Do you know these feelings? Outrage at the lack of action of friends and colleagues in the face of climate science data; fatalism when thinking about the future the next generation (and the one after); optimism in those few moments when joining up with like-minded people that do what they can to change the course of current events; and helplessnesses when despite all efforts the bigger picture is just frozen.
It’s a range of emotions that I have learned to live with in the course of the last 3 or 4 decades. I was still a primary school child when I realised that things were wrong. In terms of consumption; environment, social divide and poverty. In my teens and early twenties I went through periods of depression consequence of feeling helpless and disempowered, not able to make a significant contribution to shifting the needle in the way I saw it necessary. In my thirties I renounced a traditional corporate career decided that I would find a way to work on creating change – without a clear idea of how that could or would happen. But only in my now forties I get to experience the occasional moment of hope when I see change happening, in companies, in people, and occasionally even in governments; when I see start ups that function differently than traditional businesses from the get go; and when I see the Climate Strikes and Fridays for the Future movements taking the streets.
Finally! At last it is no longer the only way to lower the head and just quietly keep doing the necessary. At last it is OK to show outrage at inaction. While at the same time choosing to stay optimistic so as to find the strength to keep pushing, to keep challenging, and not to give up.
It is for this very reason that the podcast ‘Outrage and Optimism’ impacted me so much when I listened to it (and later watched the video of the recordings). Never did I realise that Nihilism and Helplessness is the other side of the coin of Outrage and Optimism. And never did I imagine that I could choose which side of the coin to look at and represent.
The choice is clear. I choose the side that allows me to act, to push, to demand change. To be active. Outrage and Optimism. Never has a podcast series had a better, and so very accurate title, than this.
Here the link to the full series …
