Trouble is, I’m not sure this is at all true.

If we all knew, understood, and agreed about what the problem was, you’d think we’d have done something more.

Here in the US, our entire political system is paralyzed precisely because we can’t agree what the problem(s) is/are. We continue to squabble over the GPS directions while the car goes over the cliff. It’s that bad, and nobody is willing or able to act.

This puts the responsibility on the individual. Which is fine, but we need sweeping changes to society, to entire industries yesterday. Those massive industries though will simply use their clout to give the illusion of change before they ever do anything substantive. They’ll sabotage any effort, water down any bill. Like the infrastructure bill provisions for renewable energy, they simply aren’t enough and aren’t in line with the gravity of the situation.

That’s my struggle — what does the individual then do? They’ve got to shoulder that radical burden by themselves. Stop participating in extractive and destructive consumerism. Get rid of their current car, go electric or start walking unwalkable cities. Get off the grid (the only way to assure you’re using renewable energy and not part of some cynical corporate power company marketing scheme.) And honestly, how many people can and will do any of that without government prodding and/or assistance?

Believe me, I want to share in the optimism but this problem is enormous. And until people come to grips with how dire it is, we’ll see zero change. So I get the focus on catastrophe in this case. That seems to be what people still need hammered into their heads because they have zero incentive to change without it.