Doing things right or doing right things

The climate crisis has raised several questions in front of us. One of the important questions is “Is doing things right enough to fight this existential threat due to climate change or do we need to do the right things?”  The whole world is divided on this question. However, I am firm with my view - We need to do the right things. Apart from this divide, there are some denials who believe that some miracle will solve this magnanimous issue. If someone wants to risk their future in a miracle, what can we say! I can only wish them good luck. But, as a conscious human being, I can’t stay ideal, which is also not my inherent nature. 

It is, of course, true that humans have always been challenging nature, and reached this stage of human development winning all odds against nature. But we shouldn’t be obsessed with these wins of history and believe to win this war against climate crisis with the same old rhetoric. Everyone should remember that the climate crisis is not a fantasy drama series on television- where some hero will solve a huge problem every time. This is the real world that has a long history of humankind, which has now come to its existential threat due to the climate crisis. Each and every human being should be a hero to solve this issue. 

 If we look back into human history, we have used our ingenuity to deal with most of our problems and succeeded. The 20th-century success in the field of science and technology is highly commendable. But, this overwhelming success to ease problems in most parts of human life has addicted us heavily to the miracle of science and technology. We are so addicted to science and technology that we have started mixing the legal and ethical issues in the same pot. We have a fallacies assumption that science has answers to all our questions. For every environmental misdeed, we searched solutions afterward in technology. We always went after treatment measures rather than doing precautionary measures - deforest the dense forest, then plant a tree; pollute a lake, and then think for pollution remediation; degrade the pristine land, and then plan for conservation. We did these because our legal system defined it as 'this doing is the right thing'. Indeed they were making 'things right only'. We have been believing that doing things right or thinking of a solution once there is a problem is enough, as supported by the legal system. But, the question is, has it been enough to bring a solution to the climate crisis? The current legal systems, which we follow are mostly designed on the humanistic principle, largely ignoring the most important fact - Nature is the cornerstone for human survival. The loss of biodiversity and ocean pollution and now climate change is being compensated with the economic instrument, which Nature doesn’t understand. We were so hallucinated that all legal become ethical. But, people are gradually getting out of this hallucination and have started to think “Is doing things right enough to have a solution to this climate crisis?” Of course, not!

The year 2019 seems to be the turning point in the history of the climate movement. With the rise of children in the streets every month in various parts of the world, the moral embedded in the climate crisis is out on the surface for discussion. Is the notion set by scientists from scientific reasoning relating to the climate crisis as a “problem due to increased greenhouse gas emission”  will help us anymore? Or do we need to change the underlying philosophical question about climate change? I believe that Science will not bring the solution to the climate crisis, at least before it’s too late. I believe that because there are many strings attached to the research funding for scientists. Most of these strings are usually in favor of those who have created this huge mess of global warming contributing to climate change. And, how can a scientist betray the one who funded their research? So, we normal people need to come together before it’s too late and start doing the right things, which are governed by natural law rather than humanistic law. Let us change our habits toward a low carbon lifestyle, support local products, use upcycled products, help local community initiatives, ask our children to see things beyond the humanistic principle, and so on. The list is long but we need to start today.