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Climate Change (the one against which we’ve been having « last chance summits » for years) is no big deal. Actually a good part of the world’s population is not aware of it, and a larger share does not really care and might not be badly affected. Not to mention the fact that some regions of the world will be better off with a few degrees more. As for the natural world, some species might disappear, some landscapes be ravaged, but others will adapt and diversify again. The planet has gone through other climate changes and mass extinctions before, yet we are here to tell. And with 7 billion specimens and advanced adaptive capacities, the human species definitely is not at the verge of extinction.
So why bother? And first, what is the matter? Why is everyone in a rush?
Imagine you just woke up from a 200 years sleep. When you fell asleep, people were living their lives in their villages, barely aware of other neighbouring cities, let alone other countries. Occasionally there were wars or famines, and those who could would move under better skies, the others adapt, in the worst case die. The luckier ones would live about 50 years, working hard under the sun or the rain everyday. Some people still live like this, actually. Today you wake up, people live 70 years or more, work about 40h a week, most have a good roof over their heads and pretty much everyone has enough to eat (more on this later on), while there are less and less war victims (this sounds cynic, but we get the impression of a lot of deadly wars because of the magnifying lens of media). There are some big storms, industrial accidents, draughts, floods, terror attacks but you say: we have been through this before, let the victims adapt.
Yet there is no week when the news are not alerting you about an end of the world: an imminent financial crash, a new war, the cooking of the planet, the election of an extremist head of state. In the meantime, everyone seems to be rushing somewhere, either attending political summits to discuss these « global challenges » or, in the contrary, travelling to remote countries for holidays as if it was the key for happiness. Others bet trading with far away countries to make as much money as possible.
And again you ask: What is the matter? Why is everyone rushing?
Yet if you speak with these people rushing, they do not seem concerned. By personal conviction or lack of time to get informed, they do not see any issue. And in one way or another, we are all doing the same. If we were accepting the reality and imminence of all the threats we are told about, our actions would be very different (what would you be doing differently?). By putting them further away in the future, minimising the problems, and believing in our incapacity, as individuals, to change anything, we are managing to proceed with a normal life. And that is nothing more than natural.
Yet maybe we should be doing something, even if only a little part of all announced catastrophes was true. This bliki is my personal something. Trying to make sense of all the challenges we are told to face, tell what is the matter, why everyone is rushing.
So am I just adding my cry to the alerts of the media I have joked about? In one sense yes, I am endorsing the idea that we must change, and fast. Yet these thoughts have been brewing in my mind for the last decade or so, they feature in my studies and my work and I have discussed them with people literally all around the world (without plane). They now need to travel out there on their own. There is something to worry about and something you can do. Beware you will be convinced of that by the end of this read.
Some people asked me if I was writing to share these ideas, and this bliki is also an answer to that. More importantly, it is a way of continuing these discussions, with you, to make the content more and more convincing. To try and show everyone something important enough for them to bother. For this of course it is very important that you react to what you will read here. And we will try to fit your ideas in. I believe they will.
Indeed, at the root this bliki is based on something I assume to be shared by everyone (at least all those I reached so far): we want to preserve and enhance life around us so we can live happy, as well our families, our friends, and (for most people) all those who could become our friends. If you disagree with this please post a comment. The second deep root of my argumentation is a reality harder to deny than Climate Change: the society we live in now is changing – it constantly is, whatever we do, not speaking about tipping points – I believe we are at one. So better adapt and try to push the change in the direction we want – that which might preserve life and keep us and those around us happy. The earlier we start pushing, the better the effect, thus the rush.
Hopefully, this bliki will give you the will and the ideas to discuss further yourself. That is the only thing I will be advising you to do (turn off the lights at home if you wish, but that will not do any big difference). In my opinion it is the only thing we need to force ourselves to do: it is enough to think about these changes, take the time to investigate about them by ourselves and to share and discuss with as many people around us as we can. Easy and often fun (when not depressing). All other actions just seem natural and easy after that (lights will just be off whenever you do not need them).
It is not about environment protection, not about political orientation, not about technological solutions. It is the ages long war of ideas, and we are all soldiers. From now on, want it or not, you are enrolled, on alert. One way or another, these lines have influenced your thoughts, formed new ideas. And with that already you participated in the war effort. So, please, do use those weapons now and fight on whatever side you want: tell the next person you see about these ideas. Look out for more information to consolidate them (news, social networks, the life on your street). And whenever you need more ammunition you can come back here, the bliki will be growing.
How it works? This bliki has this “wiki” part which should be concise, to the point, summarising where I stand: Show you what is changing and why bother (how it might disturb your happiness and that of yours). And where we can shift this change to in order to secure our future. Affirmations are sometimes documented, but otherwise you can easily confirm them through online searches. Then in the “blog” part I will add further examples and details from the news and my experiences, as regular posts. So keep in touch!
A last word before we start: by now you might have thought that the best tactic in this war is to write a bliki about your ideas and share it with all your friends. At least that was my conclusion. But maybe you do not have time, or the inspiration, or the means. Well, feel free to contribute to this one by commenting (unlike in a blog, I will modify the content of the wiki part as I get feedback) and to share it (note: no profit is being nor will be made from this website, no matter how many readers it gets: no advertising, no sales, no copyrights…).
Thank you for your attention so far!
Next page: I. We’re changing because we’re not sustainable
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