Amid a number of major crises, the world clearly needs radical change. But what will it look like? The desire to return to pre-pandemic ‘normal’ is powerful, but ‘normal’ is what got us where we are today.
We have damaged our planet through destructive exploitation of fossil fuels and the insatiable demand for things we don’t need. We are cooking ourselves to death and it may already be too late to do anything about it.
Existential crises These are genuine existential crises. Climate change could end human life on Earth. Wars and conflicts, as bad as they already are, could swiftly escalate. In an Ipsos survey covering 27 countries, more than 70 per cent of respondents said they believed their economies were controlled by the wealthy and more than 50 per cent said their own countries were broken.
Glimmers of hope All this points to a lack of representation and accountability, as well as the need for radical changes to our institutions and politics. People potentially have more power than they might realize. Expressions of specific discontent could expand into demands for more comprehensive change.