Political Climate Change

[H2O Man]

Despite getting some rain last week, with more to come at the end of this week, it is dry here in rural upstate New York. My rain barrels are again low, and so when I water the garden in the evening, I'm not using as much as I'd like to. Still, I am getting more beans, cucumbers, and peas than I can eat, and so I share some with neighbors. And some will be canned or froozen.

My cousin called me last night. He had visited his 92-year old mother in the evening, as he does daily. They were talking about current events, and he commented that he cannot believe how stupid the republican base is. She said that there has always been about the same percentage of stupid people throughout her life, that it is just that television and the internet get them worked up, and expose us to their ignorance.

This got me thinking about the environment crisis that is here, on Earth, today. It is worse now for some people than others around the globe. I cannot, for example, compare seeing that the open spring that feeds my pond producing less water than in 27 years -- less than in 2016, the worst drought on record here -- to people losing their homes to wildfires in California. Or to the farmers in Central America not able to produce crops to feed their families due to the on-going drought.

I think of how many of us, including myself, can take things like water and electric for granted ..... until a storm causes the electric to go out for anywhere from minutes to days. In other places, such as parts of Kentucky, it will be out for a lot longer.

I, for one, tend to curse out loud if the television goes blank while I am watching something of interest. Then I think of my father, raised in a home with no running water or electricity. Or the people who lived in this house before electricity and running water. It's not that we have to go back to that. But we do need to consider how much we use, and how much corporations -- like those in the above video -- use.

And that is not dependent on if one believes that human beings are the primary cause of environmental changes. If your well runs dry, it isn't going to matter if you say, "I don't believe it." If your house is on fire, it doesn't matter if you are convinced it is a Chinese conspiracy. Burying one's head in the sand is not a good option at this time.

That includes all the forms of denial, across the board. This includes saying it isn't the number one issue voters list in polls, and thus not a good campaign issue. Climate change is real. It is here now. It's not pleasant to think about, but it will change society. And as LBJ said, "We must change to master change."