We’re bombarded by the news 24/7 and yet, there’s something going under the radar unless you’re tuned in. We’re in a polycrisis.
Recently, I watched this video from Dr. Charles (Chip) Fletcher, climate scientist and geologist from the University of Hawaii. In it, he discusses his April 2024 paper with PNAS Nexus, a scientific journal by the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Fletcher shares that we are in a polycrisis created by the intersection of what he calls, “five global emergencies”: pollution, disease, climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality.
All of these are being compounded by an economic system that is built upon wealth, inequality and privilege.
Here’s the Dirty Little Secret
Historically, we’ve mined finite resources from countries like Africa to fatten the pockets of corporations leaving these countries unable to build their own economic system and a stable infrastructure for their own people. It’s happened everywhere. Find an indigenous culture. Watch it be stripped away by colonialism.
We’re being fed commercials, and best ways to live our lives while we work hard like a hamster in a wheel and never get to where we want to go. Shaboozey’s lyrics are so apropo to the moment:
“My baby wants a Birkin, she’s been tellin’ me all night long
Gasoline and groceries, the list goes on and on
This nine-to-five ain’t workin’, why the hell do I work so hard?”
We can’t. The system is rigged so that only a few our wealthy. The rest of us watch thirsty believing in the lie that money can buy happiness and is within our reach. It’s a system that feeds the wealthy, threatens our livelihood, and is a slow burn of destruction to our natural resources.
Why Do We Fall for it?
It doesn’t make sense. Human beings built the pyramids and created computers. We’re smart, capable, and are made to do hard things.
However, at the core, we’re still animals that succumb to fear and temptation. The rich and powerful have always used fear to manipulate. Our lizard brains go offline when things like competition and limited resources come to play. Instead of focusing our attention on the people who take from the poor, they zoom in on people who have little power. They pit these people against each other. They use propaganda to instill fear and blame.
Everyone suffers, but the wealthy.
Even they will eventually, however. No one can survive a dying planet.
The Planet Is Hot
We all can feel it and see wildfires and catastrophic natural disasters on our front door.
To live on this earth we need to keep warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050, but based on Dr. Fletcher’s lecture we are closer to 3 degrees C.
While plants and water attempt to mitigate some of this heat, over time even these efforts are not enough.
Today .8 % of land is uninhabitable due to severe heat. At 2.7 degrees C this will make a fifth of the surface of the planet unlivable.
“1 billion people will be displaced for every 1 degree C of additional global warming.” – Dr. Charles Fletcher
25% of the food from the United States comes from the Central Valley of California where they have experienced high summer temps in the 120s.
Catastrophic heat waves and its impact on food and water sources will make life on earth intolerable in our lifetime.
Loss of diverse plants and animals lead the way to more pandemics. He says, we lose 10 billion trees a year!
The Solution?
Here’s another important takeway: During the pandemic when the economy went down so did carbon emissions.
What does this say about our economy?
Dr. Fletcher says the only way is to change this destructive economic system and instead focus on sustainability.
I had the great honor of interviewing Dr. Fletcher and will share what he says in the next post.
Want to help? Please share this information. More people need to spend less time tuning out and working towards make a shift in their habits, beliefs and decision-making.