Imagine being 15 right now and being told that within a few short years the window of opportunity to prevent run away climate change will be shut forever. This the reality that the climate change generation are waking up to. When responses include stopping using plastic straws or other trivial measures that is when you start to realise the true depths of the crisis. The older generations, who had the benefit of all this cheap energy cannot imagine giving up their privileges in support of some vague notion of saving the planet. Hey and what if I give up my hard worked for holiday and other people don’t they ask?
For Greta Thunberg’s generation they already know that they are not giving up anything and these high energy options simply won’t be there for them. rather than fear not having this hyper-material existence they are recognising they will simply be lucky to have a future to look forward to at all. Instead of drawing up battle lines between generations lets think creatively about what we can actually do that is and will be meaningful in the long term. Economic and politics have warped our values and understanding of what it is that we can do but let us not forget that the underpinning reality of the climate and ecological crisis is biological. Removing forests, ploughing up soils, eroding heavily into the planet’s biodiversity has greatly reduced the planet’s ability to deal with the 40 billion tones of carbon we pump into the atmosphere each year.
Remember this, the only new energy entering the global system comes from the sun and like plants we have to build a better relationship with this never ending energy source rather than investing all our future hopes in the remaining fossil reserve in the earth’s crust. Can we make the switch for fossil power to solar power? Of course we can, we have the collective brain power and determination to solve anything, anyway our ancestors had no problem doing this previously and we have all sorts of new materials, technologies and insights to bring to bare they did not have.
There is no single solution, no winning technology other than a re-evaluation and application of our relationship with this living planet, rather a combination of millions of responses and innovations is what is required. The only way we can restore hope is to unleash a maelstrom of creativity, especially aimed at those younger members of our society. Kids need to be allowed to innovate, to put in place their own ideas and to develop and experiment with them. Furthermore we must remove all barriers to this creativity.. need investment in your idea, the answer must be yes. Need time off school to action your idea, yes, need to visit an expert somewhere to develop your ideas, but of course. This response is the best way we who did not act can vindicate ourselves.
Join us in Llanrhaeadr at the community hall on October 11th and help us launch this positive, packed full of ideas publication that is designed to give hope ad the possibility of an abundant future.