It is a curious thing to have to wonder whether your species has the political will to save itself. Here we are, with many places on fire, with floods killing people and drought purging life from landscapes and a clear report that we’re in a lot of trouble and must act urgently… and I do not know if the political will exists to do anything.
Already in the UK some of our politicians have started making noises to the effect that there’s no point us doing anything unless China does. Apparently no one is keen to square up to short term discomfort in order to fend off disaster in a few years time.
I don’t understand why anyone thinks there is any advantage to being rich if we don’t have a functioning planet. You can’t buy your way out of being on fire. There is no economic advantage that will get you a free pass to avoid all the consequences of climate chaos. Granted, the poor will suffer most, and are already suffering. But at this point, surely, enlightened self interest should kick in?
Apparently some 70% of the problem is caused by 100 companies. We know, and we have known for a long time that it is the richest 1% who urgently need to curb their consumption. Those who have most need to do most. Will they? Will the people who could do most to avoid us all watching life on this planet get wiped out, act? Or are we going to wipe ourselves out as a species by being too greedy and lazy to survive?
I spend a lot of time trying not to despair of humans trying not to think the worst of us and trying to imagine that we will do better. We’re running out of time. Today I am allowing myself to be angry and frustrated. I’ve spent years working to reduce my carbon footprint, which was never large. I know that if well resourced people had made more effort, we could have made a real impact without waiting for governments, big business and the 1% to get their shit together. But here we are, and I’m angry, and exhausted and frustrated and afraid.
All I can do is keep doing what I can. I refuse to give up. But dear Gods we could have done so much better, and should have done, and should be doing everything we can right now to sort things out.
Druid Life 
August 11th, 2021 at 10:42 am
I wholeheartedly agree, i still can’t understand why there is a sense of “business as usual” in people around me. I am finding some comfort in the writing and discussions of Robert MacFarlane but more than ever I am just bewildered by the attitudes of Australian politicians talking about gosl setting for 2050 when even 2030 seems too far and insufficient.
August 11th, 2021 at 11:18 am
It is heartbreaking and I am angry too. The best I think I can do is to continue to fight, politically and with NVDA, to honour the Earth and the Gods, and to show compassion to other people (human and non-human). That latter point is difficult when I see those humans trashing our sacred world.
August 11th, 2021 at 11:51 am
As much as space exploration interests me, I really wonder if most of the 1% aren’t concerned because they believe that they’ll be able to leave this planet and live elsewhere. With the SpaceX thing, Bezos paying to go to space, and all that noise…it’s like they’re content to watch the rest of the world die while pretending to care. Then others talk about population control or eugenics…how so many people need to die for the earth to continue to sustain those that are left, it’s like they want things to go to hell because they’re so certain they’ll be the lucky ones. There’s just a heartlessness and self-serving element to it all that’s horrible. I can’t understand it and don’t want to. It fills me with despair honestly.
August 11th, 2021 at 3:08 pm
I keep remembering reading, many years ago, Kurt Vonnegut’s epitaph for the earth: “They could’ve saved it, but they were too damned cheap and lazy.”
August 12th, 2021 at 12:36 am
Just reading that Sicily may have reached new heat record of 48.8 degrees C. Or in our F syatem a bit over 119F. I wonder how many people in Europe have air conditioners, what about the poor crowded neighborhoods, what about outdoor worker, people with health issues, food crops and live stock, all other animals, plants insects and micro-organisms. We are seeing natural disaster than even the wealthy nations cannot handle. South Africa is sending 100 fire fights to Canada to help them fight their many fires. Her in the states many out of control fires,some of them eating million of acres, hundreds of square miles. A decade ago we thought we had a few centuries before this happened, then the end of this century and now it is a decade of two, and that will speed up far more. Climate cange, whats that. Now we know.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:25 am
I found the news of our current state of climate decline and danger both heartbreaking and terrifying. I fear these is not the will amongst those who could make the difference to do so. I do what I can and cherish what we have for as long as we have it. I am in my late 60s so I will not live to see the worst of the results of our inaction, but my stepdaughters will and I grieve for the losses they will experience. We, collectively as a species, have known and done nothing.