I had a conversation with a friend the other day about holidays & travelling. He didn't feel that what he does makes any difference to the climate emergency issue & wants to visit as many places as possible while he can. We are good friends, and although we agree on a lot of things, we do disagree on some major issues. Fortunately we can argue our corner without getting annoyed.
It did make me think though.
I do believe that when individuals mobilise to make change happen we can be really powerful. I used to live near Newbury & supported the demonstrators at Greenham Common & Aldermaston. (I didn't camp out though). I have marched on issues I believed needed to change & would do so again if I had the physical capapbility. I lobby a lot & support charities financially. I try to tread lightly in our world & not aid & abet it's destruction.
"We are like raindrops, but together we turn into the sea". Iranian protester.
Public opinion is very powerful for both good and ill. I don't accept that an individual can continue doing things that they know are harmful because they are just one person & many others are doing the same. That way just stops beneficial change from happening. To my mind, if what you are doing is both harmful & unnecessary, you are simply being selfish. I can understand that it is very hard to change ingrained habits & practices. But once you have evidence that you should stop, then you should.
The difficulty is knowing what to believe, what is evidence based. Greenwashing is rampant about Climate Change, backed by huge resources of money & power. We live in a post truth world where knowing what to believe about a lot of issues is very difficult. Everyone has a responsibility to be confident in sources of information & not to believe any crackpot or conspiracy theory.
But at the end of the day the survival of our world & all it's inhabitanats is dependent on every individual playing an informed & engaged part. Everyone acting together can make a difference. No one can opt out. Do you really believe that something magical will happen to put everything right? I stopped believing in fairies & Father Christmas decades ago.
If we don't all use our individual agency to change it really might be the end of not just the day, but much worse.
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