I hope I'm wrong. I hope the vast overwhelming majority of scientists around the world who are convinced by all the data that indicates a rapid acceleration to a natural warming cycle that will destabilize the world as we know it, are wrong.
I hope that the oil tycoons, foreign billionaire speculators and their handful of powerful lobbyists who exert considerable influence over our politicians were right; even though the industry had for so long throughout the 20th century knowingly undermined science and misled the public about the danger of leaded fuel on the environment, and by extension, people.
I hope that when I'm pushing 70, sometime in the mid century, if I'm even still alive, the world's ecosystems haven't completely collapsed under the weight of rampant, disposable, convenience consumer culture. That swaths of Earth's coastal lines remain habitable paradises, and that vast landscapes haven't been torched by wildfires, drowned away by devastating floods or parched lifeless by deadly scorching heat waves.
I hope tens of millions of people throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia don't find themselves fleeing this catastrophic collapse, only to find themselves turned away in their most desperate hour by the very nations that fuelled the short-sighted consumer demand which caused this whole mess.
I hope my nieces and nephews get to see a thriving human species breathing fresh, clean air with healthy oceans that haven't been choked to death on plastic and waste. An enlightened and evolving global community, striving confidently together towards the dawn of the 22nd century of our civilization. I hope they see us start to settle the stars, undaunted by fear of the unknown and driven by an unquenchable thirst to expand our understanding of the universe and our place within it.
That I'll one day before kicking the bucket find myself strolling along the Red Deer River nature paths, chuckling to myself that worrying about allowing industry to plunder our planet turned out to be a waste of time. Nothing more than a Big Green conspiracy of colluding scientists who had a great laugh at my expense.
How silly I was to feel that loosening industrial regulations, allowing the production of wasteful, single use products and pursuing a crusade for eternal economic growth on a finite system were unsustainable practices that would lead directly to major environmental and subsequently social upheaval unlike anything we've ever experienced.
And that as I heave a huge sigh of relief while the sun sets beyond Snake Hill with the soothing rushing waters of the river reinvigorating my spirits, I gently squeeze my sweetheart's hand in mine as I smile and laugh at myself, "I'm so glad I was wrong!"
But, pun intended, I won't be holding my breath for that day to come.
A lot of people are mad at the Swedish teen climate activist, Greta Thunberg, for shaming world leaders (not regular people, as some definitely not snowflakes have claimed) who have dithered for decades, delaying meaningful political action to change and take adequate measures to prepare for the impending and at this point all but inevitable change.
Interestingly, she's scolding UN inaction, lack of will and ineptitude — don't her critics and detractors also detest the UN for basically the same reasons, and more? One would think Thunberg would make a natural ally in this case!
Honestly, I can't hold against her being concerned about inheriting a destabilized earth with collapsing ecosystems crumbling under the weight of ceaselessly and exponentially growing consumerism.
Because we often hear about the fiscal debt our descendants will inherit, but we should be at least equally as concerned — if not more so — about what kind of planet and environment they'll inherit.
After all, a balanced budget won't mean bupkis when droughts, deadly heat waves, wildfires, floods, and a new category of super hurricanes begin to ravage and reshape civilization and drive a mass migration of people unlike history has ever seen.
Boy, I hope I'm wrong. I really do.
– Simon Ducatel is the Sundre Round Up editor
