Tools and elements of understanding to move forward on the subject of climate change and the protection of biodiversity

Version française de l'article : cliquez ici 

To follow up on the last article:  https://reflexionspourlaplanete.blogspot.com/2025/07/dad-im-scared-for-my-future.html

See below some thoughts, tools and elements of understanding, in bulk, to move forward on the subject precisely (sorry for the form and it's a bit repetitive...):

• Above all, don't get stuck, don't get stubborn... Everyone has their own pace, everyone has their own situation. Give this type of approach a chance, open a door to move forward in the right direction (the hardest part is often the first step, changing your attitudes). If you have doubts, remember what you don't want for the future (an unbearable climate for children, for example) and take these actions and projects not as constraints or efforts but as choices and moments in life that are positive, constructive, joyful, and give meaning... We don't have the right to stand by and see the worst for the future, to give up. The only solution is action!

• Every tenth of a degree counts to avoid future additional difficulties and to preserve a living climate (literally and figuratively) that remains as acceptable as possible... 

• Honestly, how did you experience these heat waves with your children!?

• So no, we will not leave a world with months of 45 degree heatwaves, no longer being able to feel good except cloistered inside with air conditioning... Do you find that desirable, desirable for your children!? The climate of Kuwait today!? Worse? Not to mention the impact on agriculture and therefore food security!. If we forget why we are motivated, remember: no! I do not want to leave my children a world with heatwaves 10 times longer and 10 degrees warmer than what we are experiencing at the moment! Do you realize the reality of a world at +2 or 4 degrees!? It is not a summer at 32 or 34 degrees instead of 30!!!! But months of heatwaves and droughts, with peaks at 50 degrees! (sprinkled with natural disasters!) As a journalist from Le Monde, Nabil Wakim, says, “nothing will be desirable in a France at +4 degrees!” https://www.lemonde.fr/chaleur-humaine/article/2025/06/26/climat-a-quoi-ressemble-une-france-trop-rechauffee_6616005_6125299.html?search-type=classic&ise_click_rank=14&random=630757220

• For our children, we pay attention to their education, their activities, choice of schools, etc. So why give up on the quality of life of our children, their very possibility of a decent life in a few decades!? This always concerns me, I have trouble understanding. We sacrifice the essentials to preserve our habits (even our leisure activities). While we are busy with much less crucial questions, which in any case will no longer be of much interest in a future with an unlivable climate and devastated biodiversity...

• Let us therefore act for our children and with our children, action is the only possible path , marked by difficulties but also by opportunities and meaning.

• It is not just a question of parents /children, but concerns everyone. On this point, I noted a passage in an exceptional encyclical of Pope Francis (whether one is a believer or not...), leading everyone to consider this [action], this Harmony as the issue of their own Dignity! ' Dignity', in the sense of respect for one's own humanity, of the meaning that one gives or does not give to one's passage on earth....

• Everyone has their own pace, their own method, but in the right direction. Even if we don't do everything perfectly... Be aware of what needs to be improved and gradually move in the right direction... Too bad if we can't easily get through certain stages, we must invest in other actions, while being aware of what we need to improve. This allows us not to exclude anyone, and to initiate a process, even a timid one. Once the momentum is set in motion, changes will come at some point. E.g.: if you are passionate about big thermal cars, fond of air travel, ora big beef lover... if it's too hard for you to do without it, focus on other actions, (e.g. buy local, organic or simply buy less, turn down the heating, etc.). And above all, keep in mind toseize the opportunity to be able to change/acton these points which are blocking you for the moment, try to reduce them little by little, it will come... quite quickly in my opinion, if we are aware of the impacts...

• To do this, you need to calculate your carbon footprint and understand some basic information; see the links below. This is important for understanding the orders of magnitude, for your personal life, but also for making good choices on a more global level.

• Note that it is better not to put people off who are not yet too much in a reasoned and responsible approach... (even if sometimes being questioned does good...). Rather, highlight what they are already doing well (without realizing it sometimes) and above all, give them the elements so that they realize for themselves what needs to be done and how to adapt it to their situation. This is the whole purpose of a collective approach. I myself was a fan of big machines, a glutton for red meat... and if I had been hit too hard at the time, I might have turned my back... whereas little by little, as through certain brutal shocks of conscience, I built a new way of being and doing, imperfect but improving as much as possible.

• If it's too much family pressure, or from one's social or professional environment , if it's too exhausting or risky, in an already busy lifestyle, or it's too much financial or professional insecurity... once again, be indulgent with yourself, but remain aware and ready to changewhen it becomes accessible and focus on other actions.

• And of course, if it's too emotionally heartbreaking too: for example, we're not going to ask people to stop seeing their families if life has meant that they live in remote places, difficult to access except by plane (a thought for our friends in the West Indies...). Note, however, that one day, just when oil runs out, certain practices will no longer be possible, even if we're lenient...

• My maxim:

When we don't want to change, we find excuses,

When you really want to achieve a goal, you find solutions. 

See also: https://bonpote.com/en/cards-of-the-12-discourses-of-climate-delay/

• or again: critical thinking begins with oneself ;-)

• Habits are always difficult to change. And yet, how many times have we told ourselves, "But it was so simple, once we did it!" The psychological and cultural aspect is central to being able to change and overcome certain blockages.

• Other remarks sometimes made on individual freedoms to be respected... Indeed, we can stick to the famous " the freedom of some stops where that of others begins"... and add "that of other generations too"... Destroying the enjoyment of a temperate climate and a liveable environment is an enormous deprivation of individual freedom! To be weighed against the individual freedoms of the present therefore.

• To the questions and comments: Is individual or collective action better ? Which ones affect the individual or society? Answer: both are essential ! Acting individually brings about this positive dynamic, which can become collective. And all collective action is initially made up of individual involvement!
• But it is true that we cannot always struggle in a society that encourages doing the opposite of what should be done (e.g.: cheap plane, more expensive train...). We cannot change everything without broader actions from political leaders or businesses, from the richest of our fellow citizens... But conversely, how can businesses and politicians move in the right direction if citizens/customers don't give a damn and do the opposite of what should be done!? We need both levels of action. And that doesn't prevent us from noting that some have more impact, responsibilities than others, therefore more power and the duty to change things (a vast subject that requires a full debate...).

• As individuals, we have multiple capacities for action:  
• first of all as  a citizen, and there we touch on often collective ends, of society through group action, associations or simply voting (a politician will always do what the majority desires most to get elected!),
• from the consumer point of view, the sum of behaviors also influences the market (same for companies, to sell products! Cf. impact on Tesla of the change in attitude of its potential customers)
• and also as professionals (influence in one's work, one's business, etc.)
• The Collective is a sum of individual actions! More or less organized… (ex: those who wanted to overthrow the thousand-year-old monarchical system in the 18th century were probably taken for madmen most of the time! Yet they did it, they succeeded, after many failed attempts by others before them who prepared the ground and it seems obvious to us today).
• Exactly, tell yourself that by acting you are ' preparing the ground '... Even if there is sometimes discouragement, even if it sometimes seems symbolic, it is perhaps this which will facilitate a real shift, an acceleration, a day when the 'planets' will align. Generational changes in particular, open up possibilities that were previously inconceivable.

• Studies also indicate that it is not necessary to convince 100% of a population to change, to generate big changes... but only a few specific %... we might as well be part of it! In addition, there are already many people around us who are already involved and ready to do more. And don't tell yourself we are too small, we won't have an impact... because imagine that it is not only in France that people want to change things. It is true everywhere in the world! Whatever the nationality, families want a better future for their children and are ready to invest or already do so. There is certainly a lack of coordination, connections and pooling. This is where we may need to act strongly.

• The ripple effect is a hope. The worst is never certain and it is by believing in it that ideas abound, that solutions follow one another and that one day the dynamic can tip in the right direction, restore hope and summon unsuspected resources. If we reverse the climate curve, even if all the problems will not be erased , there will be a real boost to morale , a new horizon to defend.

• Finally, think of this approach not as a constraint, an effort... but as something positive, something new, something joyful from the creative collective! (Ex: I ride a bike, it's not an effort, a constraint, on the contrary it's pleasant, it doesn't rain so often, I avoid traffic jams, I do sport, it's good for my health, it costs me less... and to avoid the excuse machine: if necessary there is electric, there is intermodality, another way of organizing life (the force of habit, the ease once you've tried!) and if you are really stuck with your car, see the point above, take action on other subjects! It is obvious that many are despite everything structurally stuck by the use of the car (and these are global, long-term actions, and which have already made good progress in certain areas!) or that it would individually put them in too much difficulty in an already often exhausting daily life. But if all those who can do it get started it will already be very good... and who knows, you might find a solution one day on this point too!

• We talk a lot about climate, but we don't forget the question of biodiversity , the artificialization of soils... essential and inseparable from climate issues. See in particular: https://bonpote.com/au-fait-cest-quoi-la-biodiversite-et-pourquoi-on-devrait-en-parler-plus/

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My current thoughts on how to move forward on a larger scale:

Implement a practical and accessible approach/tool/app for anyone who says to themselves “I know things aren’t going well, it’s making me anxious, I feel isolated, even  though I know there are plenty of people who think like me, here and elsewhere… so what can I do? Where can I start, with something practical and accessible, in my already busy life? ”:

1. Who provides the information to understand the essentials (see information from existing actors... https://bonpote.com/en/ a mine of information and actions, https://theshiftproject.org/en/ in-depth studies,...

2. Which offers an assessment of their situation and solutions for action (see carbon footprint app: https://nosgestesclimat.fr/en : available in english, spanish and the calculations are valid for many countries! )

3. With follow-up to encourage, highlight the impacts of good actions, and those still to be initiated when we are ready...

4. Who networks to multiply ! The famous ripple effect... With local relays to embody and bring the approach to life, to bring a human, friendly touch

5. and bonus: in several languages to go beyond borders!

NB: with different levels of possible involvement in order to also allow those who do not have much time or are not completely convinced to be able to enter into the process...

>> What do you think about all this?

>> Do you have any ideas for moving forward?

>> 'Specialist' actors, can you help us with this!? So that each of us can take concrete action, no longer feel isolated and powerless (individually and collectively! Each at their own pace). In a motivating and constructive approach!

THANKS

Xavier

xavierbouvier@gmail.com