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A peaceful revolution
War, famine, plague, floods… not the four apocalypse horsemen, but the very reality we are living. Our society is slowly turning from shades of grey to plain dark black and we all have to find means of turning the tables while we still have the chance. You may think that this is an unnecessary dose of pessimism and negativity, and I must say I am truly not the type of person that sees everything pitch-black. Why this attitude then? Because we cannot afford to become too confident, and if I may, cocky in our perspective of the danger that might be lurking right around the corner. The harsh reality has to be revealed, and somebody’s got to do it.
The first thing that comes to mind, the first thing that I feel I should shout out loud so that there is no way people could not hear is the fact that we cannot, we must not hide behind what has become simply a pathetic excuse for us not wanting to give up any of our commodities - lack of awareness. The truth is that we are bombarded with information in any form possible, from any source that you could think of: news in the media, governmental awareness campaigns, various youth programmes focused on this issue, NGOs setting protests and all kind of demonstrations, and so many more. It is virtually impossible to not come across any of the above, but even if you do find a way to dodge all that information, how blind can you be as to not be aware of what is happening in your own country, your own city, your own front yard? Isn’t it a bit too obvious to be just the fruit of some crazed scientists’ imagination?
The effects of global warming and climate change come in many shapes and sizes as one might put it, but they are anything but minor. They usually vary from the rather subtle ones, such as the way our wardrobes get skimpier with each passing year, or the fact that we really do need that darn sun lotion if we don’t want to get toasted on the beach, to the more severe ones. These are the ones that really jeopardize our future on this planet. The speed of hurricanes has increased by 50%, and the whole planed witnessed that when the Katrina disaster hit America; 20% of the sea ice in the Arctic has melted, and we heard news about an unprecedented phenomenon - polar bears drowning because of exhaustion, as they drifted from one piece of ice to another, too far away. And that’s not just an isolated case of one bear that didn’t get fit enough before he moved away to his own place. It’s too many for us to ignore. And these are only 2 examples of obvious warning signs the we somehow choose to ignore.
But what am I doing here, talking about stuff I’ve seen on TV, or on the internet, or read about in papers? I should be talking about things that I experience first-handed, about what’s happening now, not to the people in my country, or my region, not even the people in my city, but about ME what is making MY life change. Maybe then, people will believe that I’m not just laying on paper news reports and information others have filled my head with, and they will realize the real behind the information.
Summer’s never been quite my idea of a favorite season. I’ve just never been a fan of excessive heat, so the cartoon-inspired idea of the Earth bursting into flames due to global warming was not a necessarily the perfect candidate for a poster on my wall. So you can imagine how happy I was maybe 10 years or so ago, when I had to struggle to even make my way out of the 2-meter-high snow in front of my house. I get all nostalgic when I find myself waiting, hoping for just one little white snow-flake for Christmas, and my wish hardly comes true anymore, and if it does happen to snow, it’s just for a few fleeting moments. I don’t even get a chance to renew my wardrobe with each season anymore. I just get a jacket over my summer clothes and I’m set for winter… if I can still call it that way. We’re supposed to have 4 seasons in this darn climate zone, but it seems that lately we’ve just experienced 2 of them: summer and fall. Doesn’t that look like a bit of a climate change? It sure does to me.
Furthermore, we’ve been experiencing somewhat extreme weather phenomenas, not at all characteristic to this climate zone: floods, than droughts, powerful wind, extreme temperatures, even small tornadoes. The idea of tornadoes or hurricanes doesn’t do much for my idea of security in the future. And I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror 20 years from now and not feel like slapping myself for ruining my own future. Yes, MY own future. I don’t really care that much about the future of an Eskimo living in the ice cap, and that may seem like a selfish thing, but I’m merely a human being with survival instincts. And more people should think about it like I do. Maybe then they’ll all try to save their own … skin and end up involuntarily creating a mass movement for saving our species.
If you asked me I’d say we all need to pitch in if we want a change, if we want to save ourselves. We shouldn’t think about saving the planet. It doesn’t need any help from us. We’re the ones who may not survive a catastrophic change, or we may survive to live in a world we don’t particularly want to live in. it’s our fundamental right to have a chance at survival- a right stipulated in our very “Declaration of Human Rights”- our right to life. I may be wrong, but I would like to ask: if we had the right to life but not the right to equality, security, and health would this not be a violation of precisely that fundamental right, as the quality of life would decrease drastically?
During the first world UN Convention comments concerning the human fundamental rights were made, drawing attention to the fact that people have the fundamental right to freedom, equality and satisfactory living conditions in an environment whose quality allows one to live in a dignifying way and in prosperity. A crucial issue nowadays is the international recognition and warranty of every human being’s right to a healthy environment as a fundamental right. Contrary to appearances, this is not only a theoretical concept but also a practical necessity. The right to a healthy environment is a universal one as well as the right of every citizen of a country that recognizes it legislatively in its Constitution or in ordinary laws.
All in all, we need to stop climate change and global warming to save ourselves and the society that we’ve created. Even if we are too busy living our lives to think about the future, maybe each of us should take the time and think about all of this and maybe, just maybe we will realize that we have to unite our forces and fight together for our world as we know it before it’s taken away by our very destructive actions. We have to start a never-before-seen revolution: a peaceful revolution.
Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:15 pm
