“A Happy New Year”

New Years Day 2025... 

In better times we wish each other all the best for the new year. This year though, saying "Be prepared for the worst during the coming year" to friends and family will likely not create a good mood. It may still be the best we can wish each other as we enter 2025. This does not mean giving up, rather be prepared and be vigilant because you, we, all of us will need determination and strength considering what lays ahead.

So what are some of the "low points" we can expect for the coming year, bearing in mind what 2024 brought us? Here are some of my thoughts.

Climate change:

2024 followed 2023 in being a record warm year. Global emissions are still increasing and the 1.5° goal of the Paris accord from 2015 is being overrun by reality. During the last year, this has resulted in continuous events of extreme weather, with combinations of droughts and wildfires alternatively storms and floodings. This will continue during the coming year, with climate disruption having real and devastating effects on life, health and increasingly the sacred economy. Sadly it seems that only the last point is something that will make our "leaders" take climate change seriously.

War and conflict:

The Russian war against Ukraine continues to have negative ripple effects, in addition to the heavy suffering by the Ukrainian people. In a time when our efforts should be focused on climate transition, we have to spend on defence against the military threat from Russia. We need to help Ukraine to defeat the fossil fuel dictatorship of Putin, for both Ukraine's sake and our own freedom.

In Palestine, we witness live-streamed crimes genocide as Israel bombs schools and hospitals, with tens of thousands civilian deaths. Israel apparently aims to eradicate all memories of Palestine, a country that existed before Israel. Instead of learning from the long history of oppression against the Jewish people, modern Israel has become a right wing expansionist regime. Critique against the state of Israel and its armed forces are being dismissed as "antisemitism" in a way that will only increase the real antisemitism that still exists barely concealed in many societies. 

Democracy in declne and oligarchs wanting to rule:

The super election year of 2024 did not turn out well for democracy, with few exceptions. Populist running on a myth of returning to some glorious past were successful in many elections, with the return of Trump as president as the ultimate disaster. Subversive actions of both clandestine operations on social media and open propaganda on Musk's X distorted political discussions and corrupted trust between people. The Broligarch billionaires Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg feel that now is their time to amass even more wealth and power. But we can not afford the rich! 

If not hope, determination and grit:

So with all these negative forebodings, what do we need to continue to strive for a livable planet and a just society? I have for a long time called myself a dystopian optimist, because if you are not feeling somewhat dystopian you have not understood what lies ahead. However, if you stay in the dystopian mood you are giving up, and that is not a worthy life. One the books I read last year addresses this theme, "I want a better catastrophe" by Andrew Boyd. We surely need to accept grief, create (not wish for) hope and use all the gallows humor we can muster!

Hope really is a verb, something we can not passively wait for. Being a father and grandfather also means it's not all about me. My grandkids should be able to live into the 2100's. But it is not a given, if the world continues on the present path. It will take determination and effort to turn towards a better future for generations to come. The resistance from the 1%, their lackeys and conned followers will be hard. We need to provide a better story for the future than the populist con men. In other words, "What if we get it right?".

Thus, I start the new year with all its dark signs on the horizon citing from this book:

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do when facing an existential crisis is to joyously imagine life on the other side: What if we get it right? To envision the world we want to create, it helps to know the many ways we are already creating it. And it takes collective wisdom

So let's just do it! Together!