The Global Climate Strike is behind us, the week of environmental public demonstrations, which was organized to coincide with the United Nations climate summit. The most significant event of the Summit, if not politically certainly from the media point of view, was the intervention of Greta Thurnberg on September 23rd.
In all the major free cities of the world, peaceful demonstrations on the same themes took place four days later.
There is no doubt that Greta has brought a new color into the battle for the environment, which for decades has engaged the public, with discussions involving operators, experts, politicians and ordinary people. Greta brings to mind ideas that are already known but, by virtue of her young age and ability to involve her peers, she has also re-launched themes from an emotional point of view that seemed to have slowly entered routine.
This is why we use her example to reflect. Greta says, “The world is waking up and change is coming.” Let us ask ourselves what that means, and above all, if it is true for us.
Many media outlets, after the demonstrations on September 27th, have joked about all the litter, junk food, and canned drinks consumed, in other words about the environmental impact of the demonstration to save the environment. All right, but perhaps, instead of complaining because the young people seem only to know how to repeat slogans, on the part of adults it would be appropriate to indicate how to transform slogans into concrete actions. Otherwise, what is the difference between young and adults?
Not to be provincial
It is impossible to do anything without polluting. Every time we light a fire we produce CO2. Not only the diesel systems but also the stoves we inherited from our grandparents pollute! However we have not yet stopped heating our house or our food. What is most important is to have measure.
Unfortunately, technological progress and what we consider to be well-being have produced some habits that are difficult to give up, not so much because we are lazy, as we often hear, but because we feel foolish and a bit provincial at the very thought.
For example, what could be more beautiful than traveling around the planet, knowing places and distant landscapes? It is beautiful and democratic, and can open our minds and make us feel like citizens of the world. Air travel, however, is one of the major sources of pollution that a human being can produce, and should be drastically reduced. Are we willing to limit our movements for environmental reasons? Are we willing, even if economically we could afford a trip (and we see others around us that continue to do so), to establish an ecologically sustainable quota of annual miles?
The examples could be in the thousands. Before Trump, Xi Jinping and the other Presidents intervened seriously on emissions. We could also change the way we relate to computer performance, to exotic fruits on the table, and the need for gadgets of all kinds without becoming, and above all without feeling, like fundamentalists out of time.
My values
It may seem absurd but it is true. Respect nature so that our life will be better, it doesn’t seem to be enough to convince people. We need to find new and more convincing values. Falco Tarassaco spoke of nature as the spiritual environment most favorable to the growth of the human being, because nature is populated by so many intelligences and through contact with them we can receive cues, serenity and indications for our life. We need to give space to this part of ourselves and develop the sense of the encounter with natural forces, starting from when we are in our home in the city or even in our car. In that case, we are nature and in the use of technology we can be more careful and minimize our impact.
