Geert Buelens (°1971, Duffel) is professor of modern Dutch literature at Utrecht University. He is a poet and previously wrote a cultural history of the 1960s. In “What we already knew then” he starts from the year 1972, the year in which the Club of Rome published the famous study “Limits to growth” and there was talk of of an “unprecedented momentum” in environmental awareness.
“Mankind knew in 1972 that the planet was in danger,” writes Buelens. “That inevitably makes this book a story about omission, neglect and oblivion.” Buelens draws not only from scientific sources, but also from comics, literature, films and series. Like “De Kat” on the then BRT, the nimble hero who took action against environmental violations.
