A copywriter's take on climate change

Sometimes, I think about things unrelated to marketing, communications and breakfast. In fact, when I’m not copywriting, you’ll find me coffee-writing irate Facebook posts about the state of our planet. Here’s one from the other day, with a cameo from Costa Georgiadis.

George, Costa and yours in blue + green at Beechworth Co-Op, 2018

Normally I'm allergic to 'serious stuff', but I have to get this off my chest at the risk of sounding like crashingbore and damaging my totally average online reputation.

You'll tell me, won't you?

Good.

Climate Change. Let's talk about it.

Right now, our attention is focused on finding clever carbon-sinking technologies and/or pleading with the higher powers to drastically cut emissions.

Get. That. C02. Down.

But here's where I start waving my hands wildly and flinging spittle. (Sharing saliva is a sign of a healthy friendship.)

Rather than being the problem, climate change is a symptom of a whole bunch of different problems.

Cutting down the forests. Polluting the water. Treating a finite Earth as an infinite resource. Counting our pennies in a turret while eating bread and butter. That kind of thing.

The loss of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity is like a human losing their liver, or lungs, or heart. You're gonna end up in the sick bay.

Climate change is a sign of a very sick planet.

And our very unsustainable lifestyles.

So if we keep simply focusing on reducing carbon emissions, and even if we find solutions... where will that leave us?

In a world with exactly the same problems that caused climate change in the first place.

No trees. No animals. No clean water. And probably smouldering piles of debris and one rabid dingo for dramatic effect.

But at least there'll be less C02 floating around!

Here's the good news.

Seeing climate change as a *symptom* rather than something only The Big Guns can influence and control is a more hopeful perspective.

Because rather than waiting for pollies to pull their finger out, we can be using ours to plant trees.

Because rather than waiting for exciting new technologies to heal our atmosphere, we can use old technologies like community and conversation to heal our neighbourhood.

Because rather than relying on hive mind, we can pop bee hives in the backyard and bring back some insects. Except fruit flies.

Because rather than saving the whole world, we just have to save our bit.

Could fixing climate change be a matter of all of us, in our communities, with pretty humble intentions, creating greener, healthier spaces, bringing back the trees, bees, and becoming custodians - rather than consumers - of this goddamnbeautiful planet?

Maybe.

And if not, at least there are people like Costa to entertain and educate us til the end.