Yes, we can.

I attended an “Earth May Day” event hosted at the local university this weekend.  The event was intermittently interesting: the MP for Cheltenham is well-spoken and well-informed, for instance, and there was an interesting game-driven discussion session.  But during that discussion session, something very disturbing became clear.

Before and after the game, the session’s facilitator asked a series of questions about attendees’ views on climate change.  Keep in mind, all the attendees were specifically targeted and invited as being eco-oriented and well-placed to have an effect within the local community.  We were supposed to raise our hands as he went along a continuum of opinion responses from one, being very pessimistic, to seven, being very optimistic.

One of the questions was something like, “Do you think humans can overcome climate change?” Both before and after the game, I was the only person who responded with the most optimistic seven.  Most people ended up in the middle-to-bottom range.  A number of people supposedly moved themselves to a more optimistic response after they had verified that yes, the question was about whether we CAN, not whether we WILL.

If the people who care enough about issues like climate change to give up their Saturdays, and who are in influential positions within the community (at local schools, in local government, etc.) are so pessimistic about our ability to get ourselves out of the mess that we have created/exacerbated, how are we supposed to inspire anyone else to join up?  People will not even try if all they hear is that it’s hopeless!  And how are we supposed to gather the momentum to create the necessary changes if those of us who are best placed to push for change feel, if we’re being honest, that there’s not really any point?

Look, I’m not pretending that I don’t have pessimistic moments.  I have to admit that I consciously CHOSE to answer “seven” when asked.  And I know my optimism may seem naive to some. 

Pessimism is normal.  Optimism is hard to maintain.  But conscious choice is absolutely crucial. I know I’ve said this before, but I honestly - really, truthfully - believe that I can do anything I set my mind to.  And I believe that that extends to all humanity. 

We are a remarkable species.  We have accomplished so much in our time on earth.  So many things that used to be “impossible” are now everyday - space travel, walking on artificial limbs, talking instantaneously with someone on the other side of the planet.  All these things were accomplished because someone chose to address a perceived impossibility.  Yes, we’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way.  Yes, by solving some problems we have caused others.  That’s how you learn.  The current ecological problems may be an example of that.

If we choose to roll over and give up, to believe that anthroprogenic climate change is unfixable, well, then, it will be.  We’ll all freeze or bake or drown or whatever.  We may still freeze or bake or drown, even if we choose otherwise. It may be, as many say, that the current instabilities are part of a cycle far too large for the brevity of human existence to comprehend.  Certainly mass extinctions are an obvious part of history. 

If, however, we choose to try, then we can neutralize all the things that contribute to anthroprogenic climate change.  We can find a happy medium; we can make carbon-neutral planes and cars, ways to support a healthy economy without the mounds of waste and pollution that the current system creates, ways to have green space and animals and human civilization too.  We can undo any damage that we have done.  We CAN.  Then, no matter the end result, we will have tried.