The seven deadly sins of climate change. Number 5 will shock you

They say Hell is a terrible place... it’s described as a very hot place where all the sinners go (and one of the key reasons we should strive to be good people). It would seem, though, we have already been judged and Humankind has failed. All the signs are pointing to a living Hell on Earth.

Antarctica, Belgium, France, Japan, Mexico, Seychelles, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. What do these places have in common (other than a bewildering number of Ss)? They all experienced record-breaking temperatures in 2020.

The planet seems out of control, with raging wildfires in Turkey, Greece, the Western USA; yet another seismic hurricane in Haiti; the innocuous sounding Hurricane Henri that eerily originated from a warmed up Atlantic Ocean; desert locusts in biblical proportions crossing from the Middle East to East Africa ; mega floods in Germany; a multi-year drought in Chile etcetera, etcetera.

Are we witnessing the end of times as the prophets of doom, also known as climate scientists, have been foretelling for years?

To borrow from Signor Dante’s list of deadly sins, the following is the list of trespasses we need to ask forgiveness for from Our Father who art in heaven. 

Demise of mankind

Sin numero uno . S-e-x. What does lust have to do with climate change? For starters, it seems that humanity seems to spend a lot of time thinking about it, with one-third of internet traffic dedicated to porn. Maybe we should invest more thought in averting the imminent demise of mankind. 

Second sin: Gluttony, which, plus the environment, equals food waste. The idea that time, air, fodder spent growing maize flour, nyama choma candidates, processed foods, sukuma wiki and so on, can be unceremoniously disposed of in the bin is unacceptable. It’s not really about starving children somewhere in the world (Africa) to whom the scraps can ostensibly be mailed to. It’s about the third of all food produced that goes to waste.

Which leads us to Greed. Which is what happens when the US Trumpian administration opts out of the Paris agreement to limit emissions. An argument imitated by a large developing country that seeks to explain why there should be no brakes on its path to growth.

And of course, if we choose to ignore the decades-old science that proves climate change is real, then fellow Human, we are fully embracing Sloth. Laziness is doing nothing about it because among other useless excuses: Nairobi is experiencing a cold wave so what is all this about global warming? The majority of the world is caught up in the daily grind of survival and at least passively acting as climate change deniers.

And there are a lot of angry accusations flying about or to use the more sophisticated term — Wrath. 
It’s the executive who claims they can only fly business and how does his one ticket influence the course of the world? The retailers all over the world who continue to defiantly dish out flimsy plastics that end up in our oceans. The why-embrace-solar crowd who claim it is expensive.

Serious original sin

Which brings us to Envy. Thy shouldn’t covet the fuel-guzzling machine of Thy Neighbour. And if you are a country, is it really an argument that you need to have “competitive” factories that release toxic gases in order to get ahead? The air that we breathe doesn’t seem to respect national borders.

Pride was the most serious original sin, and it still is. The arrogance not to admit one might be wrong or that we might not be doing enough.

In the 1990s, we thought this was a problem for future generations. We are now that generation. The experts agree climate change is real, and man-made. This is not a conspiracy, but a very poorly managed crisis.

A red hot crisis. It’s time to redeem ourselves and start climbing out of the circles of Hell.

It’s Sunday. Let’s stop sinning and say a prayer. It's definitely time to pray when the Earth is running out of food, water and breathable air. No wonder messrs Musk, Branson and Bezos are all trying to get the first rocket out of here. 

If you don’t have a few billions it may be prudent to listen to the words of a wise teenager: “I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is,” says Miss Greta Thurnberg.

The author is the managing partner of C.Suite Africa, a boutique management consultancy. #ClimateChangeIsReal . [email protected]