Whenever I hear Chris Hedges speak (and I just watched a youtube video), I feel inspired to do- something. I just don't know what. His message is to rebel (non-violently) against the system, bring down the corporate state. That working within the system will be too slow and ineffective to stop climate change before it brings about human extinction. And I tend to agree- but now what?
I don't think Chris Hedges knows. I think he is like John the Baptist, preaching to make way for the real revolutionary, Jesus, to come after him. A real revolutionary needs a vision. I don't get one from Chris Hedges, and I certainly don't have one of my own. So I am waiting for the real revolutionary.
The religious revolutionaries have an advantage- all that symbolism and imagery to work with and usually a good apocalyptic story as well. Arctic methane levels don't work quite as well. All the same, I am surprised we haven't seen eco-terrorism. Not that I think it would work- because you would have to shut down carbon emissions across the entire globe- but still, people have died and killed for lesser things than the fate of all of humanity.
I think that this year was a turning point for the climate. The great barrier reef, the melting Greenland ice sheets, the increasing methane levels, the plunging Arctic sea ice level, and the hottest year on record. If you don't get it now, you are either not interested or don't want to get it.
My mom passed away last month, and it occurs to me that she will never see the climate change that she never took very seriously, that she always thought we would solve. When I am at work or around people, I really don't think about her much. But when I am alone, I do. I remember her last few days. They were really intense.
I remember I never got her the egg salad sandwich she wanted. But by then she wasn't swallowing that well anyway. At least that is what I tell myself so I don't feel too bad about it. The hospital cafeteria didn't have egg salad, and somehow once we got her home it didn't happen.
