The world as we knew it is coming to an end, and it’s up to us how it ends and what comes after. It’s the end of the age of fossil fuel, but if the fossil-fuel corporations have their way the ending will be delayed as long as possible, with as much carbon burned as possible. If the rest of us prevail, we will radically reduce our use of those fuels by 2030, and almost entirely by 2050. We will meet climate change with real change, and defeat the fossil-fuel industry in the next nine years…
Rebecca Solnit
One of our finest living essay writers is Rebecca Solnit. She writes with innovation and style about so many subjects, including my hometown of New Orleans. Here she ponders in her own inimitable way the climate crisis facing the world. Instead to penning a screed of doom and gloom, she reveals ten ways we as individuals can confront this looming crisis and, yes, make a difference. Hope is what she offers, and really that and putting our global ingenuity and will to the task will carry us out of the dire scenarios for future of the planet.
Here is the article:
Telstar ⋅ December 02, 2021
I'm not going to worry about what happens in 2050..........
Possibly not in 2030 either.
Oswego Telstar ⋅ December 02, 2021
2030 will be here before you know it! 🥺🤔
Telstar Oswego ⋅ December 03, 2021
But I may not be here in 2030.......................................
Oswego Telstar ⋅ December 03, 2021
You got a point! Same here, but ever the optimist I am! 😌🤔
Telstar Oswego ⋅ December 03, 2021
Likewise I don't want to be a fatalist.
I've led a very good life & I can't imagine it getting any better in the future.
And then there's the curiosity about the next life...........................
Oswego Telstar ⋅ December 03, 2021
Have you formed any ideas what that might be like?
Telstar Oswego ⋅ December 03, 2021
I think it's going to be good.
But I don't think we have the capacity to really imagine it.
Telstar Oswego ⋅ December 03, 2021
My grandparents are there now - and my mother. But they're not waiting on us to get there. We're already there too.
If they were there waiting on us, they'd be unhappy. So there's no sense of time. But that's just my opinion.
ConnieK ⋅ December 03, 2021
Here's the thing. More people are on board with acknowledging and fixing global warming than ever before. Remember how hard we fought in the 1960s to even get EPA? The younger generations are pushing for a cleaner world. I put my hope in that, along with the strides we are making today.
Oswego ConnieK ⋅ December 03, 2021
Yes, exactly. That’s why I have hope, although tenuous. But I won’t ever let that hope go because the alternative is not something I want to contemplate at all.
gypsy spirit ⋅ December 03, 2021 (edited December 03, 2021)
Edited
this opening sentence says it all for me - "The world as we knew it is coming to an end, and it’s up to us how it ends and what comes after." The issue is so much more than fossil fuels and all the social ills humans have brought upon themselves and our planet's inhabitants. But that is a good quote, all of it. As I see things, the only way any of it can be changed is by a total change of hearts and values...spiritual values of kindness, honesty, commitment, loyalty,honour, humility, patience, cooperation self-discipline - just to name a few......most importantly love and unity. Without those levels of integrity any hope and sense of purpose will struggle. Humanity is a caretaker of this earth and it will take a very broad spectrum of change, starting within each individual, to seriously make enough change. Yet like you, I always hold tight to hope and know things will change, but on its own hope is not enough. We need a real paradigm shift within us all to also carry us through to what comes after. Take care, p
Oswego gypsy spirit ⋅ December 03, 2021
Very wise words, my friend. Eloquently stated. It will indeed take a complete paradigm shift to avert human-caused climate disaster. We are making progress, technologically, but spiritually —- I am not so sure. For many, their primitive and selfish natures will impede progress. So my big concern is whether or not we can make the global shift you refer to in time.
gypsy spirit Oswego ⋅ December 03, 2021
I guess that is the real challenge.
Jinn ⋅ December 03, 2021
It’s a very interesting article. I want to save the Earth we have now ( even with the damage we already experience ) and do whatever I can to help that .
Deleted user ⋅ December 04, 2021
Share more of your hope with us.
Oswego Deleted user ⋅ December 04, 2021
I will certainly try to!