The year I realised I was fighting the wrong battle.

At the start of the year, I resigned as a General Manager at Calix, an “environmental” technology company working in industrial decarbonisation and “sustainability” and decided to leave climate tech capitalism behind me.

I have not once regretted that decision.

o  I had smart and hardworking colleagues; some I count as lifelong friends.

o  I learned some very valuable skills – both professionally, and personally.

o  I visited many interesting places in Australia and overseas.

o  I had a pretty good salary and an impressive business card.

But there was one – increasingly big - problem.

For over a decade, I witnessed biodiversity collapse, climate change accelerate and social inequalities grow, while refining my understanding of the words “environmental” and “sustainability”.

If you had asked me 10 years ago whether I thought technology would get us out of this ‘shit’... I would probably have said something like: “of course it will – our engineers are sorting it out.”

 “The greatest danger to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Robert Swan

I haven’t changed my mind on human ingenuity (I married an engineer), but I came to understand that the binary framing “for” or “against” climate, “in” or “out” of action, “pro” or “anti” science was largely supporting technology solutionism and financial markets, while stifling any critical discourse within the climate movement itself.

The more I dug into the subject, the more I realised that the ecological challenges (catastrophe) we are facing were much deeper, complex and too systemic for science to provide anything else than an essentially engineering and technological response.

I realised I was fighting the wrong battle.

“Climate change plays no role and has played no role in the disappearance of living things. It is a crisis of meaning that we are experiencing. It is not just a technical problem, it is our relationship with the world that we need to question. Focusing on climate change allows us above all to reassure ourselves. We reassure ourselves by telling ourselves that it is only an engineering problem. Global warming is the simplest of our problems. Everything that our society of engineers is capable of thinking is there and is only there." Aurélien Barrau physicist and philosopher, specialized in astroparticle physics, black holes and cosmology.

I realised I was stuck in a work environment where no critical discourse was possible.

As much as I had wanted to believe, I had to accept that - from a factual point of view – techno solutionism simply does not work. Science and technology is being used to feed the machine, and a blind faith of infinite growth.

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” Edward Abbey 

Escaping solutionist techno-scientism was by far the best decision of 2023.

I gained in mental health and wellbeing, but my decision also proved to be intellectually salutary, and socially rejoicing.

And from there, this is how it went:

o   In March, I joined the Board of the Water Well Project with the intention to give time and energy to improve health literacy in refugee and migrant communities.

o   In May, I joined Conservation Volunteers Australia, a well-recognised non-for-profit organisation, to put my management and communications skills at the service of people and nature.

o   Working with wonderful people, you create wonderful things. We launched Nature Blocks - to encourage everyday Aussies to take action for nature – and because “the best place to start conservation if in our own backyard!” Looking at the number of square metres of biodiversity habitat we’ve already helped create and preserve is a feeling of achievement that has truly enlightened my 2023.

o   I continued to educate on climate science, sustainability, and greenwashing – with the precious support of the wonderful team at Climate Fresk Australia, I have helped ‘fresk’ 76 people in total this year.

o   Helped care for and release 8 brushtail possums.

o   Performed in Tim Firth’s ‘Calendar Girls’ with Samford’s SPADEwerx Theatre and set a record for donations that we gifted to local charities.

o   Travelled Vietnam and had many interesting discussions with my kids on the concepts of war, inequalities and empathy.

o   Adopted a rescue dog and named her “Nala” (the name Nala means Earth, originates from Palawa Kani, a constructed Aboriginal Tasmanian language created with the intention of reviving the language spoken by the extinct native Aboriginal Tasmanians).

o   I found myself nominated (and a winner) in the French-Australian Excellence Awards, under the Sustainability category.

o   And countered my minor anxiety attacks with many hours of permaculture gardening.

Before I wrap up and wish you all a year 2024 full of your own realisations, wisdom, and transformation, I must take a moment to thank all the people with whom I have shared thoughts, questions, reflections throughout the year. Without them, without our long chats, the laughs, the emotional support, I would not be where I am today. I won’t tag them all here – but I hope they cherish our discussions (and audio exchanges) as much as I do.

Whether you start the year with a list full of good intentions and resolutions, or you enter it in free-style, we all have a responsibility to make each year insightful and transformative - both for ourselves but for the world around us. It has taken me a ‘bloody’ long time to realise that while we may not be able to solve the world’s biggest challenges, we can make a positive impact on people and nature around us.

'Don't you know yet? It is your light that lights the world'.