Climate Quandary

Recently, yesterday in fact, I was listening to the Daily podcast, The NY Times investigative online news outlet.

The topic was the effects of climate change around the world, from rampant wild fires in the western US to air pollution from  those fires traveling to the skies of New York City, to unparalleled flooding in other parts of the world. Extreme climate conditions look very bleak. 

The bottom line is that although many coping mechanisms are being put into place, they are only bandaids for this climatology nightmare. Unless we, as a global populace, work together to mitigate the causes of global warning, we’ll never get on top of it. The absolute bottom line is, we are not prepared for what’s happening globally, and no one’s willing to change enough to make a significant difference in preparing for and proactively altering our mind sets and lifestyles to slow down, if not stop and reverse the disastrous effects of climate change.

Another podcast I listened to last week shared the thought that only when the climate catastrophe directly affects those individuals standing in the way of global warming legislation, only then will they concede and cooperate with restrictions on fossil fuel use. And by the time the upper crust is severely feeling effects of fires, heat, and flooding, the rest of us will be beyond caring. Revolution won’t help. They are ready for that. Peaceful protests make a difference. Gandhi had the right idea. We don’t have to sacrifice ourselves, but peaceful persistent protests will get some meaningful attention.

High minded spiritual organizations realize that all of us, good, bad, rich, poor, victims and perpetrators need to look within themselves and do some positive inner work that will, with a critical number of participants, create a ground swell of good will, understanding, peaceful appeals, and creative collaboration. This in turn will move the needle. When we redirect our energies from pointing the finger of accusation and criticism at those who are purportedly dragging their feet on acknowledging the consequences of global warning, and creatively redirect our minds and intellect toward solutions and patiently emphasizing common grounds, goals and needs, only then can we collectively address the consequences of our collective neglect. 

I’m not sure what good this blog post will do. However, I do know that although the EU has disclosed some proposed legislation that will restrict pollution. But I believe that their timeline is too long. We need to move fast within this decade. I understand why they think it will take into the 2030’s to secure drastic changes in pollution policy. But whether we like or not, if Al Gore’s prediction of decades ago, the conditions are changing faster than we are comfortably prepared for. And it won’t be long, within a year or two, that the opposition will notice the sizzle under their feet, instant sunburn, and their unconscious prayers that the air conditioning system in their house or automobile doesn’t break down. 

Elon Musk’s tunnel drilling equipment could be used create underground refuges for the homeless, who are growing in number because of fires, and flooding. If he helps save humanity, there’ll be more of us around to buy his products.