So I noticed this morning the birds are gone. They used to wake me up every morning around five o’clock and since I’d just gone to bed at two or three, I’d roll over, put in my earplugs, and go back to sleep. And I just realized that I haven’t had to do this for…must be a week now.
And it occurred to me. This is how it will happen. This is how it is happening. I’ve been hoping for, waiting for, some catastrophic event, some wake-the-fuck-up change that will make the world sit up and take notice and finally, finally, do something to fix, to save, the planet.
But that’s not going to happen.
When’s the last time you saw a frog? A bee? Fish swimming in the water?
In March, it’s 80 degrees in Canada and 30 degrees in Greece, food prices have increased 25% because of droughts, and still people drive their cars into town several times a week, still people go on vacation by plane, and what’s on tv? Nonstop coverage of the Olympics. Of people trying to run a little bit faster than someone else or throw a ball a little bit further than someone else.
So I’m pissed off again at everyone.
And I’m pissed off at the scientists. The point of no return has been moved from 2040 to 2017. It’ll take just 2 degrees. We’re at 1.6 degrees. And what have they done? Quietly, politely, filed their reports. Just continued to publish their papers in journals that only a dozen other people read. They should be taking political leaders hostage! They should be—I don’t know, isn’t there any way they can force someone to do something? Students organize protests against higher tuition, larger groups made the Occupy Wall Street movement happen—where are the scientists storming Ottawa and Washington saying “LOOK, YOU MOTHER FUCKERS, YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING NOW!!”?
And why isn’t the rest of the world boycotting us? Telling us they won’t buy any of our shit until we get our act together about the environment?
So, this is how it’ll happen. First the frogs, then the bees, then the fish, then the birds… Life as we know it will end while everyone in the States and Canada is watching tv. Probably some new reality show.
