For years I’ve been sharing that we should NOT be celebrating the successes of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Singles Day, or whatever other mega sale is on the calendar. We are in overshoot and taking far more than what earth can provide, and this year World Overshoot Day fell on July 28th.
That means anything we consume beyond July 28th is using “all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year.” And our year-on-year debt has been growing for decades, which is why we’re seeing so much crazy stuff going on in our environment.
E-commerce giants Alibaba, JD.com keep Singles’ Day sales results under wraps amid China’s economic woes, zero-Covid-19 policy – interesting read, maybe it’s not economic and instead, an attempt to stop celebrating the gluttony?
But don’t worry, we’re obviously getting the message, especially this week, with social media and the online world FULL of advertising for crap that does not contribute to a better existence for all life on earth. It does not contribute to bringing World Overshoot Day in alignment with earth either.
What this means is we continue to take more and more resources from this finite planet and by doing so, we are totally screwing the next generation. Cheap fashion and expensive fashion, wasteful plastic but discounted yay, electronics so many electronics on sale, shoes, books, you name it – buy it, save money, you don’t need it? No worries, it’s discounted, so get it anyway.
The disconnect from the reality of what we are facing is so jarring for all of us paying attention. I spend my days reading about the planetary crisis and the risk to ALL of us on earth, and let me assure you, it’s a very frightening issue to face day after day. These sales events just add to the feeling of dread.
Because when I look up, I see another world being marketed to me, the very world that is creating the climate chaos that is getting crazier and crazier every year. Do you see it too? Are you feeling the disconnect?
I mean have you seen the floods in Australia? This is close to where I grew up. It’s alarming! It’s described as an Inland Tsunami – first time we’ve heard that term, although I’m sure Pakistan looked like a tsunami.
We’ve got to start paying attention to the information that matters. Here’s some recent reads. Have a look and I know, it’s not good. Just read the methane one, if you can’t face any of the others, but be warned – this article will give anyone pause for thought. Tick tock, tick tock my friends.
- Soaring methane emissions raise stakes for Asia at COP27 I mean please, read this and YES it’s bloody scary
- What Is the True Cost of Climate Change? and this is a must-read too! Complete disconnect
- Subarctic boreal forest, vital for the planet, is at risk
- Big agriculture warns farming must change or risk ‘destroying the planet’
- Climate Honesty – are we ‘beyond catastrophe’? – Professor Jem Bendell
- The doom of climate change
- Cop27: Humanity on ‘highway to climate hell with foot on accelerator’, warns UN chief
- World faces ‘terminal’ loss of Arctic sea ice during summers, report warns
- Oil and gas greenhouse emissions ‘three times higher’ than producers claim
- The world is on track for these 3 dangerous climate tipping points : NPR
- Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh LXXVII
- The world has reached 8 billion people — but soon we’ll hit a decline we’ll never reverse
Check out my annual blog – it goes back three years on climate change information.
And if you don’t believe me, listen to Al Gore
We have to STOP buying into mass consumerism. WE! You and I. Buy what we need for sure, but it’s time to work out how can we live more like the Jamaicans – the country with a World Overshoot Day of December 20th.
What this date means is Jamaicans only need one earth. Our countries are closer to needing five earths to meet the demands of our people. We’ve got to switch onto this!
Of course, the businesses leading this charge must also stop and work out how they can transform their business and industry too, so future generations have a chance. Heck, based on the escalation this year, so we have a chance too. But when you see the advertising frenzy around these days, you know these businesses are not even doing the basics.
But don’t be pointing any fingers, because it’s all of us together creating this chaos (the top 10%), and we must get how dangerous this is and change our ways. We also need to work out how we can reduce the severity of the collapse that has already begun.
When the big cataclysmic events happen (and it’s happening now, not in 2100) including: shooting past 1.5C; the Doomsday Glacier sliding into the sea; methane release accelerating global warming; the aerosol shock; more melting glaciers which will impact water supplies globally; drought; famine (and we have a global one on the horizon); well, it’s not looking good.
Will we still be happy with that dress we got for 50% off?
Or that technology we didn’t need?
Or those shoes that don’t fit and we’ll send them back only to end up in landfill in Africa?
And those shoes will join the fast fashion cast-aways we wore once and put in the bin.
How did we ever allow fashion to become as disposable as a coffee cup? Mind bending.
The time is now my friends
The urgency is here, and we need one billion people changing imperfectly to be in alignment with our earth, and we need that movement building rapidly now. Will you join the movement of #OneBillion?
Equally, if we want to get ready for what’s coming, being agile is going to be key. We will need to be able to move quickly to safer ground. If we keep filling our homes with stuff, the day will come when we may have to walk away from it and yet, we will still suffer the emissions of its creation – so it’s a double whammy. What we do now is contributing to the calamity.
Please check out the flood victims in the video above. They couldn’t rescue anything because it all happened so fast. This means that new TV we bought on sale that we don’t need, well it’s gone, because it doesn’t fit with the agility required in this unstable world.
It’s time to STOP!
Stop the advertising. Stop the sales. Stop the excessive consumption. Stop the crap. Just stop.
Right now, our biggest priority is to form a consensus on what we need to do to move forward as a global society – and then we need to get going. It’s not going to be easy, but that is what we face now.
Please help educate your community. Speak to your family. Get ready, this is happening. How bad it gets is up to us, and when we finally agree it’s time to act, well that’s the critical piece in what lays ahead. I hope we don’t wait until it’s too late.
It is time to design a new world, top to bottom.
Cheers
Andrea
Environment education
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Uncommon Courage: an invitation – my latest book
Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s also an antidote to the overwhelm, fear, and rage rolling around the world. But it’s more than a book; it’s an invitation to join an inclusive community that wants to better understand humanities challenges – both global and personal – in order to take courageous action and create a better world for everyone. If Covid19 has given us the time and space to reflect, Uncommon Courage gives us the nudge we need to create lasting change.
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You can read the reviews, including a new five-star review on Book Commentary, another five-star review on ReaderViews, a review on BookTrib, and three more on Booklife, another on Book Commentary and Blue Ink Reviews. I’m also collating reviews on my Website too. Have a look and grateful to everyone who has written or recorded one.
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