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Denial is over. Climate change is happening. But why do we still act like it's not?
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this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Hey, I wrote my representatives. I vote. I do what I can to limit my fossil fuel usage.
What do you mean it wasn't enough? Must be some one else not doing their part.
You know, every time I see the phrase "No drop of rain feels responsible for the flood" I get upset. You know why? It's not the raindrops that cause the flood. It's the clouds. The environment that fosters the rain.
Like, does anyone actually want to get up at 6 AM every morning and run out the door to drive an hour one-way in a machine that kills children quickly and the environment slowly, just to give up half of their waking life to a soulless entity that turns spirit and creativity into stolen labor value and burnout, all for the pleasure of continuing to do that every day for the next several decades until the stress inevitably kills you? I don't know one fucking person who wants to be doing this shit, but as the rain is forced out of the cloud by the dropping pressure, so are we coerced into this life by the threat of starvation and exposure to the elements. Would that I could break the chain, but I am as helpless against it as the raindrop is against the pull of gravity. It's so easy to toss pithy quotes at people while sipping from a bamboo straw, but it doesn't stop Starbucks from selling a billion lattes a minute to people who are too tired and rushed to give two shits about the planet we're killing in order to create that convenience we rely on so we can be forced to dedicate every last spare second of our time to the altar of capitalism. How the fuck do you fight that in any meaningful way?
I honestly feel helpless.
I like to come back to this video of Anark - Hope.
It is not coincidence that doing whatever one can do makes one feel powerless. While I do understand little efforts are like a drop in the sea, that just means we should begin to organize with others to work on creating our own cloud. It is worthy.
To stop change, the first step the adversary will take is to discourage you to do it. Is like trash-talk in boxing. Just keep on fighting.
The issue is the extreme power imbalance. My 'cloud' will be a small space, surrounded by capitalism on all fronts. Like an oil field that's not drilled, but all fields around it are drilled. It's emptied anyway.
You cannot be 'apart' from capitalism as even if you are, or try to be, outside - your position is still going to be defined as an outsider to capitalism and all the hardships that entails.
And if you get a 'cloud' big or powerful enough - let's look at history, what would happen?
Genocide. That's what happens. Every time.
I believe in personal relationships. Trying to be in good relationships makes this mess endurable and, I believe, safest.
Yeah. But I mean, I don't really care about more oppression. It has always been there. And if something is for certain I see it as having two options:
To say the truth, I'm motivated both by my desire to live a happy and fulfilling life and see my nieces grow. And everytime I think if this is worth it, even if it is really small, I think it is. Because I see it as not abandoning myself, nor abandoning my loved ones.
Change is possible, and if history taught us something: you can kill the revolutionary, but not the revolution.
There are still many popular movements currently working in that future you and I are looking forward. So alone, you are not. Just be open to the possibility to give a good fight. For yourself and those you hold dear. And I remember the first thing I was taught in direct action: once you learn you can do something, it becomes hella easy doing it more times.
I send you my best wishes friend, I want you to know I feel ya.