It’s another tough truth we’re forgetting in all our commutes, industry investment (your 401K), and flying. Those are the top qualifiers, right off the bat. And yes, I get on planes and drive, but I divested- maybe you can too. The other amazing way to fight climate change is by not buying industrial agriculture if you can. Local CSAs, a back garden, or cutting fast food out of your diet wins some spectacular CO2 reductions as well. I have a Dick’s burger every few years- but I have not been to McDonald’s or any other major chain like it in almost 30 years. That is a huge difference made in one act, by one person. Try, try to see how you can reduce your expenditures. Stop buying individually wrapped bulk items, find organic sources, stop online shopping all the time. Look at all the little things, they add up.
We’re watching it happen- the loss of our environmental safe guards. With that, democratic instability sets in, the current administration was born out of many edges, social is directly affected by environmental. Americans know starvation, and will again the way things are playing out in our commercial agriculture and the military industrial complex. Community gardens will be paramount, so invest now if you can. I’ll be selling starter flocks again this year- and if you have some acreage and a freezer, buy some local lamb and fill up the icebox before next winter. Invest locally, because soon, it won’t be affordable to order out. Get to know a farmer, or two, or three. Start learning about what your community is doing about food insecurity, and volunteer to help. Volunteer to do anything- it’s a way to give time if you don’t have treasure. Talent is also valuable, so use your gifts well.
Alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic- that’s a good mantra to take up. I’ve been using it for years- and its worked very well, especially in moments of stress building. How do we cope? Our planet shifts constantly, and it will adapt to fast changing constraints, but those changes will not be palatable to the human race, and might also not be survivable. We cannot fully grasp exponential, and some outright deny it all together. When I watch 30 years of glacial retreat, and see the speed up in the last 5-7 years on all the glaciers around the world, I see the global collapse in real time. It will only get faster. These 80F days in April and May will turn into the norm, and I’ll experience it in my lifetime. Weather fronts will draw out, bringing more heat domes and grid failures, often enough that we might not be able to recover from one before the next, these overlapping crisis will slow down our adaptation until we go extinct.
The frustrating thing is, we know what’s happening and still, the train derails as we head right over a cliff. I fear more for the future generations facing the worst of this cataclysm. In not having children, I did what I could to prepare. In mentoring young people, I see the hope and the grounded understanding, while many are checked out, preferring screen time to acting. What would they, could they do now? There are always options, but the slim chance of survival might be a little overwhelming for some. I could add in gun violence, discrimination against anything not strait, white, entitled male, de-funding of education, and the list goes on. Our children know what’s happening, and the sloping rise of mental illness says it all. Yet some how, a graduating senior non-binary young person assures me they have a future, a life of infinite possibility, and I am awestruck. At the same time, I see the last ice melt as sea levels engulf the majority of densely populated coastline around the world. The kids are still in the moment, that’s a super power I envy, and learn from. Thank you young people.
EEC Forest Stewardship 