Some of these mornings, as I wake up I sense a strange heaviness hanging around me. It’s unnatural, it’s weird -one that I can’t put into words. I’ve rested well and yet the world seems tired; the air has forgotten to feel fresh and the day loiters listlessly mocking in an unkind way. Maybe it’s just me; or is it the Earth whispering anxiously through the cracks that have ravaged her for a long period of time? What’s worse we have looked the other way for far too long turning a blind eye to her imploring cries.
Even so I find some amazing calming comfort in nature- long walks, sitting by a quaint patch of green watching sky burn itself out from clear sapphire to deep orange at dusk as the sun goes down. In those moments, I feel less alone. I love the descending silence as creepy crawlies gear up for night sojourn.
But lately I’ve noticed something unusual happening to real world outside. Trees are withering too soon. Birds are fewer and hardly twittering around. Bees, beetles and butterflies have all gone into hiding. Rivers are drying or swelling beyond their rhythm and seasons are so confused; one moment it’s roasting sunshine, the other it’s raining hard leaving every living soul squirming in fiery discomfort of sweltering heat. Every now and then the torridity turns soul destroyer; numbing, draining exhausting the familiar nature around us. It’s as if the world has forgotten to follow the script it’s been doing for eons.
And we keep asking more of her!
The Earth is Tired
Pretentious hunger of concrete reality, careless consumption, hostile plastic convenience and spiteful ways of easy travel, all maul the inhabitable air with tones of carbon footprints. Unmindful of her agony, every time we ask her to hold on to our fancies, adjust, absorb remain stay quiet and continue to be calm and serene as always. And all the while we continue to chase comfort in all the wrong ways for all the wrong reasons. Forests butchered, oceans stifled with trash and waste that we dump and mountains pillaged until they no longer stand proud; we have gotten used to taking what we fancy- without asking without giving back in return.
What’s more unsettling is that this planet still continues to hold space for our reckless mistakes and strangling plunder.
But for how long?
Does this mean that we have somehow missed the mark? Are we merely focusing on some deep science that largely does not make sense but hastily overlooks to connect with daily life? Confused, resisting and gloomy in outlook altogether the blame lies with us for bettering our lives without thinking twice about defacing and vandalizing our Planet.
The reason!
Calls to cut back on carbon footprints by going easy with fossil fuels or invoking stiff emission standards globally are largely unworkable and wild. Betraying growth this way seems unrealistic and fails to sell. Worse, no doable solutions are brewing and no achievable solution for fixing climate change has gained ground.
The Weight of Being the Strong One
For all we know the Earth is getting tired, non renewables are depleting fast and climate change is real. But we don’t think it’s as urgent. It’s no surprise that alarmed cries invariably run aground. Considered as another out of touch elitist cause with no viable end tied up, this listlessness has not led to anything serious.
Personally my take on this is not that cheeky. I am many things but not a quitter. When it comes to a mindful existence I am inclined towards wind or solar over coal or gas but I’d care more for having a reliable energy source when I need it. The push for change is alright but not everybody can deal with long outages after storms, rough weather or murky no-sunshine days. Reliability outsmarts source when it comes to availability and service.
The real problem!
Our planet has reached its ‘tipping point’. It has exhausted all that it can give sustainably. Besides the climate story has either been told badly or it has fallen on deaf ears.
It’s time to face the reality or forget the ‘Tomorrow land’ of our imagination entirely. Truth may be lost for a while but bigger crises lurk in plain sight. Trillions spent on renewable have barely moved the needle on ‘global emergency’. Cold feet couldn’t cancel the hearty fake shows over ‘geo-engineering’. It’s time the screen writers and story tellers amid the ‘right-wing eco warriors’ figured out how skillfully they can cook a story that people would actually care about. Not the one that would only sell tickets to another “Grand Climate Show”!
I am not saying that shift is easy to come. But it definitely begins with people like us. People who once danced in the rain as kids, who were supercharged in plantation drive at school and who at one time were convinced that this Planet was their only ‘Home’.
Perhaps we have forgotten to grieve ’the Earth’ fearing that doing so will make us responsible for all its woes. And in the process we have missed the point-‘Grief is where the healing begins’.
I still remember sitting quietly by the Periyar lake side one balmy winter morning. I was on a vacation to Kerala, down southwest to Thekkady exactly. A charming spice and tea paradise nestled in the foothills of Kannan Devan mountain ranges this is an epic destination unveiling breathtaking rainforests, enchanting spice gardens, wildlife and all that you’d imagine of Hills n’ Hues. All I wanted a little break from all the noises and humdrum of daily rut.
The water mirrored the sky so vividly that I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. That moment I wasn’t thinking about the melting glaciers or shrinking rivers or shriveling verdant. I just sat there quietly. It felt good. The soft gentle breeze was tapping my shoulder urging to listen to the silence. In that quietness I think I heard the Earth speaking to me- not in anger but in sadness. “Why do you keep hurting those you love most?”
I love living on this planet. Do you? I love the burning gold sunsets, the earthy smell of first rain drops falling, the proud peaks of snow clad mountains wrapped in the clouds and the iridescent opulence of flowers that bloom without waiting to be applauded.
If we have been given with so much by her, then maybe it’s time we love her loudly and clearly. It’s about time we protect her from being destroyed and stand by her side when she is being gagged by profit. It’s time we mourn her losses like we mourn for our loved ones- not in words but in decisive action.
I know there’s no one solution for all her woes. But I know this for sure-Change will come when we begin to see this planet as ‘inseparable, indivisible and unseverable’ part of our existence; her exhaustion as our own and her collapse not a distant fear but a manifestation of our choices.
As I write this, I don’t have anything new to offer for a dramatic climate change. I just want to be part of the endeavor. I want to feel the change when it comes. I want to be responsible for the grief of what we’ve lost and what we’re losing. I want to believe that if we sit with this reckoning long enough, we might act — not out of fear but…
More out of love !
The Maverick#59: Inspiring and empowering, for the best is possible. 