2019: The Year We'll Turn Things Around!

After feasting, socializing and merry making during the festive season, the giant puppets were finally taking it easy.

With 2019 only days away, they kicked back in the living room and wondered about how the new year would unfold.

Strong coffee and holiday leftovers fuelled their discussion.

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image courtesy of Pixabay

GOOD TIME (brooding, and sipping on coffee): I need a good year ahead. This one has had a few too many rough spots -- a smoky summer, and so many climate disasters all over the world. And they're getting worse all the time.

NOWCA: I agree, Good Time. Things need to turn around -- or, to be more accurate, we need to turn things around.

GOOD TIME: I get what you mean, NOWCA. The year won't just happen to us; we'll all contribute to what it becomes, so we need to be intentional about what we do in the new year.

NOWCA (eating a forkful of yams): That's exactly what I mean, Good Time. Gee, these leftover yams with pecans are good.

PER (nibbling on a rum ball): It's high time we seized not just the day, but the upcoming year and our future. What do we want and how are we going to achieve it?

These leftover rum balls are delicious! Who'd have guessed that you can make them vegan and so healthy?

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: I want the world to seriously reduce global carbon emissions.

PER: Me too, and I want it done in a way that provides well-paid, secure jobs.

GOOD TIME: I want to be able to relax, and not worry about smoky summers and natural disasters caused by climate change.

MR. PIPELINE: Hey, Good Time, you're jumping to conclusions. Don't believe everything you read: it's important to be skeptical about climate change.

GOOD TIME: Fat chance, Mr. Pipeline! You and your crowd have been urging climate denial for decades and we're not drinking that Kool-Aid anymore.

PER: The jig's up, Mr. Pipeline. We know better. When climate scientists are giving us dire warnings, we're not listening to the oil lobby. This is a matter of life and death. We're not getting suckered -- we want a liveable future.

MR. PIPELINE: But the industry's been changing. It's getting greener all the time. And, besides, what about the economy and the workers employed by the fossil fuel industry?

NOWCA: Too little too late, Mr. Pipeline. We need to switch to green, non-polluting technologies and transition workers to those. You and your friends know that fossil fuels are a sunset industry.

MR. PIPELINE: But we --

PER: Enough, Mr. Pipeline. We don't want to listen to you anymore. We need to plan for a better future. What tools do we have at our disposal?

NOWCA: Well, Naomi Klein and some of her friends have just launched a new podcast. I always learn something amazing from her, and I respect her sense of where we can best put our energies.

GOOD TIME: Here's another great podcast called Balancing Act by Catherine McGrath on our local radio station, Kootenay Co-op Radio. And don't forget the first seven days of protest with the Extinction Rebellion. Sounds like a great way to build community with our friends, and let the world know that we're serious.

MR. PIPELINE: What?! Now you're trying to start a riot?

NOWCA: You know better, Mr. Pipeline. This is a non-violent action. We'll be rising up together to

image courtesy of Pixabay

let our leaders know that the just transition to a green future is happening whether they like it or not.

MR. PIPELINE: Your political leaders represent you, and are there to look out for your interests.

PER: Then why do they look out for the interests of the fracking and oil and gas industries and big money? Most politicians at the federal and provincial levels are not looking out for the public good, and that's putting all of us in grave danger.

NOWCA: I'll still vote as always, but I realize that it's going to take people power to change things. Our politicians say one thing to get elected, and then stick up for corporate interests afterwards. This is not OK.

MR. PIPELINE: Oh ya? Like who?

PER: Well, there's our federal leader who campaigned as a climate champion but then bought a $4.5 billion dollar pipeline on our behalf and with our tax dollars once he became Prime Minister. Then there's our MLA who spoke out against Site C before being elected, but then supported it once she got into office, even though it made no economic sense to do so.

MR. PIPELINE: Ya, well hydro is clean power.

NOWCA: No, it's not. Not when it's from a mega dam that destroys high quality agricultural land and vital wilderness corridors and is in violation of Indigenous rights.

MR. PIPELINE: You're all just anti-progress.

image courtesy of Pixabay

GOOD TIME: You know better, Mr. Pipeline. The longer we take to transition to clean energy, the more behind we'll be. The whole world is adopting clean technologies, and we're still subsidizing fossil fuels. Every time we invest in fossil fuels instead of what's new and green, we fall behind.

The industry is being phased out, but it still has way too much influence on our politicians.

PER: No one believes you anymore, Mr. Pipeline. It's time for you to get with the future. 2019 is the year people are going to make sure they keep the oil in the soil.

MR. PIPELINE: Oh ya?

NOWCA (taking a drink of coffee): Oh ya. Just watch us.

image courtesy of Pixabay

Winter Solstice in Puppet Land

Winter Solstice was wet and slushy, not white and snowy as was usual for this time of year in the land of the giant puppets. The darkest day of the year marking the return of the sun was upon them.

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PER (looking pensively out the window): It should be snowing this time of year, not raining.

image courtesy of Pixabay

MR. PIPELINE: Hey, relax, Per. Less shovelling is fine with me.

PER: The signs are all around us, and what happens at COP24? Virtually nothing. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, fiddling while Rome burns. Elizabeth May got it right when she said the real question that should have been asked was 'Do we want to survive or not?' Our leaders don't seem to grasp the urgency of the environmental crisis we're facing.

And I'm thoroughly bummed out that British Columbians voted against proportional representation. It means it'll be even harder to change things, and to get big money out of politics.

What are we going to do? I feel so helpless.

NOWCA: I hear you, Per. I wish I knew.

MR. PIPELINE: How about doing nothing. Relax! Get with the spirit of the season! Ho, ho, ho!

GOOD TIME: Mr. Pipeline, I agree with you -- 'tis the season and all, but I also get how you're feeling Per and NOWCA. And I miss our season of white. It just doesn't feel the same with rain somehow.

PER (sighing): It's hard to get into the spirit when I feel so much anxiety about what the future holds.

GOOD TIME: You know, Per, even though we lost the pro rep campaign, in the process we've created communities of caring people all over the province. And even though we're from different groups and political parties we've become friends and know how to work together.

NOWCA: That's a good point, Good Time. It's caring people working together who are going to make the world a greener, kinder and fairer place. And the pro rep campaign brought a lot of us together.

Hey, and it's Winter Solstice, an inward and contemplative time. If we want to protect nature, maybe we need to listen to her. Maybe it's a good time to meditate and see what comes to us.

GOOD TIME: I just saw something that might help us to focus our meditation. Every day between January 1st and 7th, 2019, people around the world will demonstrate their feelings about a daily theme in whatever way makes sense to them. Here are the themes:

Day 1 - Earth
Day 2 - Water
Day 3 - Fire
Day 4 - Air
Day 5 - Climate
Day 6 - Biodiversity
Day 7 - Web of life

NOWCA: Maybe we can organize an event. We can't be the only ones feeling this way.

PER: I like the timing. It'll give us a chance to relax and then start the new year off with a bold, global statement.

MR. PIPELINE: Well, don't expect the newspapers to cover it.

NOWCA: You're probably right, Mr. Pipeline. But you know what? We don't need the papers so much anymore. They didn't print letters explaining the benefits of proportional representation, and I'm sure they won't cover these events either.

But nowadays people have their cell phones and the internet, so we know what's going on even when the media doesn't cover it.

PER: And it'll be fun to see how different people interpret these themes. There'll be lots of sharing and commenting, I'm sure.

GOOD TIME: Sounds like fun! People can be so creative, and I love seeing what they come up with.

NOWCA: Me too! And with seven days in a row, I bet people will build on each other's ideas.

MR. PIPELINE: You're wasting your time! 2019 will be business as usual. Your antics won't make any difference.

PER: People aren't going to give up on curbing something as life threatening as climate change. Maybe this will work, or maybe it won't. But something will. Enough people want a future for their kids and grandkids that we'll just keep doing things until we can change the course of our society and economy.

GOOD TIME (sniffing the air): NOWCA, what smells so good? Is there something in the oven?

NOWCA: Yams with figs, peanut butter and pecans. What better way to celebrate earth's goodness than by eating great food, eh?

GOOD TIME (sighing): The simple joys we want for future generations. No one has the right to rob them of their lives and the pleasures of eating, loving and experiencing what's wonderful about being alive.

PER: Thanks, NOWCA, for preparing this food that makes our home smell so good.

NOWCA: You're welcome, Per. Winter Solstice warrants a good meal. I've made a few others things too, but the smell of the yams baking is stealing the show right now.

And here's a little song to welcome in the return of the light. And as the light increases, I know our resolve to make the changes we need will increase as well.

Happy Winter Solstice!

image courtesy of Pixabay