Like aging incrementally, slowly, imperceptibly moment by moment, but with deliberate speed ...
Like a cancer slowly shredding away at a body's health ...
We, all, are seeing the world around us (around the US, as well) changing, species disappearing, changed planting cycles, disruptive weather patterns, warming ...
Incrementally, bit by bit, but with deliberate force, the menacing threats of what global warming might do to the world are moving from terrifying fantasy to mortifying reality. And, the reality of menace to Bangladesh might not reach some. The desertification of many parts of the world and coming climate refugees might be meaningless to others. But, Frosty the Snowman ...
There are those who rise to battle for Global Warming, many motivators, many paths toward realization. For some, it is the realization that if they don't act to Save Frosty, their childhood experiences will be nothing more than melted remembrances for their old age and future generations.
People battle in many ways the fight to try to turn the globe away from Global Warming. Green House Net seeks (much like The Climate Project) to match knowledgeable people with audiences to discuss global warming, to raise awareness both of the threat and the opportunities that we have (as individuals, communities, businesses, govenment, political movements) for changing our path to seek to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Nuclear testing, Global Warming ...
Forty-six years ago, a young girl wrote John F Kennedy, fearful that Santa would die amid Soviet nuclear testing in the Artic.
"Please stop the Russians from bombing the North Pole because they will kill Santa Claus."
The president wrote back, and closed his note by saying, "You must not worry about Santa Claus, I talked with him yesterday and he is fine." He added, "He will be making his rounds this Christmas."
What will George W Bush write those writing that Global Warming threatens Santa?
What would Roadblock Republicans have to say?
Would the young girl get a response?
Now, at this time of midnight mass, perhaps it is worth a moment to take a look toward Rome and Pope Benedict XVI's message for the World Day of Peace, 1 Jan 2008:
The family, the human community and the environment
- The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships.
Home, shelter as a basic human right in which to have a rich, sustaining family. But, beyond the nuclear family.
For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.
While there is material to debate, this statement is a strong one about stewardship, of humanity's responsibility to take care of the planet, if for no other reasons than to provide for future generations.
And, this speaks to those "Delayers" who call for better evidence, who speak to some silver bullet technological solution that is always around the corner. "Prudence ... means being committed to making joint decisions" and action based on reality, on knowledge.
- In this regard, it is essential to "sense" that the earth is "our common home" and, in our stewardship and service to all, to choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions.
Any idea who the Pope might be referring to. Who seeks "unilateral decisions" to block action rather than communal action to strengthen all?
Further international agencies may need to be established in order to confront together the stewardship of this "home" of ours;
The Vatican is calling for stronger international organizational authority to combat global warming.
more important, however, is the need for ever greater conviction about the need for responsible cooperation. The problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short. In order to face this situation effectively, there is a need to act in harmony.
The problem is serious. The problem is now. We must act together on this common recognition.
One area where there is a particular need to intensify dialogue between nations is that of the stewardship of the earth's energy resources. The technologically advanced countries are facing two pressing needs in this regard: on the one hand, to reassess the high levels of consumption due to the present model of development, and on the other hand to invest sufficient resources in the search for alternative sources of energy and for greater energy efficiency. The emerging counties are hungry for energy, but at times this hunger is met in a way harmful to poor countries which, due to their insufficient infrastructures, including their technological infrastructures, are forced to undersell the energy resources they do possess. At times, their very political freedom is compromised by forms of protectorate or, in any case, by forms of conditioning which appear clearly humiliating.
We must act. We must act forcefully. And, we must act equitably, in an international partnership that secures a future for all.
While not Catholic, nor wedded to midnight masses, this is one statement from the Pope that I find quite worth listening to ...
But ... many won't listen to the Pope ... Might they listen to an SOS from Santa himself?