Species Survival and our personal intrinsic drive

 

 

Species Survival and our personal intrinsic drive

 

As of today, May 13, 2023, 99.99 % of earth climate scientists state that our actions of the last 50 years are far from avoiding a climate crisis and the subsequent major world sufferings.

Industry is industry: it works for profit and so far, despite all promises, the technological implementations are, well, as said above, very far away from what is needed to avoid a climate crisis.

Governments are still governed mostly by power and are consequently obsessed by votes. Additionally, although very tempting for governments, war, extremism, dystopia/entitlement, and populism are not only a problem, they exacerbate the problem. If their citizens wanted nothing more than a fair, sustainable, eye-level on a level playing field society, their mandate might be easier.

Unfortunately, most earthlings are NOT intrinsically ready to act sustainably.

The poor do not want to be poor; they want more.

The rich want to keep and increase their wealth.

Many of those in between, act on greediness, and close their eyes to global realities such as wealth inequality, pollution, oppression, and yes climate crisis. Examples abound: (i) few are willing to reduce significantly their meat consumption, (ii) panic rules when consumables are missing on the grocery shelf, (iii) reducing speed limit on highways to 120 kph is perceived as a political suicide, (iv) the industry finds it so very difficult to reduce packaging, etc., etc., etc.

As long as the vast majority of earthlings is not intrinsically ready to want what is needed to reach and maintain a fair sustainable world, no industry nor government is going to take us where we should go, namely to sustainability.

Yet, reality’s urgency asks for a paradigm shift.

Then, what can we do?

1)    A new world order can only happen progressively if those who are “more” ethical stand up. Together. How? Read Robert Sutton.

2)    Society needs to valorize thoughts and behaviour that lead to the SDGs. Values can be expressed in many ways such as wealth, public acknowledgement, etc. But societies need to start working on those values and then walk the talk.

3)    Each culture (country) will develop its own mosaic of values, but I doubt that being rich, violent, or abusive are to be primed values. I think empathy, care, courage, perseverance, resilience, knowledge, passion, social behaviours, fairness, have better chances to take us where we need to go. The proportion of each value can and should be culture specific, therefore the societal work.

Accepting that we all must learn, every day, if we are to implement this paradigm shift, the first question is for whom should this learning be? Answer is obvious: all. We have for too long made the error to think that only a portion of the population need certain abilities: leadership for leaders was the first error, knowledge for professionals, teaching abilities for teachers, spirituality for religious leaders, etc.  This is one of the reasons that we are where we are.

The next question is what should be trained? I think that it should be abilities that we mostly missed and for which the consequences of not having them is dramatic for our planet and us, earthlings. Abilities such as self-management, diversity/creativity-engagement, change management , conflict resolution, holistic & systemic thinking, servant leadership, swarm leadership, Eigenvielfalt/Self-diversity, ethics, come to mind. It goes without saying that the personal and societal value of these abilities are to be demonstrated.

The next question is when is this supposed to happen? We are all sooo busy. As a start, I would consider 50% of the time we spend for what we call “entertainment/vacation”. Why? Because (i) the consequences of not acquiring these abilities is already horrific and it is just the start, (ii) these abilities are needed now, (iii) the illusion of entertainment being the holy grail was indeed an illusion and the fact that we live it globally is a direct contribution to the global climate crisis… acknowledging that all changes need to be considered as a process: evolution, not revolution.

Finally, ethical governments need to become more ethical by explaining themselves to their citizens and trusting that their citizens will understand. Losing the elections is part of the equation. Perseverance is also part of the equation. Decentralisation, each with its powers and resources need to be accountable and true transparency is needed. Myanmar is a point in case where gentle strength is the only path forward. Should this be a societal endeavour (there are many signs that it is), the time it will take to stop the oppression depends on the international community. Because we share one earth and because everything is connected, the time when a country could decide what it wants when it wants is about to end. The same is true for global corporations.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Violence is not a strength. It is a weakness. It is highly time that we start practicing gentle “strength”. The issue is that most of us don’t have a clue of what it is, what it might be, what it entails and most importantly how to live it daily. Ethical strength is possible only if we all have the abilities described above. Ethical strength will grow as we become better at it. This will allow us to progressively implement new humane values in our economies and give us a shot at the can called “Species Survival”.

Revendicating the true meaning of an historical symbol for an ethical cause:

Species Survival