So I hear another flood "of biblical proportions" could be headed Manitoba-way!
A swollen Red River already has officials in North Dakota and even our province on high alert.
Word is this one could be as bad or even worse, (if that's possible) than the one in '97 that brought tragedy and grief to both farms and small towns in the flood plain.
They called the one back then "the worst of the century," following what had been "the worst blizzard of all-time." (Or was it the other way around?)
Whichever the case, it makes me feel like screaming, "It's climate change, stupid!"
What is it going to take for you politicians and you, "average Joes" to wake up from your stupor and see the light? (That industry and big corporations do nothing, is no surprise. I expect better of you.)
As you watch growing evidence of the climate crisis unfold all around you, you remain in a state of denial, preferring instead to "party on" as if there is no tomorrow (& if you don't change, there won't be), driving your gas-guzzlers, developing your filthy tar sands, raping our forests and, sucking up and wasting our precious water sources.
I often tell people that, if such extreme events (as the impending Manitoba flood) were not in keeping with what the experts have been telling us for years, I'd be skeptical, too. But they are not!
The experts are right! You climate deniers are wrong. Get used to it!
As I watch bozos leave their monster trucks idling needlessly, brain-dead motorists lining up at the fast-food "drive-thrus," gridlocks developing in every city at rush hour, choking exhausts triggering smog alerts, why is it so hard for you to believe that you are responsible. You are!
Do you ever put your brain in gear and wonder, "Gee, how bad might this get? What kind of world will my kids be living in when they grow up? " If you haven't, please do!
The consequences of continuing on "the stupid path" are just not acceptable. Before you scream, "hypocrite", I should tell you, we drive a hybrid car, travel below the speed limit to conserve gas, recycle, compost, buy carbon offsets, grow organic vegetables and follow the "When it's yellow, let it mellow" approach to toilet-flushing, even using our bathwater to flush!
If you think that's stupid, please explain to me why flushing perfectly good, potable, drinkable water, down the drain, only to pollute it for years to come, is not?
Why do we do what we do? Because *the world is running out of fresh water! Haven't you heard? Where have you been? Head stuck in the tar sands? Pick up a book! Read a newspaper! (No, I don't mean the sports pages.) Listen to Radio (no, I don't mean the all-music ones with news as an afterthough)! Watch TV (preferably the news or documentaries once in a while, not "2 1/2 Men" or "Bachelor)!
The way I see it, the time has passed for being quiet and unassuming.
And I'm sick and tired, frankly of "going it alone," waiting month after month, year after year, for you to smarten up and do the right thing!
Just do it!
P.S. The way I figger, the time for "making nice" is over. And I know those of you who "get it," won't take offense. l.p.
Dude,
Get rid of the hate!
You are not better than someone else just because you turn off your engine in front of your Whole Foods market.
Peace.
I understand the frustration, I really do. But ranting will feed into the populist image of environmentalists. We still have to work at the patient persuasion, or we will blow it, and we just have this one chance.
Thanks, John,
I always welcome feedback. And I likewise understand where you are coming from. I'm not as angry as I may have sounded. It was a tool I thought I'd use to see if I could shake some opinions loose, so to speak. It seems to have worked a bit, anyway.
My anger has now faded to disappointment and resignation. Because it is now abundantly clear to me that the game is now over. We environmentalists can be as nice as pie, yet the percentage of skeptics and deniers, people who don't even believe there is a problem, is growing! And the gaping abyss in world climate leadership is now pretty much total.
Even if we all did everything we should do, from this point on, it will matter little. Whatever nature has in store for us, I believe, is now coming our way, no matter what. Just let's hope it will be on the lower & not higher end of the "serious to catastrophic scale!"
That's not to say I'm going to stop writing, hoping to change some minds (or listen to comments like yours and BE changed by them)!
To paraphrase Paul Hawken, being hopeful is truly meaningful only when there is nothing to be hopeful about!
Larry
You are invited to check out my blog'
"Paths Less Travelled. Stories rarely told by mainstream media."
www.earthkeeperfarm.blogspot.com



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I'm a long-time journalist, activist, photographer and writer based in rural, western Manitoba. I spent about 15 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, mostly as a radio news reporter in western Canada. I specialize in stories about agriculture and the environment
...I'm a long-time journalist, activist, photographer and writer based in rural, western Manitoba. I spent about 15 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, mostly as a radio news reporter in western Canada. I specialize in stories about agriculture and the environment. In the year 2000, I formed a citizens group to successfully oppose plans for a complex of factory hog barns in my community. I was a candidate for the Green Party in the provincial election in Manitoba in 2003. Now that I am no longer a full-time employee as a reporter, I have more time to research and write and do the occasional news story for CBC on a freelance basis. I wriite many articles and letters to the editor, on topics like climate change and depleting world resources. I strongly support sustainable, organic, family farms as opposed to the predominant, disastrous "agribusiness" model of monocropping, the over-application of pesticides and genetic modification. I also strongly support the "eat local" movement. For about 5 years, my wife and I produced certified, organic vegetables to sell at farmers' markets.
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