Here comes the heat

Billionaires fiddle, our planet burns, and we try, nonetheless, to be part of the solution.

While much of the legacy media is distracted by a ego-fueled battle between two men who care little about anything or anyone other than their own wealth, our town is facing its first serious heat wave of the season. Yes, summers are typically hot in our climate. But not kissing triple digits in early June.

Billionaires fiddle while our planet burns.

And time slips on, and we roll ever closer to full-on climate catastrophe, while they argue about the best way to give themselves more money.

It’s hard not to be bitter. It’s hard to stay focused on our spheres of influence, where we can make substantial difference in how quickly our species careens toward its own destruction. A quote of uncertain origin, often attributed (without clear evidence) to Kurt Vonnegut, goes something like this:

We might go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost-effective.

Here’s another way to say it: We might be the first species to refuse to save ourselves unless our survival turns a profit for the people in power.

I find myself growing increasingly resistant to playing a part in this capitalist self-destruction. I just really don’t want to buy stuff unless I can hand my money to the person who grew or made it. (And I’m in the privileged position of having those options - capitalism wants most of us to be in settings where consumerism is our only choice.) I don’t want to drive a fossil-fuel burning, plastic-and-precious metal-filled machine somewhere to enjoy being out in nature. I want to spend time creating more from less, reusing things of substance and quality, entertained by engaging with people and art.

I’m also a big hypocrite, I know, as I write this on a plastic-and-precious-metal-filled computer, sending some words out into the world wide web. I’m a truly lucky, privileged, hypocrite who can still, in and among all that, find ways to contribute to a better world. I’ll never be front page on the legacy media (I hope). I’d like to be part of the solution nonetheless.

I know you are part of the solution, too, and I’m grateful for your company on this road.