The Future of Humanity
A tip of the black pointy hat to Al Gore for not only spawning daughter Kristen, whose acerbic wit graced the scripts of Futurama, but for his speech at the Technology Entertainment Design conference, as related to us by TedBlog [via Treehugger]:
One of the more poignant points that Al Gore made in last night’s [22 February 2006] powerful speech about global warming was that a lot of people move directly from a state of denial about this issue to one of despair. People in the first state don’t go out and try to change things because they don’t see a problem. People in the second state are often no more inclined to act because they think the situation is hopeless. The fact that these are the two most stable cognitive states on this issue probably explains why a lot of people do, in fact, remain in denial. It’s human to avoid pain, and therefore perhaps natural to subconsciously choose a state of denial over the daily trauma of despairing for the future of humanity.
(Emphasis is mine.)
With the alarming immediacy of the global catastrophe we’re facing, it’s awfully tempting to just stick our fingers in our ears and go “LA LA LA LA!” Some nights you’ll find me curled up in a fetal position on the couch, sucking on my thumb, and babbling for my mommy. (I think it’s the prevailing ignorance and obstinate inaction that depresses me more than anything.) You want to talk about “daily trauma of despairing for the future of humanity,” Al? I am the POSTER CHILD of said trauma. I think I even cried at the press screening of Deep Sea 3D BEFORE the damn movie even STARTED, tightly clutching onto my oversize plastic 3D glasses like I was verklempt over getting to hear Johnny Depp. (Better hope that I never get pregnant because I will probably have the power to drown whole cities, and then the government will have to destroy me with nuclear weapons because you JUST KNOW that some braniac at the military will say, “GET OUT THE NUKES!” Don’t tell me this won’t happen—I’ve seen those movies.)
The point I’m trying to make—and I know I’m failing spectacularly at making it—is that we can’t just sit around doing nothing and just HOPING that the bogeyman (of global warming, mass extinction, world hunger, take your pick) will just go away, or that our elected representatives will lead the charge. Each of us—the decisions we make on a daily basis—what we do or don’t do DOES MATTER. We need to educate ourselves; arm ourselves. Most of all, we need to act. We managed to slow down the rate of degradation of the ozone layer, so it’s not impossible. To quote Bill Pullman in Independence Day (and make my husband fall in love with me all over again):
We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. …
We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We’re going to live on!
We’re going to survive!
The situation isn’t hopeless.
There can be a middle ground between ignorance and despair.
And it could be us1.
1Although, occasionally, you need to give yourself a break by sticking your fingers in your ears and going “LA LA LA LA” because otherwise your brain will explode. Just remember to remove your fingers after that.
The Worsted Witch » Organic Ben & Jerry’s said,
October 2, 2006 at 1:00 pm
[...] In other news, I made my first organic pizza (with a sweet honey-whole-wheat crust) completely from scratch yesterday, which my slice-loving husband thought was the romantic thing his greasy-food-hating wife had ever done for him since she quoted Independence Day on her blog. The tomato paste was a little runny because I didn’t have a cheese cloth to filter it through, but otherwise it turned out better than I’d expected it to. I feel more confident of tackling yeast-based breads now (I don’t think the beer bread counted). Man, I wish I had a bigger kitchen, though. And a bigger sink. Also, a pony. [...]