Floods in Europe, Turkey, and China. Heat domes around the world. Mega-fires in the United States

Nothing is normal. And we have to do something about it.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

— Mahatma Gandhi.

Climate change, for most, is an adventure that begins and ends on television.

At least until you hit the lottery.

Because this is not like the war in Syria. Nor like those migrants who drown in the middle of the sea. Nor like, those countries where there are not enough vaccines for everyone.

This can happen to you. And it will touch you.

• It has touched Canadians with the heatwave.
• It has touched Europeans and Chinese with the floods.
• Americans haven’t been spared either.

Why should you be spared?

Climate change is capable of burning Australia and flooding China.

Climate change doesn’t care about you, me, or anyone else, dear reader.

It cares so little about us that it doesn’t care if we spend all day arguing about whether it exists or not.

While we argue about its existence.

• The fire christened “Bootleg” in the southeast of Oregon near California has already burned more than 157,000 hectares. Since it was declared at the beginning of July has destroyed 117 human constructions and has more than 2,000 firefighters fighting the flames.
• The number of deaths caused by floods in China rises to 33.
• Desertification advances irremediably.

Climate change is here to stay. It is in your house, on your sofa.

In winter, it will take the form of a virus. One, resulting from man’s invasion of ecosystems that do not belong to him.

In summer, as a heat dome. And the news will sell it to you, using neo-language. You’ll hear the weatherman say,

“African hot days and tropical nights are coming.”

The poles will melt, is a fact

“In 10 years it will be impossible to travel to the North Pole with a dog team. There will be too much water.”

— Will Steger.

Who knows what bacteria live dormant, for the moment, in that millennial ice. In that melting ice. In that ice that will take its revenge.

As the sun will take its revenge.

As the sea will take its revenge.

As will the earth when it goes on strike and refuses to produce grain. Nor will you have meat or fish. The domino effect has already begun.

When there is no clean water, no clean air, no food left, where will you go? To Mars?

Do you think Jeff and Musk will save you?

They don’t care about you either.

That’s the harsh reality.

So do what you can to reduce your carbon emissions. You don’t need to be told to do it by the government of the day. You do it. That’s the only way to get out of this.

The problem we face is real

Eduardo Galeano warned us about it when he wrote,

“The right to waste, the privilege of the few, claims to be the freedom of all. Tell me how much you consume, and I will tell you how much you are worth.

This civilization does not let the flowers sleep, nor the chickens, nor the people.

In greenhouses, flowers are subjected to continuous light. So that they grow faster. In egg factories, hens are also forbidden to sleep at night. And people are condemned to insomnia because of the anxiety of buying and the anguish of paying.

This way of life is not very good for people, but it is great for the pharmaceutical industry.”

But this society no longer listens to its elders, no matter if they were wise like Eduardo Galeano.

Read Nomadland by Jessica Bruder (she’s not dead yet.) You’ll discover that the dystopia of Mad Max is becoming “more real” every year. And you’ll find out where people go when they retire.

Spoiler alert!

They don’t go to a retirement home. They work 10-hour shifts at temporary jobs.

They leave their homes because they can’t afford to pay rent. They have to decide between having housing or eating. They live in trailers and travel the U.S. looking for seasonal jobs to supplement their painful retirement.

That’s what awaits you. For me, and the rest.

An unraveling world.

A world devoid of values where no one helps anyone. A world of cheap merchandise produced by people who, in turn, are treated as objects.

And all for what?

To grow old and have nothing left? So that when you can no longer fend for yourself, no one will take care of you? So that the planet becomes an even more uninhabitable place?

It doesn’t make sense. Think about it. Wake up your critical thinking.

Stop looking the other way

“People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince.

If you are one of the lucky ones who earn a lot of money and have a home. Don’t think it will always be like this. Remember the 2008 crisis: smart people loosed all.

Also, assuming you survive the automation of work that is affecting more and more people. If a natural catastrophe destroys your house after having paid 35 years of a mortgage, what will you do?

Nothing. You won’t be able to do anything. It doesn’t matter if you have a good job and money. You won’t escape climate change.

When there is no drinking water left in your area due to droughts, what will you buy it with? Will you order it through Amazon and pay with Bitcoins?

Wake up!

No one will want Bitcoin. No one will want gold. No one will want dollars.

Everyone will just want to keep their drinking water. Nobody won’t sell it to you.

The time is now

“It was true. The ocean was full of fish. But the fish were full of plastic.”

— Juan Solá.

The world is made of plastic. And no. You are not the only one to blame for it. Chuck Palahniuk already wrote it in Fight Club,

“Advertising makes us want cars and clothes. We have jobs we hate to buy shit we don’t need. We are the cursed children of history, rootless and aimless. We have not suffered a great war nor a depression. Our war is spiritual warfare. Our great depression is our life.”

You have been programmed to be this way. To desire. To envy. To want to have more and more in an infinite spiral of self-destruction. One that only leads you to be dissatisfied. And it generates that dissatisfaction so that you continue consuming and the wheel does not stop.

The world only knows the system of buying and selling. But that system has a mistake: it only works in a world of infinite resources. And this is finite; there is a certain amount of raw materials.

Wealth is generated by selling products and services. Therefore the solution to climate change is not aligned with the interests of large corporations because the point is to consume less.

And that is why they manipulate us. The elites throw the stone and hide the hand.

Those at the top always want to evade responsibility by applying the oldest tactic in the world,

“Divide and conquer.”

And we spend the day divided. Pointing fingers at others, seeking to be morally superior to the rest, while the real problem continues and companies continue to profit.

Think about the double standard that the system exerts on you,

• They tell you not to use plastic, but they continue to sell you food packaged with it.
• They tell you to recycle but they deposit waste in illegal landfills, or under the ground, or end up in the sea.
• They tell you to reduce emissions but bombard you with car commercials every time you turn on the TV.

You are not to blame for everything. But you are responsible for the situation. The world belongs to all of us, and we all have to become more aware and protect it.

The world is our home, and it is burning. We can’t let it happen.

You have to understand something

“We are not guilty; the greatest and stupidest guilt would be to punish ourselves or to punish our neighbor. We are neither convicts nor judges; we are workers.”

— Rafael Barrett.

The mega-rich, the corporations, the top politicians make you believe that you are to blame for your miseries. But you are not.

The chances of you changing your social class to a higher one during your lifetime are very slim. And it doesn’t matter how many self-help books you buy. The system is like that. The laws favor it to be so.

Therefore, it is not your fault that you are not rich.

Why do I tell you this?

Because the point of life is to live it with dignity. Not to pursue the Western ideal of wealth. That’s the old carrot and the donkey trick. You will never sink your teeth into the carrot. They just use it to make you work like a donkey until you can’t work anymore.

You may be asking yourself: What does this have to do with climate change?

Everything.

Ask yourself the following question,

What are people who cheat others in this way to exploit them and benefit themselves?

Selfish and narcissistic, right?

Now answer me this,

Do you think a narcissist cares about anyone other than himself? Do you think a narcissist has any disgruntlement about being amoral? Do you think a narcissist is worried that the world will be destroyed when he is gone?

That’s why climate change is not remedied.

See what I’m getting at?

That mega-rich, those corporations — who are not even people, just abstract legal entities — those politicians, they don’t care what happens when they are gone.

If the planet has 70 years left, they are doing fine. On average, they are already over 50 years old. They will not live to be 120 years old. They don’t care what happens after that. They want to live well now, even if it means exhausting everything.

But you care. You love your children. You want life to go on. And you want yours to live better than you.

So get going. Be the change you want to see in the world, as Gandhi said, and don’t forget that together we can change things for the better.

The power lies in you.

You just have to realize your potential.

Remember these words that a wise man once said,

“Usually, when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.”

— Malcolm X.

You can change things.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

If you have read to the end of the article, I want to thank you for your support. I hope this article has helped you. If so, let me know in the comments. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading. Alberto García (Malafama1981).

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