The pandemic really killed off any hope I had that we would do anything against climate change. The environment got better for a few days and weeks while we were all working from home, and everyone around me was like “I can’t wait to go back to my commute”. People were eager to go back to the way they were. Pollution, inequalities, and all.
If a pandemic didn’t budge us from overconsumption and the hyper capitalism that is slowly condemning humanity, nothing will. The threat was immediate and we didn’t change the system.
What’s also telling is that every election in my country or province, the most important issue is always the economy. That and the price of gas. You know, less environmental taxes and more money in the pockets of ordinary people so they can consume more. And pay for gas.
So with a threat that is “far” in the future, and immediate preoccupations like constant economic growth and low gas prices, the outlook is grim.
For me in the us, it was the election. We finally had goal, funding and progress toward renewable energy. We had the government working for us, not against us. We were building momentum on the switch to EVs and residential electrification. Sure, it was too little too late, but it was progress and it was a huge change of “attitude “ and direction. No longer fighting the idea but actually responding.
Then the pendulum of politics in the us swung the other way, all that slow painful progress undone, an administration actively working to make things worse. All those corporate resolutions to become good corporate citizens disappear under the slightest pressure.
The pandemic really killed off any hope I had that we would do anything against climate change. The environment got better for a few days and weeks while we were all working from home, and everyone around me was like “I can’t wait to go back to my commute”. People were eager to go back to the way they were. Pollution, inequalities, and all.
If a pandemic didn’t budge us from overconsumption and the hyper capitalism that is slowly condemning humanity, nothing will. The threat was immediate and we didn’t change the system.
What’s also telling is that every election in my country or province, the most important issue is always the economy. That and the price of gas. You know, less environmental taxes and more money in the pockets of ordinary people so they can consume more. And pay for gas.
So with a threat that is “far” in the future, and immediate preoccupations like constant economic growth and low gas prices, the outlook is grim.
For me in the us, it was the election. We finally had goal, funding and progress toward renewable energy. We had the government working for us, not against us. We were building momentum on the switch to EVs and residential electrification. Sure, it was too little too late, but it was progress and it was a huge change of “attitude “ and direction. No longer fighting the idea but actually responding.
Then the pendulum of politics in the us swung the other way, all that slow painful progress undone, an administration actively working to make things worse. All those corporate resolutions to become good corporate citizens disappear under the slightest pressure.