Global Change-- NOW

The world's climate is changing. No doubt about that. My homeland of ontario has seen some rather strange weather of late. The Antarctic and the Arctic are both melting into the ocean. Forests are dying. People are dying. depressed yet? Its a scary thought that in a mere hundred years the world has been so drastically altered that it is becoming hard to live for both plants and animals. Perhaps god or aliens will appear and save us from our selves. I am a bit of a Thomas in that regard-- a doubter.

The problems that we face are entirely the product of an ever expanding pandemic-- Humans. Perhaps if we were all wiped out by some great catastrophe the world would be saved. A few humans surviving in caves to repopulate the planet. Pretty optimistic in certain realms. Doom for others. Apocalypse for another train of thought.

In his Documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” Al Gore describes the status of the environment. If one can put politics aside for a moment and ignore the glamour that surrounds former presidents-elect, the real truth is clearly outlined for us all. IF we continue on our path of mindless consumerism we are all, to put it extremely bluntly, Fucked. Soon and very soon the world will give up on us. The powers of nature will take over and cleanse this planet in a most uncharming way. It has already begun this process with events like Katrina, the heatwaves across Europe, and the scourage of the pine beetle.

By now you have either stopped reading, or are filled with so much guilt that you would like to see the demise of our history. Willing to let our world eat us and turn us into fossils like the dinosaurs. Maybe those are both untrue and you are like a quickly growing contigent who feels that there IS a sense of hope.

Lets face it. God isn't going to save us. Niether is Allah. Nor buddah. or any other diety that may or may not exist. This problem is to big even for our governments. This problem is beyond their scope. It involves everyone. Not just the people who use fossil fuels with complete disregard to the environment. It includes each and every human on this planet. Anyone and everyone. Not just the USA, Not just Western culture. It includes the people living off the land in the jungle who have little to no contact with the outside world. This shit is global dude.

There was a meeting about this in the town hall here in Fort Bragg. It was a big to do. A lot of people showed up. The hall wasn't packed unfortunately. A few seats open. 4 next to me were vacant the entire time (might have had something to do with the fact that i haven't showered in days). Most of the meeting centred around electricity and more efficient ways to use/create it. There were scary statistics about the use of coal as an energy source. A clip of Dickhead-fuckin-Cheney spouting off about how Nuclear energy is a zero emissions energy source. It was all jammed into a docu by Jeff Barrie called “Kilowatt Ours.” The first part of it was the usual scare tactic. Showing the flattening of an entire mountain in Virginia for the extraction of equally destructive Coal. There were numerous children in it who provided testimony about their crippling asthma, a result of the use of fossil fuels. And a few scary statistics about Nuclear energy. Scary shit.

The second half of the docu was very optimistic. To the point where people who aren't optimistic get annoyed. There ARE solutions though. Curbing extravagance. Focusing on being more efficient. Getting the public involved. And just plain being responsible for ourselves and the rest of the planet. It is a simple answer. Granted it may well be to late. I doubt that as much as I doubt that something besides humans will fix our current pandemic.

As some religious folkes say “these are the Final days.” I have collected plenty of little cartoons sent out by Chick Publications which try to convince people that they will be in hell unless they take jesus as their lord and savior. These days are only final if we don't try. Hell on earth is a clear future unless we can take the time to set aside our differences and work together for a better future. Stick your personal views on the back burner, and start working towards a future for everyone on the front element. There is no after-life if there is no life. And there aint no god if there aint no humans.

There are plenty of ways to move forward towards a better, sustainable planet. It involves a little work and a bunch of community. Not much when it is divided between 7-8 billion. It is imperative that it gets done though. As Bad Religion sings in one of their songs “Kyoto NOW.” Not tomorrow. Not next year. NOW. Hell Kyoto is old news now. Responsibility NOW.

One person won't make a change. This fact is very true, however if everyone gets in on it then nothing will stop change. Do the math. Times anything by 7-8 billion and you will get a number that is astronomic and cannot be counted to within the realms of an individual. Stop waiting for a savior. One isn't going to come. The savior is you and everyone on this entire planet combined in an act that will change the shape of the future.

Empowerment is the key here. To say that “I” can't make a difference is to accept defeat. That everything on this planet is doomed. Nobody truely wants an apocalypse do we?