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This text was originally published on our social media on 24.09.2021.
The tree canopy is in the shape of Bolivia and the area on fire is the Bolivian Amazon which has endured thousands of hectares of deliberate fires in recent years. If we did not have (apparently) endless supplies of petrol, it wouldn’t make sense to burn remote regions of the Amazon to plant oil palm and soy or to keep cows for the international market. Without the «endless» supplies of cheap energy, negative impacts could not be exported far from the place where the «benefit» is experienced.
Today is 24th September, Day of the Global Strike for Climate.
What if on 31 December next year, in 14 months, all fossil fuel extraction stopped? Would it be worse that the pandemic that forced us all to stay indoors for 18+ months?
We could see it as a dress rehearsal. Without fossil fuels there would be a lot of discomfort (you wouldn’t be able to use your car) but don’t let your imagination stop there! You would move around on foot and by bike, there would be no danger of getting run over on the highway, there would be streams of liberated cyclists… you would chose schools closer to home, you would look for work closer to home (or virtual with renewable energy). Since you were spending much more time on the streets, you could actually look at your neighbourhood and make sure that it had all the services and cultural spaces that matter to you…
As the months pass … disposable plastics would stop being cheap, unnecessary things would stop being made of plastic to conserve the reserves of the raw material. EVERYTHING would be recycled to be able to make some medical materials which are basic necessities for treatments. Long distance transport would stop being cheap and local and diverse food production would be re-incentivised: there would be far fewer fertilizers (also made from petrol derivatives) so agriculture would have to become more ecological too. The air would be clean, we would have stopped contributing directly to global warming, we would be in with a chance of staying below 1.5C of heating. There would be more healthy people simply because they were out and about on foot and by bike. Perhaps we could go back to using horses in the city…
The climate strike movement started 3 years ago in Sweden with @gretathunberg but you don’t have to be a child or a student to raise your voice. We ALL have to participate. From home, on the streets, with words, with stitches, with thoughts, with our imagination.
When more than 3.5% of the population of a country is ready to act in support of their beliefs (take to the streets, write letters, speak to their representative, create artivist installations) the peaceful social movement that develops as a result has a powerful positive and lasting impact on that society and always achieves the collective aims. Listen to this TED talk with Erica Chenoweth to learn more. We are looking for you so that we can together reach the 3.5% population threshhold.
If we don’t abruptly stop the production of greenhouse gases we will pass the 1.5C threshhold of temperature increase in the next 15 years and we will, in all probability, also pass several tipping points that will be difficult to revert. We don’t know exactly what the consecuences will be but we are already experiencing more erratic patterns of rain and drought, that lead to flooding, landslides, forest fires, more powerful hurricanes and many deaths (human and more than human).
We need to imagine a better and more constructive alternative to the current situation.
If fossil fuel extraction was closed, at first many things would be much more difficult, mainly because we have grown so accustomed to having all the energy and speed that is associated with it. But if you think about it, after a first moment of destabilization, we would probably be in better physical and mental health if society moved more slowly.
It would be harder to travel abroad, organise short long distance trips… but only 18% of the global population have ever taken a plane, so most people would not be troubled by this «loss». At another level there would be much more incentive for innovation in the renewable energy sector and solar powered collective transport would undoubtedly emerge everywhere in a short time. How about a solar train from Tierra del Fuego to Anchorage in Alaska? It makes the Transsiberian look like childsplay.
The main changes in the medium and long term would be positive. The most difficult thing would be the adaptation, the transition. What would it look like if all our countries were preparing for the moment all wells and mines are closed? What would our lives be like today if we knew that in 14 months there would be no more petrol? We need to be preparing for that reality!
Ask yourself all these questions and imagine the future as an act of resistance and stubborn optimism.
What else do you imagine could happen? Imagine deeply! Don’t stop at the first shock of what you WOULD NOT have. Think of the positive things that could emerge in the absence of fossil fuels.
Image: the tree on fire is an embroidery by Cristina Arizmendi, from Bolivia, with graphic design by @viri_jimenezdg .
Update, November 2023: if you liked this publication, you might be interested in the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.