Make Like Mestra

My favorite climate change myth is that of Erysichthon (which we know from Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII 725 ff.). The original is worth reading, but the gist of it is as follows:

Once upon a time, there was a massive and sacred oak tree in the grove of Ceres ("Mother Earth"), used as a holy site and wreathed in prayer tablets and thanks-offerings. King Erysichthon ("Earth-Plunderer") wanted this tree's timbers to build a palace. When his men refused to fell it, he took an axe himself and chopped it down. The dryads of the grove went grieving to Ceres, who sent her sister Fames ("Famine") to curse Erysichthon with insatiable hunger.

Erysichthon ate all the food in the palace. Once his storehouse was empty, he drained the treasury to sate his hunger. Once the treasury was empty, he sold everything he possessed to feed himself, even selling his daughter Mestra ("Crafty?") into slavery.

Now, Mestra had been raped by Poseidon, but the gods give even as they take, and she had been blessed with the power of transformation. When she had been sold a slave and was being led away to a ship, she transformed herself into a fisherman and so escaped back to her father's house. But Erysichthon simply sold her into slavery again and again, and each time Mestra would escape by transforming into something innocuous.

Even the income from his daughter was insufficient to feed his hunger, and at last, in extremity, Erysichthon ate the only thing left to him: himself.

Now, it must be remembered that myths are things that never happened but always are: it's not a history, but a lesson. Ovid tells the story merely to entertain, but myths exist in order to teach us by asking us to reflect upon them, and I find that once one has the key to unlock a myth, it falls open easily.

The key to this particular myth, I think, is that King Erysichthon represents a society that commodifies nature: once he begins to consume it, the consumption becomes insatiable and must be sustained at an ever-increasing rate. Once the natural world is despoiled of its goods, the society begins to consume itself, to its eventual destruction. In our case, Erysichthon's food is oil, and as it runs out we see our society consuming itself with financialization in order to keep the game going. Despite appearances, society is hollowing out and falling apart, and soon enough even financial tricks will not be enough to stave off destruction.

Mestra, though, tells us what those of us who are under the governance of such a society, but who want nothing to do with it, can do about it. Just as Mestra was sold into slavery, so are we also forced to prostitute ourselves for the benefit of others. Just as Mestra was raped, so also are we forced to become shapeshifters. But if we stay nimble and are willing to transform ourselves however circumstances require, we can survive. There's no real happy ending—Mestra, in the end, is merely left alone to fend for herself—but she has developed her resourcefulness and is no longer bound to her wicked father, which is a victory, even if only a modest one.