Choosing to be a dragon slayer on a Goldilocks planet

Hey ,

The age of our Goldilocks planet – the only one in the known universe capable of sustaining life – is estimated to be 4.54 billion years.

Us humans have been around for just 300,000 of those years.

The things many of us of the Western world take for granted now, such as the likelihood of surviving childhood; access to education, modern medicine, clean water and a nutritious diet; and the freedom to choose our livelihood, have all come about in the last 200-odd hundred years since the Industrial Revolution.

And it's argued that the lifetimes of (European and American) Baby Boomers born during the post-war/mid-20th century surge in birthrates have hit the absolute sweet spot of peacetime, health, education, wealth and opportunity.

Sadly, that same Industrial Revolution and the mid-20th century explosion in production and consumption have pushed our planet's capacity to support life to the brink.

Researchers say there's now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold in the next three years – that's the increase above pre-industrial levels that 196 world leaders agreed to stay within under the 2015 Paris Agreement – a legally binding international treaty on climate change.

Going over 1.5C every year for a decade or two will cause more volatile weather conditions such as longer heatwaves, more intense storms, and wildfires, all of which threaten life, especially in less developed parts of the world.

And if the temperature keeps rising, life will no longer be sustainable anywhere on our planet – the only one in the known universe capable of sustaining life.

Some days, that makes me feel terrified, angry, powerless... a whole bunch of negative emotions.

Some days it makes me feel incredibly lucky.

Grateful that of all the billions of years that our beautiful planet has existed, I got to be here for this part.

For the part where it could sustain life...

...for the part where I could enjoy the privileges of surviving childhood; education, modern medicine, clean water and a nutritious diet; and the freedom to choose my livelihood – my purpose.

They say, "never feel sorry for raising dragon slayers in a time when there are actual dragons."

Now, I'm never going to be grateful for the dragons, but I am so grateful that I got to grow up in a time when they were only in fairytales (/being obfuscated by world leaders in cahoots with fossil fuel companies).

If the price I have to pay for that is to become a dragon slayer to make sure the same is true for future generations, then I'm okay with that. I chose my purpose.

Or maybe I just read too many fantasy novels over the holidays! ;)