We are Better Together

In a world where we have so much information, where so many people choose what to believe in and curate the content they consume based on those beliefs, where basically a niche group from a niche group is born every day, we might be disconnecting from each other, missing a crucial point: all of us, as human beings, have more things in common than differences. We all want to belong, be loved, be safe and we all have dreams that one way or another would make our lives better, or at least we hope they would.

The pandemic was a wake up call for many. In my case, it made me realize that no matter where we are on the planet, how far or close, what system of belief we have, we are all humans sharing one home. Only one.

Our actions, or lack of them, impact others. And their actions impact you.

If we were talking about our actual homes, we might be able to get a clearer picture of this. It’s obvious that everything each individual of the household does has a consequence. Think about the kids leaving the toys around the house all the time, and all those lego pieces you could step into. In this simple example, there is a visible and immediate negative consequence of not being organized.

The thing is, the world is so big, that because we don’t see either immediate or obvious consequences, we might think they don’t actually exist, and when we do see some, we think they are just random events. So, we are unaware about other people stepping on legos. We are all getting our feet hurt, we are surely complaining about it, but maybe we are not being conscious enough to realize that we are the ones throwing some of those pieces at each other.

We already know there is an urgency of taking a more sustainable route on every aspect: economical, political and personal. We need to take this route quickly to be able to decrease the environmental and social negative outcomes on time, especially for our future generations.

We’ve been reading: “save the planet” for decades, but maybe we would get a better message if we understood that we need to do this for us too, as a species. We are taking way more resources out of this planet than we should, and we need to find better ways to live respecting nature, which in my opinion, is so wise, that with or without us, will find its own way of surviving. Our grandkids, on the other hand, if we insist on ignoring these urgent messages, would have a harder time.

Everything is telling us that we need to make profound changes. Is up to us to listen.

There are many initiatives working towards this goal, such as companies making efforts to become zero waste, others creating new sustainable energy resources, those developing technologies to reduce and reuse water, fashion upcyclers, organizations raising environmental awareness, startups creating new ways of reducing carbon footprint, and I could go on and on. We need from all of them, and they need from all of us.

As humans, we have been able to achieve incredible things through centuries, because we are able to learn, pass the knowledge and share it with those who come after so they don’t start from scratch. We have been given a challenge in this lifetime: to be the guardians of nature for next generations. We have the information, the technology and the resources.

If we focus on what brings us closer, instead of what sets us apart, we will find out that we are better together and thrive.

What are we waiting for?

Future Thought Leaders is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of rising Energy & Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.