The profits for the few or the planet for the many: Why do we still struggle to choose?

It has been raining constantly for the past eight weeks. Eight weeks is already a long time, but somehow it felt even longer to you. Over the weeks, you have seen devastation on a scale that you never thought possible. You have heard that they expect one third of the whole country to be underwater soon.

Your home is long gone, along with nearly 300,000 others. 30 million people are left homeless, they say. A cynic would comment that they are the lucky ones. The torrents have killed over 1,000 people – so far. The death toll keeps rising every time you check.

Big numbers like this are often difficult to visualise. You know how (sometimes frustratingly) complex your life is? You have a personality, you have experienced things, you have preferences, quirks, and little pet-peeves. You still think about that one person you had a crush on years ago from time to time, even though you are happily married. You sometimes lie to your friends because you don't feel like going out with them. You always wanted to adopt a ferret for some reason.

Indeed, your life is very unique and intricate. Now try to realise that each person on this planet has an equally vast experience. Every single one of those 1,000 people had that experience.

What you have just read is not a hypothetical, dystopian scenario meant to scare you of the potential effects of climate change. It is what is happening right now in Pakistan.

This whole op-ed could easily be just a list of all the frightening climate events that have happened over the past few weeks alone: Luxembourg facing the driest summer since 1947, scorching temperatures causing a 'false autumn' in the UK or dry taps in southern Iraq, river water levels reaching record-lows, forest fires devastating large parts of southern Europe... and this is not even scratching the surface.

We have known about climate change for decades. Researchers everywhere have published studies and sounded the alarm again, and again, and again, and again. The real-world effects of climate change have also been obvious for a long time. But up until relatively recently, they mainly affected the global south, so you can understand how the wealthier parts of the world didn't really see the urgency.

But now that these effects are increasingly happening in the west too and are so blatantly catastrophic, you would think that our reaction would finally match the urgency of the situation at hand. And yet here we are, still going full throttle towards the cliff.

It's important to remind ourselves from time to time that the climate crisis is not some big mystery, some enigmatic apocalyptic event that we have no control over. We know what causes it. And, perhaps even more importantly, we know who causes it.

A 2021 study commissioned by Oxfam found that the richest 1% of the world population are expected to account for 16% of all global emissions by 2030. The study also highlights that "the total emissions of the richest 10 percent alone are set to exceed the 1.5°C-aligned level in 2030, regardless of what the other 90 percent do".

The climate crisis is a social crisis. Individualising the issue means blaming those who are not responsible and have no power to solve this problem. According to Oxfam, the poorest half of the global population will still emit far below the 1.5°C-aligned level in 2030. Meanwhile, "the richest 1 percent and 10 percent of people are set to exceed this level by 30 times and 9 times, respectively."

I recently watched a documentary about Venice, one of my favourite places I've ever been to. The documentary showcased the different issues the city faces because of its special location. One engineer remarked that cruise ships – recently banned from entering the historic city centre – and the enormous cargo ships cause significant damage to the environment while crossing the lagoon to the industrial port. He stated unequivocally that Venice could either allow these ships to continue to pass through or preserve the city.

Hearing this, I thought to myself 'Why is this even a discussion?'. And it is not just Venice, this is the debate that comes up time and time again regarding climate change. Why do we continue to sacrifice the ability of our planet to sustain life for the short-term profits of an increasingly smaller group of people? No author would ever write a story like this because it would be deemed too unrealistic for entire populations to be so in denial of reality.

There are two things that I feel are particularly important to understand. First, big changes are needed. 'Big' as in: We need to radically change the way our whole economy works, particularly by moving away from a GDP growth-oriented model. Oh, and by the way, this is not a demand from some fringe, left-wing activist group, this is taken straight from a report by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was published in April of this year. The IPCC report specifically says that changing individual behaviour without systemic reform won't do enough to tackle climate change. And keep in mind that the IPCC report was still watered down in its tone thanks to the relentless lobbying efforts of some of the main global polluters.

The second thing that is important to keep in mind is that these 'radical' changes are nothing to be afraid of. I often get the impression that many people seem to fear climate action because they are afraid that their quality of life will decline. Quite the opposite is in fact true: For the large majority of people on Earth, life would be much better. Cities would be quieter, greener, and less stressful. An economy orientated towards well-being and equity instead of the endless pursuit of selfish profits would not only be sustainable, but life-affirming.

We can make this world a reality. But to do so, we must finally start choosing the planet for the many over the profits for the few.