Here is a report from the Guardian. The essence? We're all completely fucked. 80% of the human race gone in the next 90 years. The more I look for evidence this isn't happening, the more I find people saying it is happening.
I took a little break from being incredibly freaked out about the coming environmental devastation to get freaked out about how indifferent we can be to the suffering of others. It was kind of like a vacation from panic - during which I was angry and hopeless instead of being frightened and hopeless. So, really, not a great vacation.
I've written many paragraphs in the last few weeks about NTE and my reaction to it. I never really get to the part where I come up with a positive plan to do something about it. And that's an important bit. My difficulty formulating any kind of plan is that to do so I need more information; the more information I collect the more convinced I become there is nothing to do. It's too late. The idea of participating in some kind of effort to force our leaders to change the way things get done seems to me like nothing other than a concession to form. It would be nice, after the icecaps melt and all the coastal cities are underwater, after the rise in mean temperatures turn Europe and most of North America into dustbowls, to be able to stand up to history's scrutiny and not look like a complete dick - complacently consuming and ignoring the increasingly strident warnings while the planet goes over a cliff. The problem with that (not particularly noble) idea is it mistakenly presumes there will be someone to scrutinize, to write a history. And there won't be. That's kind of the problem. I won't be judged by the next generation; they will be too busy pillaging in savage hordes. They are more likely to eat me than judge me, and that takes some of the pressure off.
On the plus side it makes politics more bearable generally. Watching people demonize each other because of governmental spending or "the War on Christmas" or whatever the bullshit is this week is much easier when you know, rather than merely suspecting, that it makes absolutely no difference even in the short term. How do I feel about legalizing pot? Sure, if you want to. I don't care. Should we change our tax code? Will it make a difference in the next 10 years? If not, don't bother.
Actually, it makes a lot of things more bearable. And that's kind of a stinging indictment. The climate scientist / horseman of the apocalypse featured in the Guardian's piece thinks it might have been possible to take effecting action around 1967. I wasn't even born til 1972. So my successes and failures, my achievements and regrets are all placed within the larger context of the End of the Fucking World. Am I going to recycle? Fuck no. Am I going to ride a bike instead of driving? Good one. Hey! That goes in the compost bags! Eat shit. The world is ending and my whole life fits into the period alien students of human history will call the "End of the Beginning of the End Era".
I am no longer under any obligation to have an opinion about anything. I'm kind of happy I no longer have to save for my retirement. My lack of professional success doesn't goad the way it used to. Really, all that's left is a kind of reticent hedonism. I'm not going to start acting like it's last call at Studio 54 but saving for a rainy day is not something I'm going to do either.
If you have money and you want to survive a little longer than most people I recommend you invest in gold and firearms. Watching a lot of zombie movies seems like a good idea too. There is still enough time to get pretty handy with a sword or a long bow. If you have a lot of money, I would advise you to buy a big fucking sail boat. Equip it with some machine guns and some solar panels. Learn how to fish. Stock up on vitamins so you don't get scurvy. Maybe buy an island somewhere in the North. If you owned a big part of an island that happened to have a lot of people who already knew how to fish on it and maybe a few farms, some grocery stores you can plunder for canned goods, maybe some fruit trees too then you could become a feudal lord for a few years. Not a bad way to go. As for me? I'm taking the easy way out as soon as the power goes off.
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