Taxes, health, another benefit. These are only examples of emotional topics of the forthcoming electoral campaign. I am waiting for a politician who will place his bet on wisdom, not emotions. A politician who will be able to look further than the four-year term of office.
I will vote for a person who will be bold enough to care about ecology wisely, not only speak beautifully about it or make dire threats.
I realised that while I was driving behind a car belching out black smoke. I have no doubts that the driver has heard that people are destroying the planet. Perhaps he really took it to heart. In winter, he was indignant about ever-present smog. What he does not see from his smoking car is that every time he presses down on the accelerator pedal, he is contributing to that destruction. James Hindson said, ‘people are interested in ecology as long as it has no special impact on their everyday life, when they can have everything they are accustomed to whereas a step further calls for higher awareness which accepts sacrifice.’ It does not matter whether this sacrifice is related to lifestyle, habits, or extra expenses. Everyone cares more about their comfort here and now than remote future. Especially when they are convinced that what they do ‘is too little to make a change’.
It is hard to blame individuals who cannot afford a better car, who burn rubbish to make savings instead of installing a mechanism of electricity generation. Let’s be honest. An individual will not make a change. At most, they will just feel better about themselves. What we need is a systemic change followed by changes in habits. If this does not happen soon, we will have to forget about our old saying that ‘there was no us, and there was forest’. And that there will be no us, and there still will be forest. Without political wisdom, there will be no forest. And there will be no us.
