“Is it a crime to be an optimist?”

It could be the object of the philosophy test
of school year 2018/2019 but it actually is one of the questions I’m most often
asked when I am a speaker at a conference.

The more citizens interested in the energy
transition are in the audience, the more I get comments of this kind. The more
lobbyists, institutional leaders from the “Brussels bubble”, the less I hear
it. On the opposite, speeches are very positive, explaining this infinite green
growth ahead, or the greatness Europe could regain thanks to massive
investments in unlikely technologies that will give us back our ‘time ahead’,
our ‘golden age’, all this wrapped into ‘climate neutrality’. This gap between
citizens and institutions that keeps on getting bigger, I can feel it beyond
the poll results.

I understand the disillusion expressed by new member
of the European Parliament Magid Magid, who after two weeks in the Parliament,
accurately describes the mismatch between ‘backstage’ institutional secret deals
(latest nominations to key European positions are a shining example) and real
life.

He however remains trustful in Europe’s
capacity to reinvent itself. Is it naive? Should we all believe in an imminent collapse
to finally take action, accept the necessary change under extreme
circumstances? I am not sure how to balance that.

I get that being positive may be hazardous if
it translates into not seeing what is, by lying to ourselves (as we can see in
the institutional debates or in the media nowadays). But I bet that it is
possible to call a spade a spade without describing the end of the world.

Yes, our current economic model will not allow us
to keep the Earth liveable. Yet everywhere small seeds are growing, offering
new possibilities for producing and consuming. We could sense it at Le Talus, a participatory urban farm in Marseille
that we visited a couple of weeks ago. Or in the multitude of ways we can
cooperate to produce and share energy between citizens and municipalities, as
described in our
latest publication.

I don’t think being an optimist is a problem. The
real problem is the lack of connection between two worlds: the world of those
who make decisions, and the world of those who are taking action.

In France, the recent law on energy is an example of this. Whereas everywhere in the country you can see more and more citizen energy initiatives, members of French Parliament have proved to completely fail understanding these new models by not providing support to energy communities*. Our role (and it is key!) is to make connections between European leaders and the reality on the ground, and this is one of the reasons why we revamped our website.

The question “Is it a crime to be an optimist?”
would deserve a lot more answers. You have all summer to think about it, and do
not forget to share your reflections with us! We wish you all a great, soothing
and naive summer break.

* see also an analysis of the new EU Directive on renewables in our “What’s EUp“?

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Fuente: ENERGY CITIES
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