As previously mentioned in this blog, Derrick Jensen starts his book, Endgame, with twenty premises. Most activists can get on board with most of them. The problem many of them have is with premise one. The first and most important one.

Premise One: Civilization is not and can never be sustainable. This is especially true for industrial civilization. — Derrick Jensen, Endgame Vol. 1 + 2

Most of the arguments against this premise center on things like “how can you know?” “how can you predict the future?” etc.

The crux of the problem is in the definition of civilisation that Jensen uses. Jensen defines civilisation thus:

“A way of life characterised by the growth of cities” — Derrick Jensen

As Jensen points out in this short clip, this definition is perfectly reasonable and can be easily defended.

Because it’s begging to be asked from that definition, how does he define cities? Well, like this:

“A collection of people living in numbers large enough to require the import of resources.” — Derrick Jensen

So, if one accepts the definitions as laid out by Jensen, one must logically accept premise one. If civilisations and cities are linked and if cities are characterised by population densities in areas unsuitable for that density of population then civilisation can never be sustainable and therefore premise one holds.

If, as I have read and heard suggested over and over, you change the population density of cities so that they can be supported locally and not require the import of resources, you are not left with cities. You are left with camps or villages. Therefore you no longer have a civilisation, you have a tribe or a community.

If you question the definition then you can have grounds to question the premise, but the problem then becomes: Since the word civilisation is so closely linked with cities, how can you define it in such a way as to not link it to the existence cities?

I personally like Jensen’s definition of civilisation and city. However, I do recognise that his definition of civilisation and city necessarily lead to premise one, but I can’t think of a better, clearer, more accurate definition for either.