Global Warming and Democracy February 3, 2021 Essay Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway said something like that the next richest person will be an environmentalist or more specifically someone who will solve global warming problems. I think it’s a reasonable prediction that is already showing with Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla - an electric auto-mobile company, taking the spot from Jeff Bezos as the richest man. In my opinion, Jeff Bezos is over-praised; he is no different than Wall Street people that Redditors are currently short squeezing. Elon Musk is interesting, but some of his fanboys are toxic, and his opinions aren’t always aligned with mine. I’ve just started reading Plan B written by Slovenian journalist and writer Boštjan Videmšek. I like it a lot, and I believe that global warming is the biggest problem today. I know that the current pandemic is devastating to our health and economy and will probably have adverse effects for years to come. Still, global warming might be a life long struggle for the generations ahead. In the book author visits different locations around the world that have made a significant impact in renewable energy, implementing solar, wind and other technologies to change how they produce their electricity fundamentally. Now here’s the second problem almost everyone is facing - bureaucracy. Still, if you take another look, it’s more about shifting political agendas as Cambridge Analytica did with Brexit and American elections in 2016. For example, since the Brexit, many renewable energy projects might get their EU funding cut off. I believe in the future we will face two problems. One is privacy which goes hand in hand with democracy, and the others are ecological problems resulting from global warming. Let’s start finding real solutions or for starters identify issues we’re facing. There are already some excellent solutions for more private internet use, but we should also strive for a more lavish adaptation of those technologies. I think privacy starts with the individual choices while ecological problems begin with changing the system with legislation. Legislative solutions could solve these problems, but current politics doesn’t seem to have an interest. Sure some people might say that global warming is part of a joint problem that starts with individual commitment. Still, I argue that the biggest polluters are big companies and corporations. I think that Where can you start? Reading, talking, educating, sharing and changing our opinions and lifestyle are the first things we should try. I never gave climate problems a real look. I knew how problematic global warming is, but I never take a more in-depth look. I might add global warming to the list of things I’m interested in alongside privacy, decentralization and technology. One of the problems I see in renewable technology is the investment upon return. We live in capitalism where private corporations own a means of production. Development mostly occurs with an investment of profits. Most capital doesn’t see renewable energy as a good enough investment, that’s also why we don’t see significant improvements in this area. Imagine the advancement we would see if part of the profit has to be reinvested into solving climate change problems and helping democracies thrive. Take away from this post: We should start educating and solving ecological problems with legislative changes tightly connected to the democratic process that goes hand in hand with privacy. Tags: GlobalWarming Problems Encryption Privacy Democracy