English
Português
Deutsch
Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
Friday, 10th April 2020
Travelling puts us straight into the bloodstream of the collective. On the bus back to Sweden from a wedding in Paris a few years ago, I noticed how the border controls had become much stricter. It was the refugee crisis, and once again I was reminded of what a privilege the Swedish passport is. I felt like I should intervene when the police officers took their time questioning a passenger with an African passport (whilst giving me a dismissive wave as I showed my burgundy document). But I didn’t. What could I do? A friend from Zimbabwe once told me that the Zimbabwean passport is sometimes jokingly called the green mamba because it’s green and no one wants to touch it.
Then when I left Sweden on another bus in August last year, to try my wings as a journalist for real, it coincided with the day that Greta Thunberg began her emblematic sailing trip to the climate summit in New York. It was interesting how her words seemed to follow me wherever I went.
These are certainly exhilarating times in which to be alive. Narcissistically, we panic, as if pandemics were a new phenomenon. An enraged youngster said: “How is it that when the issue is the climate and the future of young people, you continue with business as usual, but when it may affect you grown-ups, governments suddenly turn the world upside-down?”
Yes, it’s quite ironic – and unflattering – that when ecosystems are failing on a broad front, we remain unmoved. But when our immediate lifestyles are threatened, our decisiveness is unprecedented.
I try to write about it. How the situation holds a mirror up to society and shows us just how vulnerable we are, despite our technology and (unearned) arrogance. Some say it’s a war, but it tastes bad to me. If so, then it is a war that we started. It is our land conversions, cattle farming and the destruction of natural habitats that have given rise to this situation, which is now blowing up in our faces. We call it a war, but might it not simply be the sum of all our actions? Maybe it is easier to see it as a war, as it doesn’t require us to take responsibility.
I write about how we can use the momentum of a collapsing economy to build something new, something local and more resilient, a more diverse economy. In times of rapid change, our survival depends on our ability to adapt. We tree huggers hope this is the big change we have been waiting for. But, if history is an indicator, then this might equally well be the start of an elite healthcare system and an even more brutal accumulation of wealth and technodictatorship. We just don’t know.
In the midst of the pandemonium, and before it is possible to make any real sense of it all, I am gripped by instinct. I want to be with my family. Suddenly, all inessential things fall off me like a shell. I come to the realisation that blood is thicker than principles, and, for the first time in years, I buy a plane ticket.
On the plane, the seat next to me is empty and the people on the other side of the aisle are wearing gloves and face masks. But I’m pretty sure they won’t protect us from ourselves. That will require different measures altogether.
