Had Enough?

Had enough tragedy? I have. More than enough. Here are some facts, boys and girls. If that had been a solar array rather than a nuclear plant, it would have been inconvenient. If those were windmills, the recovery would be way cleaner. WAY CLEANER. We are about to out-trump nature again in dealing out catastrophe. We are about to make bad worse…….again. Yet…..how long will we care about what people are living with as a consequence? How many have to die this time to have us say no to nuclear and oil with all its tentacles and mean it? How long will we care? Will we actually do anything to change? Will this be the enough is enough one?

Remember the Gulf of Texaco? Ohhhhhh, the tragedy. Ohhhhhhh, the greed. Ohhhhhhhh, the voices of righteous indignation as warnings were suppressed by the bottom line. Oh, look. Charlie Sheen is having a meltdown. Have you seen the new IPad? We are mastered by a slight of hand that distracts from reality right until reality crashes through the haze and reminds us the world is in danger. I am embarrassed at how much we say and how little we actually do. That is how little we do that actually matters. Chernobyl. Three Mile Island. Exxon Valdez. BP. The hits just keep on coming. War for Oil? Mining disasters? Backing despots to keep the oil flowing? Sure……good for the economy though…..lots of jobs and money to spend. Gotta make it to work. Right?

We need changes. Now. Changes that will transform our man-made tragedies into inconveniences rather than repetitions of helplessness and greed. Solar and Wind energy solutions. Public transportation over private consumption. Local markets rather than mass distribution centers. Saving versus borrowing. Repairing rather than replacing.

We, the People of the Planet, must lead. In example of how we treat ourselves and our neighbors. In example of how we live and honor all life. In example of how we fit into the ecosystem. We are the answer and must be the example. Now.

We need natural energy sources more and less energy consumption by each of us to balance supply and demand. We need more transportation that brings us together in the act of travel and less transportation that separates us from our neighbors, neighborhood, and world. We must experience life in our homes and share it with the world. We must live locally and feel globally.

The changes must touch all aspects of life. Each purchase, each meal, each outing, each celebration, each choice. Schools. Parks. All aspects of Community. A Global Citizenship linked across the planet. Everyday.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornados are forces of nature. Energy choices that put people at risk are within our control. We can change them now. Right now. Even while the scope of what happens in Japan is revealed. We owe them that. We owe their children and our children that. We owe seven generations from seven generations from now that. We must change. We must learn. We must act.