Most powerful people ever?

Location Train home from George's place in Wales | Mood Inspired | Date 16 October 2007
Author (full name): 
Lizzie Gillett
Location: 
Train home from George's place in Wales
Mood: 
Inspired
Soundtrack: 
Welsh rain on the train
Date: 
16 October 2007
Current crisis: 
George could easily take over the film
Current silver lining: 
"We're the most powerful people ever to live"

George Monbiot came up with our new favourite thought on climate change today, during the many-times-postponed interview for the film. To paraphrase: you think you're powerless and anything you do is irrelevant? The opposite is true - we are the generation who will decide the future of our species. Every single thing each one of us does or doesn't do is crucial to whether we survive or not. Making us the most powerful individuals ever.

He was also absolutely crystal clear on the Love Miles flying question:

"One of the greatest challenges of climate change is that it requires
a complete resetting of our moral compass. Morality before climate
change is a pretty simple matter, you treat your friends and your
neighbours and your associates as kindly as you can. Morality with
climate change becomes much more complex because so many of the
things we regarded as morally neutral or in fact morally good also
turn out to be morally bad. And by morally bad I mean harmful to
other people. It's not just going to kill people, but kills people
right now. 150,000 people a year are being killed as a result of
climate change according to the World Health Organisation and that
number will get bigger and bigger as time goes on.

And actions which have hitherto seemed entirely innocent, wholly
without moral content, switching on the lights, turning on the
kettle, driving your kids to school whatever it might be, turn out to
be damaging actions, they're hurting other people and therefore they
are morally bad. Now in some cases you'll find the two moral codes in
direct conflict.

So for example your sister is getting married in Sydney, and it is a
morally good thing to go to her wedding, it would be terrible if you
didn't go because she would be really upset, you would be hurting her
by not going and so it would be immoral not to go. Climate change
says it's also immoral to go.

Because by flying to Sydney from the United Kingdom for example you
are creating several tonnes of carbon emissions and those will be
contributing to displacing and killing people in other parts of the
world as a result of climate change. So we see two perfectly valid
moral codes in irreconcilable antagonism here. "

 

- THIS IS A LIZZIE DIARY -