Literally. We have a functional house by all intents and purposes. But we still need to finish the little things. The list is long and my patience and time seem to be running short. Little things that take forever.
Took a nice vacation at Martha's Vineyard. This vacation consisted mostly of sitting on the porch and reading Bossypants and Endgame: The Problem of Civilization: two great tastes that taste great together.
In all seriousness: reading Endgame reminds me so thoroughly of the horror that is to come. I don't hold out much hope that this can all change and we can turn this massive, unsustainable ship around. There are too few viable alternatives, too little will to do what it takes - whatever that is, and too much entrenched power and tacit belief that we are, indeed, at the end of history.
I am trying to read Jensen critically and I'm holding off on reading the book reviews so that I can assess how I feel and what I think about this work. I think that it's informed a number of activists' tactics and thinking. I can't see how it wouldn't. It's moving and it's a call to action steeped in urgency. Why wouldn't it cannonical?
The problem is, it makes me feel like my efforts are not enough* and the efforts around environmental sustainability (or whatever is appropriate to call it) are nothing if not insufficient. Frankly, it's all very scary and makes me want to hide under the covers rather than be more firmly committed to the work that I am doing.
*My friend Bryan would call this liberal bullshit or something. Who am *I* to take the weight of the world on my shoulders?
I used to take a lot of comfort in the fact that by the time the unsustainable ship sinks, I'll be dead and it won't hurt. Then I had a kid.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain.