It Never Rains, It?

                     It Never Rains, It…?

    “Why are you so wet?”

    “It’s raining!”

    “I hadn’t noticed.”

    “What are they predicting?”

    “Who?”

    “The weather people of course. Earlier they were predicting rain in excess of six inches. Six inches used to be a catastrophe, now it takes twelve inches and houses inundated with flood waters before anyone pays attention, unless it’s happening to them of course.”

    “Does anyone but you care whether its six or twelve inches of rain, snow, or for that matter, 12 feet of gray and gloomy? No, people have other things to be concerned about; living for instance.”

    “Have you been listening to me at all over the last ten years? I’ve been trying to tell you we need to move before…

    “I ain’t moving. I got too much to do and moving is one of the two worst things a person has to endure, and in my case you’re the other thing.”

    “Do you think you could store the negativity. I’ve been telling you for several years now that the big migration is coming, and you as well as everyone else is not paying attention. You seem to think that I just make this stuff up because it gives me something to say. That’s not it at all. We are on the verge of going down the climate hill without a sled. Poor metaphor, sorry. Anyway, the rains if you’ve been paying attention have increased not only in severity but frequency and…

    “Before you go off on one of your doomsday scenarios, don’t you think that someone who is smarter than you, someone who is being paid to look out for events that potentially harm people or the country, would let us know; like they do for hurricanes? They’ve got maps, times and predictions for areas where people in its path should leave. I haven’t heard one word about evacuating because of anything harmful coming our way, let alone telling me I should consider moving. Oh, I take that back, there was something on the internet about weather conditions changing because of alien undetectable satellite beams . You, or any of your lofty friends going to be able to do anything about that?”

    It’s always like that. When I try to warn her and others that the oceans are rising, the rainfall totals are increasing yearly, not to mention the fires and record snow falls, they look at me like I’m nuts; I can see it in their eyes. 

    It isn’t that I’m smarter than everyone else, although I’m beginning to think that I just might be, but the evidence on climate change is clear. Like they say, the writing is on the subway walls. Scientists have been predicting a catastrophe if we do not take the climate seriously, and we’ve done nothing but happily ignore their warnings. People pay attention to tsunami and earth quake warnings, but when it comes to something broader than what is affecting them personally, they stop caring.

    Science, the same science that can repair your heart, save your child from pneumonia, polio, mumps, chicken pox, and replace a hip so that you can resume a normal functioning life, but when it comes to the climate, science has become an evil entity with a devious intent that cannot be trusted. Next time you have a tooth ache go see a psychiatrist and see what kind of relief you’re going to get.

    Science has added nearly a third to our life expectancy from what it was a hundred years ago. There is nothing we see or touch daily that has not been changed through scientific research. I’m not implying it was all good; Teflon, plastics, DDT come to mind.

    Those predicting life changing conditions due to climate change are also at fault. They have, although I can’t imagine what they might be, given us a grace period to change our emissions problems, but they put the date for compliance thirty years from now. They know I’m sure that we don’t have thirty years. If we are lucky we’ve got maybe ten before the Wheaties hit the fan.

    I believe they are afraid to tell us the whole truth for fear it might cause a revolution. The politicians ignore warnings because they interfere with their personal agendas. They are afraid if people begin to believe the facts, they’ll be run out of office because of their apathetic arrogance. So they create diversions and lies to discredit the evidence.   

    Prediction statistics cause us to believe that the problem is solvable. I don’t see how? The majority of people, even when neck high in flood waters believe it is just one of those once in a lifetime events that will never happen again. They refuse to acknowledge the increase in disaster activity here as well as around the world. 

    It is easier to accept the evidence that climate change doesn’t exist or humans are not responsible for its cause, than devise a plan. It is simpler to get lost in the diversion, that “it is all a part of the natural cycle,” not a human creation. Regardless of who takes credit for the change, it’s in everyone’s best interest to prepare for it.

    The increased cost of disasters has reached catastrophic levels. All of the recent disasters have exceeded a billion dollars. Then there is the catch-22 with insurance companies. You can’t get a home loan without insurance, but you can’t get insurance any longer in certain areas where disaster risk is high. Those that can get insurance are paying premiums higher than many can afford. The risk factor has become a home buyers concern.       

    I believe we’ve reached a tipping point; there is no longer a fix and believing a Hail Mary solution is just over the horizon we can no longer see because of the forest fire smoke, is delusional. If you were paying attention you might have noticed that droughts, fires, floods, hurricanes, snow and excessive winds incidents are increasing yearly.

     A disaster strikes; we shovel the mud from our homes, tell each other how strong we are as a community, and then forget about the probability this is going to be a gerbil wheel scenario from now on. 

     The projections for sea level rise have been increasing yearly. If even half of what is predicted occurs, and instead of ten feet, we only get five, we will see news stories about how we dodged the bullet, all the nonsense about climate change was a hoax.  But to what purpose? 

    Five feet of ocean rise will inundate the coastal regions around the world. Half the population in this country live within a hundred miles of the coast. Where will all those people go? You think that the migration occurring now is a growing problem, wait until 150 million people need to set up camp in your back yard.

    No one is considering the impact increased rain falls will have on the agricultural industry. Too wet, you can’t plant crops, too dry, they die. Either way we will find our store shelves looking like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. 

    People laugh when I tell them it won’t be long until we will be experiencing the same circumstances they are facing in Russia and other countries around the world. We’ll be waiting in line to view the empty shelves at grocery stores and only be able to reminisce about the “good old days.” Apparently the pandemic taught us nothing. 

   We would rather argue over who’s fault the upcoming change is, than plan for it. We worry about the national debt, migration, crime, all the things we are constantly bombarded with in the news. But none of those things are as important as looking at the disruption and the ramifications of our climate changing. All decisions have consequences; to ignore that fact leaves us at the station waiting for a train that has already left. 

      We spend trillions of dollars yearly on military readiness. We are more concerned with who and where our next war will be, than we are about the universal danger the world is on the brink of experiencing. 

    No one seems to understand the reason people from South America, Hatti, and Venezuela are risking their lives to trek through jungles, take over-crowded boats, and illegally cross boarders; expecting what? A chance at a means of survival. There are very few people who complain about migration that would consider walking a thousand miles to have just a chance at a livelihood and a future for themselves and their family. 

    I personally believe the reason we elect people who should be concerned with what the future will bring but are not, because they choose to believe it can’t happen in their lifetime. Fine! But what about your kids, grandkids, your great grandchildren? Is it any wonder that young adults today are choosing not to have children?

    If only half the predictions come true, the amount of habitable land in the country will be 30% less than it is now. It is also the most populated property in the country.

    We are more concerned with family planning restrictions than the fact we are an overpopulated world. We live in a consumer society where planned obsolescence is what keeps the Gross Domestic Product rising; the faster it wears out and is replaced, is what keeps capitalism afloat. Our thirst for natural materials to fuel our addiction to technology has mining interests looking at the bottom of the ocean and on distant planets. 

    We are choking on our own waste, and our solution isn’t to consume less, or reuse what we can until it is no longer functional, but accept planned obsolescence, otherwise our economy will suffer. The idea of sustainable living, not taking more than is necessary from the earth, is laughed at. We are more afraid of a recession or depression, than losing our livable planet.

    Given our newfound propensity for violence, what do you think will happen when there is one loaf of bread on a shelf and two people want it? Once we have reduced ourselves to the survival of the fittest mode, might will make right, no matter your religion or level of education. 

    “So, you going to stew all evening because I refuse to move? You look like you’ve been slipping into that place where Armageddon is around the next corner and you’ve forgotten what corner you live on. It’s great that you take an interest in this stuff, but you are just one person. Do you really think that one person can make a difference? If I use too much water, don’t eat all the food I purchase, is it really going to make a difference in whether the world survives or not? 

    You’ve got to lighten up.  You do realize that half our country could care less about anything, but what effects them personally. The danger of pulling out of the Climate Accord was less important than the price of eggs. So what kind of chance do you think we have, you have, of making a difference?”

    “That’s the problem! We’ve been convinced that there is nothing that can be done because there is nothing that needs to be done. 

    Do you realize that at the time of the Great Depression the population in this country was about a hundred million people. 90% of the residents of the United States lived in rural areas where they were living a subsistence life. They grew their own food. If there was anything left, they’d sell it if they could find someone to buy it. What do you think will happen if something like that happens again? Most people couldn’t grow a potato if you gave them one and showed them how to plant and take care of it. They’d probably complain because they had to water it from time to time, too much work, not really worth it.

    During WWII people were collectively willing to sacrifice to support an effort the world and country was involved in. People voluntarily gave up things to aid the effort against fascism. We as a country can’t even agree to adhere to the Constitution. We are willing to scrap over two hundred years of democracy for the promise that the price of eggs will come down. And the rise in price of eggs is due to our adherence to supply and demand principles. 

Bird flu has reduced the number of laying hens, therefor there are less eggs available, therefore the price because of demand rises. There is no problem if you are wealthy enough to purchase eggs at any price; the problem is when those who rely on previously available affordable food find the same food suddenly unaffordable; they panic.  Rather than attempting to understand the problem, it is easier to find someone to blame.

    Our country at one time had a symbiotic relationship between towns and rural areas.  The flight to towns and cities after WWII left the rural agricultural community to provide for ever-increasing populations, here and around the world. 

    Rural areas before the migration to the cities, supplied metropolitan areas and their inhabitants with food and the raw materials necessary to sustain life. In return the town residents would aid farmers in the fall harvest, insuring both agriculture and business survival.

    We used to have a grain exchange. Its purpose was to stabilize agriculture by purchasing grain when there was an abundance, keeping prices affordable and the price for farmers sustainable. When there was a decline in production the exchange would infuse grain stockpiles into the market, keeping grain available and affordable. The same was true for cheese and other commodities. 

    What do you think happened to the Grain Exchange? The futures market was born!  We could now bet on a promise to deliver a set amount of product at a set price. All was well until a disaster hit and you couldn’t deliver what you’d promised. The food stability we once enjoyed had turned into an agricultural casino that was too big to fail; therefore government tax payer subsidies were initiated to support family and corporate farms. It is the new way of securing food stability.   

    There are those in the country that believe a civil war is the answer to our ideological differences. What do you think will happen when your families survival depends on what you can grow and protect from those who would take what they need to survive and leave you to fend for yourself? The adage about providing a man a fish or teaching him how to fish, is becoming more relevant as our dependency on others increases while we cling to the concept of isolationism.

    People have lost the ability to co-operate, to help not only themselves, but those around them. We are a me first country. Everything centers around the individual and his or her needs, not what is best for the majority or the country. 

    Every election there’s talk about home and family and how important they are to a social network.  Home and family are important, but so is your neighbor, your community, and the population of the world.  We depend upon that population for strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes in January, whether we wish to admit it or not. 

     So, yes, I think we should consider moving while moving is still possible. We don’t have twenty to thirty years to procrastinate about ways to hone our survival skills. Finding another planet to live on is a wonderful plot for a sci-fi movie or book, but in reality this planet is all we have.

    I do believe collectively we can make a difference. Not in stopping the impending disaster, too late for that, but in readying ourselves for the consequences of having done nothing for the past fifty years. If we continue to argue over who gets to choose what books I read, or which church I go to, we will have squandered another opportunity to prepare for the uncertainty ahead.

    The irony lies in the fact that there are those who care about our life sustaining environment, and those who crave power and money and the environment be damned.  All of us no matter your status or wealth, depend upon our environment to survive. No matter how wealthy or acclaimed you may be, when there is nothing to eat you will feel the effects of hunger. When there is no shelter, no way to keep from freezing or suffering from rising temperatures, you will regret knowing of the predictable outcome and having refused to do anything to stall its progress. 

    There is a prevalent myth that the earth will be irreparably damaged. It will be harmed, I know it will be changed, species will become extinct, but the earth will seek and find its equilibrium. It may take tens of thousands if not millions of years, but it will find it. It is our extinction as well as all other species on earth that should concern us. 

    Kurt Vonnegut put it concisely: We are the only species that will become extinct because it is not cost-effective to do otherwise.

    H.L. Menken also threw his hat into the ring: Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

    It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring

    He bumped his head and went to bed

    and everything was gone by morning.

    So, you coming or not?”