“Walking around with clenched hair can’t be good for any of us.”
My dear sweet friend was back for another cup of tea, and she knew just the right way to ask for it – saying no, not really, but okay since you’re having some anyway.
“Seems like when one hundred and twenty world leaders take a working trip to Scotland to talk about assault and battery on our planet, they would refrain from shaming those who didn’t show up.” She blew.
“If the climate conference in Glasgow had been a city council meeting or a PTA meeting or a Christmas Parade planning meeting, wouldn’t those who did attend go ahead without them and get down to business? “
She was right.
“Well, at the climate conference, there was plenty to deal with without calling attention to those who were invited but instead sent delegates,” she hummed. “Maybe they just didn’t want to be yelled at in person. ‘Come on,’ President Biden chided China and Russia. ‘At least show up!’”
Whoa. She quoted the president. Guess her truck has a radio.
Yep. We nodded at each other, agreeing that Biden had his eyes on the stands, not the ball.
“Wouldn’t it make sense to invite expert environmentalists from around the world to speak to the delegates? Then instead of listening to each other, they could give an ear to those who understand how human behavior is affecting the future? It’s like they’re eating all the food, burping, thanking, and saying, ‘We should do this again next year,’ but leaving nothing for the kids.” She blew again and tested the cup heat.
I said fine, but China is the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the stuff that punches holes in the protective ozone layer that keeps us from burning up. Not just us and our neighbors, but our dogs and oaks and whales and periwinkles. Everybody’s. Why would they show up?
We talked about how we used to rely on protesting to get our way, then watched ideas fizzle and movements wither. Even though Occupy Wall Street, those nationwide demonstrations that were about income and wealth inequality (We are the 99%!), happened 10 years ago, it never really effected change because the Department of Homeland Security decided that protesters needed to be closely monitored. More than 8000 people were arrested for trespassing, failing to disperse, and oh my, disorderly conduct.
“Good heavens.” She swallowed. “The very thing protesters were protesting was disorderly conduct, but instead of it being in a privately owned park, it was in corporate headquarters where demonstrators wanted business influence on politics to stop, forgiveness of student loan debt to start, and 30-day foreclosures to stall. All fair.”
“I think that state violence is a given when people gather to question the authority of ‘authority.’ It took ten years, but without Occupy there probably wouldn’t be a $15 an hour minimum wage today.
“Wait. There isn’t.” I was gloomed.
“When we’re busy making money, we tend to look away from what we know is harming us and those whose company we appreciate.” She refilled. “We’re a world of addicts. We drive. We fly. We mow. We chop down forests to make room for pastures so we can have Big Macs. We buy and buy and buy, then buy something newer.”
It was hard for either of us to understand why world leaders talked about the environment crashing yet pampered traditional industries. It’s hard to understand why we believe there are two major political parties in this country, suspecting there’s only one, the Business Party.
It’s hard to believe we love our planet when headlines bluster Mysterious-looking fog hides Chinese island; ‘Sea-snot’ spreads across Turkish sea; Toxic foam covers sacred Yamuna River; Sea foam showers Irish village; Oil from rusted pipeline soils California coast and Locusts devour East Africa. Meanwhile, refugees swarm to countries where they know no one, but need to get out of where they lived so they can live.
“When we begin with certainty, we wind up in doubt.” She set her cup down for finality. “When we’re patient with doubt, we arrive at certainty. We also know that simply from truth, we derive a way to think, and simply from living, a way to behave. But we hesitate to tell the truth and we love to misbehave.”
That was that. She left.
“Wait!” I called down to her pickup. “Clenched hair? That was good. That’s mine now.”