Mann and Wainwright gave us four climate futures: Leviathan, Mao, Behemoth and X. I relied on their book for a while, then decided it was out of date once the liberal Leviathan walked off.
How the word moved
In May 2022 I wrote a series introducing the book. By April 2025 I was saying it might as well have been written a century ago, and climate action had turned into Humpty Dumpty. Then in October 2025 I picked the four archetypes up again to ask who decides metabolic exceptions, and made Climate X a design principle.
In my words
"Climate action is becoming disaggregated"
from Bhumics Sidebar: Is Humpty Dumpty Dead?, 16 Apr 2025
Related
- Inherited from Mann and Wainwright - it's their book.
- Related Metabolic Exception - I reuse the archetypes for exceptional rule.
- Related Abdication of the Leviathan - the Leviathan retreats.
- Related Planet over Climate - I moved from climate to planet.
Still open
I dismissed the frame in August 2025 and reused it in October. Make of that what you will.