April 2020
For almost three decades, world governments have met every year to forge a global response to the climate emergency. Under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), every country on earth is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way. But, to this day, global emissions continue to rise and the impacts of climate change are hitting harder and earlier than ever. Scientific warnings are dramatized by unprecedented glacial melting in Greenland and wildfires in Australia. In fact, the nations of the earth have accomplished very little thus far to avert an impending, entirely foreseeable catastrophe. What keeps our elected officials and mankind as a whole from altering its path of apparent self-destruction? If solutions are cheaper, public opinion is mobilized and the impacts much clearer, why is political action not following?
Science tells us again and again that without a big increase in our actions it will be practically impossible to keep climate change within safe limits. Yet, the 25th iteration of the Conference of the Parties (COP25), which took place in Madrid at the close of 2019, saw delegates from nearly 200 countries struggling to reach agreement on key issues on the framework underpinning the Paris Climate Accord. All relevant and pressing issues such as drawing up rules on a carbon market between countries were deferred to the next climate summit in November 2020, marking yet another missed opportunity to ratchet up ambitions on climate action. The staggering failure of international leadership is all the more important in light of a plethora of new studies that showcase the urgency to act swiftly.
We could list a myriad of reasons as to why our leaders seem to fail us in meeting the twin objectives of a low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathway: from bureaucratic inertia to ideological resistance; from nations like the USA or Brazil, who threatened to pull out of the Paris Accord thus undermining effective international climate negotiations, to powerful multinational corporations, which weigh in all their accumulated power to continue their business as usual whilst destroying land and polluting the air. What they all have in common is a basic narrative around climate change, which is itself part of the problem: it makes climate change seem unsolvable and narrows it down to fossil fuel and emissions, instead of placing more emphasis on the planet as a living being.
Shifting focus
Globalization and its discontents have been wreaking havoc on the very organs and tissues of this being, including ecosystems, biodiversity, wetlands and coral reefs. By degrading the biosphere, the planet becomes much less capable of dealing with challenges such as rising sea levels. Even if we could cut carbon emissions overnight and engineer our way out of the climate crisis through innovative technologies and superimposed laws and regulations, the planet would still die a death of a million cuts. As long as the dominating narrative is not shifting towards a more holistic approach of regeneration, conservation and the healing of the planet in all its facets, we sidestep the core problem and delay our moral duty to care for the earth.
This brings the focus on environmental urgency to a local level, and makes it much more tangible as we see the damage being done to our rivers, soils and forests right in front of our eyes. The phenomenon of climate change also becomes much more concrete when we can act on it right here and now. However, it requires a fundamental change in our relationship to the material world and a growing recognition of our individual role in it, for therein lies the real problem: our spiritual crisis! Crises like the looming climate collapse are but symptoms and expression of this main cause. Our collective failure is to be found in the people’s deeply ingrained materialistic and egoistic perception of life, the mode of living that comes with it, as well as in the complacency that refuses to act differently and to refrain from the luxury we have grown accustomed to, foremost in developed nations, which drive the climate crisis in the first place. Scapegoating others leads only to a dead end and diverts attention away from real solutions.
In this way, the climate crisis almost forces us to the realization of our interdependence, because the losses we are seeing are connecting us with all life on earth. As long as we do not demonstrate and put to daily practice a sense of local and global companionship and express principles along the lines of sharing and trust, we will inevitably face existential threats. As Einstein said: “We cannot solve the problems that face us today with the same level of thinking that created them.” If not carried out with a different set of values and motivations, reducing the number of global carbon emissions only transfers our real problem to another playing field. The underlying question of concern is, therefore, one of consciousness and right motive. The moral compass of humanity needs to be aligned to its inherentinterconnectedness with all living beings.
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The people’s voice is the ultimate yardstick
Politics will not change unless the awareness of people everywhere undergoes a shift towards a more genuine and shared sense of oneness with all humanity, our brothers and sisters – for politicians delay when they fear the risks of action outweigh the risks of inaction. The people’s voice is the ultimate yardstick by which to measure changes for the better. The inherently sensed truth that all deserve a dignified life is already propelling millions to demand changes, be they related to the climate crisis or other ills of modern society. The momentum is gaining speed on the part of those who feel a deep urge to transform a profoundly unjust system, as their innate quest for a more fulfilling life no longer resonates with the outworn structures of today. A critical mass of those people can inspire and galvanize men and women everywhere until a social tipping point is reached where people join a global movement, capable of overcoming present deadlocks in all fields. People will then find it easier to follow suit and stand up for what they inwardly know to be true and in line with their spiritual nature, affirming sharing and justice as the natural and only way to engender trust and a safer world for all.
