The Long Game
4/18/20
Yesterday, Dr. Elizabeth Sawin, co-founder of Climate Interactive, a site that hosts a climate solutions simulator, posted this on Twitter:
(Ignore the typo.)
I saw it this morning, and was immediately inspired. Things like these are my favorite - they temporarily alleviate the stress and urgency of reality’s problems and allow you to properly figure them out like they’re fun little puzzles.
I quite like puzzles.
First of, the initial thing I would do to solve this puzzle is to set up two rules for myself and my community, one; that all I can ever amount to is a puzzle piece. It would be unwise to attempt to solve any problem that affects entire communities alone, and solving problems which solutions rely on interconnectedness and personal knowledge of others cannot be managed large scale. Each community manages itself well, and every year or so representatives from the community would meet and discuss the large scale; shared land and resources, regional projects, etc. But me? Me and my friends and family, and the many, many strangers, potentially sequestered in the stolen land we currently call Los Angeles? A simple piece of the larger puzzle. And two; that everyone is watered, fed, kept healthy, and sheltered not because they have done something to “deserve” those things, but because they are alive, and that is enough.
Keeping people six feet apart is not emotionally easy, but it is physically manageable. If there is something too heavy for one person to lift, two or three people can share it for a short spell, and then simply wash themselves off. Especially if they are not high-risk or interacting with anyone else who is, close contact for less than ten minutes won’t make matters much worse for themselves.
As for keeping electricity running - if we base a potential economy on making sure each person receives necessities without needing to work, and then receiving bonuses for particularly hard work, then we’re set up to last for a long time. The oil and coal industries are unsustainable without the constraints of this puzzle to begin with. Solar and wind need to be “planted” once, and maintained every few years. As long as those working to set up renewable energy sources and maintain their functionality are “paid’ in the necessary resources they may have run out of as well as certain bonuses each time work is done, we could have energy for years and years without anyone owing another person anything for their power. That’s right - your electricity bill would disappear. Same with farming. The plants will grow on their own, without assistance, for the most part. Whenever human assistance is needed, those humans will be rewarded properly. You wouldn’t need consistent payment for anyone. Everything that is currently filed under “the cost of living” would be covered.
As for not turning a profit, if we accept that people who cannot be productive are not required to be to live, then those working are those working because they find it enjoyable or cathartic. Taking part in building houses could be a special interest or hyperfocus, for instance, or even a stim, for a neurodivergent person, depending on what their particular chosen task is. Even people who do not “like” to work will find they need to in some capacity for their mental health.
No one is expendable, and no one needs to be.
And there it is - I’ve solved the puzzle.
But it was all just a game.
This type of thinking is a privilege, and you can get carried away with looking at the world like living in it is easy.
It’s not easy. Your thinking will not always be clear, people will not always agree to transitions you deem flawless, you will not always understand what’s right. The stress and urgency will not go away.
I used the simulation on Dr. Sawin’s website. I lowered the atmosphere’s warming from now through 2100 from 6+ degrees to 1 by lowering and raising a few sliders. But the simulator tells you what would happen if you were a god, playing with one of your inventions. But you are a human being. You cannot do any of that yourself. And it is dealing with people, many of whom you have wronged, and are justifiably angry and distrustful - much harder than moving digital sliders.
…I’m so sorry.
But these problems and the emotions that arrive when you think of them will not go away when you close your eyes.
If you need to think about all this as though it’s one big adventure game to be able to think of it at all, then you do what you need to do. But if this is a game, this is the long game.
You want to play, you play smart. You play kind. You play humble. We’re in this together. We leave nobody behind. We think of our neighbors just as much as we think of our children. We ask for our neighbors to share, and are prepared to take no for an answer; we do not steal. We give away what is needed to live freely, because everyone is needed alive. And if we make mistakes, we make it right without centering ourselves. And if we are biased, we listen and learn before defending ourselves against simple truths.
We grow together, in the long game.
