The next decade will be crucial. Given our current environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and the erosion of our natural habitat, there is no time to lose… the time for action is now. According to Prof. Johan Rockström the world is destabilizing faster than we thought. Climate and Biodiversity are the two core boundaries that impact all other planetary boundaries. We are approaching critical tipping points, which are becoming more visible considering increasing climate extremes such as fire blazes in Australia, California and the Amazon as well as floods in China Bangladesh and India.
“The next 10 years, to 2030, must see the most profound transformation the world has ever known.” (Johan Rockström, TED Talk 2020)
The ways we live and produce our food has massively affected the wildlife around us. The current rate of extinction is estimated to be 100-1000 times higher than the historical rate. Since 1970 animal populations have dropped an average of 68% and scientists are calling the current loss in biodiversity the 6th mass extinction of life. As humans, we cut down forests for food our production, significantly impacting both biodiversity and climate. About one half of all fertile land is currently used as farmland and 77% of that is dedicated to livestock.
Our environmental and social problems are too pressing to sit on our meditation cushions and wait for mankind’s enlightenment.
At the same time, they are too important to act without intention, an open mind and a loving heart.
This is why we must sit before we take a stand.
@susannevonderbecke
The good news is, there is time to positively impact and counter these trends. The time is now. And each one of us can play their own unique part in this transformation where we as humans learn to live again in harmony with nature. This transformation is as much an outer as an inner process. While our current environmental and social challenges are too urgent to wait for mankind’s enlightenment, they are also too important to act out of fear or anger. However, while a sense of urgency and outrage may be a good stimulus for action, we must create our future from a place of hope rather than fear, from a place of interbeing, rather than separation.
Guilt and anger and fear are part of the problem.
If you want to save the world, save it because you love it!
— Gary Snyder
