Science Fiction and Global Warming

 

Science Fiction and Global Warming

“The final event to himself has been, that as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.” These were the words of Mr. Thomas Paine.

And in 2023, the essence of these words echoes from every corner of the world today, at least it is exactly so as far as our urgency and seriousness in tackling Global Warming and Climate Change are concerned. For some reason, what started as a high impetus movement in the initial days, gradually entered into languidness of sorts.  And it lost its lustre and appeal. In spite of the fact that the relevance of issues like Global warming and Climate Change kept growing, and the world needed to look at these issues with greater seriousness and objective driven enthusiasm. Because they defined the very survival of human species and other living beings on this planet. Alas, the impetus that lifted the rocket of Global Warming and Climate Change into the atmosphere of realisation, where every world leader felt an obligatory responsibility towards solving both these issues. Fell short of fuel, called the political will, thus becoming the cause of this rocket of a movement with benign cause, to fall like a stick. 

Now when you look at the atmosphere of realisation, the head of the rocket still lies there, but without its tail it has been rendered directionless and handicapped. And that too at a time, when this rocket ought to be gaining GodSpeed like momentum, so that it could rescue humanity from the dangers of Global Warming and Climate Change threatening the survival of our future generations.

Nevertheless, there appears to be some serious alignment of thoughts and political will in this direction. Where the world leaders are accepting the threat we face due to these issues, and they also agree if remedial measures along with necessary strategies to bring Global Warming and Climate Change under control are not taken now, we shall lose our only chance to save humanity as a race. That right now is racing against time, and any further delay will become the direct cause of our very gradual and almost undetectable extinction in due course of time. It is the truth that for many reasons has turned sterile, and the sooner we accept the ground reality of these major issues, the better.

I feel it will be appropriate to quote the Italian economist and political philosopher, who once said, “Give me fruitful error anytime, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.”

If we look deep into the root causes of Global Warming and Climate Change, you will find that it too happens to be a quintessential seed bursting with its own corrections. It is just that we need to pay a little more attention, and deal with these issues with the seriousness they deserve. It is time we left greed aside and focused on the need. Need that shall define our future as a species.

There are many world famous personalities who are pledging their time and commitment towards these causes, and their involvement has garnered a lot of attention from power corridors across the world. And it is a relief to see the rocket along with its stick zooming into the horizon of realisation once again. 

Many countries like the USA, the UK, India along with several countries from Europe and African subcontinent are mobilising resources to tackle Global Warming and Climate Change related problems.

Leaders summit on climate

I believe a lot has been committed in the Leaders Summit on Climate, and if nothing, this at least is a step in the right direction and it certainly will ensure that these issues rise like the rocket, and keep rising as long as everyone in the world has not accepted the fact: It is the responsibility of every human being to make his/her own commitment towards tackling these issues. 

For this to happen, it is important for the world leaders to accept this responsibility, because only through them, general awareness on these issues can be increased and gravitated in the most appropriate direction. Where every citizen of every country assumes responsibility to play a role in managing Global Warming and Climate Change. And for this to happen at a global scale, every human being on the planet Earth should be able to feel like the citizens of the Earth, and not just the subject of Earth. Once this feeling anchors in people’s minds, I am sure he/she will do everything within his/her capacity to tackle both these issues. 

The attitude, “I do not care or why should I care!” will not work anymore. And if we want to see a change on the scale of revolution, in this direction, we will have to work on strategies and marketing plans to spread awareness on these topics, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries. And the onus for this lies with the political leaders, and business leaders in these nations.

When it comes to people's subscription to the Climate Change and Global Warming related awareness campaigns, expecting subservience from them would be a fatal assumption to rely on. We need to be innovative and develop campaigns with localisation of the awareness campaigns in mind. And maybe, this is where we are lacking. 

When it comes to selling a product, the companies hire scientists, psychologists, data analysts to understand the behavioural tendencies of the target audience; and then develop promotional campaigns that always manage to first enter the thought of the target person, and then the core message of the campaign settles in his/her . Only to get activated the moment he/she thinks of the promoted service/product. At this stage he/she subconsciously gets prompted to buy from the company that successfully managed to gain the attention of the target audience.

However, with regard to Global Warming and Climate Change, the main awareness campaigns on these burning issues have been extremely mediocre. Most of them sound like this.

“World is heating up, Global warming is on the rise and climate change will disrupt economies.”

It is very flat!

Common people who are caught in the daily strifes of life, would not even bother to look at ads with these messages; and their mind would instantly reject them. This has one major repercussion. Money gets spent on spreading awareness on these topics, but it does not get spent wisely, with a sense of accountability. And due to no quantifiable goal value attached to it, these campaigns end up in the trash bins of the human mind. Leading us all to the point where we started. 

When it comes to Global Warming and Climate Change, we should be promoting human survival and prosperity of our future generations to the target audience, that is everyone of us. And executing promotional campaigns at this scale would demand localisation of these campaigns at a scale never attempted in the history of marketing. 

Perhaps we should learn from a few business giants with a global footprint. Who due to the nature of their business, have evolved as marketing geniuses who know everything about localisation of promotional campaigns. Their exposure to this art has helped them master the exact element of finesse that makes their ads or messages to communicate with the heart of the target audience. And this is where we are lacking when it comes to spreading awareness on these global issues.

Here a word of caution would do justice to the cause of this blog post. “A bad book is as much of a labour to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author’s soul.” And this holds true in case of marketing campaigns as well. So, it is time we considered all our options and acted wisely. The destiny maybe remote, but the path is clear, we just need to be sure that we choose the right way!

And we all know what is the right way. The rocket needs to rise and stay afloat in the horizon of realisation until everyone observes it, and then acknowledges the rocket, along with the efforts of those who played a defining role in making it gain the height it deserved.

When it comes to tackling issues, where involvement at mass scale is needed, one has to be able to “manufacture” a dream and then sell that dream, by making the target person the main character in that dream. But in this case, a dream that ends well tends to sell well. 

And Global Warming along with Climate Change are dreams that are real and everyone by default is a lead character in this dream. Now making them realise this, should need a little persuasion, because in this bargain the dreamers need to realise that the dream exists because of their own doings and they shall define the end of this dream and not the marketing campaign, where the motive is to sell something. Here nothing is on sale, only human survival is in question.

To achieve this effectively, a little surrealism is needed with the belief that, “surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” 

The collective vision of the global population on these topics: Global Warming and Climate Change needs to be aligned with reality. We will have to employ all means expedient in achieving this purpose. It is an exigent situational demand that we cannot ignore anymore. 

If we do not act now, we may imperil our very future, and be the cause of casting dark shadow over our tomorrow, that would lie shrouded in uncertainty. Simply because we failed to act in time. These are indeed despicable menaces with potential to wipe out human civilisation from the face of this planet. Because Global Warming and Climate Change are like a field of dynamite, that will explode as soon as we turn a blind eye towards them. So, let us stop being a clique and deal with these issues as if it were our chief business and we would derive a lot of profit from this selfless transaction. Where humanity will be the direct beneficiary and the future generations will receive the galore of dividends. And then our generation of men and women shall continue to live on this planet through them. 

As of now I only see one impediment, which is better summed up by Mr. Max Beerbohm: “Mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and guests.” And in case of Global Warming and Climate Change, 98% of those with the power and means to make the right change are considering themselves to be the guests, whereas they ought to realise the importance of their role, and start acting as hosts. Unless there is this shift in understanding of the roles, we shall remain stuck in the inaction, with a deep sense of bafflement. Though many acted, nothing happened, and the tail of the rocket that rose high, fell like the stick. Because 98% of those who were supposed to participate with a lot of gusto, were still unable to understand that they are the hosts and not the guests. Especially when it comes to devising policies and strategies to address Global Warming and Climate Change related problems.

But there is good news too!

As has been the case with us, right from Adam’s days. Hope has never forsaken us, and by virtue of this reality God too has never forsaken us. This belief is reaffirmed whenever we come across champions who have made it their mission to spread awareness about environmental changes that impact our lives in more than one way. Who with their sheer will and charisma have made Global Warming the most discussed topic globally, irrespective of our language, religion, and country of origin. These champions responsible for spreading awareness on climate change and related topics are young as Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg, and seasoned stalwarts like captain Paul Watson.

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg

Captain Paul Watson.

Nevertheless the fact remains unchanged, with every day delayed, Global Warming like environmental threats are getting older than all of us. And trust me, when it comes to topics like Climate Change, Global Warming, Air Pollution, Water Pollution etc. the wine effect does not apply. Because as these environment related issues age in our indifference towards them, they render the future of every tomorrow more grim, obscure and hazardous; making it impossible for any of us to live in this future. 

For wine it is true, the older the wine the better it tastes. But when it comes to the environment, the longer we leave these issues unaddressed, the worse and more un-manageable they become. In advanced stages when they enter into a crisis-like situation, we cannot do anything; but watch helplessly at the Earth, slowly dying right before our eyes. With leaves on trees wilting prematurely, with flowers drooping, with fresh water bodies emitting foul smell, with green and vast pastures turning into barren lands; when that happens, we may realise our calling. Alas it will be too late to do anything. 

But now it is time to take the action away from blogs, websites, forums, essays being written on climate change, and bring the action to the main battle ground, that is the corridors of power with the authority to let the change take place and usher humanity into a new race of responsible men and women, who think sensitively towards the ecosystem that they depend on. It is important, and what I had read sometime ago, holds more relevance today than before: “Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.”

I too have written many blogs on climate change. You can check one of them by exploring this link: 

I also wrote a science fiction novel titled, They Loved in 2075. It too deals with issues like climate change and many complex problems humans will have to deal with, in 2075.

This science fiction novel takes romanticism to a new height where the reader feels the emotional state of the two lovers who miss each other. It offers a new expression to the feeling of love, with a strong emotional intensity that leaves the reader spellbound. Reminding him/her of his/her own emotion of love and romance. This science fiction is written with the hope that in 2075, human feelings, human emotions and human love will still be valued and human society will not let synthetic feelings dominate the social ecosystem in 2075.

My fear is not how humans will experience love in 2075, it is much different and vivid in its spectrum? This science fiction novel navigates through the possibility of men and women falling in love with machines, without knowing they are robots imitating human emotions. Will you still dare to fall in love in 2075 or will you strive to tell the difference between a human lover and a robotic lover?

This Sci-fi novel tells the story of a man who falls in love with a real woman in 2075. And how he struggles to feel human and keep his emotional composition intact.

But now, it is time to act and think beyond words, written in blog posts and essays on climate change. It is time to take concrete action and define quantifiable goals when it comes to bringing Climate Change and Global warming under control.

It is not going to be an easy and brief fight, we will have to be prepared to face something like the loneliness of the long distance runner. And believe me, it is this lonely long distance runner who eventually triumphs! 

Cheers to this hope and with your due permission, please allow me to say the magical words then : On your marks, 1, 2. Get set Go!

See you at the finish line!