Demystifying Excellence:
A Sixth Cornerstone
About that quality and quantity of life... Future generations are facing a crisis of both. Like me, my children are children of privilege -- but unlike me, they grow up in a world equal parts potential opportunity and disaster. Like many living a comfortable life, I have been insulated, self-absorbed, and reluctant to add a necessary community cornerstone to my life -- that of environmentalism.
As I've become more educated on the subject, I've realized that if parents aren't terrified for their children about climate change, it's because they've made the choice not to understand climate change. So I would feel socially immoral, and like an uncommitted parent to my children -- and yours -- if I did not at least briefly address our global climate change crisis in any talk that purports to be about wisdom and living a life of excellence.
The gist of it is this... We are changing the planet's climate at an alarming pace; we know it; most experts project it will lead to unfathomable hardship or worse for future generations; we're not doing what we need to do to stop it; and there's probably far less time than you think to turn back what's already perilously in motion.
I want to make sure you understand the probability that adults of the next thirty years will either be the wisest and most heroic generation, or the worst and most selfish parents in the history of the world. Due to very real consequences of our collective actions as human beings, it's no longer enough to simply live an inspired but insulated life seeking excellence in your own personal cornerstones. Previous generations could, but you can't.
We've dealt ourselves a hand that requires us to be cooperative toward a larger cause. As usual, this obstacle is an opportunity for us to improve. But in this case, if we don't dramatically improve and achieve excellence reducing our collective carbon footprint, our kids' lives will be much different, and much worse, than ours were. Everyone this address reaches is in a position to enact or dismiss this required excellence. Every day you make a choice.
What I have realized is this: Like most of you, I am failing in this regard. The fact that I am busy with work and parenting is not a good enough excuse to stand by as we hedonistically destroy the world for our children. If I'm gonna inspire you to do it, I need to inspire me to do it. And thus I am setting in motion a three-year plan that will install my Sixth Cornerstone, and I'm publishing it here to make sure I'm a hypocrite if I don't. Expanded thoughts and my plan will be posted later.
Read the next Chapter -> Why Do You Do What You Do?
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