Don't Worry!

(note: my blogging partner erphschwester was in rare form yesterday.  This is a translation of her post; you can read the original in German here)

"Just 13 more years before the climate change?" This was one of the topics on the nightly newscast.  And we learn everything we have to do to avoid total chaos.  What sticks in my mind is: at least I'm doing the right thing, I don't drive a car.

So it's not my fault. Not me!

In reality, the problem is more complicated. While we talk about CO2 there are many other dangers.

We talk about CO2 and how cars pollute, but let's also talk about cattle, which we raise to consume in great quantities. In order to feed them we decimate huge tracts of forests (forests which could reduce CO2).  And just the processing of one liter of milk for all the wonderfully healthy dairy products creates as much CO2 as when you drive 5-7 kilometers in your car. We have no problem tossing out these dairy products when we have too much.  Just like the mountains of meat, which often turn up as tainted meat.

Lets not talk about all of the starving people in the world, who naturally are clamoring to get into those parts of the world where we throw away food instead of eating it.

Let's not talk about those who would claim the ocean bed for themselves because the land resources are being depleted. They release the natural methane gas which is harmless as long as it remains frozen under the sea bed but is more dangerous than CO2 once released into the atmosphere.

Let's not talk about the polluters of the world, whose goal its is to make life "nicer". In order to produce all of these nice things (some invisible, since don't you know that electricity comes from the outlet) they contaminate the atmosphere with all types of gases - all just as dangerous as CO2.

Let's not talk about everything a person needs in order to have a good life. And let's not talk about how we feel deprived if we don't have a certain product that we didn't even know existed just a short time ago. And let's ask ourselve whether it's really about quality of life, or about profits for a few, who think they can escape misery if they have a lot of money.

Let's not talk about whether a person is worth anything only if he/she has money to buy things that others sell in order to make a profit. Let not talk about whether to be human has nothing to do with money or is that an outdated notion (otherwise the next step is to declare all those who lack "buying power" as non-human, which - come to think about it - explains many things about the world).

Let's not talk about those who produce weapons (and in the process pollute) so that they can be sold, used and therefore consumed  so that new weapons can be produced. So more money can be made.  Let's not talk about those who have their fingers in both the weapons business and in politics, where they can decide if and where the weapons will be used.

Let's not talk about the fact that military conflicts not only contaminate the planet, but also ensure that climate won't really matter in the future.

We're destroying the earth sure enough. Don't worry.

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[2020]

"Each small candle lights a corner of the dark and a billion candles burning light the dark side of every human mind."

This is quote from one of my favorite musicians, Roger Waters.

Talk is cheap, especially in public. I'm smoking a cigarette while typing this comment thus poisening myself more in 5 minutes than I could do in 60 in a Beijing rush-hour...I even smoke in my car, when I drive 30 miles to the place I work, but I assure you, the car has a cat and only needs 6 litres per 100 km.

In a way, we're all oxymorons, I think, nevertheless we all can do a little to make this world a better place for us and the next generations.

Did you ever plant a tree? I'm living on 'new land', land that has been soil of the ocean before. You simply must plant trees on such soil or no other plant except primitive hogweeds will ever grow there. But if you do, you will see the wonders of nature unfold before your eyes soon, birds appear that haven't been there before, bees and insects paving the way for them.

But now, as energy prices explode, I can't refrain of thinking to build a second chimney for an oven and cut every tenth tree each year, as I know the trees will grow again...

Life is a drag and the world is my ash tray - now that's from the Tubes and I think I need another smoke.