Are we as individuals powerless in the face of the looming climate crisis? Sadhguru points out an often-overlooked chance for us to help trigger an impactful course correction in the world.
Questioner: I feel the way the global economy is structured, it is affecting the ecology of the planet to such an extent that we are destroying the very basis of our lives. It really worries me, and I feel helpless about it. Is there anything that we as individuals can do to prevent a total disaster for ourselves and all life on the planet?
Sadhguru: See, if I close my eyes, I can sit here till I fall dead. I have no need to do anything – neither with the environment nor with people nor family nor anything for that matter. But I am doing so many things, seven days of the week, twenty hours a day because it is needed. I do not have to do anything for my satisfaction or fulfillment – I am at my best when I do nothing, but I hardly get time for that these days.
For me, action is about a solution, not about satisfaction. If we do not do certain things, large-scale suffering will happen. Right now, the stock markets are going through the ceiling, though actually, considering the present situation, everything should have gone down. It is crazy how it happens, but by talking against it, you cannot stop it. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are all a part of it.
The world economy is a 7.8 billion people juggernaut. A few people are sitting at the top of the pile, but still, they cannot decide the direction. Whether you buy a computer, a matchbox, or a billion dollars – all of us are pushing the economic engine. Do we want to slow it down?
If you want to provide what an average American citizen has to all the 7.8 billion people on the planet, we would need 4.5 planets. But we only have half a planet. Where do we get the other 4? The problem is massive, and so is the economic force. You cannot turn such a force around all of a sudden.
If you suddenly try to turn around a very large ship, it will capsize. If you do anything to change the economic structure all of a sudden, people will die. Economic failure of the world would cause many times more deaths than COVID. Even though you know it is wrong, you have to keep it going. Right now, we are asking for a one-degree change of direction. If you hold the one-degree course correction for long enough, it will become a U-turn.
Even if it is going in the wrong direction now, if you try to suddenly turn it around, what will happen in the turnaround will be worse than going in the wrong direction. All those who are simply accusing the leadership in the world of being corrupt and so on – maybe they are, but if you were to get to the leadership, you would not be doing any better.
If you tell people to buy a little fewer clothes, eat a little less food, turn off the light, or do whatever else, will they do it? Everyone thinks it is for someone else to follow that, not for themselves. This is why I said, “You cannot control human aspirations. At least control the human population.”
If we were just 1.6 billion people, like in the beginning of 20th century, you could do whatever you want, drive whatever you want, and it would not be a problem. The Earth would have the time to regenerate itself. But right now, we are too many – that is the worst crime. So, all I am asking for is a small change: three percent of organic content in the soil.
I have already approached many political leaders about it, and they have agreed to do it. Because it does not threaten the political power; it does not disturb the lobby, the oil industry, or the automobile industry. Do that and see how many changes will happen in the world.
That is the way to do it. There are 5.26 billion people who have the power to elect a government. We want at least 3 billion people to support the Conscious Planet movement. We have a way of aggregating these numbers. If 3 billion people support it in a hundred days’ time, no one, no political leader will ignore it. In a democratic country, what counts is the number of people who are supporting something.
We need you now. Please be with us to make this happen.
