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