Betting on a better future
With political leaders seemingly scrambling to be the next meme rather than correcting years of environmental and social neglect, calls to action being thoroughly overlooked (or at best placated) at every turn, and increasing torment inflicted on us by the natural world, it can seem at times that there’s no hope for our future.
Even staying up to date with the state of our environment can be a rather depressing task. There are articles upon articles about how micro-plastics are quite literally everywhere, how much of the world is on fire compared to last year, how the latest ocean cleanup efforts created more environmental issues, and how our clean energy is failing to demoralize the oil industry giants. The list goes on and on. Before you even hit the latest news about Trump’s latest foible – you can’t help but wonder: who thought it was a good idea to vote in somebody whose original tagline was, ‘money, money, moooney’? You too may have decided that the best course of action is to make bets on which post apocalyptic novel is the most likely outcome, but it’s not all bad news – there may still be some hope.
With that being said, our inherent need to focus on the most disturbing news has a way of making us overlook the innovative and inspiring aspects of the everyday. Looking for new article ideas is demoralizing until you’re reading about how scientists are working on fake plants that photosynthesize better than the real deal, or the latest beauty product that helps our planet and (surprise, surprise) our bodies from long term damage.
While these changes and innovations may have come around eventually on their own they are currently expanding rapidly because of public demand. Because, despite what is occurring at the political level, there is a large portion of the world’s population that feel like they should play their part in ensuring our planet is habitable. This group of people isn’t just composed of extreme vegans and off-the-grid minimalists. It’s composed of everyday people who were once kids that were turning the tap off when they were brushing their teeth, and are now adults who say no to most plastic bags or only eat meat on Mondays and Fridays.
The key to these changes is engagement: something that our generation could be the poster people for. We grew up with the knowledge that everything was not A-okay. We also wondered if we could ever morally have children, especially with our media increasingly turning apocalyptic in narrative, and threats of global warming becoming more and more real. Our heroes and heroines were not winning wars like in past generations. Rather, our heroes were -and continue to be- those looking for ways to heal our doomed earth or searching for alternative planets we can call home (while winning wars as well). Within our short lifetimes, space travel has shifted from the “great exploration of the beyond” to the “only way of surviving as a species before our homeland reaches its expiration date”. So we have no choice, but to be more engaged than our predecessors.
The engagement is clear if you look at what has been happening globally in recent months. A Guardian article estimated that 6 million people participated in the 2019 September climate strikes across the world. For reference, that’s bigger than the size of metro Vancouver, Canada; bigger than the population of New Zealand; and probably a whole lot bigger than the number in your bank account. While it may be less than one per cent of the global population, it’s a huge portion of the population if one considers the number of people that have the freedom to strike against environmental tragedy.
In our everyday lives this engagement can also be seen in the number of people choosing more environmentally friendly lifestyles and how they are impacting the market around them. If it isn’t clear enough from the hoards of vegan restaurants and food alternatives in stores, the emergence of a green economy shows that our generation is serious about the regeneration of our planet.
While this engagement may not yet have won over the political sphere, it seems inevitable that it will definitely do so in the not-so-distant future. As our generation ages, they will have the chance to enter that political sphere that angers so many of us. The engagement that now shapes our young lives will no doubt shape our future political circles, especially when those that are now students are eventually seen as credible individuals who can run for office or bring about change by casting their votes.
Our generation has grown up to expect little of our future. Some of us even think that we may be the last generation to make it to old age – even though retirement seems out of the question and the burden of salvaging the mess that was left to us will definitely age us quickly. Despite all of these things, our generation, for all intents and purposes, shows an aptitude for change. We recognize that despite all the hurdles in our way, a healthier, more habitable world is still a fight worth fighting for- and there is even some hope that perhaps we’ll come out as victors. So, consider placing your bets on a less-apocalyptic outcome, and on one where the world is thriving, and we are too.
