Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumIt's Too Late For Us To Fight Climate Change. Instead, Here's How We'll Spend Our Lives.
2/16/2020 08:00 am ET
My wife and I will leave it to someone else to try and avoid disaster ... weve decided that as long as they can postpone the collapse until were dead, well be OK.
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By Barry Rueger
...at 64 and 74 years of age, my wife and I believe theres a good chance that well be gone before coastal cities are flooded, the ice caps have melted, and the planet descends into a Mad Max dystopia. We would like to think that this isnt what the future has in store, but the intransigence of almost all governments to actually slow carbon emissions leaves little doubt that things are unlikely to turn around.
One of the things that age gives you is a sense of history, a feeling that youve seen patterns repeat and that you can see where things are heading in the near future. Over and over again, weve seen corporations and governments ignore the people they should protect in order to line their own pockets. What has changed now is that theyre sacrificing an entire planet instead of a town or a country. I would like to believe that the younger people marching with Greta Thunberg could change that, but honestly I cant see it happening.
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Well choose a home in a place that will stay reasonably cool and that should avoid tsunamis and tornados. Were exercising and eating carefully so that we can stay healthy to avoid a collapsing health care system. Well invest in things like solar energy because it will protect us from failures of the infrastructure that powers our home, not because we hope to reduce emissions. And, to some degree, well welcome friends who are forced to leave their homes when they are underwater, or who are burned out of their properties. It is now part of our plan for climate disaster to accept that our home will become a place of refuge for some of these people.
What frustrates us is that were part of the generation that saw all of this coming...Whether we are leading by example or just running away from the inevitable can be debated, but this is how well be taking back control of our lives. Meanwhile, as I watch the sea levels rise and Australia burn, I cant help but remember the words of the old American spiritual Mary Dont You Weep: God gave Noah the rainbow sign / No more water, the fire next time.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-change-strategy_n_5e4308c0c5b6b9d1a7570b47
appalachiablue
(41,143 posts)bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)Boomer
(4,168 posts)My wife and I are in our mid-60s, both in poor health. We're very aware of the climate emergency, but we won't be around to see more than the leading edge. Fortunately, we live in a relatively sheltered area -- no shoreline, no floodplain, few tornadoes -- and can probably weather the next decade by just hunkering down in place. If a Mad Max world erupts ahead of schedule, we'll be among the first to go. That's okay, we've been blessed up until now and have lived long enough to leave without regrets.
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,978 posts)Kaleva
(36,307 posts)Family is here is the main reason and I'm doing what I can to prepare my family for possible upheavals in services and goods.