Now that’s a sentence I haven’t uttered since childhood. Sadly, though, it’s true. The world is going to hell, and I genuinely wish I were a little closer to dying peacefully of old age after having led a full life that was full of love and abundance. I really don’t enjoy witnessing us circling the drain.
Megadroughts. Floods, Wildfires. Unrelenting heat, horrific storms, and deadly winters. This is just the beginning of our downward spiral. I am terrified for my grandnephews, who will experience the stuff of nightmares at the rate we’re going. Mass extinctions. Food and water shortages and the wars they will cause. The die off of pollinators, and the permanent die off of many crops.
Another thing I’d rather not stick around for is the justified recriminations that younger generations will direct at us for having brought all this on ourselves. Make no mistake, we’ve all had a hand in this.
Our primary crime is that we’ve done nothing about the abuses of big corporations, which continue to do 70 percent of the global warming damage. If we could bring them all to heel, like, tomorrow, we might still stand a chance. But we all know that’s not going to happen, don’t we? Greed will kill us in the end.
If future generations want to know how I felt as we crossed the point of no return, I can say I felt frustrated, helpless, angry, and terrified. I feel like we’re all being pushed toward a cliff, and I don’t know what to do. It will no longer be possible for this pilotless cruise ship to avoid the iceberg, but we can still mitigate some of the damage. It can be done. We could still be okay. But no one seems to be doing enough. Recycling is nice, but it isn’t going to cut it. We need leadership with a backbone.
Soon, certain foods will become a faint memory for my nephews. Berries, and their related pies and jams and juices. Berries are already withering from the heat and becoming scarce as I write this.
We will also stop growing luxury crops that are not essential for human survival, because there will not be enough water for them. Say goodbye to coffee, tea, and tobacco. Chocolate and sugar will be a thing of the past. And no more beef. Adios to almonds, pistachios, and wine. We might actually be healthier due to many of these losses, but our diets will be bland.
It breaks my heart to watch all of this go. It scares me to look into the future. It makes me weep to think of the way children today will be forced to redefine and ratchet downward their quality of life.
We could have stopped this. We didn’t. We just didn’t. Our ignorance, greed and selfishness are how we will be remembered.
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