I’ve just finished reading Greta Thunberg’s Climate Book. As I progressed through the pages my reactions started as
“ A world changing book - as important as Origin of Species ”,
But as the problems discussed piled higher and higher, ended as
“This is just fantasy, people aren’t going to change as fast as required - it’s just not sexy being green.”
You see, if I change my life style to a cycling, ticket holding, flatulent lentil eating bloke, who wears worn out clothes, never travels very far, lives in a small flat, (that I share with others), don’t buy anything, have a local job (with low wages), no pet, moans all the time about the “business as usual” establishment, loses sleep over the collapse of civilization, gives all my savings to the developing world as compensation for what my ancestors did and spends my spare time campaigning or volunteering on local do good schemes - will a really wonderful girl settle down with me to raise lots of kids?. Or will she settle down with the bloke with the big car, loads of money, big house, second home in Spain, and goes out consuming all the time with well dressed, well traveled, interesting people?
Sorry Greta, you can’t change the laws of physics, and neither can you change the fundamentals of biology and human nature. The human population will crash, we can’t say when, but only then will emissions come down. It's so sad, but as usual the rich will do just fine and the poor will suffer. (Noah must have been rich to pay for that ark!)
Perhaps it's time give up and go down with one last big party, BUT.............
When I found myself on a rock climb that was way too hard for me, immobile, running out of strength and about to fall a very very long way, that's when I realised there is really only one option - I'm going to die, so I may as well just fully commit and climb as I've never climbed before. And then something truly amazing and mysterious happens, I would relax and with out thinking, pull on the next holds and somehow, in a blur, arrive at the top. I would have no idea how I had done the climb, but I had. It's unexplainable.
Maybe the Climate Crisis Challenge is like a rock climb. The climb is hard, the top out of sight and the drop frightening. But if you don't worry too much, just pull on the holds in front of you, and then on the next and the next, and keep doing it again and again, you will arrive at the top. You don't have to believe in success, you just have to start the climb.
As Bruce Lee says "Don't think - do". Maybe something unbelievable will happen.
Perhaps all that's required is we stop burning things and polluting our air, - simple really.
