There’s a risk that if we don’t act soon — i.e. NOW! — it will be too late to halt the terminal decline of this once pristine world.
As I type those few words and my sincere apologies if they seem ill-conceived or misanthropic, I feel the great pain of the mounting deaths from this pernicious CV-19 virus, and can’t begin to imagine, let alone assimilate, what it means for all those families grieving the loss of their loved ones.
I can hardly go on…but something compels me to finish this post.
The thing is, what I’m struck by is the fact that we’ve mobilised ourselves (or at least Big Pharma has) on an unprecedented scale to, if not wipe out CV-19, find a cure that will steadily and surely improve all our lives — or at least those countries that can afford the vaccine!
And that’s got to be good, right?
However, the portent of what is coming down the track makes CV-19 seem small change — no, really — and I don’t see how you geoengineer a solution to something so vast, so catastrophic and so (yes, I’m afraid to say it) death-dealing. Of course, none of us has a crystal ball but to my mind, it’s not a matter of if but when. Probably not in my generation but certainly my kids and theirs to follow.
Of course, as I remarked in an earlier post, all this doom and gloom mongering is only apt to make us either ignore the problem (it’s simply too vast to properly or knowingly compute) or (speaking personally) cause us to freeze or be caught in a permanent stasis. But then again, if you look at the numbers apropos emissions and the like, it’s the Big Boys who really have the power to apply the breaks and person by person we’re not going to make a huge amount of difference, unless we revert to a mode of living — indigenous if you will — that’s long since past into folklore and isn’t likely to come about unless by default.
Where does that leave us all?
It’s a good question.
Not, in my case, hopeful.
I wish I could say otherwise, but if you look at the current levers available to Government, I don’t see anything radical being advocated for let alone implemented. In fact, the more I hear about Net Zero targets and the wonderful opportunities available in the Green space (it’s almost chortle-worthy: we screw the planet with one set of jobs, and then invent a few more to clean it up!), the more I’m inclined to step away from the sky-is-falling-in fray and go back to writing about something far less challenging.
Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong. As the Crown of Creation, there’s nothing we can’t do and digging ourselves out the climate change hole, will just be another project to knock off as part of the neoliberal experiment. Possibly, but I think the Gods have spoken and being weighed down with all this doom and gloom is more than an opportunity to take stock. It’s our wake up call — or, certainly, that’s what’s circling in the winds for me. In fact, I think the virus is positively oracular and behoves all to take very seriously what is, as night follows day, just around the corner.
One last point and just to be clear: I’m not or no longer the solutions guy. I don’t mean on this problem particularly but the whole be all you can be trope (I need to do some work on this website to reframe the messaging). No, I’m the question guy. Or, as I’m apt to quote from e.e. cummings, I’m the guy who is looking for the more beautiful question to produce or bring about the more beautiful answer.
Anyhow, that’s my two-penneth worth for today. Sorry again if it’s a bit bleak.