Impossible to ignore what’s happening these days….
There is a lot of content being posted on the web, and sometimes it is hard to navigate and discriminate for the meaningful one.
I AIM to mention here an anonymous FB post that I use as a good example to provide my personal view on a burning despair overwhelming our heart.
Hello!
As you know, the Earth’s lungs are burning and it’s not only them. I was looking for charities to donate but couldn’t find something that feels correct. It feels like after all only companies will profit from this anyway. What can we do? Should we go there, plant and help animals(including us, our species) overcome what’s happening now? And if yes, how? What should we plant, how should we plant and where? How can we learn how to rebuild what we destroyed? Environment is as complex as a body and I cannot just go there and do what “feels” right. It wouldn’t be helpful. How can I learn? Should we monitor the situation and donate to what feels right? This doesn’t look right either.
Do you have any ideas?
Thank you and have a good day!
MY REPLY:
I feel your pain and there is not antidote to it unfortunately. And yet, there are palliative that can soothe such pain.
I will share my approach and mindset, which is surely my own way to tackle a feeling of helplessness.
I would start from the scientific notion that we are are part of an ecosystem made of connections, this one action in one part of the globe can influence the other part of the globe synergistically. As much as a piece of plastic thrown away in the street and ended up in the drainage system via a stormy weather here in Switzerland can reach the Indian Ocean…one of the 5 gyres (plastic islands) due to the oceanic currents.
This is just to say that we don’t need to go to Brazil to help the Amazon forest, as well as we can’t go to places affected by blizzard, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves, hurricanes, floods (caused by rain), and tornadoes.
Unfortunately….
We don’t need to ask whether climate change is happening – or whether we are causing it. Instead, we need to ask: “what can we do?”
And there are unlimited ways to cope with our helplessness, really.
There is a powerful video that can set the scene and is related to the Earth’s connections:
The number one goal? Limiting the use of fossil fuels such as oil, carbon and natural gas to cut CO2 emissions almost in half (45%) by the end of the next decade.
What does it mean translated in our daily life?!
….driving and flying less, switching to a ‘green’ energy provider and changing what we eat and buy, just to name few.
When and if we can choose, we need to opt for the right choices.
When we can’t, we need to compensate for it.
An example?!
…..You can choose to do without air conditioning in your house; or choose to go paperless whoever possible.
You may not be able to choose to avoid a long haul flight for work.
A normal transatlantic round-trip flight can release around 1.6 tonnes of CO2, almost as much as the average yearly emissions of one person in India….there are platforms to estimate the emissions linked to your flight (https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/);
platforms where you donate the equivalent in support of projects to compensate in another way by positive impact (such as planting trees in Amazonia….).
A simple one: going to the supermarket…
The meat industry contributes to global warming enormously in three major ways. Firstly, cows’ burping from processing food releases lots of methane, a greenhouse gas. Secondly, we feed them with other potential sources of food, which makes for a very inefficient process. And finally, they also require lots of water, fertilisers that can release greenhouse gases, and plenty of land – some of which come from cleared forests, another source of carbon emissions.
By reducing our consumption of animal protein by half, we can cut our diet’s carbon footprint by more than 40%.
Another monster to avoid during our shopping is PLASTIC. And the ultimate enemy is SINGLE USE PLASTIC.
I could write books, and this is not the right place for it.
I will point out to another very meaningful video for reflection:
I would conclude this far too long answer with a personal thought: if I eat less meat or take fewer flights, that’s just me – how much of a difference can that really make?
Actually, it’s not just me. When I make a sustainability-oriented decision, I have the power to influence the close circle of those around me too! So eventually other people do too.
We shouldn’t underestimate the power of one, that if genuine can trigger the wave of change we need to generate…
Feel free to get in touch if any questions or doubts.
