when the planet is cheapened to a sustainability game

i remember feeling this after coming back from philippines, and weeks after returning from sarawak, i’m feeling it again. there’s a funny sense of displacement and disconnection that arises from time to time... speaking to so many here, it feels like we are worlds apart in values, ideology, and beliefs. is it really that complicated? are we living on a different planet?

it happens when i hear people describing ‘sustainability’ topics as 'hot’ and ‘trendy’, something you catch on today and forget about tomorrow if the markets don't seem keen.

when people gush over the 1001 credentials of a professional, as if they have the solutions and not the community.

when people treat this entire crisis like some sort of a game, where they fight and compete to win.

this kind of cheap branding of sustainability really, really stings me... after learning the disparities between what can happen on the ground and what can look like on paper when i was in sarawak, a black mist will always hang over these shiny, perfectly coiffed words. but for many it seems that it still remains a perfectly good dream to chase.

it terrifies me that so often, those on the ground are not only trying to solve problems like deforestation, but also trying to combat false solutions that people in rich countries are self-congratulating of. exaggerated carbon credit projects and nickel mining for electric vehicles are just a few that i have personally encountered.

the world of elite and moneymaking environmentalism truly operates in a high-class world of its own. how did we get soooo disparate. how did we hurtle so fast into this. we live in very different worlds. this world of idealism and economic fairytales never fails to baffle me. i know that money is the reason behind what i cannot understand, but still watching the people i love in both countries run with such different logic makes me break.