Climate change. 12 years ago I was just out of college and scared out of my mind. Everyone I looked up to told me in 12 years we would be living in mad max times. I did something with that fear and now if my fears then realized today I would have about 4 months of food and plenty of electricity to keep my life afloat, plus tools to use, seeds to plant, and know-how to develop allies and rebuild.
But here is the thing. Today I hear that exact figure restated, 12 years from now we will be in catastrophic failure. OK wait for a second! I’m all about fixing problems, but fear is totally dysfunctional, it paralyzes people and puts them in an animal-like fight or flight state, it does not solve problems!
I think the concept of being a species that creates systems that transform impact into a benefit for the other life forms on earth is a great idea. That amounts to humans shouldn’t be parasites, we shouldn’t – we should be the best thing to happen on earth! I also think using the energy available from every resource possible and minimizing the use of limited resources is also a great idea.
Living in fear means you are vulnerable to getting help from anyone willing to offer it, I’ve found hustlers are usually the first to offer help. You have to really work to find trustworthy people and a good plan takes lots of critics to hash out. I don’t need fear to drive me to do what’s right and I feel like a lot of people are being worked up into a state of fear instead of working together to do what’s right in the first place!
Climate change is interesting stuff, but it is what it is. We don’t need to beat each other up over it. We just need to keep being the best we can be, doing better all the time, and giving credit when credits are due. We don’t need any more huge expensive programs that just spend money and never work anyway. We need cultural changes to happen and that begins with individuals transforming fear into peace by doing what they feel is right and encouraging others to do the same. That way at least if something bad happened we don’t look back and say “if only”.