Welcome to 2020 and happy new year. If you are young, it may not be a happy new year. Science says with a high degree of probability, that in 10 years (2030) the planet may be unliveable.
What is happening?
Some facts may be disputed but the following are not.
Some facts may be disputed but the following are not.
- The world’s glaciers, located in higher altitudes are disappearing.
- The two polar icecaps are degrading. They are the earth’s air conditioners . When they go, the world’s global temperature will soar. This will be an irreversible tipping point.
- Pollution by discarded single-use plastics is growing. Recycling is not working. This is because it is cheaper to keep using virgin fossil material from the ground. Many of these discarded plastics end up in the oceans. If present practices continue, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish!
- The two largest sources of land ice, Greenland and Antarctica, are shrinking faster than predicted. This will dramatically raise the level of the oceans.
- Extreme weather events are becoming more common. Australia recently recorded the highest average temperature ever recorded (42°C) and extensive wildfires are raging there.
- Many species are becoming extinct, to the tune of over 100 per day!
What is causing all of this?
There are always large cosmic forces at play but the clear culprit causing such a rapid change is the human species! We have become too numerous, too wasteful and too disrespectful of our planet’s environment.
The main source of the problem is fossil fuel wastes (CO2 and methane), by-products of our total addiction to fossil fuels which account for 70% of our energy needs. If we keep this up the system will crash! Without the polar icecaps we will have lost our main temperature controls and the temperature will drastically head upwards. Scientists say that with a high probability this will occur within 10 years unless we immediately change course!
So, what do we need to do NOW?
- We need to immediately get off fossil fuels and move to renewable energy.
- We need to ban all single-use plastic containers, starting with single-use water bottles. Instead we need to move to glass, paper and reusable containers of all kinds.
- All transportation must use renewable energy. Therefore, one should not even think of buying a fossil-fueled car. All transportation by land, sea and air must become electric based. This will involve cutting down on fossil-fuel based air travel, which could produce 15% of all greenhouse gases in 2050 if no corrective measures are taken.
- Since it takes 6 kg of grains to make 1 kg of meat, we all need to become vegetarians to reduce deforestation and the excessive use of agricultural land.
- In Canada, we need to retrofit all buildings to reduce heat losses.
This is what we all need to do immediately. However, since the crisis is global and time-limited, our solutions must be global and rapid. We need to persuade governments to make the necessary changes ASAP. This is exactly the message of Extinction Rebellion (XR).
Considering the enormity of the emerging environmental crisis, a key issue is how can we maintain our sanity in the face of it all? Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone have written a book on this subject. “Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy”. The following lists some of their contributions as well as my own reflections.
First, we can hardly start lecturing anyone else on this subject without first setting some kind of an example. So, we must change our own lifestyles -- what we eat, how we travel, what we buy, and how we live. I am trying to do this and that is why I realize that this is going to be one huge challenge. I am not even sure that the human species is up to it, but here are some thoughts on how to go about it.
The process needs to begin with the re-focussing of our minds. For me it helps to realize that our planet has known major climate changes in the past. It has known five ice ages. Mass extinctions have occurred. About 12,000 years ago the earth emerged from the last ice age. Our species has known only a few thousand of years of active evolution. And to put it into an even larger perspective we are just one little lonely planet in a cosmos of vast size and incredible age. Once we realize this, we can see that we are part of a grand mystery of creation. We may even find a sense of Buddhist-like calm as we see ourselves as part of the ongoing drama of cosmic creation. With this calmness of mind, we can venture forth into our destiny.
Although this planet has seen massive upheavals, for us, this one is distinctly different in at least three ways: (1) Because of our level of science, we may be the only species that can clearly see our possible future extinction; (2) not only that, we are a major contributor to the coming environmental change that may end up by doing us in; (3) if we could make the global paradigm shift required, we may just be able to avert, or at least moderate, the environmental change that is coming.
Macy and Johnstone give us three steps that may lead to a solution:
(1) Face up to the coming crisis. This is ultimately better than denial;
(2) Identify our hopes and possible solutions;
(3) Take concrete steps to act on our meditations.
We cannot do this alone. We need the reinforcing strength of community. This is what is slowly disappearing today. We will need to find a grounding community to carry on.
As we move out to act on our convictions, I have found it useful to act strategically rather than ideologically. By this I mean that it would be better if most of mankind moved toward a vegetarian diet rather than insisting on a complete adherence of vegetarianism all the time.
Also, it would be better if all humanity reduced unnecessary and frivolous fossil-fuel-based air travel rather than insisting on 100% ban on all air travel. Many people setting corrective trends would have more impact on the environment rather than the actions of a few brave committed die-hards. This would also reduce judgemental attitudes.
We as a species are extremely intelligent in many ways. In other ways, because of our extremely personal self-interest, we can make group decisions that lead to our own harm. So, we are left with this question: Are we capable of coming together, to make decisions that lead to greater harmony and a more life-affirming existence?
Some may say that this is impossible, so why even bother?
The reason is that our own survival and sanity is at stake. As the coming crisis gathers momentum, denial becomes more untenable. In fact, one could say that our activism is at the very least, our best therapy.
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ADDENDUM:
People reading this article on the environmental crisis could ask – not a word about financial inequality, the role of the corporations and the super rich?
Here are my thoughts:
Just as Greta Thunberg said of Trump, "I would not waste my time talking to him; he would not listen anyway. He doesn’t listen to science, so why would he listen to me? I am only saying what the scientists say”.
In the same way I would not spend much time talking to the corporations. They will only listen when they think their profits are threatened. This will happen when massive public pressure is applied. It will also happen when the climate crisis begins to destroy the very foundations of their profits.
The problem is that by then it will be too late. Asking a capitalist to think long term and communally is well nigh impossible.
In any case, off we go into the new year.
Rebellious Seeker
Thursday, 2 January 2020
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