A Small Hope

A Small Hope

“It’s important to say what hope is not: it is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine.” -Rebecca Solnit

To be completely honest, I’m very concerned about the future. I’m concerned because too many Americans are ignorant of, or don’t completely subscribe to, the risks and dangers of climate change and don’t feel compelled to change.  Too many people don’t realize that we are walking blindly towards the edge of a cliff and that we could plunge into the abyss at any moment. I’m not only talking about rich people but also about people who wouldn’t even be able to afford the worst consequences of climate change, were they to occur.

I think about what I know about climate change then I think about my friends and family and how they look towards the future with no consideration that their actual, physical worlds might be at risk. Tomorrow might not be a better day. Still we chug along, living our lives as we please, oblivious to the fact that we’re doing ourselves more harm than good.

However, that’s why what I do is so important. I don’t have grand dreams of changing the world, but I do want to impact those with whom I have contact. I want to inform my family and friends of what it is that’s happening and how we can prepare ourselves. I want to make people realize that we have to make a change– not even because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s very necessary.

I don’t know that I have hope that society at large will make the drastic changes necessary for us to sustain in this era of rapid global changes. I do have hope that I can influence change within my network, and that by a ripple effect the consciousness will spread. I, and others like me, can create and spread hope through the work that we do to ensure that we all can have a better future. Relatively speaking, it might be a small hope, but it’s better than nothing.

 

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