Recent times have been fertile in events, decisions, motions, positions taken and resolutions that we never imagined possible. Even if in our heart we believed in change, never at this rate.
Author: Luís Veiga Martins | Reading time: 5 minutes
It is generally agreed that the steps taken at the technology, digitization and communication level, have been occurring at significant speed and with increasingly shorter release cycles and supremacy of a certain novelty. Think of music and what happened in 80 years. The vinyl emerged in the late 40s, and four decades later, in 1984, the first music CD is released: Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. However, it took only 15 years for something unique to appear in the market. I am referring to the peer-to-peer solutions (Napster is the most well known) that came to democratize music, making it accessible to all and reaching its peak after two years with the iPod and the Apple Store. 7 years passed by and we witnessed streaming solutions such as YouTube, Sound Cloud and Spotify. Music was then accessible to all: offline, online, entire album, only one track, video clips... Everything can be shared. The alternatives are numerous and have been experiencing upgrades every day. Recently, we are introducing blockchain technology in music: making our music library available to friends via a token. When and what's next? Impressive!
What about environmental issues, climate change (formerly known as global warming as the film Vice portrayed), and the SDGs agenda? Have we ever imagine that was possible to move these issues so quickly from the scientific community to our daily lives?
There was a succession of events that led to a growing awareness among the population and to an increase in the citizen’s level of demand - the 15th of March student strike for the climate is a clear example.
Skeptics of climate change, advocates of interests or beliefs, have been facing an increasing number of evidences that something is happening or will happen with great intensity. Concerns over residues, which seemed to be confined to Europe, are extending to other parts of the world. These are some of the dimensions of the environmental challenges that force us to acknowledge once and for all that we cannot, in any way, continue to live as we have until very recently: with indifference both by companies (several measures were only meant to portray a "green" positioning) or by population (only a small minority was committed and vocal about environmental issues). Problems or headaches were either from far away or were sent away. That time is up!
What brought us here?
Although the EU has always been relatively effective at delivering policies and regulations multilaterally (unlike the United States, whose regulatory production is volatile at best), only recently has an efficiency record and mobilization for action been reached, as illustrated by the Paris Summit for the Climate.
What about companies? The moment of true awareness and the first steps to change the mentalities of these economic agents happened in 2013, when the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched the first manifesto on the Circular Economy, which was adopted by the European Commission Foundation on that same year. From then onward, companies began to truly acknowledge what they had known for a long time: the need to preserve finite natural resources and take advantage of the value associated with residues by recycling and reusing, exploiting the various natural energy sources or even by reusing water.
In 2017, one of the most dramatic aspects of the environmental challenge reached the population with images of pollution in the oceans, originated from all five continents. And so it began: the real social pressure. The consumers materialized their "protest" through their purchasing decisions and companies took the topic of sustainability further - today, if they do not approach it strategically, they will be doomed in the long run.
In January 2019, in the wake of growing awareness and outrage, we witnessed 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg’s remarkable speech at the World Economic Forum. On the recent 15th of March, the young generation mobilized a Strike for Climate, an upheaval that is already truly international. Another strike is planned for May. Will it be short-lived? I do not think so, I truly don't!
School Strike for the Climate
We know that the younger ones have always been the drivers and agents of great changes on a social and political level. I believe they will continue to be so. What happened on the 15th of March was a global manifesto for a global problem: 1.2 Million students in 123 countries went on a class attendance strike. A global movement decentralized, which also calls into question the traditional environmental organizations.
Society is being confronted with children, young people, who become adults as they become aware of a problem and act in a peaceful manner, urging adults to act. It is a protest against those who are deciding their future without them having a say. In an increasingly global world, where information and knowledge are accessible to all, young people feel betrayed by the short-term view of policy makers and most companies, which will cause nothing to be like it was before.
"My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry." António Guterres, The Guardian
What's next?
Will the fight against climate change, an increasingly visible menace in our daily lives, reinforced with this youth movement, lead countries to acknowledge the problem once and for all and not denying it due to short-term economic or political interests? Will Australia start considering the topic instead of focusing solely on its coal industry? Will the United States continue denying the successive extreme weather events claiming that the California fires were due to poor forest management? Will Brazil continue to allow the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest? Or will Asian countries insist on not controlling the rivers of plastic that are clear to everyone and pollute our oceans?
This inaction, and the underlying reasoning, which lacks credibility, may remain for a while, but not for long, because the pressure for action will increase. I believe we will all deliver an appropriate response. We are called to act and we are prepared to go through this new road to change our habits for a cause that is a global and cross-generation phenomenon.
