Situation overview

WE ARE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

“IF ANYONE THINKS THEY’D RATHER BE...

IN A DIFFERENT PART OF HISTORY, THEY’RE PROBABLY NOT A VERY GOOD STUDENT OF HISTORY..."

AS ELON Musk said. "Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little. and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease.

YOU’D PROBABLY HAVE NO TEETH BY NOW. IT WOULD BE PARTICULARLY AWFUL IF YOU WERE A WOMAN.”

Yet we are approaching a transition point in history where it is not clear what our world will be. We are approaching a point of no return where the world will change, but what that change will be is up to us. Will we collaborate to create a change that is positive and contributes to the well-being of the world? Or will we contribute to the crises by doing nothing and let our world gradually decline into disorder?“

We live in an exciting time. We now know more than ever about our biology and about our history, allowing us to peer into the future with greater clarity than has previously been possible. But at the same time, the changes we are undergoing, brought about by our own advances in technology, medicine, transportation – and by the growing impact we are having on the world around us – mean that we live in a time in which the future looks increasingly less like the past.

“Like all species, Homo Sapiens continues to evolve, so there is one thing we can say with certainty: the people of tomorrow will not be the same as the people of today.”

The world is not in an easy position right now.

In fact one might well use Charles Dicken’s famous description as Paul Polman recently has in his brilliant speech. ‘It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.’

When Dickens wrote The Tale of Two Cities, his passage went on to say ‘it was the spring of hope and the winter of despair.’ Many of us think this is where we find ourselves today.

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Protest is important. It surged in 2019. But what comes after protest is even more important.

The population of the world needs more pathways to change. As the writer and ecologist George Monbiot points out. “One of the most brilliant slogans of the youth climate strikes has been ‘System change not climate change’. They have hit the nail on the head. There is immense hope to be drawn from the youth strikes and the adult strikes that are coming in behind them. From Extinction Rebellion and other major protest movements that are kicking off around the world.

“What protest does is hold a mirror up to society where we can finally see ourselves. It’s a demonstration in more sense than one. They are showing us something, that the system is broken.”

WE ARE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

“IF ANYONE THINKS THEY’D RATHER BE...

IN A DIFFERENT PART OF HISTORY, THEY’RE PROBABLY NOT A VERY GOOD STUDENT OF HISTORY..."

AS ELON Musk said. "Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little. and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease.

YOU’D PROBABLY HAVE NO TEETH BY NOW. IT WOULD BE PARTICULARLY AWFUL IF YOU WERE A WOMAN.”

The world is not in an easy position right now.

Protest is important. It surged in 2019. But what comes after protest is even more important.

"LEADERSHIP IS NOT ABOUT GIVING ENERGY. IT'S UNLEASHING OTHER PEOPLES ENERGY."

PAUL POLMAN

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