What will you buy?
If I found myself at the centre of the Third Paradise and looked forwards and backwards, I would wonder what has influenced and what will influence past and future society.
To what has society – intended as a living and sentient being – given a positive or negative response? What has it chosen and what has defined it?
If I found myself at the centre of the Third Paradise, how would I justify my presence in relation to the other? How would I distinguish myself from the little-rich people, to whom I could add the medium-rich on one side and a multitude of poor on the other? Aware of being among the lucky ones on the planet, how can I not waste my finite time? How can I assume the responsibilities of an individual who has inherited a planet and doesn’t know what they are going to leave behind for who is being born now and will one day want to grow, live, be happy?
Can we say “let’s save the planet”?
Wouldn’t it be more correct to say “let’s save humanity”?
Or, with a more melodramatic emphasis, “let’s save the future of our children”?
How?
With Covid-19?
Since I’m not prone to conspiracy theories, I will try to analyse the drama of the Coronavirus from the perspective of cause-effect relationship. All of a sudden the world has abruptly slowed down, not to a complete standstill for everybody, but certainly for some. I’m not talking about the infected people, I’m not talking about the doctors, but about me, you, us, anybody who – obtorto neck – found themselves unexpectedly homebound.
At home, for a couple of weeks, then a month, then two, and then partially released, please keep your distance, face masks, smart working, take-away only, etc.
We might not have been perfect, what we have done might not have been enough, but we have done it… we have. And then: “the air is cleaner”, “the air is the same”, “there’s no traffic”, “but there’s no parking”, “how beautiful is the empty city”, “how sad with nobody around”, “there are no tourists”, “we can’t travel”, “we get the need for social distancing, but could we have a table for 16?”.
Why?
Because it’s difficult to change one’s habits, we are basically asking society/humanity to stop smoking, lose weight, eat far less meat, give up its comforts (cars, plastic, air conditioning, breakfast at the café, Wi-Fi, pay TV, social networks) and to redistribute the resources.
A revolution? Historically speaking, I can think of only four revolutions that have brought real change: in France, in Russia and in China, with a shift from a ‘divine’ power to the people (with alternating results), and in Cuba, where the dictatorship was replaced by a progressive oligarchy.
‘American-style’ revolutions have most of all led to a change in leadership, the War of Secession has therefore been more significant.
A change?
Yes, we need a change.
Today, we don’t have the capitalism vs communism paradigm anymore, but the duopoly finance-consumerism, which – with the exception of a few areas still resisting the invasion – have practically won across the board.
We therefore need a change, a slow and persistent movement able to impose different assumptions, different morals, a different civic sense on society.
How?
Reducing.
Reusing.
Recycling.
Doing without.
Choosing carefully, the price of petrol during the lockdown has taught us that.
Taking small steps, decreasing the blast of the heaters in the winter and of the air conditioner in the summer, turning the lights off when I’m not in a room, buying less, buying little, not buying at all.
How will you buy?
Paying attention.
To what’s written on the labels.
To the quality of the information I gather.
To what I already have in my wardrobe.
To what I already have in my fridge or my cupboards.
What will you buy?
Within my means.
Choosing.
Respecting the future.
