Sorrow in the face of aging would be a poor response to this good fortune.
...On the days when headlines are full, yet again, with firestorms and catastrophic flooding and biodiversity collapse and endless pandemic and a depressingly effective disinformation campaign to deny the climate emergency — on those days...I am glad to be 60 because it means I almost certainly won't live to witness the cataclysm that is coming if humanity cannot change its ways in time.
But that's not the way I think on most days. On most days I am simply grateful for the 60 years I've had....
...On the days when headlines are full, yet again, with firestorms and catastrophic flooding and biodiversity collapse and endless pandemic and a depressingly effective disinformation campaign to deny the climate emergency — on those days...I am glad to be 60 because it means I almost certainly won't live to witness the cataclysm that is coming if humanity cannot change its ways in time.
But that's not the way I think on most days. On most days I am simply grateful for the 60 years I've had....
What a privilege it must be to view the catastrophe of other's from afar. This is the challenge: yes, the newsworthy impacts are happening to those on the front lines (i.e, small island developing states and topical/subtropic latitude countries) but the changes to the everyday lives of those who think they aren't being impacted are actively taking place. I'd pose to Renkl that the cataclysm isn't coming, its here. Just not for you.
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