You cannot solve a complex problem with a simple solution. This assertion, although obvious, is often overshadowed by the current tendency to oversimplify the challenges that overwhelm us daily. In an era marked by heightened polarization and an endless flow of information, simplification has become the norm.
However, recent events have acutely illustrated the extent of the complexity that shapes our daily lives. The combination of the climate crisis and the pandemic has plunged businesses, governments, municipalities and people into an unprecedented spiral of uncertainty.
To date, challenges such as labor shortages, the housing crisis, escalating homelessness, inflation and many others are added to this list and we are trying to address them with an almost naive simplicity.
As if these problems should be taken individually for what they are, without realizing that they are an integral part of a complete system. All these environmental, social and economic issues feed into each other to create a world increasingly out of control. And what’s more destabilizing than feeling control slipping through our fingers?
Isn’t the color gray the incarnation of nuance? Far from considering it as a simple clothing or architectural color, I perceive it as the subtlety of opinions. Although my nature is sometimes rather sharp, I find a certain pleasure in seeing my convictions challenged, encouraging me to nuance my speeches in the face of ever more opaque realities.
No one is safe from adopting categorical positions. The current sociopolitical atmosphere, saturated with radical opinions, often limits our ability to grasp subtlety.
Let’s return to the climate crisis, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the coming century. Although wars and diplomatic tensions often and rightly dominate our attention, it would be perilous to lose sight of the greatest threat to species survival.
Its complexity, difficult to condense into a few sentences or a brief report, could explain this media underrepresentation. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that this crisis deserves more diligent coverage. Its ramifications are innumerable and directly affect the daily lives of millions of individuals.
From public health to floods, wildfires, droughts and species extinctions, every day millions of people struggle with the devastating consequences of climate change. With the exception of climate skeptics, many of us anticipate that this trend will increase in the coming decades.
Now is the time to embrace complexity. Because if we approach problems such as flooding, urban heat islands or the deterioration of air quality in isolation, we could be tempted to opt for hasty solutions. However, haste often reveals other underlying problems.
At the heart of the pandemic crisis, as policy leader for open data, I remember that we directed our efforts towards a meticulous study of areas of Montreal with a high rate of community transmission of the virus. By carefully probing these data, a striking correlation appeared to us: these regions were also grappling with significant urban heat islands, problems of unsanitary housing, infestations of bedbugs, as well as a clear insufficiency in green infrastructure and municipal leisure and cultural spaces. Some also presented food deserts.
A public official wishing to tackle just one of these issues would face obstacles, because these challenges are intrinsically linked by deep socio-economic dynamics. In such a context, any infrastructure development or real estate development project in one of these sectors will necessarily be difficult to carry out. All of this will not be the result of small boxes to fill in, but of a complex context with which we must deal before making a decision. A global and concerted approach must be recommended.
At a time when some populist far-right politicians are advocating reductive “common sense,” we must resist the temptation to take the easy way out and avoid advocating for simple solutions to complex problems.
Rather than giving in to easy shortcuts, couldn’t we draw on the timeless wisdom of the late Hubert Reeves, this beacon who brilliantly demystified the infinitely complex throughout his life? For decades, his voice has illuminated our minds, tirelessly reminding us that everything is intrinsically connected. We, simple “stardust”, are the links in a complex and interdependent chain. Our daily reality, whether marked by climatic upheavals, housing challenges or the ravages of war, is only one manifestation of this. Faced with these titanic challenges, let us dare to take the paths less traveled, because simplicity is not the key to the enigmas that assail us.