Climate Change needs a social context to change us.

The issue of Climate Change is becoming more heated and causing more anxiety for the generation that will bear the brunt of its consequences at its most grievous development. The science shows a worsening ecological devastation will eventually follow, decimating the biosphere and killing vulnerable societies while crippling nations. We are in a troubling state where this obvious progression in the world is not realized by all, especially by the established generation that neglects the environmental repercussions of material prosperity. To date, nothing but incremental measures have been made in the Paris Accord and not all participants are meeting the objectives of the marginal quotas agreed upon in the treaty. Moreover, the US dropped out of the Accord and China no longer pursues an aggressive plan of sensible environmental action in order to focus on a diminishing economic growth. To many it seems a feeble attempt is being made at a global strategy that deals with an exponential degradation of the planet. Is it really surprising to see an heir of this folly come forth and point to the facts, to the problems, to the foolishness and ask for sanity in dealing with it before the future is overwhelmed by thoughtless exploitation? Greta Thunberg is of course the Joan of Arc of Climate Change and to a large degree - defender of the future. Many see her as a heroine, others want to burn her at the stake. There is a tragedy of greatness in her effort and immense hope in her passion. We need to act with utmost attention and firm resolve in this crisis if we want to prevent our destiny from becoming impoverished, struggling to scarcely survive. I’m not sure we can manage a change to avoid that outcome. The conditions are quantitative in how the environment is changing and the situation is qualitative in what is changing in the ecology yet we believe in a progressive behaviour of our prized providence – prosperity. We seem to lack a comprehension of our dilemma. The phenomenon of the danger is not understood in the psychology of self-interest. The sheer scale of its deleterious effect is spread over the world, too vast for many to relate to personally. We are only bothered with the local inconveniences that are presently viewed within a conventional rationale. This is not a fate to be evaluated by politics over science but to be politically acted upon by the science made. Climate Change has recently been focussed upon by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and currently Governor of the Bank of England (and Chair of the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee and the Prudential Regulation Committee). Mr. Carney, in his address to financial policymakers and prudential supervisors, warned that the financial sector needed to play a central role in creating preventative measures to reduce the threat. He realizes that businesses that fail to transform in a more inclusive and pertinent concern towards Climate Change will fail to exist. However, what is offered is a defensive attempt that seeks to mitigate risks while maintaining an exploitative system of development that affords no sustainable progress. We cannot create sustainability by the artificiality created by anthropological behavior on a planet naturally ordered. We need to have an economic means within a natural process to maintain a balanced relationship in the ecology that determines our liveability and posterity. We must have an economic system that acknowledges this and a society that undertakes the endeavour to realize it. Science may tell us the facts but we see to the reality. Our youth is the canary that refuses to go down the mine shaft. I’m hoping that the future will change the present into an enduring legacy.