What does the future of Climate Action look like post Lockdown?
What does the future of Climate Action look like now? It’s a deliberate question. We are, after all, our future selves: […]
What does the future of Climate Action look like now? It’s a deliberate question. We are, after all, our future selves: what gets seeded now unfolds in the future. To change it, we have to imagine it differently, in order to turn it into reality.
The World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2020, published in mid-January, identified the top 5 risks by likelihood over the next 10 years, as all being climate related: weather patterns, natural disasters, biodiversity and ecosystem collapse…the list goes on. Essentially, it identifies that our lack of rapid and urgent action now to mitigate these risks, continues to undermine the systems which preserve our health.
Exploring risks based on what is happening now, is a useful warning mechanism. As Sarah Smith, from the Institute for the Future says, “forecasts are provocations, not predictions.”
Which means, that we have the opportunity to imagine, explore and design our response and a future which addresses these risks.
The pandemic has ignited the need for that response even more urgently.
Remission from emissions
With humans in lockdown, nature started to flourish once again. The building blocks of our health, wellbeing and survival expanded into its rightful place. We all noticed crystal clear skies, vividly blue without plane contrails and smog creating the haze. The white noise of engines ceased and we could hear without sound pollution the dawn chorus of birds.
And we loved it. From lions sunbathing on roads, goats wandering through a town centre and a wolf meandering through a village in broad daylight: we watched with wonder, humour and connection.
As lockdown eases, the engine noise is back like tinnitus and the haze starts to return.
Which is causing huge anxiety, because we don’t want this normal back again. And that, is the trigger for different choices.
What they told us could never change, was impossible to do something about, did in fact do exactly that. We’ve seen Nature restore itself with our own eyes, lived it, breathed cleaner air. Carpe Diem. Surely, now, there is no going back?
A snapshot of the blue and the green
We have a snapshot from now, these last weeks, of what the future will look like if we act for blue and green economies to preserve food and water systems, in sync with biodiversity.
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Elaine France
Contributor
Elaine has worked for 25 years as a change-maker and understands the challenges of taking action as a global citizen, growing sustainable solutions from within communities, rather than ‘doing it’ to them. She brings expertise and perspectives from across sectors, with tools and strategies that enable every individual to become an adventurer who dares to dream and has the courage to turn their ideas into reality. She works to create a circle of impact, empowering others so that they share and transfer those skills around the globe wherever they are, so that lasting change happens organically from the inside out. Visit www.flowinaction.org for more information
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