The Crises of Capitalism, Discord & Climate Change

Thanks to issues like climate change, pollution, overpopulation and urban sprawl we are steadily increasing the harm inflicted on the planet and damaging our future potential on the planet.

The alarm has been raised and great minds across the globe are brainstorming for ways to save our present and our future.

But will we be successful? In truth there are major hurdles that need to be passed if we want to save the planet.

Capitalism has a long enough history that no one alive in North America can really imagine any other system serving as society’s base. In truth, though, capitalism is far from ideal and the system itself is not helping our attempts to create a cleaner and greener world for future generations.

This, unfortunately, is not something anyone in power wants to hear. Naturally anyone speaking out against capitalism is painted by the powerful as hysterical, illogical and (in a misuse of the term) “socialist.”

The truth is the capitalist pursuit of wealth at any cost is one of the major reasons we are currently standing at this dangerous crossroads. The health of the planet and the health of humanity is being seen as a secondary concern and profit is being held as the ultimate goal.

I am far from the only person to raise this alarm. Experts across the globe have raised their voices, trying to enact change before it’s too late. The problem is we are up against a system that is so fully entrenched in our society it makes our voices and our plans seem futile.

So what do we do?

As Greta Thunberg put it, “If solutions within this system are so difficult to find then maybe we should change the system itself”.

We can do this. If enough people rise up against the profit-first mentality of our times we can force a revolution and bring in a greener future.

Another major roadblock we have is a lack of worldwide unity in the fight. We all need to lower our emissions to prevent passing the climate point of no return. Unfortunately, certain areas are not as ready to join the fight.

According to the ESCAP Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report this region is set to miss every one of the UN’s SDG targets. When you consider that this region holds over 50% of the Earth’s population this is incredibly disheartening news.

The issue, of course, is not as clear cut as it seems unfortunately.

As this area of the world sees an increase in wealth its residents in turn consume more. This is a double-edged sword that has been looked at by many leading the climate fight. Can we tell people they don’t get to enjoy the advantages we took to raise our standard of life because new information has shown its detrimental effects?

The good news is there is still time and there are things Asia-Pacific can do to steer themselves in a better direction. Acts like increasing environmental protections and properly investing in sustainable development will make a huge difference both to the lives of people living in that region and to those living across the globe.

Let’s hope the coming months see more SDG progress across the globe.

The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are very important aims we need to see through. Unfortunately there are things standing in our way and we need to learn how to surpass these issues in order to complete our goal and save the planet.

We can do this because we have to do this. It’s time to shift the system and do what needs to be done to protect our world.