Editor’s note: ILFI board chair Anthony Guerrero shares his thoughts on this moment in time, the commitments coming out of Climate Week NYC this fall,, and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest, and climate disasters. If you want to take action and move beyond commitments, vote, consider becoming a Living Future member, or starting your Living Future Accreditation (LFA) journey.
It is easy to fall into despair these days. Between the COVID-19 pandemic, political and social unrest around the world, and the growing impacts of climate change manifesting in more intense hurricanes and wildfires, it is understandable that people may be losing hope. In fact, nearly half of all Californians reported clinical depression in a recent survey.
Despite all of these very real challenges, or perhaps because of them, momentum is growing for meaningful action on climate change. As the shortcomings of societies built on inequity and fossil fuels become increasingly obvious, leaders are stepping up in ways that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago.
Consider these examples from just the last few weeks: China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, committed to have its emissions peak by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Google announced it had eliminated its entire carbon legacy. RE100, which represents 260 of the world’s most influential companies with combined revenue of $6.6 trillion such as Apple, Barclays, BMW, Danone, and Facebook, committed to using 100% renewable power in 140 markets worldwide. The state of California, the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of Germany and India, announced it would phase out sales of gas-powered automobiles by 2035.
As stunning as the examples above are, what’s even more notable is that they represent just a small part of the overall picture. In too many ways to comment on here, the largest public and private organizations in the world are making bold new commitments.
It is important to recognize and celebrate these new commitments, even as it is equally critical to acknowledge that they are entirely insufficient to address climate change. Pope Francis recognized this reality recently when he described the international community “as having proved itself largely incapable of honouring promises made in 2015, as part of the Paris Climate Agreement. The burden of fighting climate change, he said, must not fall on the next generation.”
Last week, as the skies all across the western United States glowed red from some of the worst wildfires in our nation’s history, health authorities advised people to remain indoors as the air quality was too harmful for any outdoor activity. Is this a Living Future?
Now more than ever, we need a compelling, hopeful vision of the future to reconcile humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The International Living Future Institute offers just such a vision, and as importantly, a suite of programs that help people take meaningful action. Living Buildings, Zero Carbon and Zero Energy buildings, Declare, Just – these are meaningful frameworks to create a Living Future.
So while we need to redouble our efforts, we must also celebrate our successes. The path ahead will be long and full of adversity. We all have a role to play, not only in delivering awe-inspiring projects but also in taking care of one another and being kind to each other. As Jason McLennan recognized, love drives everything we do. Love for people and love for places. Love for our vocations and our avocations. In these dark times, we have to consciously remind ourselves of this love by embracing reasons to celebrate where we find them. The regeneration we seek is not simply ecological, it is also an effort to renew the human spirit. And this task can only be accomplished together.
