Sipping a latte while Rome burns: 2 of 3, Today

January 10 2008 | Jim's Blog,
by Jim

The exact same thing is happening right now regarding the relative understanding, importance and hierarchy we place on issues having to do with the environment. You can “feel” the disconnect right now. Less than a year ago people were still debating whether global warming was real. Glacier National Park is becoming Sans Glacier National Park and people were still debating. Mount Killamanjaro is almost without snowcap… and people still debate. This lag is notable, it’s the disconnect in real time.

I still have interactions with people that question, albeit more timidly everyday, global warming, the collapse of fisheries or the damage we’re doing to our coastlines and oceans.

I’m writing this because I have the hope of decreasing that decadal time frame in some small way. It seems to take societies decades to understand and embrace large-scale concepts like slavery, women’s rights, political prisoners, the internet and the environment. In my mind any collapse of that time frame is a good thing as the end result understanding independently drives so many other things.

My hope is to look at the environmental issues we face today through our children’s eyes, or perhaps our children’s children’s eyes. Your age doesn’t matter to me. Although from personal experience I understand that there is an inverse relationship in age and abilty to embrace new concepts. Your political leanings don’t matter to me. Although I’m not naïve enough to think that most of us don’t come to issues without prescription political lenses.

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