I'm sorry. We thought it would only happen to others, to the big losers of this system, not to us, privileged people. And here we are, along with the rest of humanity, forced to “pause” our world, to go into a forced hibernation, For the first time, we’ve decided to slow down this unbridled race for growth, in the name of life.
We are the first generation to experience the consequences of global warming, and the last to be able to do anything about it. I'm sorry it's a strange destiny for this generation Y. Strange, this feeling of fighting for a war we didn't even declare ourselves.
It’s true. I'm sorry we have nothing to do with it. We were not there when they decided to cut down trees to make money, to sacrifice half of the sea creatures over 40 years for a few points of growth, to lock up nature in parks and to cage the living in zoos.
We were not there when they decided to punch holes in the ozone layer to make our underarms smell good, when they emptied the oceans to put plastic in them. We weren't there, when they decided it was worth condemning some people to misery to produce our 1 euro t-shirts, the ones we forget in our closets, when they decided that some jobs were worth more than others, that to make ends meet, it was better to be a designer or a startupper rather than a farmer, a nurse or a teacher. I would like to tell you that "it's going to be alright", that we can go on binge-watching Casa de Papel with popcorn in hand, while our decision-makers do all the dirty work.
I would like to tell you that technology will save the world, that such amateurish politicians are preparing us for something other than a porcelain future. That big companies have now figured it out. But, do you really believe in this ?
It's not our fault. We had nothing to do with it and yet we become complicit. It's our fault because we are lulled to sleep by fake news, we have adjusted to the comfort they offer us, we have fallen asleep, deluded by progress spoon-fed to us.
We got lazy. Inaction tastes like Deliveroo pizza. While we produce, throw away and start over again, while we like, share and stalk, while we swipe right to flirt, and swipe up when we have enough followers, the last elephants in Africa remain, the whales choke under plastic, glaciers melt and forests burn, the earth burns as we consume.
It's time to unplug our screens and turn our brains back on. Like children, we were told stories, we were told that we were too small, that we were already screwed up. Let's show them how much we've grown!
We tell them through tributes, petitions, tweets, that the next world should not be step back to the previous world, to the “normal”, because the “normal” didn't work. It’s up to us to build the world to come. When do we go?
Dare we just throw it all away? Of course there are states and their inaction, institutions and their summits, multinationals with their closed eyes. But today I’d like to suggest something to you: what if we don't wait for them?
We are going to need courage and audacity. It’s easier to shout out conspiracy than to put our hands in the earth. It’s so much easier to say it’s his fault other people's fault, their fault.
other people's fault, We must dare to ask ourselves the question: What will we be proud of as a generation? Will we be proud of 5G network for downloading our pornos in split seconds? Of our scratch maps of the world, exhausted from having « been to », « been to » Mexico, « been to » India, « been to » Costa Rica?
Will we be proud of waterproof mascara or augmented reality glasses when we become blind to the one in front of us? Or will we be proud to belong to those who have managed to defy history? Confined, quarantined within a sick system, for the first time, we have learnt that doing nothing was already acting.
So let's understand that our lazy « couch - cereal bowl» is a devious validation of this model. Not saying anything is agreeing. Doing nothing is not wanting things to change.
It's a risky gamble to put our fate in the hands of a handful of Boomers. Il est censé faire 70 degrés aujourd'hui, mais il gèle ici. Nous avons besoin d’un réchauffement climatique !
Le bouton nucléaire est toujours sur mon bureau. Je vous présente l'iPhone 10. C'est le plus grand bond en avant technologique depuis la création du premier iPhone.
Pour cela, la NSA cible les communications de tout le monde, et les stocke ou les utilise à notre insu. C'est une grosse erreur, c'était mon erreur, et je suis désolé. In hearing you speak, you're saying we should dive into civil war, we should put millions of jobs at risk because the apocalypse is coming!
"Rendons sa grandeur à notre planète" Do not let them choose for us, by their ignorance, their inaction, their destructive nostalgia for a dying world. They have deconfined our bodies, we must deconfine our laziness. We those of us whose "home" does not end at a street corner or a hospital bed, we the privileged ones, we've worn out the seams of the sofa, we've downloaded apps for concrete abs, we've read books to make our bedside table empty, we’ve learnt how to make bread and play guitar with Youtube tutorials, we’ve had online pixelated drinks, we’ve eventually called our grandmothers, we’ve given up bras, we’ve learnt how to sew masks.
We’ve been heroes in pyjamas and saved lives in slippers. But this time it's not going to be about staying home. Tomorrow, we're going to have to be even braver.
There's a new story waiting for us out there, and believe me, there's work to be done. We’re going to have to get a move on, take to the streets, signs in hand, get our hands dirty in our school curriculum. To get off planes and reconcile with the Lubéron (France), leave fossil fuels in the ground, give up our four steaks a week and our Saturday nights with Deliveroo sushis.
Riding bikes, turning lights off when leaving, unplugging screens, reconnecting to the living. We're going to have to be a restless, conscious and outraged generation. That there are more than a few of us being environmentally friendly, a strange label for those who love life enough to fight for it.
Let's "save the planet", "protect the environment", as if we were not part of it all. We are living beings, just like the others we exterminate. We are part of nature, if it disappears, we disappear with it.
If the “day after” is simply to close the parentheses, to return to the infernal cycle that made this virus possible, then we’ll have lost. It's up to us. It’s up to us to prove wrong all those who think we are too small, too late, too crazy.
We already know it won't be easy, and we're not even sure we'll win. But honestly, isn’t it worth a try? We are running out of time not to become believers.
WAKE UP !