Planning For The Future You Dont Believe In
when i was eight years old my family
moved to lima peru for my parents work
in the development field
one day i found a bird with a broken
wing and as a dorky homeschooled kid
and the daughter of two medical care
workers i determined i could nurse it
back to health
so i put it in a cardboard box and
tucked it away on the roof of our
three-story apartment building
the next day when i went to check on the
bird the earth started shaking beneath
me
it was as if someone had placed the
whole world on one of those vibrating
workout machines
and fearing for my life i rushed down
the stairs
panels from the roof started falling
behind me so i decked into our apartment
i learned later this is definitely not
what you’re supposed to do during an
earthquake
but as a prairie kid i was a bit out of
my element i was not used to the earth
shifting in a way i had no control over
and i experienced for the first time
fear of the earth and loss of the stable
ground i was used to standing on
in our current age we are facing fear of
the earth much like that which i faced
as an eight-year-old
with the reports of drastic changes in
the climate coming the shaking has
started and we have no
idea where to run in the field of
environmental research i have come to
realize just how overwhelming the data
is
about our climate in recent years the
media has been oversaturated with images
of burning forests
dying coral reefs flooding cities rising
sea levels plastic filled sea creatures
and now global pandemic within the field
of environmental research we are
bombarded with statistics reports and
evidence
demonstrating that our climate is
changing as a product of human activity
as well we are overly aware of how
little is being done
as students we attend universities where
we are taught of the climate changing
while these same institutions invest
heavily in the fossil fuel industry
we face a government that continues to
build oil infrastructure instead of
investing in sustainable energy
and we battle against the masses of
people telling us that we are
overreacting for caring about our
climate
at a conference this past year for
environmental organizations in new
brunswick
a section of the afternoon was dedicated
to processing climate grief
we as climate researchers are so
overwhelmed with this hopeless
information
that we’ve begun to grieve our lost
future
i however am far too optimistic to
embrace a position in which we do not
succeed
humans are far too resilient far too
powerful and far too determined
not to solve this issue so this is why
i’ve begun to plan for the future i
don’t believe in
and today i want to introduce my not so
revolutionary tool for planning for your
future
to look at the blueprints and rewrite
them into green prints to imagine the
future greener world
my name is rachel benzler i was an
environmental research assistant at the
university of new brunswick
an intern on a sustainable farm this
summer and now working as a student
consultant for the nature trust
i’m also in my last year of my degree
studying a bachelor of philosophy
in interdisciplinary leadership with a
minor in international development
studies
through my degree and my role i’ve
learned the importance of hope
and specifically through my research
i’ve gained a desire to share some of
those
some of this hope to those watching this
video today
many of you are the future leaders of
our industries
however after the government and society
successfully readjust our infrastructure
to support the environment and prevent a
climate catastrophe
we will need to maintain a level of
sustainable industry that we currently
do not have
we will be entering into the most
innovative period of any industry in the
world
as we adjust to acting on climate change
so what does this look like how do we
plan for this future
how can we create five or ten year plans
with this knowledge
as children we were told we can grow up
to be anything or anyone we want to be
astronauts doctors lawyers politicians
or in my case a princess ballerina
whatever it was
our parents media and society was
telling us our futures were an open door
of opportunity
in my grade six year i decided i wanted
to be a spy
in junior high an actor and high school
model and now a lawyer
sometimes life gets a bit crazy and we
change our minds but the only limiting
factor we were told was our dreams
our western generation however was never
asked to take the environment into
consideration
beyond the normal logistics which limit
our abilities to grow up to be ballerina
princesses
there are massive environmental factors
which we need to take into account
there is undeniable evidence that our
climate is indeed changing
and i could spend hours proving this
point but there are so many scientists
and young people
already advocating for this so instead i
would rather talk about something less
spoken about
what happens if we listen to them with
the current strategies for climate
adjustment the major changes that we
require are in our sourcing and
consumption of energy
through our homes jobs and transport
additionally the environmental changes
already occurring have produced changes
in global issues
which will influence the priorities of
our future industries
covet 19 is a perfect example of how
quickly our world can transform
as a product of a global change
unfortunately even if we entirely
stopped emitting greenhouse gases
right now climate change would continue
for decades
additionally individual action while
important is not the point here
this tool will not give you all the
answers nor will my talk paint a
perfectly accurate picture of the future
the four key shifts will be in energy
production and consumption
transportation food and travel the way
these shifts will
impact each industry are hard to cover
in one ted talk so use these categories
as indicators for your research into
your specific dreams
think of how changes in energy sourcing
might change your industry
or adjustments in consumerism might
change your priorities
imagine how transport reduction might
impact your career
or how the emergence of sustainable food
sources might change your lifestyle
this thought exercise is about
transforming how we dream of our futures
to align with a more sustainable picture
so what does this look like let’s take a
peek at the tool on the left
which is an empty format you can
screenshot this if you’d like or i’ve
included a qr code so you can scan to
have
access to the pdf version on the right
hand side
i’ve shown a partially filled in version
you can use bullet points or when i use
this tool for myself initially
it honestly looked like a bunch of
scribbles and that’s okay too
what is important is that you understand
your own dreams
so i turned my green print into five
statements to demonstrate the influence
of picturing my dreams as more
sustainable
on the screen now you can see my five
initial goals
without thinking about the environment
number one
i want to be human rights or
environmental lawyer and fight for
indigenous citizenship rights in south
america
two inspired by dennis edney i would
like to travel across the world giving
speeches to young people about being a
lawyer
three i want to have a home base in
canada a dog
a big house and a car with heated seats
four i want to go on vacation every two
years to somewhere warm and 5.
i want to love my job be in love and not
be afraid to try new things
taking the environment into account this
is how the plan changes
i want to be a human rights or
environmental lawyer and fight for
citizenship rights of displaced peoples
this goal adjusts slightly because i’m
anticipating the issues that will come
with climate change
and also how will solve some of the more
intersectional issues
of climate change addressing how our
industries will change
doesn’t just deal with the environment
it also deals with how
climate change disproportionately
impacts already marginalized communities
so i can adjust my goals to hopefully
help those people
two inspired by dennis edney i would
like to record an online series or
lecture
for young people about being a lawyer
again this goal changes slightly from
traveling around giving speeches live to
recording a series online that’s
accessible from anywhere
while this ultimately shifts slightly as
we all know the experience of being in
person is different
it gives me the opportunity to reach
people without having a negative impact
on the environment
three i want to have a home base
wherever i work
a dog a sustainable house and a
sustainable source of transport
any primarily vegetarian or local based
diet
now this one has a lot of changes
there’s everything from where i’m
working to where i’m living to how i’m
living
these are important things to picture
especially when it comes to our diet
about 15 percent of global emissions
come from the meat and dairy industry
alone
so it’s important to address how this
might change
four i want to go on vacation every two
years to somewhere close locally run
and sustainable again this goal changes
but it doesn’t take away the core value
of what that goal was which is to have a
space to relax and to enjoy myself
so to make it more sustainable for me in
calgary i could go to banff instead of
costa rica
or i could maybe go to vancouver it’s
still a distance but it’s so much more
sustainable than flying across the world
five i want to love my job be in love
and not be afraid to try new things
when it comes to this last goal nothing
needs to change because
ultimately the goal of this tool is not
to completely transform how you see
yourself living in five or ten years
it’s to give you a picture of what that
looks like in a sustainable world
envisioning a future that contrasts the
image we were told
is success as children is essential to
planning for a better future
these are really just the bare bones of
what we need to address
it begins here but it does not end here
those who have the social and financial
mobility to act on this talk right now
are among a small percentage of the
entire global population
my hope is that in achieving a
sustainable world this tool will be
useful for anyone
it is a simple format for dreaming of
your future
of picturing a sustainable life instead
of a nuclear family with a white picket
fence
it allows you to envision a whole
different future
my hope is that a generation will be the
last to have to ask these questions
that we will be the last ones to have to
shout how dare you
and that we can look at the future
generations and say look what we can
accomplish when we work together
when we ask questions and when we act
quickly
when that earthquake struck over 10
years ago the clock on our wall fell to
the ground and broke
the time was frozen to the exact second
that the earthquake struck
time was stopped and any time to prepare
was gone
and we had to pick up the broken pieces
of our fallen roof tiles shattered
mirrors and broken dishes
but the clock hasn’t run out for us it
has not stopped and we still have time
we will solve this problem so start
planning for the future you don’t
believe in
and the shaking ground won’t seem so
scary anymore
thank you