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Jovana Popić

For Every Human

“For Every Human” ist part of the Atlas of Change

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Photo by Jovana Popić

I am traveling with my daughter, and last night we took a walk on a narrow dusty path amongst untouched wildest nature, on the west side of the island of Murter in my homeland Dalmatia.
      And unexpectedly, I had an epiphany, seeing again, after some years,
all the wonderful, wild, bitter herbs and flowers with heavy smells, raw and sharp grey cliffs falling into to sea of deep unrest under the thick skies. And I asked myself, walking with my little Mara in my arms, who knows, if she will be able to walk through this beautiful nature when she’s my age, feeling her roots in this dry soil, just like all the plants here do? Will she be able to navigate the world, having this place as her necessary orientation point? What if – this whole beautiful world has disappeared by then?

 

Something like this happened here once before. During the civil war in the nineties in my ancestral village nearby, homes were havocked, then burned, those who remained thinking they did nothing wrong, were brutally murdered.
      All the birds, terrified by what they have witnessed, disappeared for the three full years. There was almost no single sound to be heard. Only the creepy soundproof image of motionless trees, of empty fields and of chaos left by humans. Purposeless.

 

I thought yesterday, what if, what if this happens again? And this time forever? For every human?
      Being aware of that, I believe climate emergency to be existentially important. And this should be our main responsibility. Creating awareness and mindfulness about the climate emergency, the drivers, the possibilities to take action.