Referron: So, what do the wicked problems of climate change and racial bias have in common

So, what do the wicked problems of climate change and racial bias have in common - and why is it so important for you to advocate for Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Climate Action?

We know both are regrettable - and solvable - yet somehow we seem to live as if both are normal .

This is not ok!

Climate change is a classic boiling-frog problem. The old saying — which isn’t actually true but illustrates a useful concept nonetheless — tells us that a frog thrown into already-boiling water will jump out, while one placed into a pot full of water that slowly warms to its boiling point will never try to escape. As the climate warms, we will get used to a hotter, more dangerous, and less vibrant planet. Our complacency will make it difficult for us to act. The diminished world we live in will simply seem normal to us. We’ll boil without ever being fully aware of it.

We’re all aware that we live in a world with staggering levels of inequality , hunger, homelessness, untreated mental illness, and poverty - and yet we have to live our everyday lives without doing anything about it!

These problems have been there for a long time. They’re regrettable, but normal.

We accept that, in this world of material abundance, people will starve or go homeless.

We train ourselves not to see the problems, and they don’t get solved.

It’s happenned throughout our history - and continues to happen

Slaves in Egypt

The story of Purim

Pogroms

Holocast

Apartheid

Aboriginal Annihalation

American slavery

If we don’t take climate action - or make unconscious bias conscious - we will simply become used to a world full of refugees, terrible natural disasters, and impoverished ecosystems.

We’ll be vaguely aware that things used to be better, but won’t want to think about that too hard.

Eventually, it will all seem normal and that is not ok!

Most of the time we simply won’t see the damage that has been done to the planet and our societies. It will become difficult for many of us to sustain the level of alarm that solving climate change and unconscious bias will require.

This is why we need to take action and look at these wicked problems straight on the eye - especially when everybody around you is living as if this is normal

Only by seeing clearly what is happening around us will we retain the ability to take action and solve these wicked problems -