KAZE, June 2019
The sins we, adults, have committed and how to pay for them
Saburo KATO
1. Who are the “Adults”?
By now, it is widely known that 15-year old Greta Thunberg of Sweden made aspeech at the COP24 in December 2018, in front of representatives of various countries andbusiness/NGO leaders from all over the world. She said, “You say you love your children
above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”, and “You only
speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You
only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, evenwhen the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.” I was really shocked to hear
her speech.
The shock propagated rapidly among those sensible adults across the globe because
what Greta said is really true in that we are stealing the future of our children.
In her speech, Greta did not accuse specific governments or regimes but she
pointed out the responsibility of adults as a whole, their responsibility of having caused thisterribly lamentable situations on this globe. It is true that most countries including Japan
have been taking just a superficial measures to respond to the Paris Agreement and the IPCC
1.5 degree special report. As the result, the world total emissions have been ever moreincreasing, taking the global society to the opposite direction of a “decarbonized” society, as
correctly expressed in Greta’s words of “only talk about moving forward with the same badideas that got us into this mess”.
After all, we, the adults, are unable to change politics and policy measures, moving
forward with the same bad idea of the same production / consumption system. To all adults,
Greta appeals with heart and soul; not only to leaders of governments and businesses, butalso to other adults who are eventually supporting them.
2. What is our sins?
Inspired by Greta’s honest and straightforward remarks, I counted the “sins” that
we adults are unconsciously committing against our will. Some people may say that “we havenot conducted any sin, but we just did what was expected of us to do at that time.” It is quite
understandable. At any rate, I would like to raise the following six points as the sins we havecommitted so far.

i)

Our ever increasing desire for economic expansion despite finiteness of the earth’s
resources, and despite various symptoms that clearly demonstrate the limits (abnormal
climate, large-scale extinction of creatures, ocean plastic pollution, etc.)ii)

Our continued neglect or depreciation of scientists’ repeated warning about sustainability
issues of human society such as environmental deteriorationiii)

Our negligence for seeking for real solutions but overly relied on technology development
or innovationiv)

Our failure to promote NPOs and political forces that are vital in developing a new
economy adaptable to global environmental crisesv)

Our failure to cultivate a common sense of putting the environmental values (thefoundation of all living creatures) above short-term economic benefit, and to educate thenext generation to pass on the value.

vi)

Our negligence to make a cool evaluation the western culture (especially after theindustrial revolution) which, although it created various attractive ideas and projects, isgradually showing its negative aspects under the current political, economic, social andenvironmental situation, and again negligence to step forward and try creating a newcivilization based on wisdom of traditional Japan

3. How can we pay for our sins?
Many of us adults will not easily accept the idea of having conducted such “sins” aslisted in the above. For many years, we have been working hard earnestly and honestly,
believing that rich economy makes us happy and, if any problem takes place, politics andtechnology will solve them. However, our globe is now ailing as the result of all these humanactivities and it is now suffering from the crises of environment, politics and economy. Far
from what we expected at the beginning. Given this perspective, it may be taken for granted
that we should compensate for what we have done.
How to pay for our sins depends on each of us. What is most important would bethat each of us reflect on what we have done and, embracing those sins, do what we could
do. For example, supporting NPO activities, joining a protest march on the road, orconveying our opinions to politicians and government officials to promote changes. There
are varieties of ways that we can do to pay for our sins.