In recent days and weeks we have been on the receiving end of our president’s lunatic ravings about the glories and beauty of police brutality and the demonic nature of knife-wielding narco traffickers whose sole purpose is to slash and mutilate. These rants have understandably drawn the ire and shock of virtually all. Indeed one would have to search the presidential archives to find similar bombast that nurtured this kind of hatred.
That said, we should all and with immediacy turn our attentions to the recent reports of “biological annihilation” as global warming is reaching levels not seen for 115,000 years. Consider these facts as we continue to hurdle towards environmental Armageddon: One third of vertebrates on earth are now gone. Antarctica is on track to lose a fourth of its ice by century’s end. And each passing year sets new and apocalyptic hear records.
We are at the dawn of an era that will bring us floods of environmental refugees that will define dystopian Hell. And we the people are tethered to a president and a political party that denies the realities of climate change and environmental collapse. Rome is burning and we have a man making speeches about the merits of police brutality and torture.
Our present situation is grim and yet not without hope. We have to accept with finality that the Trump administration if left unchecked and unchallenged will usher in an era that will challenge human civilization and even survival. And with this acknowledgement we can build a democratic awakening that showcases the power of organized people committed to those fragile bundle of ideas that in recent years have been scorned and mocked and ridiculed.
These embedded ideas and beliefs that we call democracy are seeing a revival though-and it is this rebirth of democratic action and belief that gives us hope.
Jim Sawyer
Edmonds
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