The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis

by Christiana Figueres

We are still just barely inside a zone where we can stave off the worst and manage the remaining long-term effects. But only if we do what is required of us in the short term. This is the last time in history when we will be able to do this. Soon it will be too late.

We now need to let go of half-hearted attempts and instead act in proportion to the magnitude of the challenge.

Our future is unwritten.

The Hills!

And the most important thing we can bring is our state of mind. Mahatma Gandhi reminds us to be the change we want to see. The actions we pursue are largely defined by the mindset we cultivate in advance of the doing. When we’re faced with an urgent task, it may feel counterintuitive to first look inside ourselves, but it is essential.

“In the past changing the self and changing the world were regarded as separate endeavors and viewed in either-or terms. That is no longer the case.”

It does not matter if our natural tendency is to see things with optimism or with pessimism. At this point in history we have a responsibility to do what is necessary, and for most of us that will involve some deliberate reprogramming of our minds.

know that you are incredibly lucky to be alive at a time when you can make a transformative difference to the future of all life on earth.

You are not powerless. In fact, your every action is suffused with meaning, and you are part of the greatest chapter of human achievement in history.

Václav Havel aptly described optimism as “a state of mind, not a state of the world.”5 Three characteristics are generally agreed upon as essential to making this mindset transformative: the intention to see beyond the immediate horizon, the comfort with uncertainty about the final outcome, and the commitment that is fostered by that mindset.

It is always easier to cling to certainty than it is to work for something because it is right and good, regardless of whether it currently stands a decent chance of success.

Optimism empowers you; it drives your desire to engage, to contribute, to make a difference. It makes you jump out of bed in the morning because you feel challenged and hopeful at the same time.

Complex dynamic systems can be intimidating if approached from the expectation of control, but they are thrilling if seen as a carefully curated landscape of potential that blossoms as problematic issues find resolution and enrich the commonly agreed-upon grounds.

Particularly in the face of grand human challenges, the only responsible approach we can take is to protect humanity and other forms of life and steer the course of history toward the better.

The evolution of humanity is a story of adaptive ingenuity to the challenges of the time. We face the greatest challenge of human history. We may be challenged beyond our currently visible capacities, but that only means that we are invited to rise to the next level of our abilities. And we can.

and that more buses are coming a few minutes later.

We know from our own experience that continual personal grounding is key to being able to withstand the daily bombardment of bad news from all sides. Without such grounding, you will be a leaf in the wind—vulnerable to the elements from all directions. Better to stand as a tree, firmly rooted in your own values, principles, and convictions. The two of us easily notice the difference between a day in which we meditate and a day in which we don’t. The benefits of meditation undoubtedly blossom with years of practice, but they are also palpable on a day-to-day basis. Maybe you don’t care for meditation, and a spiritual practice holds no interest for you. Fair enough. But this does not mean you should not be mindful of yourself. Whether it is gardening, crafting, drawing, playing or listening to music, exercising, meandering in the park, or paddling down a river, identify what replenishes you and your soul, and do it regularly and intentionally.

Every breath we take, every drop of liquid we drink, and every morsel of food we eat comes from nature and connects us profoundly to it. It is a simple basic truth, yet one we often tend to ignore or take for granted.

Public consciousness of our dependence on, and interconnectedness with, the planetary life-support system is growing, along with an increasing awareness of the need to restore ecosystems and planetary health.

Enter Covid

Even the most casual observers of today’s politics see that this risk is not merely theoretical.

We have to get our arms around the whole issue at the same time.

It is not simply about making minor changes to your lifestyle, although those can be important too; it is about transforming our priorities in order to create a future in which all of us may thrive.

The time for doing what we can has passed. Each of us must now do what is necessary.

And if we lose sight of the big picture and become fixated on how to achieve it, at best, progress can grind to a halt, or worse, divisiveness can take hold.

Turn a mole hill into a mountain

In the end, we are not going to solve this problem by hoping that our democratic systems produce enlightened leadership. They might, but the survival of our species can’t depend on the partisan lines of a divided electorate.

Interesting note. Telling

Textile production is second only to the oil industry for pollution. It adds more greenhouse gases to our atmosphere than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Estimates suggest that the fashion industry is responsible for a whopping 10 percent of global CO2 emissions,

Despite all the ways culture is pushing us in the direction of blind consumerism, we can start to intentionally push back.

Sounds like a church

The world’s largest provider of personal transport (Uber) owns no cars.

Is this supposed to have a carbon benefit?

knowing that we humans tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a year and underestimate what we can achieve in ten. What

While we may resist change, the reality is that the speed, scale, and reckless use of resources in our wasteful economy are making few of us happy. As we focus on making thoughtful changes to help preserve what we really care about, finding a sense of purpose often improves our quality of life. Try it for yourself, and see what you find.

A lote of value judgements packed in here

Movements of civil disobedience from the early twentieth-century suffragettes to Gandhi’s drive for Indian independence to Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1960s civil rights movement to the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia—to name just a few—are all inspirational insofar as they mobilized vast numbers of people to champion their causes.

Views thjs mainly as a social/justice/political issue. Compete opposite of Gates

the average age of the team that launched the Apollo missions was twenty-eight.