Dear mindful fellow human beings, dear friends of our practical humanism,
May 2021 bring you joy, good health, well-being, confidence and new opportunities for a satisfying life!
What can we expect in the new year 2021? Most people around the world are happy that the old year is over or, as in the case of the people in China, will soon be over. We have experienced a difficult year for most of us. But the coronavirus, which has been a major concern in 2020, is becoming less frightening with vaccinations.
Will 2021 be a good year if the virus is defeated? We can pretend it is. We can live as we please again, come hell or high water.
Really?
Unfortunately not! Perhaps we are not yet sufficiently aware of it and still think we can look the other way. But humanity is now experiencing more and more of the consequences of generations of ruthless treatment of nature and the environment, of living beyond the limits set by nature. The climate crisis is just one manifestation of this. Some Greenlanders may welcome the fact that they will be able to grow vegetables on their island in the future. Container ships may be happy to be able to sail an ice-free northern route. But millions of people will have to leave their land because of flooding. Together with the spread of drought areas, this will result in new mass migrations and new streams of refugees.
Other man-made problems are added to this, such as the deforestation of tropical forests, littering of the oceans and plundering of fishing grounds. The expansion of factory farming is at the expense of the habitats of wild animals and beneficial insects, and even at the expense of our health due to more frequent pandemics. The decline in favorable living environments on the one hand and the struggle for natural resources to meet ever-increasing consumer and comfort desires on the other are fostering more and more distribution struggles among people, which are repeatedly fought out with armed force.
So that’s the starting position. For a good year? It depends!
We must soberly analyze and understand our current situation and accept it as a given. If, at the same time, we recognize that humanity has brought itself into this situation, that it is man-made, then we can assume that people can also change the situation again, improve it. That would be a good realization. And if we take steps in the necessary direction, then it can also be a good year.
What could such steps be? The climate movement, for example, has named many such goals. But it’s not just governments that are called upon here. In democratic countries, the extent to which radical goals are pursued depends very much on the population, on us. As long as we insist on many vacation flights, on food brought from far away, on large quantities of meat or fish, on constantly new vehicles or electronic goods, the government will make just as little progress as our population worldwide. Little would change for the better, another bad year would be the result.
We have it in our hands. Take, for example, the sustainability goals that the global community, the member states of the United Nations, have formulated for 2030. According to these targets, industrialized countries would have to reduce their meat consumption by at least half, from 60 kilograms per capita per year to 30, at the expense of the climate and biodiversity. That should be achievable. Around 60 years ago, this level of consumption was possible without the population suffering any shortages. Younger people are leading the way here, increasingly trying to eat vegetarian or vegan and with animal welfare in mind.
Is there anything else we can do? Yes, we can reduce waste of any kind in our lives, with the exception of waste of humanity and love.
And we can step on the toes of politicians and look them in the eye. For example, it is difficult for peace-loving people to bear the fact that we are still fueling wars and the threat of war on a large scale through our arms exports. Germany exports six to eight billion euros worth of armaments every year. In 2020, we supplied more than one billion euros worth of armaments to countries involved in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
This year there are federal elections again, where each of us can decide for a humane future or an irresponsible persistence and carry on as before.
We can argue among ourselves and with the parties in advance. As humanists, we do not do this in a know-it-all manner. Wherever and whenever we campaign for a better life, we value a palaver in a positive sense, in which everyone respects, listens to and takes each other seriously.
We value dignity, ours and that of others. Where dignity, compassion and concern for fair coexistence are lacking, the commitment to preserving favorable, natural living conditions is reduced to a naked struggle for existence.
It must be the spirit of solidarity and commitment to human progress that distinguishes us as a community. Humanist ideas are more than just a philosophy, they are a way of life based on reason, kindness and tolerance – things the world really needs right now.
Let’s make sure that we can live well, in every respect!
May it be a good year!
Erwin Kress
Spokesman of the Board of the HVD Federal Association
