Terrible things are happening on our watch. I'm a bit over fifty years old and when I was a lot younger I felt that those over fifty had let us down. And now I'm seeing how easy this came to me. I don't feel strong enough to turn the tide. I can write. I can post. I can vote. 🗳️
I guess the frustration just builds up until one day a mob forms on the streets outside, no matter how small, and suddenly a lot of people will discover that where as they can't start a riot, they'll happily join one.
Russia is still invading Ukraine.
Russian trolls and Russian money has driven a stake into one divisive issue after another, turning us against each other, unable to get our act together. It was bad in Poland. It's bad in Hungary. It's getting worse in Italy. And we're barely holding on in Germany, France and Austria.
Israel is still killing tens of thousands.
Either it's their land and it's a massacre of the locals or it's an invasion of Palestine. Before we can talk about ownership of the land, about the terrible history of this corner of our planet, let me point at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Don't take people's land. Don't subjugate people. Don't humiliate people. It's not hard to make progress. It's only hard if you keep your eyes on the horizon and are willing to trample everything underfoot.
The climate is not only flying past the 1.5°C limit, we're now aiming at 3.1°C.
Here in Switzerland we can vote on many things. We decided against a strong CO₂ tax. We voted a federal councillor into office who wants to widen the autobahn we have to six lanes, who wants to bring back nuclear energy. We voted down a biodiversity initiative. All the while trying to lower taxes and appease the rich. Cars are getting bigger. The price of driving a car goes down; the price of taking the train goes up.
I'm letting terrible things happen on my watch.
#USA #Russia #Israel #Climate