Per in the Doldrums

March had begun in the land of the giant puppets, yet there was fresh snow on the ground and it was unseasonably cold outside. One of the giant puppets, Per, was alone, looking out the window at the grey clouds and the snow covered yard while sipping a cup of tea. Let's send this puppet some warm thoughts – this one's in need of support right now.

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PER (thinking aloud): What is the matter with the world? Those who are destroying it are in charge and the rest of us are considered radical for wanting a future. How can this be?

When we object to a pipeline, or genetically engineered food, or spraying pesticides on our already stressed forests, we're the ones who are cast as crazies. All we're supposed to think about is getting ahead and making money.

So many are living paycheque to paycheque or, worse, hand to mouth. It's no wonder the majority of us can't focus on the bigger picture.

But we must! As Greta Thunberg says, it's as though our collective house is on fire. We have a duty to leave a liveable future to those who come after us. Why is it that so few of our leaders seem to understand this?

Public relations exercises don't work on nature. It doesn't care if a government says that fracking is green even though it destroys the land, air and water. Nature is indifferent to the lies we're told. No one can fool our complex life support systems.

It hurts when we're presented with greenwash. Green plans that encourage fracking and talk of building pipelines to fund a green transition are really a form of climate change denial. We can't continue to fund fossil fuel production if we want to have a future.

image courtesy of Pixabay

How do we dismantle all the systems that are destroying our world and ourselves?

Everything from trade agreements that encourage importing goods that can be produced locally, to food production that depends on pesticides and needless waste, to city planning that caters to cars instead of bikes and public transit: they're moving in the wrong direction.

So many systems are inefficient and mostly just make the already rich even richer. Never a thought about the environment or how others are affected it seems. Sometimes it feels insurmountable.

How do we restore our connection to nature and each other? How do we create constructive and respectful ways of being in the world that actually nurture and protect life and the beautiful planet we all depend upon? How do we normalize values and practices that honour our place among others instead of putting us at the top where we can exploit them? 

So many of us are working hard but we don't have time to make any mistakes, or to get fooled by those who live for profits only. There's more to life than making money, but how do we change course?

Sometimes I get so afraid that I just want to weep.

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Per, head in hands, sat feeling pain and anguish. Sometimes it's hard to know what to do when  overwhelmed with fear and grief. We're thinking of you, Per.

image courtesy of Pixabay