Walking early evening as shades of pink and blue soak up the sky, a sadness creeps over me as I reflect on passages from “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Yuval Noah Harari.
"For thousands of years Homo sapiens behaved as an ecological serial killer; now it is morphing into an ecological mass murderer. If we continue with our present course, it will not just cause the annihilation of a large percentage of all life-forms but also might sap the foundation of human civilization.”
We are sheltered here in the Midwest; in other areas, people have already lost their houses and loved ones due to the climate crisis. How do we bring this home to those yet to experience such horrible consequences? Some jump from denial to despair. Others share that they are just too busy -- in survival mode keeping up with school -- job -- home -- family.
Each one of us can do something every day. Our middle daughter reminds us:, “Everyone can reuse and recycle, turn off lights when you leave a room and try not to use plastic.”
Our oldest daughter emphasizes, “You don’t need to buy a windmill or put solar panels on your house if you can’t afford this. It’s about making changes one step at a time whether that’s eating less meat and dairy, buying local food, composting, using reusable shopping bags, taking public transportation or biking, contacting your political representatives, purchasing energy efficient appliances, or asking your energy providers to adopt 100% renewable energy.”
Start with one action today!
I’m Nina Dulabaum, and that’s my perspective.
