The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis

by Christiana Figueres

Denying climate change is tantamount to saying you don’t believe in gravity. The science of climate change is not a belief, a religion, or a political ideology. It presents facts that are measurable and verifiable.

Anger that sinks into despair is powerless to make a change. Anger that evolves into conviction is unstoppable.

A compelling vision is like a hook in the future. It connects you to the pockets of possibility that are emerging and helps you pull them into the present. Hold on to that. Stay firmly fixed to a vision of a world you know is possible. This act is radical resistance to the belief that solving our problems is beyond us.

Consumerism traps us into thinking we can purchase personality. Moreover, it eats up our mental space and creates a constricted view of the world, one in which our value and identity are built upon the proliferation of disposable waste. Psychological studies have shown that mass consumption creates a bigger and bigger hole in our lives that we keep trying to fill.