Below is an animation produced by Freedom Studio on the Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) from aid workers: