Our world is hanging on a thread. The climate crisis and its consequences reach the headlines more and more, and while the climate committee in Glasgow takes place, it seems that humanity has finally begun to realize that this issue is essential for our future here on Earth – and that a change must be created.
But are we willing to take this realization of the existence of the climate crisis and translate it to a change here and now? Are we entering this crossroads with an awake and clear perspective that is attentive to all the warnings Earth is sending our way, or are we still trying to stall and hold on to the familiar and known lifestyle?
In the USA, Biden’s ‘New Deal’ attempts to encourage the transition to green energy are experiencing setbacks by his own party. Rainforests are still being burnt in Brazil, coal in Australia, India, and China; and all of us prefer to consume more and more – fashion, meat, fuel, plastic… The world is burning and after us the great deluge.
How is it possible that the world is hanging by a thread, amid a climate crisis, its resources are destroyed and it is exploited, crushed, and yelling for help, and humanity does not wake with horror, demanding an immediate change, here and now?
In the article, ‘About Narcissism and the race of life’ (an article that was published recently in Hebrew and will be published soon also in English), I wrote that for humans, and the human mind, it is easy to behave in a manner where they focus on fulfilling immediate needs. This allows them to maintain their comfort zone, where they do not need to change patterns of thought and habits.
This stems from an immature perception of survival, which prefers immediate self-fulfillment rather than conscious and responsible planning, that requires in-depth thinking, diligence, and delayed gratification. Therefore, most of the public prefers to behave recklessly and irresponsibly, while ignoring completely the long-term outcomes of their present choices. Thus, a reality where people can harm both themselves and the planet is created, since the damage is distant and isn’t visible, and therefore is not really perceived as concrete.
How does it look in relation to the climate crisis?
– Preference for short term economic considerations and knowingly subsiding industries that harm the planet, in order to maintain political and economical power
– Corporations and companies that fight to keep their power and knowingly destroy the environment
– Maintaining consumption and nutrition habits that harm the planet – whether it is polluting products, the animal food industry, cheap fashion, mountains of plastic, etc…
– All of this leads to a constant preference of immediate and specific interests of ‘fulfillment’ and ‘profit’, stemming from a selfish observation, over a long term observation, that sees the connection between choice, outcome, and consequences, which leads to choices that hold the recognition of the influence of each individual action over the whole.
In the article – ‘Earth – our responsibility’, which was published on 30.08.2019, after the big Amazon rainforest wildfire in Brazil, I wrote:
Are you familiar with the butterfly effect? The rainforest burning in Brazil affects the atmosphere of the entire planet. The Earth is our home and we have been constantly ruining it for a long period of time now.
When we do not agree to change, it affects all of us.
We are all connected and our responsibility is to change our ways to assist Earth in healing from the exploitation, depletion, and damage we have created.
Our responsibility is to elect leaders with vision, integrity and purity. Independent leaders that are open to progress and innovation, that are connected to a wide and overall world-view. Leaders who dare to stand against interest groups who seek personal gain and tell them – no more.
It is our responsibility to maintain personal responsibility, take charge of our personal life, change our behavior, wake up, and unite.
We must acknowledge the fact that all of the world’s citizens are connected to each other, dependent on each other as well as on the generous and beautiful planet we live on.
We are required to unite and lead our planet together, down a new route, to a future where humanity thrives, maintaining harmonious interactions with one another and with the earth, living in peace, mutual empowerment, renewal, and hope.’
As said, Earth is our home. It does not differentiate between religion, nation, race, gender, skin color, sexual preference, beliefs, and opinions… We are all on the same train.
So what else prevents humanity from awakening and choosing to maintain personal responsibility and elect appropriate leadership?
I have written about this aspect as well in the article ‘Veganism, leadership, and the future of humanity’ (this article will also be published in English soon): this is the human tendency to focus on what is insignificant, and not on what is significant.
The human tendency that keeps repeating throughout history is to focus on anything that is separating, differentiating, and creating a dispute, dividing the world into forces of bad and good, right and wrong – and thus humanity tends to congregate in groups that provide an illusionary sense of belonging and self-worth.
And while we are busy fighting, hating each other, disqualifying others’ lifestyles just because they are different from ours, being busy with conflicts and disputes that waste our time – we ignore what is really essential and relevant.
And what is really essential is the ability to stop all the destructive manners of conduct, to create an immediate change in the current infrastructures, and channel budgets and resources to create alternatives that are detached from corporations and capital owners’ interests, in favor of serving pure ideas to save the planet and humanity in all aspects of life.
The crossroads humanity is at, requires maturity and agreeing to a profound change in the patterns of thought and human conduct:
A change in the world perceptions, belief systems, collective norms – and in the daily lifestyle of each one of us and of all humanity.
Will we be smart enough to change our ways, the way we think and act, or will we continue to be slaves to the same world perceptions, same norms, as well as slaves of the corporations and companies that all their interest is to keep the status quo?
It depends on each one of us, and our willingness to leave our comfort zones, wake up, shed layers of cloudiness, expand our awareness, and change the manners of conduct and habits that harm the environment in favor of new ways of behavior.
It depends on our willingness to choose an appropriate leadership that sees far ahead, real leadership that examines the existing infrastructures, identifies the challenges, and establishes, with courage and perseverance, new infrastructures, that pave the way towards the dawn of a new day.
Earth is our home, and if we do not stop here and now, we will extinct ourselves and this beautiful world that is so generous towards us.
The climate committee in Glasgow is another stage in the window of opportunity that lies open before humanity in the crossroads we are standing at.
Will we agree to provide the backup needed to our comprehensive needs as a human society? will we prefer to patiently build a thriving and renewing society? Will we demand responsible and clever leadership and agree to change our habits? Or will we continue to act in the same way, and prioritize selfish and immediate interests?
My heartfelt wish is that, as humanity, we will know to appreciate and be thankful for all that is and that we do not take this planet and nature for granted. I wish we will know how to nurture, protect and preserve the inspiring ecosystem of which we are all an integral part.
I wish that we will know how to give and not just take. That we will know to express caring, attention, grace, and compassion towards the world of Earth and every creature created, and that we learn how to change our ways and remove from human civilization everything that has destruction, annihilation, exploitation, cruelty, and ingratitude.
I wish we will know to be grateful and appreciative for this wonderful blue planet and lots and lots of love for the divine fingerprint found everywhere we look if we only know how to be attentive to recognize it.
We are all on the same train. We are all passengers in the different carriages on a train that is speeding towards the abyss, and we are the ones with the power to stop it.
That which we create shall become.
