A now proverbial saying states that "there are no more half seasons". In fact, in recent years we have increasingly had to deal with extreme atmospheric phenomena and sudden changes in temperature, a sign that the much-heralded climate crisis has probably gone from being a problem for future generations to an urgency for those present. Yet, too often we continue to consider the world we live in not too far from that of a few decades ago, almost unchanged from the past. And this despite the fact that the glaciers in the Alps are now the specter of those of the past, the Maldives are at risk of being submerged and the waters are now besieging Venice too. Journalist Fabio Deotto then tried to reflect on why there are still so many blind spots that hinder our perception of reality. He did so in his latest work, "The other world" (Bompiani, 2021, pp. 336, also Ebook), an engaging travel diary in which the author went to look for a new look at our world in the real stories of people already forced to compete with a warmer planet, at the same time exploring the cognitive and cultural weights that make it so difficult to accept the change taking place.
We then ask Fabio Deotto from what we can deduce that we are not yet able to realize the change that is now our actuality:
“This summer we have seen floods, heat waves and off-scale fires, but it doesn't come naturally to us to trace these things back to the climate crisis. We are used to considering extreme phenomena as episodic and disconnected. This leads us to reassure ourselves that our 'normality' is still the same. While in reality they are the symptoms of a world that has already changed ”.
The subtitle of your book is “Life on a changing planet.” But what should it mean to live on a changing planet, what precautions do we need?
“For a long time we acted as if this planet had unlimited resources, as if its balances were eternal, so we ended up in this situation. Now, living in a changing planet means first of all reducing CO2 emissions to a minimum, decentralizing the energy grid by exploiting the opportunities of solar power, stopping building near the coast and changing many other paradigms that we take for granted ".
For example, a paradigm that we should give up?
"First of all, it is useful to take note of how the only limit we set ourselves today, in our choices, is monetary: when we decide whether to buy something or take a trip, whether or not to take the car for short trips, we do it thinking only if we can afford it. We should get used to thinking also about the non-monetary cost of our existence ”.
But is change really all that bad? Isn't it part of life itself?
“On the contrary, I am convinced that many of the changes of pace that await us, and to which we look with fear today, will turn out to be positive. The human being is a formidable species, which however has important cognitive limitations. Among other things, we tend to believe that the world we live in cannot change that much, and we are much more inclined to imagine bad developments than positive changes. To say: few today would give up using the car in the city, but I am convinced that if we really cleared the centers of cars we would all live the urban dimension better. And one says that the car has it ”.
Which of the places you have visited and the changes underway you have seen during your trip impressed you the most?
“Definitely Louisiana, a territory that is literally sinking into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. At one point, following the course of the Mississippi, the road I was traveling on ended under water. On the other side there was a city, now cut off from the rest of Louisiana ”.
You know Sardinia well ... is there a Sardinian place that most signals the change taking place?
“This summer we have witnessed particularly violent and difficult to control fires, I am thinking in particular of the Olbia area. And it is true that this is not a new problem, but climate change hardly ever 'creates' new problems, more often than not it aggravates existing ones. As rainfall changes and temperatures rise, fires become increasingly difficult to manage. Another worrying data concerns the production of honey, which in Sardinia this year experienced a real collapse, in particular as regards citrus honey ”.
At the end of your journey, what was the feeling, feeling or emotion you had to have most to do with?
“During this trip I recorded a very wide range of reactions among the people I met: anger, indignation, despondency, sadness, apathy, hope. Perhaps what recurred most was a feeling of frustrated helplessness. What amazed me, however, is the lack of fear. I'm not talking about rational fear, because in fact everyone was scared of the prospects on the horizon, but there was no visceral fear that usually spurs you to action. This is, I think, the biggest problem: the threat we face is too layered and distributed to really alarm us. This is why it is even more important to take immediate action ".