Time's Up!: An Uncivilized Solution to a Global Crisis

by Keith Farnish

This is not an environmental book, even though it is concerned with the environment. It is not a book to save the world, even though the world is clearly in trouble. Ultimately, Time's Up! is a book about survival; about ensuring that every individual human has the means to save herself or himself from the global crisis that is unfolding. People know that the climate is changing, that species are being removed from the Earth at a rapidly increasing rate, that entire ecosystems are becoming shadows of their former richness; they know, but they do not understand. The global environmental crisis is closing in on humanity from all directions, yet the crisis barely registers on this culture's list of problems. As we stand, humanity is doomed to a collapse that will leave only a few nomads, and a toxic, barely survivable Earth in its wake. So why is nothing being done beyond changing light bulbs, recycling and buying organic food? It's certainly not for a lack of good reasons. Humans have no motivation stronger than survival, yet the culture that dominates "the culture we call Industrial Civilization" has created a set of priorities that value financial wealth, the possession of superfluous goods and short, cheap thrills, above that most basic need. In short, we are prepared to die in order to live a life that is killing us. Time's Up! is all about changing this. It describes what our actions are doing to the very things on Earth that we depend on for survival, at scales that we rarely contemplate. It arms us with the tools to free us from the culture that has blinded us for centuries, and which will allow us to live lives that will give the Earth, and ourselves, a future. Time's Up! proposes something radical, fundamental and frightening; something longterm, exhilarating and absolutely necessary; something totally uncivilized.

Genres: Environment

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

A youth worker, LGBTQ+ activist and not-quite self-sufficient individual in the Scottish borders, I have been involved in environmental and social issues for nearly 30 years – for a large part of that as an active member of various organisations before becoming disillusioned with the mainstream. I founded The Earth Blog in 2006 followed by a range of other websites.
In 2009, my first non-fiction book, Time’s Up! An Uncivilized Solution to a Global Crisis was published by Green Books, and rapidly became a classic of the anti-civilization genre, particularly in the USA. My second book Underminers: A Guide to Subverting The Machine follows up on the work started by Time’s Up! in a more practical vein. Initially thought to be too radical for publication, it was bought by New Society and published in 2013.
Following the publishing of Underminers, I decided to leave non-fiction writing for something which could connect to a wider audience. I started work on Almost Gone as a short story in 2014 and was encouraged by various people to turn it into a novel, which was completed in mid-2015. Continuing in the world in which Almost Gone is set; the follow-up has just been finished, entitled Other Worlds, and written from the point of view of a member of the other tribe featured in the first novel.
I stopped writing soon before COVID hit, and returned to community work. If anyone would like to chat then do connect with my Instagram page.

Reviews

[Oldroses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost everyone today agrees that Global Warming is real and is happening even faster than originally estimated. We can see the effects already in the melting of glaciers and sea ice, storms of increasing frequency and intensity and devastating droughts. Added to the ongoing degradation of the environment caused by industrial farming and fishing, the pollution from the burning of coal and gas to produce electricity and fuel our cars and you have the makings of an environmental catastrophe.

Just how devastating this catastrophe will be if we continue on our current course comprises the first half of Keith Farnish’s excellent book, “time’s up!”. His explanation of the complex food web and the adverse effects of climate change and pollution is the best I have ever read. It is detailed but easily grasped. Most amazing is that he makes what is normally a dry, academic subject, interesting.

The second half of his book is about what he calls “Industrial Civilization”, how it is holding us in thrall to consumerism while destroying the planet and how he thinks we can and should break free. I heartily agree with him about the ill effects of the so-called Industrial Civilization, but Mr. Farnish and I part company on the solution to our woes.

He advocates the complete destruction of Industrial Civilization. Much like Communism, this is an idea that sounds good on paper, but doesn’t work in real life. We have already had a taste of what total destruction of Industrial Civilization would be like in the ongoing global recession. Academically, it seems like a great idea to rid the world of greedy corporations, but as we have so painfully experienced, in the real world that means throwing millions of people out of work. The ripple effect can be seen in every town in the For Sale signs on front lawns and the empty storefronts previously filled with small businesses.

The author uses his own life, going off-grid and growing his own food, as an example of how we should all live. Obviously, he has never seen Manhattan or Brooklyn or Queens or (insert the name of the megalopolis closest to you). There are not enough community gardens or local organic farms close enough to feed these huge population centers.

He also advocates the elimination of motorized transportation. He gets around just fine on a bicycle. Mr. Farnish lives in southern England. The climate there is so warm that people work in their gardens in January. I suggest that he try bicycling during a frigid Minnesota winter. Or perhaps a jaunt through the Rockies (the Donner party comes to mind).

He also loses sight of the fact that his book was grew out of his blog. If everyone quits their jobs and goes off grid as he so fervently advocates, then there will be no one to run the internet (hence, no blogs) or to publish books. They will all be in their backyards chopping wood and tending to their tomatoes.

There is the germ of a different solution in part three of this book. That is the use of people power (my phrase, not his) to effect change. Instead of the destruction of Industrial Civilization, the grassroots efforts he promotes could aim for the evolution of Industrial Civilization towards a more benign effect on the planet. Prior to the recent financial meltdown shareholder revolts, trying to wrest control of companies from greedy Boards and CEO’s, were growing more and more common. Farmers Markets are springing up all over. To keep them stocked with produce will require more organic farms which could eventually lead to fewer factory farms. Drivers are getting rid of their gas-guzzling SUVs and replacing them with smaller fuel-efficient or hybrid cars.

Eastern Europeans, who successfully rebelled against a Superpower, can attest to the power of citizens to effect change. We should all be inspired by their example to make the changes in our lives and countries to slow down global warming and the destruction of our environment.

Mr. Farnish ends his book on what even he agrees is a controversial note: healthcare. Or, more exactly, the lack of healthcare when we all go back to the land. He feels that that we don’t need modern medicine. In this, he is showing his youth. I grew up listening to the stories of my grandparents’ generation (his great-grandparents) of what life was like before the advent of modern medicine, i.e. before antibiotics and most vaccines. When all that doctors could offer was palliative care. When a simple cut could mean death from infection. When epidemics of childhood diseases raged, killing and maiming hundreds, sometimes thousands of children.

I find it difficult to believe that the author would rather that doctors spend their time gathering herbs for poultices rather than in laboratories working on vaccines for scourges like the Swine Flu that could very possibly kill his own children.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

a bit of a mess.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 2 out of 5]

First: People should know that Farnish is into 'eco-primitivism' - a true fanatic, who don't like environmental organization, not even fanatical ones like Earth First. They don't go far enough in his view. Second: How rate this book? In content, its lack of understanding and weird ideas says one star only (he's 'far out'). However, some of his writhing is so absurd and hilarious that it is a certain entertaining value, so - okay - I will give the book two stars.

Is Keith Farnish for real or is he a silly comedian? I ask because at times the only thing the rational and sane reader can do is to laugh at his absurd arguments and examples. Is he mentally a child or a healthy grown up? The latter is hard to believe given all the nonsense he writes in his book. For instance he is lecturing us about two categories of transport - motorized and non-motorized (as if we didn't know), listing them up. Then he claims that all non-motorized transport is 'very energy efficient' and that all motorized transport uses energy very inefficiently. Then writing that we "might be forgiven for thinking it is not [so]" - well, how nice of him! He continues his lecturing: "You see, manufacturers, and all of the other vested interests involved in a particular mode of transport will do anything to ensure you stick to that mode of transport" (page 191). Really? In other words he claims we have all been brainwashed into believing we want to do something we really don't want to to - travel.

This is an example of how the author handles specific topics. In general Farnish offers no proof for his typical 'climate alarmism' and claims of general environmental degradation. He simply takes all this for granted, and only offers sources echoing his own views. Only he goes further. The title 'Time's Up!' means 'it's all going to hell' unless we sabotage 'the machine' - also named 'Industrial Civilization' - now! We simply cannot have a civilization. It must end, he claims.

Farnish wants to break down 'the system' (it seems he believes someone on purpose designed 'the system' which he also calls "The Culture of Maximum Harm"). The author offers tactics to collapse 'the system' completely (yes, like other fanatics, he blames 'the system'). Thus, we could say that Farnish is promoting terrorism and total destruction 'to save the environment' (and ourselves). What kind of 'system' or 'culture' is Farnish's ideal? Obviously a society so fragmented that it really cannot be named a 'society' at all. His ideal is to regress all the way back to what would be like Early Stone Age. Farnish is quoting an author (Daniel Quinn) who in a book ('Beyond Civilization') claims to know that "[things had] worked sensationally well until about ten thousand years ago, when one very odd culture sprang into being obsessed with the notion that there must be a single right way for people to live – and indeed a single right way to do almost everything." This is how far Farnish has gone (along with a few others).

Farnish holds the very odd idea that all of us in 'Industrial Civilization' are 'disconnected from the real world'. He uses the term 'real world' in a sense very much like in the movie 'The Matrix'. And claims that all animal species are 'connected' and thus live in 'the real world', knowing things important to know for survival. Quote: "Elephants live as sustainably as all other non-civilized creatures: they control their populations and the areas they use through natural processes – any attempt to be unsustainable would be suicide for an elephant herd" (page 217). The human species, however, are like this, Farnish claims: "I prefer a different metaphor [for humans]: a gigantic machine chewing up the Earth’s natural resources, belching out pollution liquids and gases, run by a workforce made up of billions of slaves. One of the machine’s jobs is to make sure everyone ignores what the machine is doing."

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Begins with a detailed description of the huge impacts we are having in the planet, from a microbiological perspective, then attempts to delve into proactively dismantling industrial civilization. That I say attempts is why I rate it 4 rather than 5 stars.

[David Steele]

A chilling look at the state of our world.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The format was interesting, but otherwise not truly worth it.