It's Time To Turn Off The Road We're On - A Climate Crisis Drivers Manual
Posted on 04 February 2023
A Climate Crisis Driver's Manual:
1. Read the Road
2. Change the Signs
3. Downshift
4. Head for the Exit
5. Take a Better Road
.
We're on a road called Business-As-Usual. Our need to Change the Road Signs is urgent - both to better inform us of our true direction, and to point the way to proper solutions...
Because the current Road Signs are framed around a cultural, political, and economic Paradigm which is a Dead End.
.
Thus the need for a Paradigm Shift, a need to Downshift our consumption, Head for the Exit, and Take a Better Road to a future we can manage.
.
But first we must Reframe.
.
Reframe our approach to the climate crisis so as to focus on the high emissions-emitting lifestyles of the wealthy.
.
Here's what esteemed climate scientist Kevin Anderson has to say about why we need a Reframe on the wealthy:
.
“Globally the wealthiest 10% are responsible for half of all emissions, the wealthiest 20% for 70% of emissions."
.
Here's what Kevin Anderson has to say about The Paradigm of protecting those high energy-use lifestyles:
.
“Many senior academics, senior policymakers, basically the great and good of the climate world have decided that it is unhelpful to rock the status quo boat and therefore choose to work within that political paradigm – they’ll push it as hard as they think it can go, but they repeatedly step back from questioning the paradigm itself.”
.
How do we Downshift from the Current Paradigm?
.
Anderson says that a "rapid and deep change" is required now, not later, a turn that would “require a fundamental re-evaluation of economic assumptions around growth, value, and progress”.
.
Where is the Exit Ramp?
.
The Exit Ramp lies in pushing back against the business-as-usual drive for more economic growth. It means we reevaluate what is important, valuable, desirable, or even necessary. It means we redefine Progress - because the Progress we are reaching for no longer serves us or our world. And we can't afford it in any case.
.
In other words, Read the Road.