{"id":7862,"date":"2017-11-30T14:56:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T13:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2017-12-23T14:56:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-23T13:56:35","slug":"global-is-fatal-time-for-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/2017\/11\/30\/global-is-fatal-time-for-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Global is fatal, time for local"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve finally started reading the book by Naomi Klein: \u2018This changes everything\u2019. It came out in 2014 and concerns climate change. She writes about the causes and the solutions, although I haven\u2019t gotten to the solution part yet. But boy, does she paint a gloomy and frustrating picture. Enough to leave you feeling hopeless. But we optimists refuse to be discouraged, don\u2019t we? :)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Because let\u2019s face it, the situation is getting critical. Limiting the warming of the earth to 2\u00b0C is most likely not achievable. And yes, we\u2019ve known about the problem for decades and we could have taken action years ago. But Naomi\u2019s book clearly shows that free and unregulated trade has always been prioritized over climate action and sadly, this is still the case. The massive increase in consumption is a thing from the last 40 years. It hasn\u2019t always been that way. In earlier days, success wasn\u2019t measured by how much money you made or how many things you owned – family, friends, and leisure time were much more important. There\u2019s no need to go back to the Middle Ages, seriously. But if we could go back to our consumption level of the seventies, we could make a big difference, according to Klein. She has already published a new book: No is not enough. And for those who aren\u2019t fond of reading: This Changes Everything has been made into a documentary.<\/p>\n

All over the world, governments and multinationals want us to believe that the economy and society as a whole will fall apart if they stop growing. That\u2019s nonsense, says Kate Raworth in her book \u2018Donut Economy\u2019, which is still on my to-read list. Recently she appeared on the Dutch television show\u00a0Tegenlicht<\/a>, where she shared her vision of the economy of the future. And it\u2019s shaped like a donut. I find it brilliant! Not the donut per se<\/em>, but the concept. I hope you will read her book or watch the episode; I can highly recommend her point of view.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Reading into this matter doesn\u2019t make me a happy person. Politics and economy don\u2019t exactly make my heart beat faster. But I feel the need to educate myself on this level, because I see the world going to pieces. And over and over again, it\u2019s more than obvious that globalization and economic growth are the core problem. Right, what can I do, besides what I\u2019m already doing? Living in an off-grid tiny house is a step in the right direction, of course. A big step for that matter. But I think it\u2019s time for a new step. I am going to commit to making my consumption pattern as local as possible. I\u2019m not going to buy goods from outside of Europe unless there is no alternative. And another thing: I hereby promise to stop flying, unless it\u2019s for a really good cause. There. I said it. And it\u2019s necessary. Read this article (in Dutch):<\/p>\n

De luchtvaart is de nagel aan de doodskist van het klimaat: zo gaan we ‘Parijs’ zeker niet halen<\/a><\/p>\n

Folks, I\u2019m not going to tell you what to do. That\u2019s not going to work. Everyone is responsible for his or her own actions and I\u2019m not here to tell you what you\u2019re doing right or wrong. It\u2019s also not for me to judge in what measure you are capable of moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle. If you\u2019re more surviving than living at this point, then going green obviously won\u2019t be a priority for you. But all I ask is this: read into climate change, educate yourself. Although it\u2019s not that serious in the Netherlands yet, we will feel it in the future. Already the weather is becoming more extreme and less predictable, but in other parts of the world people are on the run from famine and natural disasters. Droughts, heavy rains, hurricanes. There will be so many more refugees in the future. We just can\u2019t close our borders while in the meantime we are the biggest cause of climate change. And in saying \u2018we\u2019, I mean Western society. That\u2019s where the problem is. We consume like there\u2019s no tomorrow and we don\u2019t care that all those goods are produced in Third world countries with horrible conditions for the<\/span> workers and for the environment. We can\u2019t condemn China for producing and polluting, because we are the ones going to Primark and Action and who never stop buying. Goods that are meant not to last are \u2013 guess what? \u2013 mostly produced in China.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Aside from the aviation industry, which is rapidly growing out of proportion, the worldwide container shipping industry has increased by 400% in the past two decades. Container ships using a massive amount of fuel are transporting all those fun gadgets from Ali Express to the Netherlands for a bargain price. The actual price is paid by the environment, by the workers in the producing country, and eventually by us through climate change.<\/p>\n

So, we need to go back to local, because global will prove fatal. But how? By buying from small local businesses; by supporting initiatives like the\u00a0Buurderij<\/a> and doing your shopping there; by paying attention to where your groceries come from; by buying less stuff and choosing things that are made to last; and by stopping with<\/span> using disposable plastics. Are you with me? I\u2019m sure it will take time and practice makes perfect, but I\u2019m hoping you will join me in taking small steps on the way to a better future.<\/p>\n

Of course the change also needs to be made top-down. Our government needs to see that we need a 180\u00b0 shift and that we need to sanction the polluters. Stop aiming for economic growth and start fighting for social equality and a clean and healthy planet. We can make that happen: with our consumption patterns and our votes. It\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve finally started reading the book by Naomi Klein: \u2018This changes everything\u2019. It came out in 2014 and concerns climate change. She writes about the causes and the solutions, although I haven\u2019t gotten to the solution part yet. But boy, does she paint a gloomy and frustrating picture. Enough to leave you feeling hopeless. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[320],"tags":[323,321,194,405,404,308,258],"class_list":{"0":"post-7862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-care-for-the-planet","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-earth","10":"tag-green","11":"tag-kate-raworth","12":"tag-naomi-klein","13":"tag-sustainability","14":"tag-sustainable","15":"entry","16":"override"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.marjoleininhetklein.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}