In January, we entered upon a completely New Year, knowing that we faced many challenges. Considering the realities, there are some pretty good arguments that we are "doomed," that a massive hole, an invitation to descend into Hell, has opened at our feet. This is true, metaphorically, everywhere - including "politically." As can be seen above, in some places this is the literal truth.
I do not, emphatically, have a "doomsday" world view. So, here is my plea: As we continue to move into the future, let us disabuse ourselves of the idea that we are "inevitably doomed." That is definitely an idea that is out and about, but I reject the doomsday perspective. "Possibility," not "inevitablity," is my favorite category. You can count on my continuing insistence that we are not "doomed," and that we have, actually, significant new opportiunities to make the kind of significant and transformational changes we need to make.
I am not sure how many people "follow" my blog on a regular basis. If you would like to do that, you are very cordially invited to "subscribe." There is no cost, and I put a link at the bottom of every blog posting that is intended to make it easy. Since I am talking about that possibility, however, I can make it even easier. Just click right here!
Unfortunately, when you do click the link to subscribe, there is then a procedure to follow. It's not one simple click. Despite the complications, I do know that some people have subscribed, and that they then follow what I write. Sometimes, I hear from them. They send me comments! Please don't hesitate, ever, to do just that!
On August 9, 2024, I published a blog posting titled, "It Ain't All Waiting On You." This was a commentary on what is popularly known as our "Climate Crisis." Anyone who actually does follow my blog knows that I don't particularly like this term. I think it would be better for us to be candid, and to talk about "Global Warming," and not about "Climate."
Human-caused global warming is actually the "cause" of the problems we are having. Climate-related impacts are the "effect." I favor focusing on the "causes" of global warming, because there is something we can do about those. We can change the way we act!
This is, in fact, exactly the point made by one of my subscribers, after reading that August 9, 2024, blog post. Here is the comment I received:
It's the burning of fossil fuels ... I wish you had mentioned that integral fact! We are still MINING COAL in Wyoming and West Virginia! We are the world's largest exporter of COAL! We are sending COAL to China for their 100's of power plants that use COAL.We put CO2 into the atmosphere every time a jet plane flies inside the Jet Stream, which they do, as crazy as that is! Every time a rocket leaves the earth for the ISS, or to deploy another satellite, it emits tons of CO2!It's not just us little guys with our gasoline-fueled automobiles. It's INDUSTRY! It's the mining now of lithium, needed for all the batteries in the electric cars!Instead of us paying attention to these facts, we are digging the "Dooms Day" hole deeper! The very intense rainstorms in the eastern USA should be a wake-up call! When are our legislators put 2+2 together?
My reader/subscriber is absolutely correct! I am pleased to pass on this advice. I couldn't have said it better myself.
As advised by my reader, let's all start paying attention to the things we are doing to "cause" our climate-related problems, and mobilize to make certain that our government starts taking action to stop the fossil fuel emissions that are the fundamental, root cause of global warming - including by eliminating the burning of coal.
And if we are tempted to forget that doom is not a kind of "inevitability," and that we hold the solution to our problems all in our own hands, we can return to one of Walt Kelly's famous Pogo cartoons. He puts it nicely:
Image Credits:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!