A name for a radical redesign of life to fight the local weather disaster
AIf we are to overcome a global pandemic and return to a version of life as it was, we must remember that we were and still are facing a climate emergency.
If you remember, we had ten years to drastically reduce global emissions, to bring most of the world to a global warming of 1.5 ° C, ratified by Paris, and inconceivable damage to human life and the lives of Avoid millions of other species on the planet. We have nine and a half now.
In some ways, those lockdown months weren't wasted. Before the pandemic, it was hard to imagine what compassion we would find, what community we would develop, what ambition we would show, and what radical investments we would make to tackle an international crisis. It was also hard to imagine that the pandemic would unexpectedly present us with the quiet cities, the clean air and the falling CO2 emissions.
Now that we are starting to restart the global economy, we must no longer reach for life as it was, but rethink life as it has to be: be determined for a climate-positive future. And that means bringing together our collective creativity and determination to redefine much of what lies within three spheres of influence to which we all have access – our personal lives, the societies in which we are a part and the structural systems in which we operate every day and which we maintain.
We will never be able to completely solve this crisis with solutions like the size of lightbulbs and plastic straws. But such an existential problem requires more agency from all of us
Let's look at these spheres one by one. In order to avert a climate catastrophe and to build a friendlier and more sustainable relationship between humans and planet earth, each of us must radically redefine our personal relationship with him.
It is important to recognize that some people are far more responsible for the climate crisis than others. And we will never be able to completely solve this crisis with solutions like the size of lightbulbs and plastic straws. But such an existential problem requires more agency from all of us. Each of us must ask how exactly do we live the values we say we hold. it expects us to be honest about the hypocrisy we may find in our answers; and it requires us to be bolder and more resourceful.