We. Need. Nature. - My Thoughts on the Global Millennial Situation

                             

This blog-post isn't about the debate over whether Millenials are amazing or awful, it's a silly debate that can never be proven one way or the other. Let's all hope that they will prove to be on the amazing side of the scale as the Millenials respond to oncoming crisis. The name "Millenial" is a collective term for people from generation Y (born 1980-1994) and generation Z (born 1995-2010). Generation Z is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world with the African giant booming in population. World Bank data in 2016 shows In Nigeria, the average fertility rate is 5.5 per woman, in Ethiopia, 5.2, and in Niger 6.6. Millenials make up a huge population in the world's largest economy, the United States and are actually projected to overtake the aptly named Baby Boomer generation.

I was bound to bring this up at some point throughout my series of blogs. Yes, I'm going to talk about what might be the elephant in the room for a lot of people, the most effective method of reducing humanity's carbon footprint is to have less children.

                           

Environmental Research Letters (2017)

The crisis that screams in the faces of the Millenials is climate change, it's effects are already being felt around the world. Weather is becoming more extreme, North America and the Caribbean were a prime example last year, being hit by catastrophic hurricanes, the most disastrous of which was Hurricane Irma. Heat-waves are having are endangering ecosystems in dry areas and deaths in some countries including Japan this year. Wet areas are in even more danger, coastal areas, particularly those in the developing world are at huge risk thanks to rising sea levels. Last year, I worked for several months in the Indian State of Kerala, a year later I log onto Facebook to find my feed covered in reports and video footage of entire communities being driven away by the worst flooding in a hundred years. This damage that we are seeing is only a fraction of the greater damage most people are not seeing. 29% of the Earth's surface is land, the other 71% is covered in water. Our marine world is under severe pressure from climate change with the destruction of the planet's largest carbon sinks - underwater vegetation and coral reefs. The largest reef in the world, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, is undergoing a process called bleaching that is caused by rising sea temperatures, the result is the death of some of the most important stabilising ecosystems on our planet. Not only are we putting ourselves in danger, we are also destroying the lifelines that could save us.

                            

Heatwaves traditionally appear in specific areas, this year in July, the University of Maine recorded 2018's world sweeping heatwave, everyone but those on the southern tips of Argentina and Chile felt it this year.

Those who would seek to gain from the trade of fossil fuels and the continuation of harmful industries have successfully turned an issue of survival and self-preservation into a political issue, a partisan issue. Politics around the world seem to be further away from consensus in some of the world's leading economies and in spite of globalisation, we appear more divided as a species than we have ever been in my lifetime. The cherry on top of this sorry situation, one that the world has been overlooking lately, is that many places will not feel the worst effects of global warming, at least not right away.

Speaking as a Millenial, I would say that we're evidently in an unenviable position here. Millennials should be wary of repeating the mistakes of former generations. With the clock ticking toward a worst case scenario for the planet, we simply won't have the luxury that previous generations had. We should also be sceptical about claims that history repeats itself, if enough people believe this notion as it endangers creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The expectation that our generation will become more politically conservative with age comes to mind. It is important to remember as a young person that you are in the drivers seat, it's all too easy to give up one's agency in modern society, your decisions matter! You drive your own destiny; furthermore, you play a small but important role in the destiny of humanity.

                                 

One trend which currently appears to be simultaneously a blessing and a curse to Millenials is our increasingly intimate connection with technology. For each generation that has come about in the last century, there have been alarmists who claim that they are too affected by technology, that they are too dependent upon it. While there is nothing inherently wrong with treating new fads with caution and steering the early development of our children to equip them in later life, bashing young people for using technology is hypocritical unless you're Amish. Millenials are arguably more connected with one-another using social media to band together around common interests at far greater scale and convenience than ever before. It is true that many of these online interactions can leave the individual feeling hollow, yearning for more tangible interactions but this surely does not apply to everyone all the time. More and more people every year are seeking and finding friends and romantic partners through the internet. This culture of connection predisposes Millenials to meeting and empathising with a wider range of people than their predecessors, hopefully this will have the gradual effect of weakening national, cultural and religious barriers between online communities.

The life tip that "too much of any good thing can be a bad thing" does apply to technology... Absorption into social media as the primary centre for approval can make people superficial and self-obsessed. An over-dependence on technology for entertainment can lead to addictive and lethargic tendencies and self-isolation. An overuse of technology for sexual pleasure in place of real human to human intimacy can have harmful impacts on one's ability to form meaningful sexual and romantic relationships with others.

                              

Black Mirror's episode titled Nosedive confronts audiences with the pervasive effects social media on society when it becomes our main way of measuring people.

 A key aspect of modern life that has penetrated the lives of many generations over the last century and shaped the fabric of human society is the quest for energy. While you could argue that humans have been fighting over the energy of crops, manpower and horsepower for thousands of years, the real quest for energy began with the industrial revolution. All existing generations in the human race of today have at least some form of dependence on modern technology, it is inescapable. I would take this opportunity to ask you to take a second look at the graph I provided earlier, the evidence displays that the second most effective way to reduce one's carbon footprint is to live car-free. If Millenials are as visionary as some people claim they are, could a society run by Millenials redesign the way that we live, the way our transport system works, the way that we make and spend our money.

In my opinion, Millenials ought to be conscious of the values that have been passed down to us, notions that are by no means set in stone but rather accepted as "the facts of life" by the majority. The process of values or beliefs being passed from one generation to another is referred to by social scientists as memetics; as opposed to genetics. Our parents pass down their genes to us but that's not the only thing we have in common, most of us also have their memes. The memes that we receive from our elders have a huge impact on how we think.

What constitutes the good life? What is beautiful to us? What causes, goods and services are worth our money and our time? What is our relationship with nature and the rest of the animal kingdom? The more we actively ask ourselves these questions, the less likely we are to be duped by individuals acting in self-interest. I am optimistic about the values that Millenials in the West have generally displayed their support toward. A leaning toward diversity, opportunity, tolerance, charity, and pacifism. However we're no angels, ideals are far easier to fight for than to live up to and not all of us are tolerant, charitable or pacifists. I'm of the belief that deep down we all want to be good and righteous and honourable; the main pitfall I see for Millenials is confusing what it is to appear like those principles versus actually living by them.
                         
I want to briefly come back to the discussion of how divided we are. Millenials are not a globally united generation but we are appearing to be more globally united than the generations before ours. This vision that I am implying to of a Utopian solution to the world's problems is, of course, very unlikely. Undoubtedly, there will be divisions spurning from demographic, geopolitical, and cultural tensions in our generation. Most of these tensions also have historical tensions  but I would argue that it is now our turn to create our impact, to make our history.

We face decisions, what to teach our children, how to manage our economies, who we decide to elect, how we choose to support the most vulnerable in our societies, the list goes on. It is not difficult to predict that we are likely to see more people whose lives are impacted by violence, in the war-torn countries, in streets and schools throughout the United States, in the homes all over the world. I can only ask, will this generation treat one-another with respect? This is the first step, we can't agree, we can't compromise, and we can't work together without establishing respect. And this is why we need to get away from this daft debate around whether Millenials are lazy and entitled or not. Its unproductive and can actually do harm to our ability to connect with one another and establish respect between those on opposing viewpoints.

It's inevitable that my thoughts come back to climate change the the destruction of ecosystems. I have to acknowledge the work that people in other generations who have been working on the situation; collecting research, making projections, trying their best to educate the public. Despite our many of our economic and political leaders. Harrison Ford, the cultural representation of the Milennials' grumpy but caring uncle, gave a speech at the Global Climate Action Summit a month ago which I believe speaks to my hopes for my generation. Here were some of the things he said:

"Stop, for god's sake, the denigration of science. Stop giving power to people who don't believe in science or worse than that, pretend they don't believe in science for their own self-interest. They know who they are, we know who they are. rich or poor, powerful or powerless, we will all suffer the effects of  climate change and ecosystem destruction. And we are facing what is quickly becoming the greatest moral crisis of our time. That those least responsible will bear the greatest costs. Never forget who you're fighting for. It's the fisherman in Colombia, the fishermen in Somalia, who wonders where their next catch is coming from and wonders why the government can't protect them. It's the mother in the Philippines who is worried that the next big storm is gonna rip the infant out of her arms. It's the people right here in California, people on the East Coast. People in California who are fleeing from unprecedented fires. People on the East Coast are facing the worst storms in recorded history. It's our own country, it's our own community, our own families. This is the core truth, If we are to survive on this planet the only home any of us will ever know, for our climate, for our security, for our future, we need nature; now more than ever. Nature doesn't need people, people need nature. So let's turn off our phones, let's roll up our sleeves and let's kick this monster's ass."

                                   

Though thoroughly worried, Harrison Ford displays courage in the face of tomorrow's challenges, I think we should as well.

Jack ♥️


Mr Ford also agrees with the scientific community that our forests, mangroves, jungle and other carbon sinks are the only feasible solution to protecting humanity from the carbon that we have output. If you want to make a difference today, I implore you to try Ecosia, a search engine powered by Google that plants trees when you enter searches. Whoever we are, our choices matter! Give it a try! Ecosia's business is totally transparent and the search engine gives users up-to-date statistics on how their searches have funded the planting of trees.

Thanks for Reading!