Not long ago I made reference to boiling frogs in Washington. I was not looking at the Big Picture at the time. To be truly dreary, I should broaden my statement to say all of us are frogs on a planet that we — WE — are slowly bringing to a boil. The scientists keep trying to tell us, to warn us, but too many people are ignoring them. You can believe the scientists or not, but that won’t change the facts.
Even Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old, understands that “Change is coming, whether you like it or not.”
And Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist, said:
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
I suppose in this case it’s a bad thing because science says we’re destroying the planet. Actually, we’re destroying ourselves. In one form or another, even as a barren rock, the planet will survive, just as it did for millions of years before the advent of our species.
So when you get upset with a neighbor, or the driver who cut you off, or with the idiots in Washington, just remember: If things don’t change, we will all go down together.
I admit I’m surprised that we are already experiencing significant effects of climate change. I thought it would be more gradual. Glaciers melting, Venice flooding, record rainfall, blizzards, brush fires, vineyards in draught, extinctions, using the NW passage above Canada. It’s happening. It is a test of homo sapiens maturity as a species and so far, we are failing. The only question left is whether the worst of it can be avoided.
Even in the Sixties we were being told that the crap we were putting into the air would persist for 30 years. That’s when we started doing away with freon in spray cans and air conditioners. And “Silent Spring” was published. What we’re seeing now is just the inevitable result of what’s been building for the last 50 years or more. I doubt we can change much of what’s happening now, but heaven help us if we don’t stop making it worse.
“The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” We may not be able to correct the past, but we must choose a new direction, and very soon.