A utopian vision for a climate-friendly world

This opinion was written by Rob Miller and was published in Canada’s National Observer on April 26, 2024.

Perhaps some relief for climate anxiety about our planet can be found by imagining what the world would look like if we embraced these climate-friendly measures — in 2029. Markus Spiske/Pexels

Another Earth Day has come and gone. Delegates are in Ottawa this week to hammer out a global plastics treaty. These events happened against a backdrop of continued uncertainty about our commitment to fighting climate change. Carbon pricing, electric vehicles and other climate-friendly measures are taking a back seat to pocketbook issues such as affordability. This kind of short-term thinking is creating anxiety amongst young people and climate activists who desperately want to be more hopeful about the future. Perhaps some relief for climate anxiety can be found by imagining what the world would look like if we embraced these climate-friendly measures.

Author: Ray Nakano

Ray is a retired, third generation Japanese Canadian born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He resides in Toronto where he worked for the Ontario Government for 28 years. Ray was ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2011 and practises in the Plum Village tradition, supporting sanghas in their mindfulness practice. Ray is very concerned about our climate crisis. He has been actively involved with the ClimateFast group (https://climatefast.ca) for the past 5 years. He works to bring awareness of our climate crisis to others and motivate them to take action. He has created the myclimatechange.home.blog website, for tracking climate-related news articles, reports, and organizations. He has created mobilizecanada.ca to focus on what you can do to address the climate crisis. He is always looking for opportunities to reach out to communities, politicians, and governments to communicate about our climate crisis and what we need to do. He says: “Our world is in dire straits. We have to bend the curve on our heat-trapping pollutants in the next few years if we hope to avoid the most serious impacts of human-caused global warming. Doing nothing is not an option. We must do everything we can to create a livable future for our children, our grandchildren, and all future generations.”