Earth Day 2020
The dawning of a new normal. Or not.
It’s Earth Day’s 50th birthday today, and this year, we’re not invited to the birthday shindig.
Memes aplenty have been doing the rounds since the pandemic struck, but one feels particularly spot-on, this Earth Day 2020:
“Mother Earth just sent us to our rooms to have a serious think about what we have done.”
About 80% of the world’s population is, in some form or other, on the naughty step, and she’s not letting us off, not even for her birthday.
But, are we really spending our time in lockdown having a good think about what we have done? Or more importantly, are we having a good think about what we should do better when she lets us out of our rooms again? While many of us are busy sulking for being sent to our beds without dinner, there are, thankfully, a great many people that are doing just that.
Still, for most of us, it remains nearly impossible to imagine what a new normal could possibly look like. When all the curves are flattened and the “invisible enemy” has been quashed, what will stop us from attempting to pick life up, right where we left off?
History would suggest that this greatly depends on how long the COVID-19 epidemic rules our lives. If, as is the case in Vietnam, disruption is minimal and for a relatively short period of time, a change in mindset is likely to be short-lived, if it even happens at all.
The Spanish flu of 1918 devastated lives for over two years, in three waves that washed over the world, and is generally believed to have led governments worldwide to expand on, if not socialise, the healthcare systems. The Second World War, lasting more than twice as long, led to ambitious plans to rebuild a fairer world, with nations demonstrating unity in their resolve, and, as a result, welfare improved, the gap between rich and poor narrowed, and women and other minorities started to enjoy greater opportunities and a more equal position in society.
Empathy, solidarity, and unity of purpose were great instigators of change. However, as even the worst memories eventually start to fade, so did our empathy, solidarity, and unity. From the 50s, Britain, for example, had picked up where it left off in 1939 and was heading full-steam towards a consumer-orientated economy and society. By the 1960s, much of western Europe viewed the state, less as a guardian of minimum welfare standards and more as a dispenser of rights, owing the individual order and stability, but, above all, owing us the good life.
Probably, again as with most social developments, it is more realistic to see the war as, at best, giving a push, and perhaps only a brief one, to change.
And so, no. There is no reason to be optimistic that the horrors that so many of us are living through today will lead to any significant change tomorrow.
Unless, perhaps, we start to listen to the Millennials and Gen-Zs. Much ridiculed for their flakiness and their unquenchable thirst for life to have more meaning and a greater purpose, it turns out they may have had it right all along. The oldest millennials turn 39 this year, while the oldest GenZies turn 24. They have no memories of war nor did they grow up with childhood stories of devastating tragedy — in the western world at least. And yet, even before the pandemic struck us down, they were advocating for change.
Vice Media conducted a survey among more than 9,000 young adults from around the world to find out how young people are coping in the era of COVID-19. They make up the largest percentage of population and workforce yet are some of the least likely to catch coronavirus. However, and despite what the viral stories about frat parties might lead you to believe, being unlikely to get ill themselves has done little to change our young people’s capacity for empathy:
Where Boomers and Gen-Xers may have felt it was the state’s obligation to guarantee citizens the good life, most Millennials and Gen-Zs believe we are all obliged to create and maintain a good life, and that we should do so not just for ourselves and our nearest and dearest, but for all people and the world at large.
It is the combination of empathy and tech know-how that makes younger generations so important. Now, more than ever, this group that makes up the largest percentage of our population and workforce is demanding to be heard, and, it won’t hesitate to use all of the tech available to speak up and take those that don’t live up to expectations to task.
As companies, it is high time that we sit up and listen. Because as it stands, the young have got not just the tech, they now also have Mother Earth on their side.
So, while history tells us we’re likely to forget all our good intentions for a better world before the next generation even has a label attached to it, maybe this time we can and will do better.
We have seen the clear, blue skies of a world in lockdown and smelled the fresh air, free of nasty PM2.5 particles — for the first time in decades for some, and for the first time in their lives for many.
We have stood on our balconies, in awe and gratitude at our frontline workers, medics, nurses, hospital cleaners, delivery workers, and all other essential staff.
We have reconnected with our older generations, remembering how irrecoverable each moment lost is.
If the motivation is high enough, we can beat the international targets for climate change in a heartbeat; we can liberalise most jobs in new employment models that balance both our lives and our footprints; we can repurpose our production lines to manufacture scarce goods at the drop of a hat. If motivation is high enough, we can do whatever we set our minds to.
And right now, Mama Earth wants us to set our minds to doing better. Then maybe, just maybe, she’ll invite us for her 51st birthday party next year.
P.S.: The Earth Day 2020 Google Doodle is the most relaxing thing you can do today. Take a break from being human and go spend some time being a keystone species. If you’re looking for happiness, bees know where it’s at ;-)
