As the summer of 2017 came to a close and fall reluctantly arrived, the world, especially the U.S., suffered. No less than 4 hurricanes-- Harvey, Irma (pictured), Maria, and Nate struck the U.S. As I write, Ophelia threatens Ireland and the British Isles.
The 10 hurricanes in the Atlantic and the destructive Typhoons in the Pacific may be the natural swirling of Nature, but what is not is the strength and number of these storms. They, along with floods, droughts, and fire, come from an overheated environment, the evil of man-made, pollution-generated global warming. It is no longer mere conjecture that human pollution is causing disastrous climate change; it is science.
The history of the loss and suffering in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and California is still being written. The evil goes beyond climate change to include the cruel responses, from indifference to the sadistic cruelty on the part of the president. The videos of our president tossing paper towels to a handful of chosen people in Puerto Rico will always be one of the most cynical and despicable moving images of our time. I refuse to post it.
Instead of admitting what is happening to the lives of citizens of this country, much less what is happening ecologically to Bangladesh, London, and countless other places around the Earth, Republicans and the president deny the depth of the destruction. We hear only about how great things are, we hear about the power of prayer, we are told that all will be just fine. Texans are strong. Floridians are resilient. California will rebuild. Puerto Ricans... well, potus says that perhaps this is their fault. They are people of color. Are they really fellow citizens? What does it matter about those others: Asians killed by typhoons, the victims of genocide in Myanmar, the radioactive waste from Japan. Nothing to worry about, right?
The misery in Puerto Rico is completely unacceptable
Homes and infrastructure lie in ruins outside the city of Caguas, Puerto Rico. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-misery-in-puerto-rico-is-completely-unacceptable/2017/10/12/cb37d19c-aebf-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?utm_term=.e0855909db1a
Here I could go on to place photos of the melting ice North and South, the shrinking glaciers, earthquakes, rising seas, the incomprehensible seas of plastic filling our oceans and killing sea birds and sea life universally. Species are becoming extinct. The list of horrors goes on and on. But the single greatest hindrance to doing something to prevent the increase of the horrors is optimism. Go ahead, have more babies; over-population is a hoax. Global warming is a hoax; so go ahead, build more coal-powered plants, go ahead with more mining, clear-cutting, oil exploration. Pay no attention to the hysteria over pollution of water and air. Technology will save us from our excesses. Companies that do the most polluting and the most damage in clear cutting forests and blasting mountains for ore are happy to see us praying, happy to see us full of faith in the goodness of mankind, thrilled at our persistent optimism, no matter how destructive the evil and the suffering they cause.
Our government, our military, and the military regimes of countries in which the populace suffers, are all itching for war. Religious war. Capitalism vs. Socialism. Proud instances of Nationalism, which is all too often nothing but a form of racism, are all setting up their ramparts: from Charlottesville to Barcelona, from Myanmar to North Korea, from Israel to Syria and Iran, armies of darkness are gathering, gathering their weapons, stoking their hatred. They enjoy a good laugh at the belief in lasting peace, the optimism that war is avoidable rather than inevitable.
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