I took the dogs for a walk in the morning. It rained a little, the sky looked like it was going to rain even more as we walked along Johnson Street, so we headed to Smith Street so we could walk under the cover of the shop verandas for the last bit of our walk.
But just before Smith Street, one of those annoying 'chuggers' collectors for the environmental street chicks stops me. I can see her catching my eye before I am even near her. 20 years old and still idealistic. Oh spare me.
“Do you think it is important to look after the environment?” she asks. Loaded question, of course.
Oh, here we go, I think. “Yeah, sure, but we’re not, are we.”
“But we can, we can make the environment important.”
“I think it's too late, I think we are doomed.”
“No, we’re not doomed…”
“But no one is doing anything meaningful about the environment, in fact, the most meaningful thing being done is fighting against doing anything.”
“But we can do something, let me tell you how?”
“Why? What are we saving?" I ask. "Half of us hate the other half. We're always at war with each other, somewhere. At any given point 50% of the population doesn’t have access to food and water while the other half is eating itself to death. I’m not sure why we want to save any of that.”
“I’m sorry I don’t agree with you, there is a lot we can do,” she says.
“I am very comfortable with the demise of the human race, to tell you the truth.”
“Oh, okay, you have a nice day,” she says.
"As collectively, we seem too stupid to take the concept of climate change seriously, you have to acknowledge that."
“What if we all think like that?” she attempts.
Most of us do, I think. Are you not paying attention? “And you know something, I’m older so I might just make it through, fingers cross, but you’re young, so you are fucked.”
She turns away.
There you go, she gave up easily, they usually won’t leave you alone.
And that’s how it’s done, dealing with those annoying 'chuggers', street fund raisers. Usually, you can’t shake them.
Otto pulled ahead with all his puppy enthusiasm. Bruno and I followed.
It is a shame that as a group we are not taking caring of the environment seriously. What hope does the planet have, and the human race, when we have amongst others, conservative forces, sometimes actively, working against measures to repair the damage we have done.
I don’t understand where those conservative forces who deny the problems with our climate think how they are going to go to survive? I mean Mars really isn’t an option
It is a shame as humans are some of my favourite people, capable of amazing things. But, you know, if they have never been able to solve inequality, and hate, and greed, what hope do we really have?
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