Exactly ten years ago, a fundamental book was released to understand the spirit of Silicon Valley: it is called “Abundance” and is signed by Peter Diamandis, a guru who has made technological optimism his mission. The basic idea of the book is that we have a wonderful future ahead of us because of the abundance of resources that technology would have created.
At the time that book thrilled me, today I realize that in the idea of a future abundance a culture of daily waste is nourished and grows. Without wanting to make easy self-processes, it is a fact that in the Western world we have lived for years without calculating the hidden costs of our actions: for example, the fact that the energy bill was cheap, compared to today, made us forget the fact that from the point of view nothing on the planet is free and that energy still had an impact. A cost to the environment. In addition to the fact that coming from Russia he exposed us to the political risks we have been talking about for a few days. Today suddenly, due to the war, we discover that the era of abundance has been postponed for a decade.
For a while there will be no gas, oil, flour, seed oil and who knows what else; for a while we will actually have less money due to inflation. We will have to change many things, starting with the way of producing energy by really focusing on renewables. And in the meantime we will have to change behavior. We are forced to do it. Pay more attention to consumption. To save money. A few days ago I wrote, we should turn down the radiators by one degree for example. I don’t see anything sad about it. The waste is sad, the neglect is sad, the superficiality of certain attitudes is sad. Being more careful, giving more value to what we have, trying to make it last, does not only mean interpreting a difficult moment, but loving the planet that hosts us, taking care of it. Perhaps the war will succeed where the pandemic failed: to make us better.
Here 14 practical tips from WWF.