The Real Word: Half the arctic sea ice melts, one third of species listed as threatened, the climate heading for six degrees of warming, plastic spread through every ocean and 99% of everything in the economy in a landfill within six weeks.
Wonderland: The media is obsessed with topless Kate Middleton, politics debates whether gay marriage could lead to bestiality and the people are doing jobs they hate so that meaning can be derived buying the latest shiny disposable stuff, bigger houses and international travel.
I think 1980 to 2020 will come to be known as the Wonderland Window. A time when we partied on with wilful ignorance and deep unhappiness while it was chillingly clear that our lifestyles of excess were on a crash course with the operating system of our planet.
How can two such worlds exist at the same time? I think it's a combination of two things. One is industry funded politics, media, universities, think tanks, sport and culture. It is estimated that the oil/coal industry for example has spent 100 million in the last decade to create the appearance of doubt about climate change.The second factor is that we have replaced community with consumption. We used to derive meaning from community, family, song, togetherness, connection to country. We have lost this and in it's place we madly attempt to define our self worth and success through our ability to spend big at the shopping centre. Advertising cuts us deep. We compare ourselves to vacuous celebrities who are famous for being famous.
When someone in the Wonderland Window mentions climate change everyone averts their eyes and feels uncomfortable and then puts up the blockers yelling: "Stop it you party pooper! Let's go shopping!" Politics and the media can keep spinning the lies because we want so much to believe them.
It's tough to turn this around. It requires a deep understanding of culture change and the human brain. Of education and of community development. And as it is cultural it requires a lot of conversations and value sharing.
And we all know that everyone in Wonderland has to come home eventually. What about you?