The Raging
I am adrift. Lost in a sea of rage and despair with only this tiny lifeboat to cling to. How do we keep going, knowing what we know? In a world gone mad, what do we do when faced with countless bodies - victims of the largest mass murder in history? People whose lives ended because of the careless and soulless greed of humanity? Not all killed by a single person or a small band of felons, but by an industry and society gone mad.
The climate is changing. Our world is changing. In a real, physical way. And it's not slowing down any time in the foreseeable future. And as it's changing, life is already getting harder for millions of people around the world. Resources - food, water - are becoming more scarce.
We say BLACK LIVES MATTER. But what are we doing about the fact that black and brown bodies are the first to be sacrificed to the gods of oil and coal and gas?
We say HONOR THE TREATIES. But what are we doing to prevent the contamination of Native lands? What are we doing to protect the life-giving water from the creeping glaze of oil seeping out of pipelines snaking across the countryside?
We say FEED THE CHILDREN. But what are we doing to prevent the encroaching drought from wiping out crops that could do exactly that? Or the more frequent flooding that does the same?
We say MAKE LOVE NOT WAR. But what are we doing to lessen the conflicts that erupt when resources become more scarce and people become desperate to survive? We think global conflict is bad now; just watch as it only escalates with the climate crisis.
We say SAVE THE WHALES, SAVE THE TREES, SAVE THE POLAR BEARS. But our daily actions say that all that matters is the here and now. Me and mine. What we can see and touch.
We say NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE. But where is the peace in a world that is burning everything that we aspire to share? What harmony can there be if there is nothing left of the society we dream of?
Those of us lucky enough to have homes and cars and our choice of food:
What are we doing when we climb into our oil-and-gas-guzzling death machines each and every day?
When we sit and idle waiting for children to exit school or for the car to "warm up" on a cold day?
When we eat more meat than any civilization in history, farmed on massive factory operations with literal pools of shit leaking into groundwater and emitting massive amounts of methane and particulates into the air around us?
When we leave all the lights burning in an empty house - or to light up the exterior in an "appealing" way?
We turn a blind eye to our own culpability as we gladly hand over the reigns to the future to those who only desire wealth and power now and will gladly sacrifice "lesser" lives for their own gain.
And still we worship the gods of comfort - all of which contribute to a rapidly warming world, rapidly declining species diversity and richness, and a rapidly disintegrating society that we are desperately clinging to.
This world we are trying to save? The one we are fighting so hard to make equal and just?
We are standing by as it slowly dies. And with the world, so go we.
The climate is changing. Our world is changing. In a real, physical way. And it's not slowing down any time in the foreseeable future. And as it's changing, life is already getting harder for millions of people around the world. Resources - food, water - are becoming more scarce.
We say BLACK LIVES MATTER. But what are we doing about the fact that black and brown bodies are the first to be sacrificed to the gods of oil and coal and gas?
We say HONOR THE TREATIES. But what are we doing to prevent the contamination of Native lands? What are we doing to protect the life-giving water from the creeping glaze of oil seeping out of pipelines snaking across the countryside?
We say FEED THE CHILDREN. But what are we doing to prevent the encroaching drought from wiping out crops that could do exactly that? Or the more frequent flooding that does the same?
We say MAKE LOVE NOT WAR. But what are we doing to lessen the conflicts that erupt when resources become more scarce and people become desperate to survive? We think global conflict is bad now; just watch as it only escalates with the climate crisis.
We say SAVE THE WHALES, SAVE THE TREES, SAVE THE POLAR BEARS. But our daily actions say that all that matters is the here and now. Me and mine. What we can see and touch.
We say NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE. But where is the peace in a world that is burning everything that we aspire to share? What harmony can there be if there is nothing left of the society we dream of?
Those of us lucky enough to have homes and cars and our choice of food:
What are we doing when we climb into our oil-and-gas-guzzling death machines each and every day?
When we sit and idle waiting for children to exit school or for the car to "warm up" on a cold day?
When we eat more meat than any civilization in history, farmed on massive factory operations with literal pools of shit leaking into groundwater and emitting massive amounts of methane and particulates into the air around us?
When we leave all the lights burning in an empty house - or to light up the exterior in an "appealing" way?
We turn a blind eye to our own culpability as we gladly hand over the reigns to the future to those who only desire wealth and power now and will gladly sacrifice "lesser" lives for their own gain.
And still we worship the gods of comfort - all of which contribute to a rapidly warming world, rapidly declining species diversity and richness, and a rapidly disintegrating society that we are desperately clinging to.
This world we are trying to save? The one we are fighting so hard to make equal and just?
We are standing by as it slowly dies. And with the world, so go we.
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