Planning For The Future
Filed Under Survival
Despite media coverage and numerous national and global forums expressing concern about climate change etc, environmental damage is still accelerating - it is not under control - as consumption grows and the global population increases.
And Yes the challenge of doing enough about it to make a useful difference is enormous because the bottom line is there are too many people on the planet living an unsustainable lifestyle. It’s just simple maths really - 6.5 billion people consuming more than the planet can sustainably provide.
In all probability, we don’t have much time left as a civilisation to change our ways - most likely a lot less than a generation. Fundamentally, the shift in thinking and beliefs - at a personal, community, regional, corporate, national and global level - has to be something like:
1. The current default thinking of "is what I’m doing now profitable or gratifying for me", has to change to "is it sustainable for the community?"
2. The current default thinking of "how can I secure control of this resource to my own advantage" has to change to "how can this resource be shared effectively?"
Both examples represent massive shifts in current thinking, government policy and human behavior. Is such a change possible? Well of course anything is possible, but it really doesn’t look very probable at this point. The forces to keep on living as we have been accustomed to are enormous.
Basically, the economic underpinnings of society as we know it is based on the assumption of growth - in people, houses, cars, consumption in all its forms, raw material inputs, waste output etc etc.
The catch is this economic model places very little value on the planetary resources - environment and and eco systems that support the economy and ultimately life itself.
A common mindset is "well my neighbors, my boss, the government, India, China, the US etc etc are not doing anything, so what difference can I make and why should I bother?"
As mentioned above, we need a massive change in our behavior and priorities for our current civilisation to survive and that change has to start with me and you, right here, right now.
So don’t say to yourself "what difference is me switching off onelight bulb going to make". The best way to look at is to say to yourself "Well if me and another hundred, or thousand, or million or 10 million people all do it, it will make a difference.
So like any task we take on, begin with the first, small step and the belief that we can find a way to make a worthwhile difference. Focus on what you can do now, today or tomorow and not what you can’t and make plans for a future lifestyle that probably won’t look at all like the current western one.
