TEDx: Our Failure to Imagine Planetary Security Threats

Our failure to imagine climate change threats was the theme of my TEDx talk.

Most of us are reluctant to picture living on a hot planet. One where increasing water, food, or energy challenges threaten to worsen existing economic, social, or justice crises. It may be challenging, but we have to imagine what all this will mean for security. Doing so will motivate us to change this future into a much better one that can be more green and peaceful. But to do so, we have to face one of our biggest challenges: our failure of imagination.

We have to imagine a future where climate change is a new enemy. Not in the classic sense as one that you can fight in military operations. It has no flag, no leader, no combatants, nor a revolutionary manifesto. But it is a killer of people. It is operating worldwide to destabilize societies. And it is a risk that is gaining strength. Climate change hits the most vulnerable people and most vulnerable countries first. That is even more unfair if you realize that this means that those who contributed least to this problem are often most affected by it. And these people are the least in a position to adapt.

Percieve, predict, prepare, and prevent

This TEDx talk is about our failure to imagine climate change threats and the need to work out scenarios to maintain peace in a dramatically changing environment. That requires training, new equipment, new technology. It also requires combining expertise from a wide range of experts, many of them without previous security involvement. Predicting and preventing planetary security conflicts also asks for making use of big data and AI. So solving the security threats of the future requires a complex, multi-disciplinary approach. And above all, it requires a lot of imagination.

I hope you will take the time to watch it and like, comment, or write your thoughts to me.

More reading: this article and here.