For the sake of this discussion let’s just say that leaders are people in positions of authority. Therefore, they are people who usually – though, granted, not always – have the power to act. To do something as opposed to doing nothing.
Given they (usually) have the power to act, what do we expect them to act on? In general, we expect them to act on issues of major rather than minor importance. We want potholes to be repaired. But repairing potholes matters less than protecting us from violent crime.
Of course, all leaders are not responsible for all our problems. We do not expect our potholes to be repaired by religious leaders, or educational leaders. Typically, leaders have domains within which they exercise their power, authority, and influence. And, typically, we expect them to stay in their lanes.
Which raises the question of what happens when leaders, people in positions of authority, fail to do what they are supposed to do? Fail to act on problems of major importance for which they clearly are responsible? In other words, what happens when leaders – either because they don’t care or care enough, or because they are hamstrung by their circumstance – will not or cannot lead on a matter of great urgency even though it is directly in their bailiwick?
To these questions are several answers. The first is whatever the matter of great urgency it remains unaddressed. It is allowed further to fester. The second is that followers take the lead when leaders fail to do so. Good idea, to a point. Trouble is that while followers can draw attention to an issue, mostly they cannot pull the levers of power. They simply do not have the requisite resources or access to the requisite resources. The third answer is that if leaders do not act on a matter of great urgency, even though they are the ones directly responsible, other leaders pick up the slack. That is, leaders who are not directly responsible nevertheless step into the breach.
Which brings us to the issue of, the problem of, climate change. Without going into the reasons why, by now it seems obvious that political leaders are not up to the job. Political leaders around the world have failed dismally to make sufficient or even significant headway toward solving a problem that every year is getting obviously, palpably, worse. Heat, drought, rising sea levels, floods, mass extinctions, failed crops, felled forests – you name it, we have it. We have it now – which is, as we all know, nothing compared to what we will have five, ten, and fifty years into the future.
What is to be done? Political leaders have proven more or less useless. Try as they might, the Greta Thunbergs of the world cannot save us from ourselves. Nor is technology the answer – it cannot reach far enough or come fast enough. Where then to turn – or to whom? Are we doomed to climate change out of control? Or is there another avenue to explore?