If anyone actually does come to this blog, I certainly hope they'll read this entry. Taking a step back from the chronicles of a divorce and the seeding process for a brighter personal future, I would like to address an issue of truly global concern.
A very dear friend of mine has published a newspaper article on this (check out her link at the end), and though she certainly isn't the first one to do so, and may very well never be the last, there comes a point in our lives when we need to stop dead in our tracks and heed the warning signs.
Hey y'all, it's really here, it's really happening: the world is collapsing beneath our Pradas and Jimmy Choos.
It's very easy to just blame it on the crowd, on the "human race". But what about our own, individual, personal, indivisible responsibility over the environment???
I always knew American society would be the one with the worst record on preserving the environment, the most consumption, the most waste. Indeed, if the entire world consumed at the pace they do, we would need 10 planets to accomodate the entire human race. What I ignored, however, is that if the entire world consumed as many resources as Mexicans do, we would need 5 planets.
"FIVE???? Are you frekin' serious?" I said to my Mexican self. But the truth is that desbelief lies in denial, rather than surprise. Because we have ALL become big spenders, big "wasters". We can't wait for the summer and the January sales, or to travel here and there, to buy a sports car, to get a bigger house, to eat the exotic products from the far-side of the world. Admiting that, I too, am a "waster" is much, much harder than blaming global warming on the automobile industry or the Chinese pollution output.
What will it take for people to assimilate and integrate a culture of environmental protection into their daily lives? Do we actually need to witness the sea swallow up the Netherlands to believe? Once again, no need to go that far, the effects of global warming are ALREADY being felt in EVERY country in the world. Climate change, natural disasters, an all-too-warm autum in certain places and a much-too-wet rainy season in others are visible symptoms of an irreversible trend.
Anyway, I wanted to say that I, at least in my person, have begun to change my mindset. A bit late, I might add, but a change nevertheless. And I have encouraged others to do so as well. A colleague of mine, nearly 70 years of age, had never heard the term "carbon footprint". I explained it to her as she threw away the hefty leftovers from her lunch and announced that she'd be doing some frivolous shopping, for the mere pleasure of it.
We have come to accept cynicism as the natural response from us wasters, but here's the thing: my colleague actually HEARD ME. She went off and investigated the meaning of carbon footprints and calculated her own. In just a few weeks, her habits have changed dramatically.
It's not too late people, but it will be if we don't follow suit. It will be too late if we keep blaming it all on this foreign, impersonal, faceless "human race".
To all you highschool and college seniors, I have something to say: the world is not yours to take, it's yours to protect.
And we damn better do a good job, for the sake of us all.
Karla Barclay's article on climate change:
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