The Illusion of Progress

We are not saving the planet.

We are trying to save ourselves—from ourselves.

In 2015, 180 nations united to secure a sustainable future, under the name of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

By 2020, the data was clear: zero measurable progress.

Not just stagnation—regression.

Many indicators reversed, erasing what little progress had been made.

Why?

Because we believe progress is about adding more.

More technology. More efficiency. More solutions.

But efficiency doesn’t reduce consumption—it scales it.

LEDs made bulbs cheaper, so we used more light.

Faster transport made travel easier, so we burned more fuel.

Every solution fuels the problem.

Because we are not wired for restraint—we are wired for expansion.

Yet sustainability isn’t about what we start doing.

It’s about what we stop doing.

Stopping, however, feels like a threat to freedom.

We cling to human ingenuity, believing it will invent a way out.

But ingenuity is what created the crisis.

A system that grows by extraction cannot self-correct.

And just because we define freedom a certain way, does not mean the planet agrees.

The Earth only needs to shift an inch.

And we will cease to exist.

We have built a civilization that cannot afford to stop.

That is why we fail.

Because at its core, every crisis is a failure of collaboration.

And until we redefine what we mean by progress, freedom, and survival itself.

We will continue racing toward collapse — faster than ever before.

📌 Reference: Cognitive Shift to Solve Global Crisis – Raghava Krishna