Taking care of our global family has never been more important
Now's the time to focus our efforts wider, on our global family and the planet we call home...
Personal responsibility matters
This time last year, I posted my thoughts as we looked towards 2021 and the promise of the vaccine as a means to take us from the darkness and pain of the pandemic.
I said at that point that we held optimism gently in our hands.
Little did we know that the festive period would be spent under lockdown, away from our loved ones, and that 12 months later coronavirus would still be very much with us as a global community.
It’s been a tough time for everyone. But one of the positives that has come from this terrible disease is a realisation that personal responsibility matters – our actions in our own small corner of the world really do make a difference. Taking care of each other has never been more important.
We can work together
I have recognised this sense of empowerment in the discourse around the climate crisis this year – for which COP26 has been the event that has focused our attention. It’s no longer about hoping that tweaking around the edges of the status quo will be enough, instead there’s a real understanding that something has to change very dramatically, very quickly.
This change in rhetoric is a start, there’s an urgency that we’ve not seen before and a world-wide approach that has at its core the belief that anything and everything is possible.
There’s a sense that with focus and the will to succeed - or survive - we can work together at a global level to stop the situation from worsening. Maybe the pandemic brought this strength of purpose and unity to us.
Now is the time to act
But there’s still much to do if we are to limit global warming to the target of 1.5C above pre- industrial levels.
Promises have been made, but now is the time to act if we are to protect the balance of our precious planet from spiraling further out of control. We are inevitably on the cusp of world-wide change to enable our own survival.
At a personal level, there’s nothing wrong in recognising that the climate crisis can sometimes feel overwhelming, suffocating and impossible to resolve. But the optimism that I spoke of last year still needs to be held gently in our hands – even when we’re at our darkest point.
Hope conquering despair
I also said last year that, for me, the festive season is all about light and how it overcomes the darkness. I see that in the cheerful twinkling of millions of lights from Diwali onwards. As the evenings draw in we’re celebrating optimism and the human spirit with diyas, menorahs, lanterns, candles and fairy lights.
That feeling of hope conquering despair remains with me as I reflect and look forward to 2022.
Each of us, in our own small way, can make a difference that matters - we know that’s true from looking after our local communities over the last two years. But now our actions need to be focused on the wellbeing of our global community and the planet we all call home.
Taking care of our global family has never been more important.
Teddy is a strong supporter of diversity, inclusion and equality. A passionate believer in social mobility and financial inclusion; he is using his position as CEO of OneFamily to help the young, the disadvantaged and the marginalised to reach beyond their expectations. His view is that everyone in society should have the same opportunities to access financial products – regardless of their wealth.
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