Post-election Blues

I awoke to the election results, and gave a heavy sigh.  Part of me really wanted to jump off the ledge.  Now, I am committed to remaining, not only on the ledge, but maybe even moving back into the sweaty, frantic, crazed room filled with people desperately trying to save the Earth.

I realize I have been holding off on doing anything or making any decisions until after the election.  Well, here it is and it is time to decide.  Now what?  What do I put my limited time and energy toward?  What is important?

There are a lot of causes out there.  There are a lot of good things that need help.  What I need to examine is what is important to me.   Why do I engage in this struggle?   Why do I continue to beat my head against the wall?  Why don’t I go sit in a tree and learn to play the flute?

When I get right down to the nitty gritty, it isn’t because I am enthralled with the Democrats.  It isn’t because I ache for the suffering masses.   It isn’t the economy.  It isn’t even for freedom, whatever that might mean.  Freedom to do something, like travel?  Freedom from something, like religious oppression?  Not really.

I suppose, deep down, my biggest motivation to change things is a love for nature.  I was an avid reader in junior high school and I remember reading about the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the great auk and the dodo.  I remember feeling a deep pain in my heart when I thought of this and how it was done at the hands of men.  Yes, I mean men.  With guns.  Women weren’t allowed to participate, even if they wanted to. 

I remember reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, finally understanding the concept of connectedness and what our everyday actions do in the big picture.  And now, I understand that environmental protection is a political issue.  One person or even one city or state cannot protect itself.  The extent of pollution is one thing.  The consequence of global warming is another.   To really make a difference, it will require fast and concerted efforts by all nations to lower the CO₂ in the atmosphere.  And as we have seen in Rio, Kyoto and Copenhagen, this is not an easy thing to do.   Powerful corporate interests are protecting the continued use of fossil fuels.  Corporations are the ones that back the deniers of global warming or those who say it is not caused by human activity.  It is short-term profits that take precedence over the preservation of this planet, as we know it.  And the push is always for more.  More jobs, more manufacturing, more GDP.  More, more, more.

But the truth is that the planet will survive.  It will go on for several more billion years.  It is the human race that is in peril.  And in the short–term, meaning my lifetime, there will be great changes in the way we live.  We are already seeing record-setting temperatures and massive storm systems.   I saw a cartoon many years ago that showed Saturn with the rings in the form of a physician’s loupe.  He was looking at Earth and frowning.  He said, “Well, your Ice Age has cleared up, but now you have a bad case of people.”

So, maybe we do need to clear the petri dish we call home and knock back the infestation.  Maybe feeding and sheltering people is just prolonging the inevitable.  Maybe I will go sit in that tree and play the flute.  Might be a nicer place to hang out than on the ledge.