So I heard Lewis Hamilton is depressed and the team folk are
getting him help. Recently he went public saying how being vegan is the only
sustainable way to the future. He, of course, meant to talk about climate
change and the natural balance. Responses came in many forms. Someone said
"the guy who drives a Formula 1 car and has a private jet is asking me to
eat cabbage!" Someone else said he's trying to get his massive following
to think greener and we need to look at the message and the larger picture. I
see his point. Until now, I didn't like the guy. I believe he came in a strong
car and went to another team where he happened to suffer for a little while
before the engine regulations worked in his favour.
But that's beside the point. After the whole #ClimateStrike
initiative by Greta Thunberg went viral, I realised one thing. One person CAN
make a difference. Again, people, like they always do, hit back saying,
"She's a kid!", "What does she really want?", "Go back
to school!". But, she was right, wasn't she? Even if she's touring the
world (on a sailboat, I might add!) and even if she's "not speaking of
other great scientists who have developed world-saving tech" she did do
one thing. She made some people aware about the scale of the mess we're in;
about the depth of the hole we've dug for ourselves. She spoke at a point where
it's getting even deeper and soon we won't be able to come back out. A few
others have realised, too. Of course they have. However, the world's population
is over 7 billion. People consider "1%" a small number. One per cent
of 7 billion is 70,000,000. That's 70 million, or 7 crore in local speak.
Many of those have access to water, some don't. Food, even
less so. The point is, we need more people to wake up to the scale of the
problem.
Now, another topic is transport. Or, cars, in my case of
reference. Yes, we've enjoyed racing, and driving some fine examples. I know I
enjoyed my share. However, one thing is clear. The world is running on oil and
money. And something is going to give very soon. Particularly the environmental
balance. What we did then, doesn't work now. Times have changed. Priorities
need reassessment.
Schools don't function as they did before. Traffic doesn't have
the same share of space as before. Consideration is taking a back seat, because
people seems to have become seemingly expendable. There are so many, if one
can't do something right, someone else will? Is that so? The very idea of a
co-operative world is being drowned by desire. Individual desire. Worse,
individual need to be better than the next? It's not a competition. Or, is it?
Is it truly survival of the fittest? Surely seems like it now. But I digress.
Back to Hamilton. It is depressing. Yes. When one realises
something about the world and about themselves doesn't fit any more. We've been
conditioned over the years to believe certain things, do things a certain way
and expect certain things in advance because "that's just how the world
works". Get up, take a bath, change, make the bed, get on the bike or in
the car, ride/drive to school/college/work/whatever. People took things for
granted. They wasted water, electricity, trees, forests and now, there's a
price to pay. You may wonder why this is relevant. You know all this. But, as
I've always believed, understanding is one thing and acceptance is another. Do
you accept that an entire established life needs to change? No, it's not a lie.
It's just a change that must be brought on. If not by us, the world will fight
back. It's an old planet, it's been through a lot and it can take care of
itself. We're not killing the planet with our doings, we're only killing our
future, and ourselves.
People asked me what I'm on about. What's with all the
posts? After seeing what Greta had to say, I feel I've woken up from a bad
dream and have to live a nightmare. It's true, what some said. What she said is
scary. And it is. Our future is inevitable if we don't change today!
What's hard is to accept it. I love cars. I love
motor-racing. I love going fast. However, I also realised that has to stop. I
can't enjoy those things any more. They're coming at a terrible price. The
sound of combustion, of big engines and the roar from the exhaust – things that
used to make me smile and make my heart flutter – have become sins. Not to the
world at large, but to me. I cringe. It's a painful feeling of mixed emotions
that I fight every day. That is what is depressing. Realising that what you
enjoy, and have enjoyed all along, is something that needs to stop. The world
is built on that platform. How can it be?
A change so big would mean a new system. A new normal. Jobs
will be lost. Skills will be redundant. Yet, new ones will surface. They have
to. With so many mouths to feed there is no question. The thing is, we need to
realise and start adapting now, or the world will simply leave us behind. What's
worse is that the Earth will fight back anyway.
I'm not asking anyone to go vegan. I know I won't. Yet, turn
off your bike/car at signals. Long or short. I started doing that. Ride/drive easy.
The more you're on the accelerator and back on the brakes hard, the more fuel
you're burning. The key is to cut down on carbon emissions - specifically
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide among other more deadly unburned
hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. Save water. Don't waste electricity. You
may be paying a fixed amount but it isn't yours to throw away. We're still
using coal-fired thermal power plants. That's not clean. The reality is that
renewable sources aren't enough to cater to us all. That's why the need to use
all forms of energy sparingly. Also, electric cars are only as clean as the
source of electricity powering them. If your electricity is coming from coal,
your electric car is pretty much just as harmful to the environment. Battery
material mining and their life cycle and supply chain is another matter
altogether, so look deeper into things that don't make sense. Hybrids are the
best way forward until clean, hydrogen-powered transport solutions become
mainstream. Research. Find out for yourself. Don't take mine or anyone else's word
for it. Go ahead and take that step.
The time to make a choice is now. We can't give up
everything. That's not right. But we can try to change slowly and tell others
to do so as well. It's about time. Wake up. Realise. Speak your mind. Be heard.
Listen. Understand. Be considerate. We all want to get out of this alive. It's
still not too late...
