Survival

An excuse for inexcusable behavior.

Nancy and Abhinav at The Hotel Show, Dubai World Trade Center.

Today students and adults around the world are on a climate strike. We're not on strike, we're very much living and breathing apathy every day, apathy which many link to having to put food on the table and survive, but also, apathy that is more often than not, linked to greed. 

This week and last week we participated in at least 10 different events. All events had professionals standing face-to-face, exchanging business cards, sometimes looking at the cards before looking each other in the eye, a gesture that looked and felt automatic and antiquated. Participating made us feel drained; the events were not designed with making a difference in mind.

We take people for granted every day with or without acknowledging it, and if we are looking to affect any positive impact in this world, we ought to begin with valuing one another's presence, even if it didn't satisfy what we were taught to believe are our instinctual needs, and even if it didn't take place in a professional setting or an annual conference. 

Many of us refuse to bring an issue up that we feel instinctively to be wrong because we think, "who am I to judge?" and "it's not my call," and because we have become so accustomed to listening to empty words. The reality is, if it takes a climate strike to bring an issue up, we have failed ourselves as an intelligent race. The show cannot go on. 

Everything we do has a carbon footprint. Powering up a laptop, connecting to the internet and sending out this e-mail has a carbon footprint. Sustainability is not about adopting what looks good, it's about struggling to be good in every aspect of our lives. If we're not struggling, we're being apathetic. 

That's all for now.