Friday, March 11, 2022

Boomers last dance

 white clouds over city buildings during daytime

 

This is the Boomers last dance and last chance. There was a time when boomers were filled with idealism: the Age of Aquarius, love everyone, civil rights, inclusive, question everything, experiment, try new things, explore new ideas. 

But something went horribly wrong. Pong, calculators, fancy cars, fancy gadgets, style, being cool, homes in the 'burbs, having families, 9 to 5.

There had been a sense that we were here to change the world for the better, to throw off the yoke of polluting oil and mass consumerism. We were the New Age of spiritual enlightenment. Remember the Harmonic Convergence? But the bills kept coming, the wallet full of credit cards was sinking under its own weight. Yes, we knew about Silent Spring and that we had to move to protect the environment. But we thought we had plenty of time, technology would solve the day, and would all sing kumbaya. However, the world got away from the boomers and as Pink Floyd says, "comfortably numb." As a result, while there have been movements to protect the planet, the power of the Oil Cartels and their friends have been able to disable movements that would end the their reign.

The hoped for evolution has not really happened and we continue to choke the life out of the planet. Despite catastrophe after catastrophe, people still think that getting even more oil is better then the alternative: the rise of renewable energy. People have believed the propaganda that this change must take time and in the meantime we must build more pipelines and drill more wells. BS

It looks like it will take general calamity to raise this phoenix from the ashes. Floods, sea level rise, pandemics, extreme weather, species decimation, skyrocketing fuel/energy costs, social collapse, wars and more are all coming together to force a change in humanity. Of course we can try to ride it out, but that is a lost cause. Maybe to greedy oil companies have done us a favor, By setting record high prices we have two choices: let drill more, pipe more, and pollute more (Earth is at the tipping point now), or bite the bullet and demand a high speed, all oars in the water push for renewables. The latter would be painful, but the former is definitely deadly.

So dear Boomers, decision time, this is our last dance, our last chance.

man in black crew neck t-shirt wearing black fedora hat

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