Looking into the future with….

Interview Roman Schmidt, “Fear eats future”

1. Dear Mr Schmidt, your book, “Angst frisst Zukunft” (Fear Eats Future) provides food for thought and inspiration on how to build a strong, new agriculture. You talk about the big problems of our time – climate change, social inequality, consumerism and the corona crisis we are currently facing – but you remain very optimistic and positive. Honestly, don’t you worry at all about your and your children’s future?

I have a 12-year-old daughter. Yes, I am worried. But optimism outweighs the worry. Humanity has solved so many problems and is capable of solving the challenges of the future. For example, when I was at my daughter’s age, we were told at school that when we grew up, the trees would no longer have leaves on their branches because of “acid rain”. Today, nobody talks about acid rain anymore and the trees will put on their freshest clothes again next spring. We are facing enormous challenges. But I am convinced that they are manageable and that there are more solutions than problems.

2. On the subject of climate protection – tourism is a close partner of agriculture – the products, but also the preservation of the cultural landscape.

How and with which measures could tourism cooperate with agriculture in order to generate synergies from which the region, climate protection and the people can benefit?

Sustainable agriculture is closely linked to tourism. After all, it not only shapes the landscape, but its protagonists are also an essential unique selling point for regions. Specialities and authentic agricultural productions are of enormous value in the regions. And the agriculture of the future is one that promotes regional sustainability in many respects, for example in the development of humus and animal welfare, which we can now afford. It is important to note that in the age of the Anthropocene, the greatest extinction of species is accompanied by the largest mass of vertebrates in stables. Something is going wrong here. As tourism becomes more national due to the corona crisis, agriculture faces a great opportunity, namely the chance to conquer new customer segments with innovative new “world-saving products”.

3. In your book you say that it can be made easy by always looking for blame in others first, by distracting oneself from finding a solution when looking for blame. If we were to apply this to the discourse surrounding the Friday for Future movement or the young generation’s climate protection movement, which has been partly boosted in the media to a generation conflict. In your opinion, how should this discourse be conducted? Does this discourse also function without apportioning blame, and if so, how?

I believe that the Friday-for-Future generation must accept that it is part of the problem, but also part of the solution. And I think it’s good that young people are made aware of their own future through this movement. After all, it is their future more than that of adults. Moreover, they become advocates for their parents, who actually want to enjoy the wealth they have achieved without being constantly made aware of the underlying problem. It is easy to blame the others. But the world would be a much more sustainable place if we started to make our own actions fit for the future. But that does not mean, in my view, that we should not talk about it further and passionately. We are just seeing how the media war of attention works. Nobody talks about the major problems of our planet because corona has a firm grip on media attention.

4. What content would you like to see on the subject of climate protection in our schools? How should this content be taught?

I am a great friend of simple solutions. Even if some problems are not easy to solve, we can achieve enormous things with our own actions by consciously changing habits. If, in turn, I link agriculture to school, I see enormous potential in kitchen management, in exam dinners and public events to contribute to a change in awareness. It doesn’t matter what’s on the plate, it doesn’t matter what’s in the glass, it’s irresponsible not to ask questions or ask the wrong questions (e.g. “What’s the price? Could it be cheaper?) when deciding which food and drink to order. Instead, the ecological footprint per course should be the main focus. That would really amaze the guests.

5. Similar to the death of farmers, tourism is also experiencing the death of innkeepers. What advice would you give a village landlord to help him face a secure future? What do you think are the 3 most important measures?

Fear is also eating away the future in the catering trade. And out of sheer panic, the focus is now only on the costs, only on the price. But how can value be created when all attention is focused on the final price?

My three most important points for the gastronomy:

• The closer the better! This applies to suppliers, guests etc.
• Decide in favour of quality and talk about it tirelessly.
• Quality of life before exploitation (How to do this? Energy follows attention. If it is my concern, a lot of things will develop for the good in this area).

6. You consider corona an opportunity for agriculture. Do you think that this can also be applied to tourism, which is one of the most affected industries? Where would you see these opportunities for tourism?

Proximity is becoming increasingly important. The challenge will be to develop this proximity into a valuable sales argument. The shutdowns are causing problems for tourism, as they do for many other industries. But the summer has shown that quality tourism is possible more than ever before and that guests appreciate this. I am convinced that Austrian tourism has a great opportunity. But I am also convinced that the corona crisis is a fire accelerator for systems that are only concerned with efficiency gains, which effectively achieve nothing more.

7. In your view, we are always basically dominated by two states, either love or fear, and that fear is simply a result of a lack of information.

What tips do you have in this respect for our pupils and students, who will soon also be pushing into a crisis-ridden job market?  How can they manage not to be dominated by fear?

I would like to tell you a story in this regard:

An old Indian sits with his grandson around a campfire and says: “My son, in each of us a fight between two wolves is raging. The one wolf is the wolf of envy, jealousy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, lies, arrogance, selfishness and resentment.

The other wolf is the wolf of love, joy, peace, hope and serenity, kindness, compassion, generosity and gratitude, trust and truth”.

“These two wolves fight within us, every day!” said the Indian.

The grandson asks: “And which of the two wolves wins?”

The old Indian remains silent for a while and finally says: “The one you feed every day.”

I would invite you to feed confidence everyday, the potential and the opportunities of a changing world. Then everything will be alright.

7. You say that the future is in our hands and in your book you speak of a vision anchor that is needed. What vision anchor would you give our tourism students?

How their future will look like is in the hands of each individual student. My request would rather be that nobody in your school should miss the opportunity to sketch a picture of their own future during their school days and finally paint it in the most beautiful colours. We underestimate the power of the inner images that unfold potentials and stimulate the morphogenetic field. The possibilities are waiting out there. You must know, our potential is comparable to a radio: If we tune our frequency accordingly, we will become receivers for those messages that take us forward in life.