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Photoshop manipulation of my photo of the ocean at York Maine combined with
a Common License photo of the NYC skyline taken by Ian Britten
CC Jean Stimmell |
How to
Have Hope in an Era Between No Longer and Not Yet
According to a major new study1, the super rich are hiding
at least 21 trillion in secret tax havens. It’s hard to wrap one’s head
around a figure that big. Let’s just put it this way: 21 trillion is the
equivalent to the entire size of the U.S. and Japanese economies combined.
Yes, the super rich fiddle – and self aggrandize –
while Rome burns. And unless Mitt Romney proves himself innocent by releasing
more of his tax returns, we have to suspect that he is himself, one of these
super rich scofflaws.
Already many Americans have given up and no longer
vote, feeling the system is rigged in favor of the rich and the powerful. If
Mitt is elected, that will be another body blow to our belief that we live in a
democracy based on fairness and equality.
The super rich and the corporations they control
are driving a nail in our coffin in other ways, too, adding to the growing
malaise and anxiety that is spreading silently across the land like toxic gas,
paralyzing our ability to act.
Climate change is a prime example. The American
people are finally becoming believers, joining the 99% of all scientists who
have been trying to warn of the coming calamity all along. Seeing is believing!
All we need to do is look around us. Most of the
country is suffering severe drought; farmers are losing their crops; forest
fires are torching hundreds of homes; almost daily the headlines blare news of
unprecedented new damage. Worse yet, as Mark Bittman tells us, this is only the
tip of the iceberg – and in this case, even the iceberg is melting. 2
As Bill McKibben points out in a piece to be
published in Rolling Stone on Friday, not only was May the warmest on record
for the Northern Hemisphere, not only was it “the 327th consecutive month in
which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average,”
but it was also followed by a June in which some 3,200 heat records were broken
in the United States.”
Bittman concludes, “The only sane people who don’t
see this as a problem are those whose profitability depends on the status quo,
people of money and power like Romney.
Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. For
instance, a forthcoming book from Climate Central projects
that the biggest cities in Florida, and a great deal of the Northeast
coastline, including New York City, will be underwater by 2100 – to say nothing
of what the rising ocean level will do to the rest of the world! 3
————————
Our backs are pinned against the wall by climate
change now deemed irreversible. Good paying jobs are scarce as hens’ teeth. 40%
of middle America’s wealth has disappeared with the recession. Each year we are
being more marginalized and outspent by the rich and powerful.
What’s the average American to do?
So far, too many of us have stuck our heads in the
sand to avoid dealing with this; we are overwhelmed and turned off. And
while it’s true that the time has passed to avoid calamitous effects, that
doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless. But, the longer we wait, the
worse it will become.
As a nation, we are like an obese, out-of-shape
middle aged man who is already slowly falling apart, but who now has discovered
a tumor growing bigger by the week; yet he won’t go to the doctor because he’s
afraid it is terminal – and can’t face the prospect of finding out he is
already a dead man walking.
If that individual did go to the doctor, he might
find that, yes indeed, he does have cancer but it is still treatable with
surgery and chemotherapy, coupled with healthful lifestyle changes.
So it is with us as a nation.
The American people are formidable when aroused
from our normal, blissful slumber. Look how we mobilized ourselves to fight –
one for all, all for one – against the existential threat of world domination
by our enemies in WWII. Everyone contributed to the effort, not only our
soldiers overseas but every household across our nation. Even children
collected scrap metal and other items for recycling.
Rebecca Solnit has written about such extreme
events: “An emergency is a separation from the familiar, a sudden
emergence into a new atmosphere, one that often we ourselves rise to the
occasion.” 4
We, as a nation, excel at handling emergencies
after they happen, especially natural disasters: We, as Americans, always come
together selflessly to help each other after every hurricane, tornado, forest
fire, flood or other emergency.
What we must do now is broaden our horizon of
concern to include all of us, everywhere on earth, including that fragile,
swirling sphere we call earth, our ultimate support network and home. As we
progress toward this goal and become more mindful, we will find that we can
preempt many emergencies before they occur.
Facing up to the problems we face and taking
positive action is empowering. It makes us feel alive. More
important it builds community and gives our life meaning.
On the other hand, continuing to be in denial about
climate change and the rising tide of inequality is isolating and demoralizing:
Deadening in the literal sense of the word, both to ourselves and our world.
xxx (884
words)
3 “Global
Weirdness”
4 Solnit,
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
(New York: Viking, 2009), 10.
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