CITIZENS, POLITICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Citizens delegate, voluntarily, the power conferred on us by the Constitutions, written or not, in political representatives and in the confidence that these representatives will try to manage that power emanating from the people, to achieve, among other purposes, the greatest degree of welfare and possible social justice, when they swear or promise to fulfill their obligations, when they take office. Although this statement seems naive, within its simplicity it is, in practical terms, the subject of controversy.

This formula of commitment and loyalty, is activated within a solemn framework, is what makes citizens assume and so it has been for centuries that those who were designated to exercise the representativeness of the people will faithfully fulfill their obligations.

Confident that this precept, supported and endorsed by the different levels of the State will take effect, citizens are dedicated to exercising the role that touches us. That is, to overcome and try to overcome the thousand and one obstacles that everyday presents us, in the confidence that our political managers will at least reduce, facilitate or improve our living conditions so that we can continue to exercise our role, in The democratic game.

According to the students of the matter, each of us receives between 3,000 and 5,000 messages daily `produced by third parties, not counting those others that we perceive without having to have a billboard, Internet, a radio, television, a newspaper or a magazine

In recent years, messages aimed at informing about the state of Nature and the effects of climate change have increased in such a way that the spaces and specialized media in this area represent more than 30% of the mass media contents There is no day, in one way or another, in which we do not receive disturbing and very discouraging news in relation to natural disasters, increase in the temperature of the globe, pollution of the oceans, forest fires, etc.

If we devote a little attention to contrast the content of the published information, with what we perceive as measures to counteract, alleviate or minimize the consequences of these situations, we observe that something does not fit. We crave someone trying, with a bucket, to collect the flow of Niagara Falls.

On the contrary, if any of us can think of or try to know the reasons for this mismatch, it will be introduced into a labyrinthine framework that will culminate with the entry into a slide that, in addition to producing vertigo, will have slipped to a level of confusion and major restlessness.

When we are witnesses “ojiplaticos” of a serious case originated within the universe of power and that affects millions of people, at the same time that a process of implosion of the phenomenon occurs, an information campaign begins in the opposite direction. I mean, that the springs "that protect us so that the panic does not spread", are activated and as the jet of the geyser, after a few minutes of appearing with its usual rumble and force, it loses strength and ends up disappearing through the same hole for which he appeared.

What types of episodes due to natural causes or that affect the environment, are panic generators in Humanity? Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, large floods, devastating fires, pandemics or the melting of the poles, are issues that, after the first and surprising effect of the news and the natural popular reaction and therefore of our political managers, as with the Geyser, he ends up being engulfed and overlapping for the sake of duty to continue living. The consolation that shelters us is that the unpredictability of a new similar event produces a balsamic effect that allows us to assume the fact as a fatal coincidence, in a state of semi-collective unconsciousness.

What are they, where are they found, why do they occur? We look around and bewildered, we point in all directions. So many directions, as alarming effects we perceive.

However, other phenomena occur, perhaps less visible and no less harmful. Persistent and stubborn, the causes of the degradation of nature, act under various appearances. A pack of fruits from the supermarket, a can of preserves, a pair of socks, the aromatic coffee to take from a cafeteria, a bath gel, a refrigerator, a detergent, an apple, a bottle of mineral water. Thus we can continue detailing objects, products and utensils until we are fed up.

We are. Each of us who are part of the cycle. We observe the problem from a box like when we attend a concert or opera ignoring that the work is possible because the audience exists.

But we are no longer us. We have delegated our responsibility and this frees us from office.

Unable to look at each other and accept that our way of understanding life, the values that really matter and the interrelation with our fellow men, is not going in the right direction. We allow our legitimate representatives to pilot the ship and correct the course towards our future and the destiny of our children, along a path that leads us to an uncertain future full of questions.

But how is it possible that, without changing the meaning of our acts and behaviors in relation to habits that undermine our vital supports and that we automatically call the environment, we urge our leaders to maintain a consistent attitude with a reality that we ignore, knowing that we are going headlong to the cliff?

In recent years, roles have been reversed. Now, given the manifest incapacity and lack of agreement between the political leaders, the hot potato is returned to citizenship. As in other episodes in history, it is the people who must tell the leaders the way forward. It seems that the solution is in the streets.

History presents us with examples of how Humanity or much of it has followed certain precepts thanks to the leadership of its mentors. What are but religions? A set of precepts, with the aim of reaching a goal. Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, Zoroaster, Buddha to name a few, in past times, got this to happen.

More recently, characters such as Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Che Guevara whose messages have been heard and followed by millions of human beings and whose goals were to achieve social justice, peace, or the freedom of an oppressive regime

The effect of their influence has achieved that millions of people will adopt models and lifestyle according to the messages they sent. Peace, love, justice, equality, rights, freedom, are some of the nuclear elements of these messages.

Why did a speech by Nelson Mandela reflect and move millions of people anywhere in the world and a news that the poles are melting, or that plastics are killing the oceans, does not produce the same effect?

Is the effect that a message of the aforementioned leaders produces on people with the leaders who today control our world? Flatly no.

What makes them different? Why don't people move with their leaders today? If we compare the objectives, the human and political trajectories of those who made the world change, in many ways, with that of the current leaders and together with the plethora of "advisors and strategists", it would be like establishing the comparison of a Stradivarius and a didjeridú

If the effect that the decisions taken, or the lack of them, by the majority of current political leaders causes on the citizens is the lack of confidence, no future expectations can be expected when they meet again in a political conclave, whether to deal with of climate, trade or people's rights.

Perhaps we will have to remind political leaders that, making the defense of people's rights and welfare compatible, with respect for the laws of Nature, Egolatry and Stupidity, making a small effort, could it be feasible?