in 2014 The World Meterological Organisation (the UN's weather and climate agency) had a climate campaign creating several fake 2050 w
eather reports with broadcasters in a variety of countries. One of them was France (1). Today, that fake forecast is getting pretty close to the actual forecast in France for middle of June, 2022 with several places creeping into high 30s and even 40s.
Many regions in India and Pakistan, where regular intense heatwaves are the norm, have experienced unseasonably hot weather all this spring. People are dying because of heat (2,3). As a society and as individuals we humans are incredibly resilient to crisis signals for something that isn’t immediately threatening us. We are desperate to keep everything seemingly normal, and to continue with daily life as is, although more and more of us are actually ready for, and as polls show, want ‘something’ or ‘someone’ to change (4) .
What if one of the changes required is not just the way we work – but what we actually do? Could it be that some jobs are more useful, essential and needed than other jobs? Could some jobs be deemed potentially irrelevant and unnecessary? This is obviously highly subjective and very controversial (the joys of writing a personal blog). But I do honesty think that there are some sections of society that are pretty irrelevant especially in manufacturing ‘stuff’ from virgin materials (think plastics – made from oil) that we could easily do without. There are also heaps of jobs where brilliant, hardworking people with motivation and inspiration are stuck day in and day out doing things which could easily be changed to more sustainable, resilient practices with positive impact on the nature and people around us. As we reach the scary tipping point with systemic change nowhere in sight, there is an increasing focus on the individual and their role in creating change (5) in their personal spheres of influence.
It’s obvious how your job as a climate communicator, renewable energy engineer, city planner, school teacher or public transport researcher meets the needs of a changing society in climate crisis. It is a bit harder to see how you can influence people or make sustainable changes when you work in retail chain selling a variety of non-essential items imported from thousands of miles away, wrapped in endless plastic and made typically from cheap metal and virgin plastics. Are some jobs more important to society than others? Estate agents versus nursers? Child care or learning assistants versus sales staff selling cosmetics or perfume?
I often try to think of an equivalent time in history where life would be disrupted and the concept of what was important was shifted? COVID, obviously, springs to mind. Then the second and first world wars. What happened to luxury good sales during those times? Or manufacturing of unnecessary (toys or BBQ tools or garden lighting, pre-peeled bananas) items (6, 7)? How were certain jobs completely brought to a halt? And other, new ones started, amended or kept going (testing and vaccination centres, ammunition factories, farming or perfume factories changed to making disinfectant)? At what point do we halt factories making tiny little hairbrushes or miniature dogs for dolls and ban unnecessary packaging? At what point do I quit my job? What else could you be doing that would have a meaningful impact on the world around you?
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