The New Normal

Humanity could end by 2050 due to climate change, said one worst case scenario study. A post on instagram said individual veganism is all fine and dandy, but without real policy change it won’t do much. The situation facing us is daunting, depressing, infuriating. What can one person really do? Collectively, if we all take certain actions - such as a plant-based diet - can we delay, prevent, or stop it? I’m not sure we can at this point, we’ve gone too far - well, not “we”, but the oil corporations, big ag, republicans, climate change deniers. With no clear solution, do small steps in my daily life even help? Drive and fly less, no meat or dairy, donate to climate change advocacy groups, volunteer to help protect the places I love. Sure, it helps me feel better, but policy change is the key. Things are changing, noticeably in my lifetime - I’ve seen the glaciers recede at a faster rate, winters with a smaller snowpack, rains later into the year, summers hotter and dryer with record setting temperatures, a drought in the rainforest. My heart hurts with these obvious changes, but a fix is dubious. So, in my spare time, I venture into the wild as often and fully as I can, to enjoy it, to see it, feel mother earth around me, to spend her last days as we know them in bliss before abnormal becomes the norm, for we were once told to live every day as though it were our last, and she deserves all that and more.