Today marks the start of a momentous decade. Over its course we will decide together the future of our civilisation for better or for worse. I cannot think of a better way to face this prospect than to read this article: https://gen.medium.com/my-semester-with-the-snowflakes-888285f0e662?.
As I read it I found myself weeping. Good tears. The kind you weep when something ignites the deep wells of hope found in every heart. It is a compelling reminder of the better angels of our nature that live in almost all of us. And of how easy it is to summons them as James Hatch does.
Climate change worsens all the other stresses on our civilisation. We know what we need to do to keep the climate safe. We know when we need to do it by. The technologies to do so are already available. We will make our economy more efficient by deploying them.
The main obstacles to success are all political. Overcoming them demands political leaders able to summons the better angels of our nature. If we fail to find them we leave the politics to those, like Boris Johnson and his succubus Dominic Cummings, who know only how to summons the darker angels.
Those politics will fail. The measure of a political leader fit for this decade will not be the length of their list of promises no-one believes. It will be their ability to bring out the best in all of us as we work together to ensure that our children inherit a civilisation as good as the one we received. Character will matter more than charisma, competence more than cash.