Before I began contemplating the challenges of the Anthropocene, I watched an interview from Time with Jane Goodall in which she discussed her perspective on climate change and how we should address it. In this interview, one line of hers stood out to me:
“How is it that we’re destroying our only home? . . . We’ve got this one chance for our future.”
What struck me was not what she was saying, but rather the fact that I’ve heard it before. What puzzles me is that the environmental protection movement has been saying the same thing for years now, yet we’re still in the same position, throwing out the same lines. Evidently, there must be a change in our discourse.
How do we inspire change? Where should this change be targeted? Systems theory suggests that the solution does not lie in a change in individual action but in a fundamental shift in how we function as a society. Furthermore, it is suggested that our problems are generated more by institutional pressures like our systems of agriculture and transport.
Are we capable of a fundamental shift in how we operate as a society? This question troubles me because I’m not sure if I have faith in the developed world to unite in making this shift. Take the Paris Climate Agreement, for example. The demands were reasonable, yet Donald Trump undermined its integrity by expressing intent to abandon the plan.
Massive public support needs to be behind any effort to change how we operate as a society, but with the politicization of the environment and the public’s desensitization to climate issues, I am not encouraged.
What do you think? Is there reason to have hope? Do you have ideas for what should be done?