182. The futility of nationalism in the face of global challenges

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Last night I watched the new David Attenborough documentary, ‘A life of Earth’. It is a powerful witness statement on the biodiversity destruction caused by climate change. it should be watched by every single person on Earth. One obvious conclusion one draws on watching is that the main challenge in solving or mitigating this issue is the difficulty countries face in developing agreements where the global interest is balanced with their perceived short term national interest. It is as if many leaders thought their country can exist even if Earth doesn’t. Climate change and biodiversity extinction are, with pandemics (not only coronavirus, think diabetes, etc.) and inequality, the gravest challenge every human faces. Nationalism prevents their solution, it is not only futile, but prejudicial. We must, to have a chance to solve these issues, shed nationalistic identities and preserve our local, regional and national cultures whilst working as a single species to protect our environment 

Length: 999

Location: Hereford, UK

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