All the content warnings for climate change, nihilism, and existential dread. All of them.
This is a unique time for humanity.
It is not the apocalyptic sentiment. There are literally dozens of predicted apocalypses in the various Christian traditions alone, and there’s recorded warnings of the ending of the world going back to 2800 BCE.
What is unique is that for the first time in human history, there’s a damn good chance that they’re correct. The effects of climate change are larger and worse than expected, happening faster than expected, and in ways that we didn’t expect.
After several years in Maslow’s basement, the entirety of our species finds itself finally unable to ignore the real state of the world. Unable to ignore the onrushing realization of our own mortality.
The change in climate — and weather — has become large enough that it is inescapably obvious. Suicide rates keep climbing among youth, and it’s not difficult to imagine why. Their future has already been destroyed to feed other’s greed.
Equally obvious are those who have deliberately and intentionally traded human lives and health — your life and health, your children’s life and health — just so they could get a few more millions, even though they’ve known the effects of climate change and pollution for decades.
They are not nameless, faceless business executives or politicians.
We know who they are. We know, for example, that Shell’s Wael Sawan, who, according to Bloomberg {1} "quietly ended the world’s biggest corporate plan to develop carbon offsets, the environmental projects designed to counteract the warming effects of CO2 emissions" in June 2023, just before it was ranked the hottest month on record… before being dethroned only a month later by July’s temperatures. Or we could look at Manchin’s long history of fighting anything resembling dealing with the climate crisis. There are plenty of examples, stretching back years.
These are not nameless and faceless people who chose to enrich themselves at the cost of human lives.
They are actual people, who have made actual decisions. Decisions that will bring harm to you, your children. To literally everyone you care about.
Finding their names and faces is trivial. It’s easy to find the lists of those on the board of directors and executive committees for, say, Shell (1, 2), Exxon (1, 2), BP (1, 2), and Chevron (1, 2). It’s easy to find the politicians that have been corrupted and subverted. For example, you can see the top 20 Congressional recipients of oil & gas money during the 2022 election cycle in one nice list. There are charts of lobbying spending of oil & gas companies in the United States during election cycles from 1990 to 2022, by receiving political party. Feature articles lay out which House members, for example, got the most cash from the fossil fuel industry.
And we know that fossil fuel companies — and their individual executives — were aware of climate change, its effects, and their role in it decades ago. We know that they’ve actively worked to subvert, delay, and derail work to slow or stop climate change. We know who they have bought off in both state and national capitols.
We know their names.
We know their faces.
We know exactly who has — and who continues to — murder thousands of people simply to fatten their wallets.
We know exactly who is responsible for every death caused by climate change.
They’re proud of it.
Remember this. The people you’re trying to step on, we’re everyone you depend on. We’re the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you’re asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life. {2}
We are the final children of history, raised to believe that we will have a future. But we won’t.
And we’re just learning that fact.
Anger is a stage of grief.
{1} Full text at https://pastebin.com/raw/sKdGDaY0
{2} From Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Yes, I’m aware of the problematic elements of the work. You’re missing the point.
Featured Image by Marcin from Pixabay