Discussions need to turn into action in one moment. There is a chance that we still have a chance. That moment is now, writes Branko Brkic, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Daily Maverick. The publication has just lived the veil on 20Twenties: Eve of Destruction, a new “climate anthem” featuring musician Anneli Kamfer.
We have failed. I was urged not to start with this sentence. To be positive. There is still time. There’s still a chance. This can still be solved. That indeed is true, most likely. But to start solving the greatest problem we have ever faced seriously, we need to make two fateful admissions:
- We’re already deep in the calamity that may end civilisation as we know it.
- The great majority of humanity either doesn’t know that, or, even worse, doesn’t care – sometimes viciously.
So…
We have failed.
As a civilisation, as the media, as a politically aware class, as the business elite, as the leaders, as the religions’ holy people, as their followers.
Our spiritual frameworks, our philosophies, our education institutions tried their best but failed to make us act and now prepare us for the incoming disaster.
We are, individually and collectively, responsible for the greatest heating of the Earth’s atmosphere since the Permian Extinction, about 250 million years ago.
We are afraid to even start considering the horror of a burning, stormy, angry planet that is rolling our way.
Most politicians of the modern age have lied their way into power and are lying their way into staying in power. Their individual careers have been the priority, almost never the public good.
The media has been missing in action for decades, focusing on present dangers and rarely looking up towards the future other than “the scientists warn…”. Even today, as it is now an undisputed fact that we’re facing a human-made catastrophe, we are not able to reinvent our approach to making our readers, viewers and listeners fully aware.
Our lucrative ideological divides have created a whirl of confirmation biases, easing our days into preaching to the converted.
Today, the people of our planet may gain a lot of facts, but do not have much insight.
Very vocal climate activists have brought many issues to the fore – and forcefully so. But, in a way, they have also failed: most people switch off when faced with single-issue activism in a complex, complicated world that makes daily survival so onerous to so many.
The problem is just so big. And, so, the feeling of true urgency in the fight against the climate crisis is lost to the overwhelming majority of humanity.
Most of us know things will get bad. Few of us understand things will get apocalyptic (this is a strong, but necessary, term).
Getting that sense of urgency is the toughest of reality checks in this conflict- and pandemic-riddled world of forever-war-by-all-means humanity.
So how do we get that understanding and sense of urgency to people?
We can publish thousands of articles, and we at Daily Maverick’s Our Burning Planet, and many other media teams, have done exactly that. We can produce documentaries and movies. We can televise debates and debate on television. We can picket at political summits. We can glue ourselves to walls at business conferences. We can chase oil tankers and make human chains around fossil-fuel power stations.
The truth is, none of it has worked so far.
COP after COP, we fail to convince the world’s leaders to commit to meaningful action.
We are often fumbling our basic message, as in we’re not trying to Save Our Planet – Earth does not care for this transient civilization – we’re trying to save the human race on this planet.
We need an act of imagination that will change the discussion.
We need a super-butterfly to flap its wings and take us in another direction.
We need a message that will not be forgotten or forsaken.
We need a few minutes of forceful truth that will bring the truth in all its horror, but also leave us feeling energetic and empowered to do something.
We need a message that people will remember where they were when they saw it for the first time.
We need a message that will be heard again and again.
The force of truth must be short, sharp and unforgettable.
We believe such a message can be carried by a song, so that our coming years do not become a swansong of humanity. And we need to pack it in a little more than three minutes; it may just help us change our future. This is our contribution:
This video will not solve anything on its own. But we have a chance here to make millions of people fully aware of the calamity hurtling our way.
We cannot have a solution until we all agree on a common reality.
Discussions need to turn into action in one moment. There is a chance that we still have a chance. That moment is now. Please watch the video and let’s make sure people stop doubting we’re in deep trouble that requires our fast, committed and comprehensive action.
There is much more to come in the slipstream of 20Twenties: Eve of Destruction. This is just a beginning. Let’s talk about what we should do to avoid the catastrophe that we have tried our best to ignore for so long.
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