It seems to me the optimistic brigade is out in full force. All those happy clappy people who are paid to help us maintain a positive mental attitude. The psychoanalysts and hypnotherapists will have us believe that we have a tendency to respond excessively to any situation that may present itself as dangerous.
The anxious times we now face due to the recession have created a market for the self-help gurus who focus on the power of positive thinking and come up with phrases like “You are what you think”. Not that there is anything wrong with being optimistic but one would have thought being a realist and tackling our problems would be more suitable. When it comes right down to it, circumstances always force us to do things that are necessary to improve our situation.People in the world as a whole are fed up of being lectured to by those in authority who always second guess whats good for the masses. The average man on the street sees through the Machiavellian tactics used in politics and business.
Someone once said “crisis invites change”. We will certainly see plenty of it this year. There are signs that all the talk about going green to improve our environment is falling on deaf ears. All those little schemes people have been coming up with are now falling flat on their faces. This year we will see a reduction in the consumption of organic food which is often very expensive and sometimes over priced. Farmers who have been growing organic food for many years are already making necessary adjustments to switch to growing ordinary crops which cost less to cultivate.
Investments in the clean energy sector are dwindling as venture capitalists scale back on their commitments to the development of clean energy. This means that the ambitious goals by the British government to expand offshore wind and tidal energy have been thwarted at least for the time being. This will not go down well for the eco-warriors out there who feel that if nothing is done now, our planet is doomed.
Bryan Lovell a senior research fellow in earth sciences at Cambridge University recently stated that “profitable and mighty useful activity needs to continue vigorously in this century, but, if we are to remain carefree, we shall have to develop an associated industry, comparable in scale, that is devoted to pumping used fossil carbon back safely underground”. The words of this distinguished gentleman speak for themselves. We have not even come close to where we need to be in order to preserve our planet for future generations.
With all the carnage in the Middle-East that greeted the beginning of 2009,the fear of terrorism in the West will add on to our long list things that make us anxious. The optimism brigade sure have tons of work on their hands.