Giving up on saving the world
We’ve spent hundreds of years f*cking up the planet, and now, with the exact same way of thinking and acting, we’re suddenly going to make it all better again?
I have spoken before about the exhaustion from the expectations put on the younger generation’s shoulders, how we’re often referred to as the ‘last generation to save the world’. But to be completely honest with you, I’m growing tired of the ‘save the world’ narrative altogether.
You know what I’m talking about; buy our product and you’re helping to save the world; ditch your plastic straw and you’re saving the oceans; buy second hand and you’re saving the planet. We’re all in this together, if we just work hard enough, we can save the world!
I’m not just tired of hearing it from companies and organisations; activists holding ‘save the world’ placards and environmental groups with ‘help us save the world’ slogans are starting to wear me out, too.*
It’s true that saving the world looks good on paper, it’s a pretty sweet campaign slogan. ‘Our ultimate mission is to save the world!’. I am guilty of using this in my other life as a marketeer, I used to have wording on my website along the lines of ‘I save you time by creating content for your business, so you can get back to saving the world’, or something like that. Unoriginal, I know, but it gets to the point, and people understand it.
Yet, if we think about it for longer than 30 seconds, it becomes obvious that some parts of this world aren’t worth saving. Hot showers, modern dentistry, independent coffee shops, all things that can be pretty sweet, life would technically be worse if I didn’t have access to these things, but you know, discrimination, inequality, excessively overpackaged parcels? No, thank you.
Okay, so maybe when we talk about saving the world, we obviously just mean the good parts of it; the essence of being alive. Because if we continue going the way we’re going we are going to starve, boil, or drown, and it’s essential to stop this from happening. I’ll agree with you there.
But there's the loftiness that ‘saving the world’ brings, that until we save the world, it should be our main focus. If we don’t save the world, there won’t be an Earth to be discriminated on, be poor on, be exploited on, and therefore nothing else is as important right now. Another one that’s technically correct, but kind of misses the point.
This kind of rhetoric not only alienates people from the cause but creates a patronising, crusading energy. (I could write an entire post on the issues with the overabundance of liberal middle/upper-middle-class people in the climate space.) I understand that, ultimately, many of the essential changes that need to be made to heal our Earth will greatly benefit minorities and poor people, but the way climate change is often spoken about completely ignores these benefits. Why would you give a shit about climate change if you can’t pay your food bills? Why would you spend extra time going across the city to an (expensive) zero-waste store if you’re stuck working two, three jobs?
On top of this, it’s the frankly self-important notion that we can save the world! That if we just had the right carbon capture technology, or invented the perfect GMO crop, then we could fix all of the world’s problems and then everyone would be happy.
We’ve spent hundreds of years fucking up the planet, and now, with the exact same way of thinking and acting, we’re suddenly going to make it all better again? No! We! Are! Not!
Okay, I’ve calmed down.
Now I’ve explained why I don’t like the ‘save the world’ narrative, and how it’s often unhelpful in the grand scheme of things, what do I think instead? Do I believe we should just let the world do its thing? Give up, and leave it all alone? Unsurprisingly, no.
What if giving up on saving the world, allows us to do things that will help us save the world? When we let go of the overbearing and life-consuming concept of ‘saving the world’, we can start working on other essential actions that are needed in our lives.
When we’re no longer trying to save the world, can we begin making deep connections with our neighbours? Learn essential, life-giving skills? Help out a community member who is having a difficult time? Aren’t we, arguably, almost having a more immediate and deeper impact doing these things than endlessly trying to protest against something, or signing our 50th petition?
We are helping no one by trying to believe we can, or must, do the impossible. We can’t single-handedly save the world, and will only exhaust ourselves in our attempts to do so.
What if, by letting go of saving the world, we can allow ourselves to love the world? To care for it the best we can? For all the humans and non-humans, for those in immediate danger or for those in safer hands? To ease suffering by creating a supportive community of those doing their very best? What would the knowledge of knowing every sincere action you take impact the world, what would you do then?
It's not our job to turn a sinking ship around, but perhaps it's all of our duty to help sail the ship to a better place.
P.S. If you enjoy my writing, you can buy me a coffee to fuel my work.
Thank you for getting this far. I recently asked a question to my readers about what truths we owe others about the climate crisis, for next week’s article. I’d love to hear your thoughts so please let me know in the chat thread or in the comments of this article.
I also wanted to remind you I’m doing a talk next week! On the 8th of November, I will be exploring the pressures younger people are placed under to save the world and the guidance that is needed from elders. I ponder on how we can find ways to collaboratively tackle the challenges we face whilst staying resilient and effective. If you liked this post, you’ll like my talk. Find more details here, or grab a seat here.
Right now I’m writing Finding Sanity free for all readers, but in the long term, I’m going to need some support to make this financially viable. If you think my work is worthwhile, you can pledge a future subscription. 💕
*It’s worth mentioning that I’m writing this from a purely Western perspective. My world isn’t crumbling in front of my eyes, extreme weather events aren’t threatening my life, my family’s not in danger, I’m not in danger. But my experience of the climate crisis–and other world events–are still real. Just because immediate misfortune isn’t happening to me doesn’t mean I should be relieved and stop talking about this stuff. The fact that there are people in need doesn’t take away my lived experience of the climate crisis. Feeling guilty for our own emotional trepidation helps nothing and no one.
Inspirations:
Climate: A New Story — Charles Eisenstein
Eye of the Storm: Facing climate and social chaos with calm and courage — Terry Lepage
A zero-sum mentality will get us nowhere. To empower people with the idea that every action matters could shift the tides in sustainable behavior.