Week 38: Our gross-zero world
Dear all,
Repetitive emptiness. Weightless. An empty monument. Looking for explanations. Some kind of analysis that would provide insight. Articles, editorials, reports, and conversations with people I know. Going in circles. Yes, we know but we don’t know. Yes, we care but we don’t care. Yes, we can change this, but we don’t want that. Technology will save us, behavioural change will save us, young generations will make it happen. Regulation, politicians, business leaders, fear, lies, diversions, lobbyists, all of it in the seamless flow of emptiness. Dead ends, again and again. Gross-zero world.
Taking early walks, more like therapy just to walk into a new day, hoping that every new day will be at least something else. Something else is not an answer. I know that. It must be something completely different. Something better. Hijacked reality. Violently enslaved. Shackled.
Most mainstream politicians have embraced a convenient half-truth about climate change. Convenient political compromises they always can get back to when needed. It is economics stupid, what they say. It is inflation, it is war, it is disrupted global supply chains, it is a strong dollar, it is weak all the rest. It is so many quasi-explanations, controlling the narrative, scaring millions of people around the world into submission.
There is only one way we can solve this, they say, and the rest is just hippy mumbo jumbo, something that idealists can spend time analysing for years. History has repetitive jaws. The current global suicidal ignorance related to the consequences of the climate emergency, increasing tectonic inequality around the world, concentration of wealth, endemic poverty at the same time.
Powerless middle classes trapped in the wheel of interest rates, increasing food prices, indebted, played around with, promised to, lied to. The redux of violence that will come, revolutions, unrests, violent conflicts. Smelling autocratic tendencies, the backlash of market liberal democracies, all this fast-forwarding fear. Populists, nationalists, traditionalists, conservatives, liberals, progressives. All of it is gross-zero.
Developing a new, transformative, economic system is a costly endeavour. It demands consciousness and leadership we indeed don’t have any experience with. The people that got us here, have no answers anymore, as much as they try to pretend to have them. We have been told, there will be a zillion new green jobs, and we have been told this is a win-win thing. We have been told businesses will transform, leaders have pledged, regulation will help.
In the gross-zero world we are living in right now nothing of that is really happening. Politicians are making U-turns on recent climate pledges and commitments, business leaders are lobbying against regulation, few if any business models have changed underlying mechanics. The world is spending more money on weapons today than on renewable energy development. Fear and Greed walk on every street and in every town around the world. We keep searching for answers and solutions beyond our own ability to transform ourselves. Repetitive emptiness. Empty monuments. Gross-zero everything.
No. A simple no could be a good start. We could start with No. At least we don’t have to agree to the narrative they sell us, at least we can say no to power schmucks even if they don’t take a no for an answer. We can say no to the narrative that there is only one way forward paved with endless growth for the few and endless poverty for the rest. No could be something else. No is much more than the gross-zero we have today.
Have a great ‘No’ week.
Best regards,
Sasja
For the inspiration this week, some articles explaining our gross-zero world:
Phasing out fossil fuels is ‘unrealistic,’ China climate envoy says
UK one of 32 countries facing European court action over climate stance
‘Climate villain’: scientists say Rupert Murdoch wielded his media empire to sow confusion and doubt
Sweden Poised to Miss the Long-Term Climate Target It Pioneered