Impotent

Climate change - the massive Elephant in the room.

As a lifelong champion of the natural world, my awareness of what is happening to our wildlife and the climate is finely tuned. By actively seeking out information on these subjects, by following fellow champions on social media and being able to formulate some kind of considered opinion from these sources, I am in a good position to have a handle on 'what is going on'. And as such it can be baffling to look around at my fellow man (women are also available) and witness a complete apathy, nay ignorance, as to the situation that is before us.

Historically high temperatures. Sudden, violent flash floods. Desertification. Out of control fires. Melting glaciers and permafrost. Disappearing ice-caps. Crop failures. Collapse in invertebrate and mammal populations. Species extinctions. The creation of more economic refugees and of populations on the move where they were least expected to need to be moving. All this was the doom-monger fantasy world of 2050, not the hard reality of 2023.

It is easy to wonder how on earth we are not all running around in panicking circles, screaming out for action. The trouble is, so few of us are actually aware of the gathering storm (both literally and metaphorically). If I received my news purely from main-stream media then it would be easy to see the weather events as just small news stories buried amongst the sport, celebrity gossip and latest diversionary  tactic from failing governments (such as boats crossing the channel, rising interest rates and railway worker strikes). Too many people, the climate crisis cannot really be all that serious if their news sources lead with lesser - far lesser - stories. As long as they are drip fed football transfer speculation and the latest celebrity contestant to be announced joining 'Strictly Come Dancing' then all must be vaguely OK in the world.

And even amongst those of us who do see the bigger picture and do care about our wildlife there is division. A low-carbon footprint has become a battleground, between those who have given up certain aspects of a conventional lifestyle and those that haven't embraced it. Travelling to see a rare bird results in a verbal civil war. Taking a plane across the world to join an organised wildlife tour results in online slings and arrows. If we, the 'good guys' cannot be seen to want to do something about the dire situation then how can we expect others to give a monkey's? The world is swimming in disinformation, conspiracy theorists, and those that major in denial - and many platforms allow such viewpoints equal billing.

I have friends who still twitch. Still fly off around the globe. Are they bad? Are they ignorant? No. No they are not. Should I expect them to join me in trying to walk to their birding locations, to leave the car in the driveway as much as possible? No. I can only do what I think is right for me, and mention it. I've been twitching in the past. I've flown long-haul. I've driven miles just to see a single plant or moth, let along a bird. I might not do so now but I have done so. Can I honestly expect somebody to give up the chance to experience a desert, a rainforest or a Mayan ruin when those of us that have gone before have done so but now have decided that it is wrong to do so? No, I can't. Such suggestion is hypocritical even if it is coated in a genuine worthiness.

So what is the answer? I don't think it lies with the individual. This is too big a problem for a few hundred  thousand of us to solve, by stopping eating meat and to renounce fossil fuels. It needs to come from the governments and big businesses. It has to be something 'imposed' on society. And that is where my hope falls flat on its face. It won't happen. Our economic model is based on more. On profit. On short-termism. Just think how difficult it would be to fully stop doing what we need to stop doing, right now. Even if the will were really there, how would that work? I would love to have an answer but, even coming from someone who understands the dire place we are in, I cannot see one. I have just one word to sum up my feeling. And that is the headline of this post.

Comments

David COX said…
Steve: How can we expect governments and businesses to behave if we're prepared to let individuals off the hook? Governments and businesses have to respond to voters and customers, ie individuals. Unfortunately we have to ask others to refrain from doing what we've done ourselves in the past. That goes for developed nations addressing the developing world, as well as for individuals. Those being asked to refrain from sin by the previously guilty may feel it's unfair. It is. But if they don't accept the unfairness, we're all doomed, so for their own good they should suck it up. Of course, they probably won't so we probably are.
22 August 2023 at 00:02
Steve Gale said…
Thank you for the comment David. Not much to disagree about there. A difficult scenario on many fronts.
22 August 2023 at 08:59
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