TO Romein this very fresh July I hike in between Miragelions and giraffes in addition to the inevitable seagulls who aspire to rule the city. Sooner or later they will succeed. A word rings in my head 40 degrees In the shadow of a deserted city I’m trying to get home: waterfall! At this very moment I have a brilliant epiphany: this week I will be digging into the subject climate change.
“This is Europe’s man on the moon moment,” he said in December 2019 Ursula von der Leyen throw European Green Deal. “Our goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet” and “to make it usable for our citizens”, he described climate policy as Europe’s new growth strategy. Suddenly I feel better, I already see that the danger of a lion invasion has escaped. Climate change and environmental degradation are among the greatest threats to human life and existence. The European Green Deal aims to turn the EU into onemodern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. This will require significant investment from both the EU and national public sectors, as well as the private sector, which would amount to at least €1 trillion. – Then we’ll be safe! – I think to myself.
Therefore, it is worth dwelling on the objectives of the plan:
– zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
– Economic growth decoupled from resource consumption.
– no person and no place left behind.
The plan describes the required investments and the available financing instruments. It explains how to ensure a just and inclusive transition.
Achieving the goal [della neutralità climatica nel 2050] It requires action from all sectors of our economy, including:
-Invest in environmentally friendly technologies.
-Support the industry to innovate.
-Promoting cleaner, cheaper and healthier public and private transport.
-Decarbonization of the energy sector.
– Make buildings more energy efficient.
-Work with international partners to improve global environmental standards.
The EU will also provide financial support and technical assistance to help those most affected by the transition to a green economy.
The great challenge facing humanity, and in this case Europe, is to develop a model that integrates growth and sustainability. In the recent past, the debate, particularly among economists, has focused on the issue of growth. The basic question around which the academic and political debate revolves is: Can we continue to grow indefinitely on a planet with finite resources?
Some have theorized the possibility of happy degrowth, while others have emphasized that growth at all levels is necessary for human well-being. Balancing the demands of growth with sustainability is no easy challenge. However, our planet and we seem to be crying out for it, not just for the planet’s survival, but for our own as well. This is where the earthbound theme comes into play: the intimate connection between man and planet earth.
The inseparable link between human life and planet earth is becoming clearer today, the other, made even clearer by the pandemic, is that between people: no one survives unless we all survive. Similar to the Ubuntu concept in sub-Saharan Africa: It can only be me if we all are. We are one big global family traveling through space on spacecraft Earth.
Awareness of these two horizontal connections and the need to develop vertical planetary development/growth is possibly the narrow corridor in which the European Green Deal could move between growth and sustainability. If either of these two dimensions, the horizontal and the vertical, were abandoned, the purpose for which it was proposed, which was to be a good example for solving the problem of climate change, could be defeated.
Growth/evolution alone would keep us in the standard economic model that has brought us to today’s tipping point. Sustainability alone runs the risk of rejecting growth in favor of a collectivist absolutizing of the planet’s well-being, which would certainly favor the necessary fortunate or unfortunate degrowth. The intermediate path that can be taken is probably the one suggested by the encyclical praised yes From Pope Francis.
The growth and thus also the degrowth must be patchy. Some areas of the planet, especially the poorest, need strong economic growth, while others, living in excessive luxury, can limit unbridled growth. Perhaps the narrow path that the European Green Deal and other future plans in other parts of the world must tread is that of generativity. It’s not just about growth, it’s not just about sustainability. On a philosophical level, generativity takes note of the current situation, so that through a process of consciousness this situation can become a transformative impulse that generates life. It lives from bonds, but is also an impetus for evolution, it also affects people in their holistic development; Generativity is the foundation of a holistic ecology that unites people and the planet in an evolving “we are.”
The risk of the Green Deal is getting stuck in it double vision, in which the planet is separated from man, in which economic growth is still understood as separate from integral ecological growth and thus from humanity in all its dimensions (physical, psychological and spiritual). In this way, the economic model is interpreted as a purely for-profit model that must take precedence over generativity. Losing the compass of a non-dual generative vision of the project would not allow Europe to make the quality leap. Europe would not become the example of the avant-garde that the world needs. Therefore, it seems necessary to pursue not only an ecological vision, but a far-reaching vision that gives hope on a physical, psychological and spiritual level, with the compass of a shift in consciousness towards a planetary responsibility. If the European Green Deal manages to embark on this path and continue, it could well prove to be a groundbreaking project. In this sense, today’s decisions will mark the turning point for a hopeful future; If not, I must submit not only to the government of the seagulls but also to that of the lions.
Contacts:
Instagram: Valerio_Pellegrini123
Email: [email protected]
Roman researcher, born in 1984. He holds a law degree and a PhD in philosophy of law, politics and morals. He has worked for the EU and for the European Patent Office. He currently serves as a policy officer for European policy in an advisory capacity. As a passionate philosopher, he tries to give an existential touch to everyday life and political challenges in his writings
© Reproduction reserved
Valerio Pellegrini