Magic Wands
Climate change is so challenging, problematic, and riddled with ironies and inconsistencies. What can I really do about it? I don’t have a magic wand, after all.
But what are your habits?
We all have them. Solving the climate crisis starts with me and you. And then shifting the issue from a me problem to a we problem. Vaclav Smil, Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and author of more than 40 books said it best:
“What we need is the dull, factually correct and accurate middle. Because only from the middle will come the solutions.”
If we changed our habits, even just a little, knowing what we know now about our impact on the natural environment, and inspired others to do the same, we could have a big impact.
The Carbon Almanac, created by a dedicated, global group of people, talks about this — dispensing the facts and realities of climate change in a sensible way over 300+ large pages using simple words and stories, helpful diagrams, charts, graphs, and cartoons.
Magic wand time
We all need to eat and get around, produce and transport things, and travel to meet others in this modern society. We need certain goods and services and resources to survive and thrive. But if right now, the only option was to make do with what we have in the natural world, and get creative, what would we choose to do with all our accumulated knowledge and experience?
If we could change the way we shop, eat, and get around, would we do it?
There are many things that we might have never started doing if we knew what we know now about humankind’s impacts on that world around us. The commercial enterprises that make all this stuff feed our habits and encourage us to keep feeding.
What we all really need is a new path.
We must start listening, observing, and thinking about how to solve this crisis, and what habits we’re willing to give up — or better yet, find better replacements for — in our daily lives. To get toward that optimistic objective by working together, with integrity and commitment, and by giving up or exchanging a few things for those that are better for the planet.
How much are you, your family, your community, your employer, that company you invest in, that organization you lead, the people you represent in government, willing to do about it? You are all of the solution, it just has many parts.
Revitalizing our world starts with us, and it’s not too late to start new habits.
Scott Hamilton is a global financial services professional, writer, and a member of The Carbon Almanac Network. Learn more at thecarbonalmanac.org.
