We Might Not All Be Doomed
Title
We Might Not All Be Doomed
Subject
boiling frog metaphor, doom, optimism, protest
Date
4/27/2022
Text
Currently, I live in Belfast, on the coast of Maine. I’m not “a local”, though--I’m from away, more specifically Chicago. I have fond memories of swimming in the (probably very polluted) Lake Michigan as a child, and Chicago holds a special, nostalgic place in my heart, but Belfast is where I was raised, and I consider it my home.
When I first learned about climate change, I would panic over every unseasonably warm day. I don’t do that anymore, but the reality is more alarming--the slowly shifting weather patterns. It’s like the boiling frog metaphor--if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will adjust to each new level until it boils alive. It seems to me like snow is coming later and less heavily every year, like summers are warmer more consistently. And of course I hear the news from around the country--the snowstorms in Texas, the fires in California, the smog in New York City.
Though the changes are scary and I fear the damage may be irreversible, I refuse to give up hope entirely. If we say “well, there’s nothing we can do” and stop trying, we’re doomed for sure. If we don’t give up--if we keep trying to find ways to slow or halt or heal from climate damages, and even more importantly if we start planning for how to survive a future in a warmer world, we might not all be doomed. The way I see it, it’s not like the world’s going to explode in a fireball in the next ten years. We have a long, long time before the day we all die, and if we don’t give in to the temptation to sit around and wait to die, maybe that day might not come at all.
So that’s the main way I’m working to create a positive future--by staying positive, by refusing to say there’s nothing we can do. There’s never nothing you can do. I’m also composting, and recycling, and all that jazz, but mostly what I’m doing is looking up the names of the owners of the biggest waste-producing or greenhouse-gas-producing companies in the world. Just, you know. Just to have on hand. We all have to pull our weight, and the “fat cats” of the world have a lot more weight to pull, and if asking nicely isn’t convincing them…I have a couple self-help books for rabble rousers and a lot of determination. If you’re interested, I could also use some help.
When I first learned about climate change, I would panic over every unseasonably warm day. I don’t do that anymore, but the reality is more alarming--the slowly shifting weather patterns. It’s like the boiling frog metaphor--if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will adjust to each new level until it boils alive. It seems to me like snow is coming later and less heavily every year, like summers are warmer more consistently. And of course I hear the news from around the country--the snowstorms in Texas, the fires in California, the smog in New York City.
Though the changes are scary and I fear the damage may be irreversible, I refuse to give up hope entirely. If we say “well, there’s nothing we can do” and stop trying, we’re doomed for sure. If we don’t give up--if we keep trying to find ways to slow or halt or heal from climate damages, and even more importantly if we start planning for how to survive a future in a warmer world, we might not all be doomed. The way I see it, it’s not like the world’s going to explode in a fireball in the next ten years. We have a long, long time before the day we all die, and if we don’t give in to the temptation to sit around and wait to die, maybe that day might not come at all.
So that’s the main way I’m working to create a positive future--by staying positive, by refusing to say there’s nothing we can do. There’s never nothing you can do. I’m also composting, and recycling, and all that jazz, but mostly what I’m doing is looking up the names of the owners of the biggest waste-producing or greenhouse-gas-producing companies in the world. Just, you know. Just to have on hand. We all have to pull our weight, and the “fat cats” of the world have a lot more weight to pull, and if asking nicely isn’t convincing them…I have a couple self-help books for rabble rousers and a lot of determination. If you’re interested, I could also use some help.
Collection
Citation
“We Might Not All Be Doomed,” All of Belfast: Climate Dialogues, accessed April 25, 2024, https://abcdbelfast.omeka.net/items/show/98.
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