350

Hello folks,

I have some depressing news.  Global warming is a reality.  Oh wait, this isn't news.  There have been warnings for years and, yep, now we're there.  According to my source (reading parts of the book Eaarth by Bill McKibben) we are hoping for 350 parts per million as our atmospheric level of carbon.  If we can be at this level (which we are currently well over - much closer to 400 ppm) than we can sustain life as we know it!  Yippee!  According to McKibben, and his plethora of science experts that he cites, there is no going back.  Unfortunately, I fear there is no stopping it either.  I mean, there is, I just don't see it happening anytime soon, or ever, for that matter.  The cycle - the one that we humans have pushed to such a rapid pace - is  in motion, like an upside down ride that won't move back into the right side up position, the blood rushing to our heads, numbness in our toes until we finally just pass out.  And I suppose that will be how it continues; humans throughout the world passing out from hunger, thirst and shear heat exhaustion, never again to be awakened.  And what would be the point if there are not enough life sustaining supplies to go around?  I read these thoughts and I want to curl up in a ball in a corner and cry myself into a state of numbness.  But what would be the point of that?  It doesn't solve anything and only leaves me even more miserable.

McKibben offers a glimmer of hope with his 350 movement.  A hope that I don't feel I share at this point.  Even more so, with the current political climate it seems that people are still more concerned with destroying one another; which seems absurd since the planet will do it for us in another 50 or less years.  Unless we can deter this, and I think we could if we tried.  I think many more of us could adapt to the coming changes, perhaps we could help get to the 'magical' number 350.  So I will share this thought with all of you and return to my life when it is finished.  I will continue to drive my same old car, go to work, pay my bills, try to consume less, conserve more (like drinkable water), and wait.  I will wait to cease, which I guess is what we do anyways right?  We do our things that seem so important, cloud our thoughts with daily tasks - essentially meaningless - and just wait for the end, hoping that we have a beautiful funeral with lots of people, hope for a better other side.  Well, all I really want is for this to be the better side, for the right now to be that beautiful place, to love and enjoy right now, understanding the costs of my actions.  I want to try and be a better human being, but I fear it isn't enough - and what's that saying?  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?  Is this where I'm at?  Do I dare give up in a search for beauty and meaning in life and succumb to consumerist society?  Damn I hope not.  Goodnight and good morning to all.  I hope your day brings peace and joy; cherish our time here on planet Earth and with those you love.  Embrace what is now, because it won't be there forever.  But this is what we humans must learn, that change happens, we must always accept what is, in the ideals of Eckhart Tolle, an excellent spiritual guide.  I think he is right, and I think I will go do this.  Cheers.