Owl Moth
Things Are Weird Out There
I don’t know about you, but I’m finding my sense of what’s going on in the world, both on a macro-level and on a very personal, day-to-day level, to be chaotic and bordering on overwhelming.
I’m amazed, I guess, at the intensity with which we are being asked to live our lives nowadays.
I look back on my journals from 15 or 20 years ago (and even further back) and I honestly feel as though we lived in another age. And by that I mean when I read my entries and contemplate how we lived our daily lives, it feels like life back in the ‘80s and ‘90s is as foreign to us now as “Little House on the Prairie” days looked to us then.
When You Really Think About It…
We are witnessing a time in the world’s evolution that could, conceivably, make or break the entire planet. What an outrageous and outlandish concept. We’re literally and very probably fiddling around taking the smallest of steps to change our energy usage (for instance), when in a year or two, if we do not drastically change our ways in one fell swoop, we almost certainly will be facing cataclysmic, made-for-tv-movie events in our lives on a regular, probably monthly, basis.
I cannot for the life of me understand why addressing the very real, very tangible effects of climate change hinges on whether or not people ‘believe’ climate change is ‘man-made’ or not.
Regardless of ‘whose fault it is,’ it behooves all of us to LOOK. AT. IT. Doesn’t it?
Who cares whether there have been other times in the history of our planet when the atmosphere naturally warmed and caused massive sheets of ice to melt? When those things happened, it changed the course of evolution, didn’t it? And if the plants and animals living at that time could see that, if circumstances continued to unfold the way they were those plants and animals would become extinct, and if they had had the technology and awareness to stop those changes from taking place – wouldn’t they have done so?
Does it really matter whose ‘fault’ it is?
What Is Wrong With Us?
The level of immaturity and utter nonsensical thinking, when it comes to refusing to take practical steps to save our planet (and thus ourselves), defies explanation.
Every day we see the current Administration deliberately rolling back commonsense efforts to make life better here on Earth. For instance, this Administration just rolled back the banning of the sale of energy inefficient light bulbs that was to take effect at the beginning of 2020. And they also are challenging California’s efforts to implement stricter emissions standards than those rolled back by the current Administration. This flies in the face of the usual stance of the Republican party that “states rights” be given precedence over federal regulations.
Sort of Like Dumping Garbage
I guess these attitudes are akin to the people who unconsciously (or worse, deliberately and consciously) dump garbage out their car windows – be it empty cigarette packs, cigarettes themselves, or used disposable diapers.
Every day I’m speaking with friends or clients or even just people standing in line with me at the grocery story who have a strange new look in their eyes. That look is one that says, to me, “I’m starting to freak the hell out. Life as we know it has become insane.”
What to Do?
When confronted with strangers in the grocery line, I do my best to catch their eye and smile. Laugh.
We pick up the cigarette butts and empty packs of Marlboros and dirty diapers dumped along the roadside. (Luckily, dirty diapers are a rarity, but still…).
We use the energy efficient bulbs regardless of whether the old ones are still available for purchase.
I do my best to hold a vision of a United States that leads the way in finding innovative solutions to our crises.
I do my best not to lose hope.
(T-809)