It's our turn to help the world

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Somewhere in Siberia the other day the snow falling from the sky was yellow and bad smelling. Isn’t it an incredible oxymoric phenomenon? Isn’t the Earth giving us a sign by throwing up yellow stuff and other frequent extreme events? The Earth is definitely sick and feverish.  And we know now that humans are the main culprits. Earth has given us life, wealth and a wonderful place to live. But like in people, overexploitation and heartless management leads to burnout. I think “it’s our turn to help the world” as a Buddhist teacher once wrote, but beware of quick fixes.  

These last couple of days, the forth IPCC scientific report - www.ipcc.ch - has made itself heard in the media as never before. The papers were filled with public friendly articles, infographies and pictured scenario of how the Earth will soon look if we don’t change something. www.letemps.ch/climat .Quite a difference from the time that scientific reports where only written for a few specialists. A lot of emphasis has been put on the long list of threats caused by global warming as well as on the much shorter list of opportunities: social, environmental and financial.  But, as Einstein once said, problems cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them. Treatments to cure the Earth and the opportunities arising from climate change should be accessed through new lenses: the systemic lens, the learning lens and the cultural lens. A paradigm shift is needed, a shift from a culture of power and greed to a culture of participation and compassion.

Here below I would like to share with you what our son Joel has written for a school assignment that asked him to write a speech of a subject of his choice. We should listen to our children as a source of innocent learning.

Global Warning
by Joel Voillat, 13 years old


“Have you not noticed how little snow there is? Have you not noticed how much warmer times have been? Have you not realized that plants are already starting to sprout? It has been the hottest winter since ages. And it is not a coincidence. Whose fault is it? It is normal? It’s just a nature’s mistake? Well no. The culprits are all around us. We are guilty. We are guilty of driving cars. We are guilty of overheating our homes. We are guilty of going on the other side of the world in plane when we can. We are guilty of buying everything we see so that factories have to produce more. We are guilty of cutting down thousands of square miles of trees each year.

Doing these common things we harm nature. We cause global warming. For the last decades we have overexploited the planet and emitted incredible amounts of CO2. Some people have become rich by exploiting trees, others by conceiving high polluting cars. And now the consequences are falling upon us. We are not conscious that all these things are bad for our planet because we didn’t realize the consequences in the past. Well now we are. Day after day, and before our eyes, are the consequences of our selfish acts. And now nature is showing us a warning. Most just prefer to close their eyes. Do you really want warm winters with no snow? Do you really want main cities like New York, Shanghai or Calcutta to be under water because of rising sea levels? Do you really want for many plants and animal species to become extinct because of the heat? If it is yes, then you’re hopeless. If your answer is no to those questions here is a list of easy things to do to combat this.

  •  Recycle your garbage
  •  Take the bus
  •  Invest in renewable energy
  •  Don’t overheat your home
  •  Spend your holidays near your house
  •  Tell everyone you know about this problem
     

Global warming was caused by us so logically it can be eliminated by us. If everyone did their small actions everyday, our CO2 and many other noxious products would be drastically reduced making this world a better place.

So, now that you know about this problem, you have no excuse not to do anything about it. So, if you don’t act, at least the next time that you’ll do something selfish and harmful for the earth. You will feel guilty.”

 

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