by Robert McLean
Where to
now for Beneath the Wisteria?
The group
was formed with no definitive goal or aim, other than to raise awareness and
give people a chance to discuss the matter.
Ten months
in and although those who regularly attend are much better informed about the
realities facing humanity, we are still without understandable intent.
Comfort
comes from the view that Beneath the
Wisteria is not an activist group rather, somewhere those unsettled by our
changing climate can go to have their commitment and hope refurbished.
Refreshed
and renewed they can return to their respective parts of our community to again
discuss a tragedy that is unfolding like a slow motion train wreck.
In fact it
is the “slow motion train wreck” that is the prime difficulty.
The arrival
of climate change is, in geological terms happening breathtakingly quickly, but
in human-life terms, at a snail’s pace and so it demands athletic thinking to
see, and understand, that what is happening now, will end, this century if
unattended to, the near ideal conditions that have allowed humanity to
flourish.
It is easy
to focus on the burgeoning calamity we face, but it is damnably difficult to
concentrate for long on the workable and useful responses to climate change
before again falling again into the “woe is me” rut.
Uncertainty
stalks my thinking.
Beneath the Wisteria has been wonderfully successful in
many ways, among them the fact that it has drawn together a group, who by their
willingness to “stand” in a public place and declare their position on what is the
most arresting and significant challenge ever faced by humanity, is something
worthy of celebration.
Several Beneath the Wisteria supporters are
working tirelessly to combat climate change in various and commendable ways and
maybe that is the group’s true purpose; to simply be there to provide moral
and, if needed, physical support.
Considering
our purpose, it is worth noting that time is not really on our side as the
world’s climate is deteriorating at a rate well in excess of what just a year
ago had been predicted by many of the world’s leading climatologists.
The
“business as usual” boosters and the powerful fossil fuel lobbyists can focus
only immediate profits and so immediately they see any weakness, or what they
perceive as a weakness, in the indisputable evidence of global warming, they
pounce.
Time is not
on our side and although Beneath the
Wisteria supporters are, in the broad scheme of things, of little
consequence, it rests with us to unashamedly tell the truth about the
implications of the changes we face because of global warming.
When we
gather next Beneath the Wisteria
(Saturday, October 27, 11:30am), let’s talk about where we go from here.
Please make
an effort to join us – several have commented about the difficulty they
experience in hearing the conversation and have argued that we move indoors,
somewhere.
I
understand their concerns, I too have trouble at times hearing the
conversation, but this being a public issue it needs to be addressed publicly
and so rather than be cloistered away in some obscure meeting room, we need to
be “out there” with the public.
Although I
believe it is going to require serious and bold State intervention to arrive at
any workable solution, there undoubtedly needs to be a huge groundswell from the
people.
