George FLC wrote:I'm an optimist - No! It's not too late. How can we just give up? If we aren't striving to adjust and improve then we have big time problems.
I get the optimism—we really need it. But hope alone won't save us. Every time someone pushes for real change, there's a crowd of people who are too lazy, too cynical, or too entitled to help. They'll argue online all day but won't actually do anything. They act like they know everything but won't plant a tree, clean up trash, or even recycle. They expect someone else to handle it.
Well, those "someone elses" are gone. We've pushed away the people who kept our food system running—field workers, laborers, the people who actually do the work—and now farmers can't find help. The privileged class won't step in because they think manual labor is beneath them. They'd rather complain online than get their hands dirty. Our supply chains from other countries no longer exist thanks to a man who never got past page 1 in Economics 101, the part where tariffs are explained in detail... that says tariffs levied on other countries only mean higher prices for the consumers of those products, which of course are you and me. Example: Mexico just cut off their supply of tomatoes to the US due to imposed tariffs, while the US sits with fields of tomatoes rotting on the vines because there are no workers to pick them. Wonder how that happened? This only means that for Thanksgiving dinner, you can expect to pay $10 for one tomato, if you can find one.
We've got a "leader" (somehow that word doesn't feel right) whose only plan is "drill, drill, drill," selling off public lands to the highest bidder. Goodbye, Yellowstone. He doesn't care about conservation or climate change—just money and power. And we've got corrupt judges, including Supreme Court justices, who've been bought and paid for. Corruption is so bad it's basically official policy now. And goodbye, Big Bird and Ernie... PBS was just slashed because it didn't feature anyone with an orange face. Kids grew up on Sesame Street, which taught them how to do good, how to be neat and tidy, how to care about others, how to be a friend, and how to live in these times. For some kids, that's all they had because their parents are too busy for them. But no more. No more Public Broadcasting System. Gone by the wayside, soon to be replaced with only one TV station, and for those of you who are smart, you know who that TV station will feature non-stop. Ask North Korea what that's like.
So yes, George, you're right in that we shouldn't give up. But let's be honest: we're not just fighting climate change and trash. We're fighting greed, laziness, entitlement, and a system that's falling apart because nobody cares anymore. If we don't start being real about what we're up against, we'll just sit here watching everything fall apart, wondering how it happened.
Where is that asteroid when you need it most?
Oh, yes, about those temperatures... we are back to normal today, but that's because it rained last night and it's raining here today with thunderstorms, gigantic cracks of thunder and lightning.
