It's Time For Climate Action
Don't sit back it's time to act!
Something's been nagging me for a while. Kind of an itch really. And it's been bugging me since before the Covid-19 nightmare. Like deja vue in reverse. That what we're living through now is a dress rehearsal for something much bigger. Maybe we're experiencing the appetiser. You know, the precursor to a scintillating main course - an eco Big Mac and fries!
What if Coronavirus is the advance party for something much more sinister? What if it's like an early skirmish in a deadlier war. And what if that war's lurking just around the corner. What if Trump’s right about climate change and all the thousands of scientists are wrong - just not wrong in the way we might expect. What if the predictions for climate change prove to be too cautious.
What if we only have a few years before we get hit by another global catastrophy - another rampant virus or endless droughts, rainstorms, flooding and coastal collapse leading to mass population migration, starvation and a devastating world war.
What if our wildlife get so fed up with us and Tiger King that they finally turn on us - lions and tigers roaming the streets of New York or London. Snakes in our showers, tarantulas up our pj's.
What if aliens drop in to nuke us because they agree with the wildlife and can no longer watch us from afar while we fumble with the planet like three year olds. Or what if, way, way scarier than any of the above, what if Trump wins the next US election and we get another four years of his twitter account.
ENOUGH!! ENOUGH OF THIS!! ENOUGH I SAY!!
What if we DO SOMETHING. What if we stand up and fight back. What if we didn't have to write this doomsday crud of a climate nightmare that's starting to make us want to find the next cliff and nose dive it like a kestrel. What if our rantings were about our progress defeating Corona and climate change and inequality and obesity.
What if we all just wake up one day and decide that we'd had enough. Enough of waiting around watching storms get worse, public health get more viruses, forests get more fires, politicians get more useless and ExxonMobil get more share buybacks. What if we act now to survive our extinction - to roll back global warming. To stop Corona 2.0. To save the planet.
What if we decided that Donnie and Bolsonightmarearo were wrong and Jacinda and Greta were right and that the way to attack the Corona consuming every inch of our daily, increasingly Netflix driven lives, was to kill it by waging war on the real problem - the climate thing. Getting the public money flying around to go on green, healthy, climate friendly initiatives including walkable, bike loving cities and urban green spaces with rewilding verges, parks and commons.
What if our national treasures, parks and crown lands were rewilded, what if every country started a national tree planting campaign, what if politicians and business leaders went all in and insisted on 100% renewable energy by 2035. What if us citizens stopped eating meat before evening dinner and shopped on foot to local stores and walked to work and to school and got on planes way less.
What if we invested better in universal healthcare systems and schooling. What if our carbon emissions starting decreasing on an annual basis, what if pollution and racism become old diseases that we eradicate like malaria. What if national pride was restored by living in the greenest, healthiest, most equal and happy place on the planet. You know, like Disneyland or the Kardashian mansion or New Zealand.
And then again, what if we don't. What if we do nothing and we get another five years of Corona 1.0 and Corona 2.0 and Donnie and Bozzer and heat and rain and fire and bedlem. What if we do nothing and the planet swallows us up and spits us out like a bug in a Big Mac. What if China and America decide that nuclear war is easier than tackling climate chaos and more fun than the endless twitter back and forth. What if Xi Ping Pong and Donnie end up being the last men standing - you know like a same sex Adam and Eve. What if these were our least few years on earth - like EVER.
It really is up to you. You choose and God help you. Let's not forget that our actions today will affect everyone's tomorrow. How we eat, spend our money, travel, garden, holiday, vote and where we work.
Pick carefully. We can make the climate difference. It is never too late. But time is running out.