Is it time to give up? (After you, Claude)

I know that what I will write here depends upon my concern about being correct. I know that many tactics are used in denial, including equating opinions with evidence-based or expertise. Another is the ‘well, what about them? Don’t look at me (after you, Claude) tactic. So, what I will write will have some people doing just that. It’s one of the prime reasons I’m wondering whether it’s time to give up.

What I’m thinking about giving up on is anything to do with the acceleration toward the inevitable destruction of our planet for human habitation and, related to this, anything to do with changing business ethos and practice.

·       On July 4th, 2024, circa 54,000 domestic flights were scheduled in the US.

·       On average, a cruise ship burns 250 tons of diesel per day – some 423 cruise ships are doing this

·       The meat and dairy industry releases 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalents pa, and the protein conversion rate is pitiful

·       The human experience of being alive is chained to debt and requires constant acceleration of what’s causing the problems, both social and environmental

·       On average, no one gives a stuff

·       Most of the people I interact with on an intellectual level are actively engaged in peddling techniques and practices that make all this worse but get them paid… and they don’t give a stuff – but I think they feel they have little choice – see below “programming.”

I drive an ICE car, and my wife drives a hybrid. So, obviously, all the above is negated by me not walking everywhere. I have reasons for currently using a petrol-fuelled car: it’s as fuel-efficient as I could find for what I need, and I limit its use. I don’t fly anywhere; I would rather lick toads than go anywhere near a cruise ship, and I haven’t eaten meat since 1982… but I currently have a petrol-fuelled car. Obviously, I have nothing to say about anything or anyone else because of this.

The suggestion that anyone should consciously reduce their impact on the world in any way is, as they say, “p…ing in the wind”. I think I might be able to count the number of people I know who are actively doing this on the fingers of one hand. I know a lot of people.

I know a lot of clever, well-educated people. Many of them are actively involved in helping businesses accelerate their growth. Many of the techniques and processes they sell they sell because that’s what people buy. The argument I’ve heard way too often is a variation on “Well, we’ve all gotta make money”. I do understand this, of course; see above “chained to debt”, but then the consumptive bar of virtually everyone I know seems to me to be set very high. What things and activities are considered as normal as breathing… nah, not buying it (excuse the pun). In pursuit of all this, dressing up a lot of what gets peddled in the interests of “leadership”, “productivity”, and “systems” in intellectual costumery has become a constant source of frustration.

So, accepting that no one is perfect, but on the flip side, almost everyone doesn't care and is unwilling to do anything that might help, I’m wondering whether I should give up for the good of my sanity and health. On balance… yes, and no. Probably yes, but definitely no.

I am standing in the middle of the motorway of monopolist, consumptive, capitalist business growth, and constant ramping up of consumption, fossil fuel use, deforestation, soil degradation and global climate change – with a wee placard. I am not able to claim hair-shirt-wearing puritanical perfection myself so on average, people would require me to live in a cave before I'm permitted to comment. However, I’m seeing hordes of morbidly obese ‘Westerners’ complaining about heatstroke and hundreds of forest fires, increasingly intense hurricanes, droughts, and flooding. I also see hordes of people waddling on and off planes and cruise ships, munching ‘brands’ of UPF meat-based muck. I see poorer populations in dire situations trying to catch up with the dream of over-consumption and dealing with the results of droughts, floods, forest fires, and medically unbearable air temperatures. I’m seeing all this, and probably a billion people will be on the move soon as urbanised centres become untenable.

On average, all of them think someone else should change their consumptive lifestyles, or it’s the Government’s fault, so they need a different one. I wonder if humans will resort to what they always do to determine who gets the best land and stuff - tribal violence.

On average, no one cares. We’ve all got consumption to be getting on with, and we need to consume what we’re programmed to believe we cannot live without, which requires us to be in debt constantly, so that’s the place to put all our thinking. More consumption, more debt, more of the same.

What could go wrong?