A Matter of Survival

So I have had trouble with my words of late. I know, I know, doesn't seem likely but it’s true. You should see some of the stuff I have deleted in the the attempts to get this post written, never mind the other works in the wings. Thing is though, unless I turn up and try every day then there will never be any progress. Inspiration is a great thing, but not something one can rely upon to ensure success at a creative project. The only way to get anything done is to turn up, again and again. To make routine and habit the guiding mantras. So here I am, turning up.

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The reason I have deleted so many words is less about content and more about tone. Honestly if you had a seat inside the manor house that I envision my mind to be (probably somewhere safe like the drawing room or the patio) you may have glimpsed a frenetic scattered aspect of my psyche rushing about carry books from the library to and fro whilst muttering cynically to himself. Moving closer at these times is not recommended as some of the muttering speak less to self care and more to ‘burn it all down and start over’ ideologies.
This of course influences the tone you see? My normally affable and engaging reparté takes a twist towards ‘dark side’ and we are not talking the passionate emotions of the The Force here. We are talking about the cold considered rationale of a mind that sees only disappointment for the failings we as a species are responsible for.
How can I make words at this time and do justice to my perspective without allowing that tone to dictate the content? The answer is less ‘I cant’ and more along the lines of ‘I shouldn’t deny the truth of my own tone’.
Thinking of the nature of the global community in which we as a species exist, there is more than enough people out there willing to police my tone for me, so why should I worry right? Why does it even matter when people value their own perspective above compassion for someone else’s? Why should we bother stepping up and calling out that which does harm when there are some many others willing to turn a blind eye and in their contrived ignorance allow bad things to happen?

Welcome dearest readers, to the darkside. This may be uncomfortable for some, but surely a little discomfort is worth the effort when addressing a matter of global perspective. This isn’t about nation, ethnicity, or gender. This is about our species and the state of our world.

The world is more than a little fucked. There have been decades worth of research into the topic of human driven climate change and regardless of personal belief it’s more than just talk. Humanity has progressed so very far in the last 250 years. The industrial revolution started a whole new era for our species as we began to move away from subsistence living. We have come such a long way in such a short time. Given the average lifespan of a human in western society today 250 years is only 4 to 5 generations. That’s great grandparent territory. Look to your elders and consider the decades they have lived through. Did they survive “World war II”? It all seems like history, written in the books and learned in school, but this still exists in living memory. Someone born in 1945 would only be 74 in 2019. Perspective. It’s easier when it’s not just numbers right?

So what world have we created for our children to inherit? I see the impact of adverse weather condition all across our globe and it scares me. In the 37 years of my life Ireland has gone from a moderate climate with reliable levels of rainfall to a hotter more humid climate with more extreme weather shifts. As a kid we were luck to get a scrape of snow in the darkest of winter. Last year our country was snowed in with a blizzard freezing the island to a panicked stand still. Now folk are all out sunning themselves since April, a month normally considered more Spring than Summer given its rainfall. Everywhere there are warnings of flooding, wildfires, landslides or sinkholes. Everywhere you look the planet is creaking at the seams, and no matter how much we envision a life among the stars or seek life on other planets, it will all be for naught if we cant even look after our own.

The amount of deforestation around the globe is a significant indicator of the impact we have on nature. Trees absorb carbon and produce oxygen, you know that thing that all humans need to breath right? Tree roots bind the land together and draw off water out of the soil preventing land slippage and flooding. Trees form one of the main ecological building blocks for sustenance and shelter of wildlife…..and we are still tearing them down in greater numbers that what we restore.

As for that wildlife, we are bang in the middle of a mass extinction event as more and more species are pushed to the edges of the planet. Places of no intrinsic value to the industrial human mindset. Sure there are some species coming back off the endangered lists….but that’s only through invasive human cultivation and nothing to do with natural environmental factors. We are consuming more and more. Ravaging the world for our own appetites. Changing it to suit our perceived ideals instead of changing our ideals to suit the planets needs.

How well are we looking after this one world we have? Not very fucking well now are we? There are figures in positions of authority all around the globe who deny the threat that our species faces. “Sure there is always another study.” “It’s only a theory, it’s not fact.” I have a lot of hate for them and for myself in even letting ….ah Fuck it!

**steps away from the computer and goes outside to breath slowly in the sunlight. Takes a mental health break.**

Ahem. See what I mean about a frenetic scattered mental state? This is the reality of my mind. This is a truth that I have long held back and hidden behind my smile and the hero t-shirts I willfully bind myself with. Seriously, it’s part of my mental health processes to wear these images. As much as a cleansing shower, putting on a t-shirt with an icon of hope, or an ideology of freedom reminds me to choose carefully the path of my perspective. It’s not easy by any means and honestly there are many days when my hand lingers upon the Punisher t-shirt in the bottom drawer. Even in my darkness though, there is always more to reality that the twisted perspectives of my mental state.

The world is fucked and we are the ones that have fucked it. This is my perspective based on my view of the facts. Humanity. I both love and despise you in equal measure. In recent days Scotland and other members of the UK have declared a ‘climate emergency’ and I hope that this is more than just words. There is a global crisis happening and we are all looking at little over a decade before things are completely screwed. Even now it may be too late for my little island if rising sea level forecasts are correct. We have done horrible things to our world, let alone to each other. Today is a hard day to have hope (I’m obviously wearing the wrong t-shirt…grey) but there are voices out there worth listening to. Greta Thunberg at age 15, began protesting about the need for immediate action to combat climate change outside the Swedish parliament and has since become an outspoken climate activist.
The world is fucked, but maybe if we all pay attention and do something, then we can learn to unfuck things and survive.