THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Never Look Away

I was to have delivered this on-line during a Zero Carbon Dorset discussion, but long-Covid cough made it impossible to speak.

I was at a loss, thinking of what we will destroy for our grandchildren.

When I finished my film, THIS GOOD EARTH, I was distressed.
Having interviewed and listened carefully to very knowledgeable farmers, scientists, medical professionals and academics.
I realized that collectively we know what is to be done
and by when,
but also that it’s not and was not happening because,
as virtually all my interviewees said,
regardless of what their politics may be,
that the root cause of this impending tragedy
is to be found in profits or because of capitalism.

•The political problem is known…
that many policy makers, political parties and individual politicians
are in the wallet of the oil and transnational food corporations.
•The media problem is known:
that the media and the internet are by and large complicit with the ultra-wealthy     
as they are mostly owned by them or by the state.
•And the corporate problem is known:
that a combination of greed, mendacity, ideology
and a narrow service to wealth
rather than the well-being of citizens and of the earth,
binds the CEO’s and their boards to their destructive policies.

A young actress plays Gaia in the David Glass Ensemble’s production of  THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING by Naomi Klein

One of the founders of modern sociology,
Max Weber developed the concept of the ‘irrationality of rationality’.
What he meant was that, if at the end of a measurable period,
there are significant gains, corporate operations are judged to be rational,
but at the same time those policies may destroy people’s lives or this good earth,
meaning what is rational to the corporation is irrational to and for our lives.

Alpine ice melts in spring, bringing water to the crops in lower valleys.

But for me, here’s the problem:
that we, the broad middle and working classes
have not as yet stood together to force our politicians to act in our name,
to truly represent those they serve: us
rather than to carry on their pretence of being our representatives
while in fact representing the needs and wants of their corporate puppet masters
either directly or via their party’s’ whips.

So I am asking myself, what is wrong with us?
Why can’t we act?
What stops us from saving the lives of our grandchildren and our species?
Is our collective knowledge of history so dim, so lost in our own self-concerns
that we cannot remember these two words: NEVER AGAIN?

Is our reluctance to believe in science so great
that we cannot accept what 98% of scientists who know of these things have told us…
and that we cannot not put that together with the fires, floods, storms, droughts, hunger and starvation galloping ever more frequently towards us like the 4 Horsemen?

When our lakes our flooded, and valleys have drowned, will our children remember or know what was there?.

The above are questions to consider but I suggest this:
*that we are all too busy trying to survive Austerity part 2,
*that we have too many burdens to see the world around us clearly,
*that we have been subsumed so thoroughly in neoliberal beliefs,
finding meaning only in consumption rather than in ideas, love and beauty,
that we have lost our way,
*that we have been convinced that the ‘me’ is of greater import than the ‘we’,
and that the individual’s psychology is a better way to know ourselves
then through stories of our collective history.
and that within the popular culture, the news and the schools,
there are no wise people’s voices-of-change to consider.

Will our children have plants to name or to admire?

At the same time, there are wonderful trials, experiments, projects
being led by inspired individuals and teams around the world.
There are ideas coming alive, technologies developing and being developed.

What then do I do?
Like many who see this view of reality, I think there are several things:
*Live the life we want for all;
*Never look away;
*Resist in every way;
*use creative means to clarify the gap
between our representative’s words and actions.

Or will our children or grandchildren have plants to eat?

I deeply regret this is so dark,
but I believe it needs to be said, and I do not believe in looking away.

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You can see THIS GOOD EARTH, my feature documentary film on climate change and soil, landscape and species extinction and farming, food, diet and disease on Amazon and i Tunes.