About us
Who, or why, or which, or what, is Greeneralia?
Well, for a start, it is not the product of an international organisation or committee or pressure group. Greeneralia originated from the single observation that those involved in preventing global catastrophe by re-greening our world seem not to be getting anywhere fast or far enough. COP succeeds COP, but the pace of change is glacial.
Greeneralia believes the focus is too much on macro systems: each and every person on this planet needs to be engaged. On a voluntary basis: from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.
To do this, we need to find a way of linking people at an individual, not a group, level.
We hope that Greeneralia might be able to kick-start this approach, through our network, discussion group, and blog posts.
If you think it might meet your needs, or you can see how you might further this attempt, do please join our discussion and,when you are ready, sign up as a member of our network.
If you have got as far as reading this…..?
You have the wrong perspective”, said a much-respected friend, as I explained to him the thinking behind the Greeneralia website. This unexpected challenge transported me back to the world of university tutorials, and being politely but firmly corrected by the academic at whose feet we were sitting. Perhaps I had better abandon months of work and think this out again?
Of course, I knew what he meant: there are no great men, only great committees. Major decisions affecting the planet can only be made at national or international level. Making changes which might avert catastrophe can therefore also only be made at governmental level. And the governments in question, since they are the major causes of the environmental catastrophes looming, are the BRICS ones (though of course the rest of us are also to blame).
This is the world of political, economic and statistical reality. But there is another reality I was taught as a child by my father – what to do when facing a dragon of vast and alarming proportions. Look at it through a pair of binoculars in reverse, reducing the horror to a manageable size. Then pick it up quickly, put it in a matchbox, take it to the attic and hide it in a forgotten suitcase. This childish tale has stood me in good stead in adulthood: when faced with an apparently insuperable problem: begin by treating it AS IF it could be overcome.
The modern visualisation might be astrophysicist Danail Obreschkow‘s Cosmic Eye. We would lose nothing by acting as if the climate crisis could be attenuated. At this point, further discussion about its deadliness is wasted: we are now said to be at 90 seconds to midnight.
Of course the idea of occasionally considering our day to day problems from the perspective of eternity is not a new one: ‘sub specie aeternitatis’ was popularised by Spinoza.
"If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field."
Arthur Hugh Clough
Build holistically and seek synergistic strategies
So what can we, frail individuals acting alone, do to avert the worst effects of the coming onslaught? Recycle, repurpose, degrow, tread lightly upon the earth and team up with others doing the same, ant with ant, and bee with bee.