While we are confronting bigger dangers

I recently re-read part of an interview that your Crown Prince gave to the Atlantic while he was doing his tour in the US.

I am really fond of your Crown Prince, I think he is amazingly brave and selfless, and those are a great quality for a leader.

But to be honest, I think that interview was not great. It made me feel your Crown Prince needs help with his communication with the West. As I said before, I am writing here because I want to be your Crown Prince's communication advisor. If you know him, please tell him.

Something in that interview caught my attention in particular. The journalist who was obviously quite familiar with the Middle East, asked His Highness about how Saudi Arabia at some point in history funded radical groups like the Muslim Brotherhood that they are now fighting. His Highness didn’t deny it and said “If we went back in time, we would do the same thing. We would use these people again. Because we were confronting a bigger danger—getting rid of communism.”

This idea is interesting, it keeps coming back to me. The idea that we did what we had to do, those were other times and we were confronting a bigger danger.

Looking back at history, I would actually question if communism really was this big of a danger. It probably was the way it was implemented in Soviet Union, but who ever said anyone had to implement it like the Soviets did? I am not a communist and I was too young to remember much, but my own country had, at some part of its history, a coalition government including a few communists. Apparently people back then left France with suitcases full of money. But nothing happened to France, really.

What’s ironic is that now some communist concepts are seeping into capitalist countries because they are much needed to create a more cohesive society. Dubai, not exactly a communist city, is now building more libraries with plans to have community centers as well. Public libraries, one has to realize, is actually a communist concept, the idea that people can put something in common, rather than each owning their own.

I actually think it would be nice if we could put more things in common. I wish there was a library of things you could borrow, like an icecream maker, an electric screwdriver or extra chairs when you are hosting a party. I don’t need to own those things, it would just be nice to be able to use them sometimes. For the sake of the environment, I think we should actually learn to share more things like this instead of each owning our own.

Back to the idea of “those were other times when we were confronting bigger danger”, what fascinates me is that it keeps coming back to me.

In my own country, we have done quite a few mistakes based on “those were other times” and based on “we were confronting a bigger danger”. It always feels strange to me when politicians say “Those were other times” brushing the mistakes aside. It always makes me feel they have not learnt the lesson. It always makes me feel they could make the same mistake of passing on an issue, because they think they are confronting a bigger one.

I am quite impressed by how patriotic Saudis are. I am patriotic too, I love France, now that I live abroad, I can see quite clearly all the good things about my country but I can also see more clearly its flaws, present and past.

A couple of weeks ago, President Macron has officially admitted for the first time that torture has been used by the French army in Algeria. Everybody knew it but in my opinion, it was so important that he said it on behalf of France. Some people complain he did as if this was making France weaker. I think it’s all to the contrary, a great nation admits its mistakes because it learns from them.

Not only is it important for the families of those who died because they were defending the idea that we are the brothers and sisters of the Algerians, for the idea that like us, they get to be free to organize their own country, but it’s also important for us to see the mistakes that we did.

And last week, during the General Assembly of the United Nations, in a very passionate speech, President Macron said it again, unprompted. “My country has made many mistakes.”

I personally think Saudi Arabia was right to intervene in Yemen, but despite that, I also hope that the day will come when the King of Saudi Arabia, in the name of your country, will admit in a very solemn and heartfelt way, the mistakes that were made during the course of this war, if any.

Going back to France, we have done a lot of mistakes, even recently, with the best intentions. Nicolas Sarkozy, when he was president, once went to the suburbs and while unemployment was high, while people there had a feeling that they were not treated fairly because they were originally from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, he said he will clean those neighborhoods of their scum. In my opinion, this is when the radicalisation started because people did not like to be called scum by the president.

He said that with the best intentions, but I think that was pretty much like lighting a match in an atmosphere saturated with gas.

Men fascinate me.

A lot of them have this ability to focus on one problem and to show an incredible determination in solving it. Sometimes, that's a trap. Sometimes, it's important to be able to sit back and look at the bigger picture.

Going back to Saudi Arabia, allow me to tell you one thing quite bluntly. I hope that I am wrong, but I am afraid that I am not. I don’t think that the biggest problem facing the Middle East is Iran, Qatar, the radicals which might turn into terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood, or even the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Those are issues, sure, but in my opinion, the main issue this region is facing is that because of those issues, the region at large is not preparing for the bigger issue that it will face very soon, which is climate change.

I hope you read my piece about collapsology. Along the same line, Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said in a recent speech “If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change.” He also added “Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment.”

That’s the optimistic version. For the depressing version, read “Limits to Growth: the 30-year update”. The pessimists think that now the collapse is unavoidable. Or, as they say in Game of Thrones, "winter is coming."

Yet, in the region, people live like we didn't get the memo.

I can definitely think of scenarios where climate change-related issues could start hitting the region soon. Not saying they will, saying they could. Also saying that because the region is consumed with its internal conflicts, it is failing to get prepared. It is also failing to take its part in making sure the worse doesn’t happen, especially since you, Saudi Arabia, like all oil countries could help save the day.

Small, poorer countries are being much more active on this front than the countries of the region. This region tends to think that climate change is mainly an energy-related issue, but there are other aspects. A lifestyle change is required and I see very little of it happening. What stops the countries of the region to take simple measures like banning single-use plastic cutlery and straws, I don’t know. What stops the countries of the region to start communicating more aggressively about how less is more, about how the future depends in part on our individual behaviors, I don’t know.

Honestly, I no longer believe that the power is really in the hand of the governments. I think that the key to fighting climate change is the private sector. I think that the key to fighting climate change is about drastically changing the business models of the private sector companies.

And this is where, in my opinion, you should come in.

You know, it is now a well-know fact that we are eating more meat than the earth can produce. Producing one kilogram of beef consumes an awful lot of resources (water, food and land), which could be more efficient consumed directly. I read that the land required to feed an average meat eater could feed 25 vegetarians. Imagine. Yet, people continue to consume meat like it’s tuesday. Steak and burger places pop up in Dubai like candy stores.

I eat meat too, but now I am really saving it for special occasions.

And I have been doing some observation on this. 

I go to the same cafe almost everyday, to write. It’s a small, unpretentious cafe but it’s a big, international brand. Quantities of meat are consumed in this cafe everyday, not in my opinion because people enjoy that meat, but just for lack of alternatives. People go to this place because it’s cheap, convenient, quiet, because the wifi is free. Meat is consumed in the process but without real enjoyment. I call this “useless meat”. This place also serves cheese that I, as a French, cannot call cheese.

The other problem in this cafe is that convenience is killing us. They give you a napkin and sugar, and a paper cup even if you have no need for those things. People in this region think that this is how you serve your customers well. They know me now, I get my food stripped of most packaging, but it's taken months for them to get it, because a behavior like mine remains a puzzle to most people, you are offered something, why wouldn't you take it? Until they got it, I had to return things. What other crazy customer besides me ever gets up to return the sugar thingy because they didn’t use it?

If I was wealthy, I would take a share in this company enough to control their strategy, I would fly to their headquarters, tell them I want the menu to change completely. I would tell them to come up with a number of tasty vegetarian options. I would tell them that from now on, consumers are only handed a napkin if they need one, I would tell them that the sandwiches are only wrapped to go if the consumer actually wants his food to go, I would tell them that by default consumers get their coffee in a mug unless they ask for a coffee to go. And the list goes on. I would tell them to come up with a plan to communicate this to the customers. And whatever problems will raise from that new strategy like theft of mugs, we will find solutions to them. 

And once all those problems are solved, I would keep this company for a while to make sure it’s profitable on the basis on this new business model. And then, only then, I will sell it, possibly making a profit out of it while also lowering the global consumption of useless meat while increasing the pleasure people have from eating at this place.

If I was wealthy, I would buy land in Indonesia, those oxygen-producing forests that are currently being cut down to produce palm oil so we can enjoy Nutella, among other things. I would buy land only to make sure the trees are not cut down precisely, and believe me, I would find a way to make this a reasonably productive investment, harvesting the goodness of nature without ransacking it.

There are hundreds of examples like these, and I also know quite a number of business majors like me who would enjoy rolling up their sleeves to work on ideas like these. Companies urgently need to be transformed, business models urgently need to be given a new look with the future of our planet in mind.

It’s really a shame I am not wealthy.

But the thing is, you are.

Maybe not you personally, but you as a country. I always imagine that if the preservation of our planet became a priority for the wealthy people of this region, we would certainly make some progress. 

I am not even saying you should spent that money and expect nothing in return, I am just saying you should invest it wisely, with a philanthropic goal in mind. After all, when God gave you all this oil, He certainly also gave you the huge responsibility that comes with it. May you be worthy of His trust.

Imagine, a few decades from now, the King of Saudi Arabia being asked about why, with all its wealth, his country did so little to fight climate change. I would really be my personal nightmare if that man, who might not be born yet, had to answer “Well, you know, those were other times. We were confronting a bigger danger, religious radicalism, and we had this row with Iran. It might seem pointless now but I guess it made more sense then to buy weapons and to invest in other things rather than save the planet.”

Really, that would be my personal nightmare.