Climate pessimism does not offer a solution

Ahmed bin Fares, the famous linguist and author of the dictionary “Mukayyis al-Lugha” once wrote to Badee al-Zaman al-Hamdani, complaining to him about the corruption of people and the changing times. Badee al-Zaman replied to him: “Do you think that the times are corrupted? Don’t you ever say when it was righteous?” This opinion adopted by Badee al-Zaman has some truth to it, and another aspect of unlimited pessimism. The truth is that people in every era complain about their time, and the reality is that every era has its positive and negative changes alike. Simply focusing on the shortcomings and generalizing them in this way leads people to frustration and negativity. The principle is that if we want to be practical and fair, we must remember the aspects of growth and prosperity, and study them in order to invest in them more.

This previous approach includes issues related to the environment and climate. While the environmental reality suffers from real crises, the steps taken by international organizations and the international community have become more mature than ever before. This does not mean at all that they are sufficient, but self-criticism, and looking negatively at all these great efforts, leads to frustration and procrastination. Developing environmentally friendly applications is a responsibility shared by everyone, and focusing on developing positive behavior and an optimistic outlook is something that should be adopted in all future policies in this field.

It is worth mentioning that a study published in the journal of environmental psychology titled “Why Does a Green Lifestyle Make Us Happy?” indicates that the relationship found in previous studies regarding the positive feeling associated with environmentally friendly practices does not stem from a desire to appear socially acceptable, but it goes beyond that to being a path with meaningful and ethical significance. Conversely, negative feelings arise when a person does not care about the environment and does not feel that this matter has great significance in their life. Therefore, people’s sense of satisfaction with themselves makes them more enthusiastic to allocate more resources and effort towards environmentally friendly applications, which contribute to preserving both humans and nature around us.

It is necessary in the coming stage to look at the future more positively, rather than blaming our time and past times. Responsibility is shared for working to reduce the consequences of climate change, and a positive spirit is the optimal way to encourage communities, governments, and international institutions to create comprehensive cooperation to ensure that there are major transformations towards preserving the environment and reducing the impacts of climate change. We cannot achieve this if we are not optimistic that we are capable of doing so by all available means, which ensure happiness and prosperity for people around the world. As the saying goes: “Pessimism is the distance people put between themselves and their dreams,” and “Optimism is the key that opens the doors to success and happiness,” so be optimistic.

Note: This article has been automatically translated.

Source: AlWatan News