What are you doing in response to the war in Ukraine?
And what has it got to do with our destruction of the Environment and climate change?
Vladimir Putin said in 2000 that he ‘cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world’. Photograph: Evgeniy Paulin/Sputnik/EPA
First, what to do? Obviously, sending money to an organization helping Ukrainians is a great idea. I have done that. Talking with any Ukrainians you know is also helpful. Not only for you to learn more about this mess, but to help your Ukrainian friend share their pain and sorrow. I’ve done that. Not demonizing Russians but recognizing that the regime and system they have is deplorable. However you need to know that Russian attitudes are a result of the West not stretching out an olive branch when Russia was on its knees in the 1990s is absolutely necessary for any long term solution. Knowledge is power. And remember that power can also heal, not just destroy as it is now. To quote:
“Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join NATO but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line “with a lot of countries that don’t matter”, according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance. George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led NATO between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said. The Labour peer recalled an early meeting with Putin, who became Russian president in 2000. “Putin said: ‘When are you going to invite us to join NATO?’ And [Robertson] said: ‘Well, we don’t invite people to join NATO, they apply to join NATO.’ And he said: ‘Well, we’re not standing in line with a lot of countries that don’t matter.’”
Second, this was is having a profound impact on our climate change efforts. First, Germany is being forced to cut back is reliance on Russian natural gas and to do this it must burn more coal. Second, all of Europe will try to be less reliant on Russian gas and oil. This will be difficult and expensive. It may lead to more renewable energy use – and should, but right now it does not look that way. In fact, right now it is clear how reliant we are on fossil fuels and how much we need them to survive. I hope we use this knowledge to be less reliant on them and use the Russian threat as a pivot to renewables, but I am not holding my breath. What I also see is that this war and all the ripples that come from it – including the role and reaction of China [vis a vis Taiwan?] are a giant distraction from our climate change agenda. in fact, right now our emissions that were going up are probably increasing at an ever accelerating rate. Couple this with the fact that Ukraine/Russia are one of the world’s breadbaskets. War means food will not be exported to countries like Egypt that desperately need it. In places like that higher food prices could mean political instability and revolution. When people are hungry, they get desperate.
So, third, I see desperation and a focus on surviving today and not thinking about the future as the worst result from the war in Ukraine. Without planning for the future we have no future. The misery in Ukraine risks becoming our misery. My family in Europe feels it. That is why they are doing all they can, including housing refugees in their homes. Including sending money and food and medicine. Some are even volunteering to fight in the Ukrainian army.
So, what can you do? I have given you some ideas, but they key is to recognize that this war affects all of us – not only at the gas pumps and the grocery store, but in our ability to make positive, pro active actions today that will enable our children to thrive in the future. So, whatever you do, just do it.
Leave a Reply