Life is short – time for disruption

My father was born in late 1955, a mixed-breed European with roots in Switzerland and Norway who has lived his entire life in Sweden. In 1955, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are also born, and Albert Einstein dies. The Warsaw Pact is forged, Rosa Parks gets arrested for sitting in the ‘wrong’ seat on a bus, the Salk polio vaccine is approved, and the Vietnam war is about to kick off. In 1955, there are 2.8 billion people on Earth and the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is 313 ppm, about 35 ppm higher than pre-industrial levels.

Now, we are at 420 ppm CO2, and +1.1 degrees of warming, and with a global population of 8.1 billion. Behind us is the warmest July ever recorded. There is a 98% chance at least one of the next five years will be the hottest on record. There’s also a 32% chance the average temperature over the next five years will exceed the 1.5 C threshold. The IEA says we are at the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, but that the pace of change is still too slow to mitigate the climate crisis. Too slow, not impossible.

The other day, I listened to Professor Johan Rockstr?m summarise a recently published study, concluding that six out of nine planetary boundaries have now been transgressed. This leaves Earth ‘well outside of the safe operating space for humanity’.

If humanity were a teenager, her parents would surely have removed all razors and sharp objects by now. Yet we carry on with our self-harming behaviours. It really is quite astounding when you think about it. The remedies remain at hand. Phase out fossil, and double down on restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, and we’ll be golden. It may not be easy, but complicated it is not. But we are now well beyond the point where gradual improvements will suffice. Now, it’s time for disruptive change.

Disruption is a fickle thing. It tends to happen when you’re not looking. It takes off in directions you may not be able to predict. And while it’s happening, it can be confusing, frustrating, draining, chaotic. I believe we might be in such a phase right now. What I’m not sure of is the direction of that disruption. Will it take us where we need to go? I don’t know. I know it could. And if enough of us keep pushing in the right direction, we can tip the scales. It’s all we can do.

And maybe it’s not all about what we do, but how we tell the story. Maybe we need to be better at painting the picture of all the joys and graces of a transformed world, bursting and blooming with thriving ecosystems? The clean air, the safety of more predictable weather and seasons, stable supplies of food and water, allowing better quality of life for all, and hence less violent conflict and fewer people losing their homes and livelihoods. There are literally no downsides.

My father died on the 11th of September 2023. Death is a brutal reminder of how short a human life is and how precious each day. As our elders die, we are left alone with the task of dealing with the state of the world as it is. We are the adults in the room now. I am more determined than ever to make the most of what remains of my own life. I will work tirelessly to leave a better world to my son and his generation, and I will drive relentlessly for positive change – or disruption. It’s daunting to be in the vanguard. But it can be exhilarating too, especially once you have found your crew. It’s the greatest adventure, and I don’t want to miss a day of it.