What will permeate 2020 is the future, finding innovation that instigates the exponential change needed for us to continue life on planet Earth.
Globally, the effort is on building stronger, action-driven individual awareness to break the collective trend of directionless “full panic mode.” This means embracing change before it arrives rather than only reacting without actively striving for self-improvement.
The use of shame words, such as “car shame,” “flying shame,” and “meat shame,” is on the rise. Shame is not active but should be used to trigger a change in behavior.
This means engaging in active change. There’s no need to drop everything and recreate your life all at once. Instead, ease yourself into change so it merges naturally with a new lifestyle.
For example, you can become a flexitarian first before slowly work towards veganism. You can also start traveling by train when possible and then slowly refusing flights. Ignoring the facts of personal and acting as if it’s still the ’50s is a recipe for disaster.
The impact of individual action on the world means that everyone must take time and understand what effects their actions have. What does casual car use, eating imported meat, or taking short-term and long-distance beach vacations lead to?
At this point, there is no excuse for not taking an active stand on the environment. Even the smallest shift in awareness has an effect and is needed. Together, we are the solution — We don’t have time not to act.
Innovation is the constant of environmental improvement, both when developing technologies and developing a collective understanding of our place in the environment to meet future challenges that we know are coming.
Early sustainable guidelines and toolkit are provided via the EU’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and ESG investing, all of which have the 17 Global Goals in focus. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing refers to a class of investing that is also known as “sustainable investing.” This is an umbrella term for investments that seek positive returns and long-term impact on society, the environment, and the performance of the business.
Some questions to seek answers for are:
• What will Sweden look in 30 years?
• In 100 years?
• What will rural and urban infrastructure look like?
• What is food and what eating habits should we have?
• What is work and who is the citizen of the future?
• Who is paying who, and for what?
• What do we want to influence, and how do we interact now?
We are the future, and we need to take charge in building it.
