Are we blind?
We are on the verge of an inevitable collapse of the world as we know it, but no one wants to see it.
The technological and social changes that we are bringing about as a human species, and the succession of challenges that we face as a result, are infinitely faster than evolution. In fact, we still have the brains of primitive hunters and gatherers. One of the consequences of this is that we are equipped with instincts to survive in the short term, but we are bad at long-term planning. That is why we are all too fat, because our instincts say that we should take advantage of the availability of food, although our ratio could argue that there will be enough food available tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to avoid starvation.
For example, we are well equipped for urgent dangers that we see in front of us, such as a predator in the forest, fire in the cabin or the attack of an enemy tribe, while our primitive hunter brains are bad at confronting long-term dangers. We've seen it with the pandemic. For a long time, this was an abstract danger that might arise in the distant future. As long as we thought about it like that, we weren't able to respond to it. But as soon as the danger came close and became urgent, suddenly everything was possible, including an immediate stop on global air traffic.
The biggest problem with climate change is that it is an abstract hazard that will only become concrete in the future. We have the greatest possible difficulty in responding appropriately to this threat, because we do not understand its urgency. Rationally, we may be able to see that the danger is extremely real and that immediate action is needed, but we do not feel it. Our instincts don't turn on. Only when it comes close in the form of floods, wildfires, refugee flows or other calamities will we actually feel the urgency and be able to do something, but then it is too late. When people around us got sick and died of the new virus, we managed to ground the planes. The same intervention is also needed now, but we are not doing it, we are sending all our kerosene filled Boeing and Airbuses around the world again, because we are not afraid enough.
It is a closely guarded secret that the dikes and storm surge barriers of the proud Netherlands will collapse when sea levels rise
It is a closely guarded secret that the dikes and storm surge barriers of the proud Netherlands will collapse when sea levels rise. Even at the moment, scenarios are already circulating in which the seawalls at the current sea level will not provide adequate protection under exceptional circumstances and in which the rest of the world is allowed to organise benefit concerts for us. Dike increase is not a solution. There is no hesitation to raise. But this is a taboo. No one should say this. The truth that the Netherlands will disappear must be kept hidden for as long as possible so as not to harm the investment climate.
As a writer, an anthropologist and as a curious person, I feel privileged to live in these times, because it is extremely fascinating to study how people behave on the eve of an inevitable collapse of the world as we know it. We ignore the danger. We try to clear our lives of negativity. We consume and dance on the edge of the volcano while denying the existence of the volcano.
We have faith in ourselves, because at the very last minute we will do a clever invention that will make everything right and that will allow us to continue living on the old footing. Innovation will save us. That's what we think. But it's not. Every innovation has only led to even more energy consumption. We can all drive electric cars, but it also takes raw materials to manufacture those cars. The raw materials needed to make solar panels are rapidly depleting. The only real solution is to drastically change our lives, consume spectacularly less globally, focus on a scenario of rapid economic contraction and return to the standard of living of the early nineteenth century, before the industrial revolution. It is obviously out of the question that we can do so, so the disaster is inevitable and the disaster will bring us back to a pre-industrial standard of living.
All of this will take place over the next twenty years. You and I are going to experience it inshallah and deo volente all. But not now. Today we throw a nice piece of steak on the barbecue and tomorrow we're going to Thailand for a week, because we really have to get away from it. Just recharge the battery and recover from all the negativity that surrounds us here.
Source: Ilya Leonard Pfeijffer #climate #ramp Image by Tamal Mukherjee via Pixabay
