“Happiness and blessedness do not belong to abundance of riches or exalted position or offices or power, but to freedom from pain and gentleness of feeling and a state of mind that sets limits that are in accordance with nature.”
( The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series)
What is it about Greta Thunberg that makes people so angry?. How can a 16-year-old in plaits, who has dedicated herself to the not unreasonable cause of saving the planet, inspire such incandescent rage? Following her recent speech to the UN, in which she excoriated world leaders for their lack of action, her critics were at it again. One commentator likened her to a figure in a Nazi propaganda poster; another referred to her as “mentally ill”. Of course, no one likes being made to feel bad about their life choices: it’s why we sneer at vegans and feel suspicious of people who don’t drink at parties. But mainly, her critics attack her because it’s far easier than discrediting her argument.
Everything Thunberg says is true. We have just 11 years to prevent irreversible climate change, yet the grown-ups are not treating this as an emergency. It has been left to a child to deliver the warning our leaders are too afraid to voice, which is that “it is impossible to fight climate change and continue to measure national success by the rate of growth”.
We need to tackle climate change. But how would people react if politicians imposed the radical changes she insists are necessary, halting economic growth? Some might willingly sacrifice their modern comforts, but persuading the majority, in the time available, will be a very hard task. In that respect, Thunberg’s “hellfire and damnation” language risks being unhelpful. It may “frighten or alienate more than it energises”. And lumping all politicians together as “useless and uncaring is wrong”: you can see why President Macron, whose attempt to hike fuel taxes helped trigger the gilets jaunes protests, is feeling sore about being told “How dare you?”. Like other liberal politicians, Macron thinks of himself as on the side of the angels. But Thunberg isn’t having that: she knows “we tried” is not going to satisfy future generations. For her, it’s us and them – and until he adopts her cause in full, he’s one of them. (Jennifer O’Connell, The Irish Times).
My comment: Greta Thunberg can say these things, these absolutely correct things, because her personality is such that she has an urge to tell the unvarnished truth, and maybe doesn’t care about “offending” the thugs who attack her. She will be remembered as a latter-day prophet.
The sea level has visibly risen year by year in the Florida keys, for instance. There have been several consecutive days when the high tide has covered the nearby jetty completely. The width of the beach has shrunk. The locals call this a “ King tide” and infer, or hope, that it is a just a short- term quirk of nature. I very much doubt it. But then my opinions are irrelevant – I will not be here to witness the end catastrophe. We are talking to our neighbors about installing solar panels, but otherwise what am I doing about it? Aside from wringing my hands, but still flying. And you?
Each day unfurled, Another world!
God sits up there and gently nurses
Spanking, brand new universes.
Purblinding flash!
Oh, boom, oh, crash!
A zillion atoms spun in space.
Where did they fly? Some place, some place.
For thirteen billion years, we’re told,
Did God his galaxies unfold
With neutron stars and cosmic rays.
Thus did God spend timeless days.
For goodness sake,
One needs a break.
Even those with mighty power
Like to relax for half an hour.
He thinks a thought!
Just what he sought
To liven up the daily grind – –
He has a unique scheme in mind!
Aha! Ambition!
Matchless mission – –
A scheme to create a race of men
With ethics and with acumen!
Experiment
Was his intent.
“I’ll pick a rock of random worth,
And, ah! I ‘ll call the planet “Earth”!
“And at its birth
I’ll make this Earth
As beauteous as an April sonnet
And place my new creations on it.”
“They’ll look like me
Be good like me.
And every man will love his wife,
And thank me for his daily life!”
And so it was, and in a trice
God created paradise,
And placed in it a married pair,
A test to see how they would fare.
But space expands
If left unplanned.
A planet whirls away in space,
And nothing’s left to fill the space.
Space grew too vast,
And God at last,
Taking years to get around,
Discovered Earth could not be found.
Thus men are left
On Earth, bereft,
Without a God to tell them “nay”,
Lost amidst the Milky Way.
It’s rather rare
To sit up there,
And even in ten billion years,
To lose a planet in the spheres.
“Oh, huge mistake
For me to make!
Where is that H2O and granite?
Where is my chosen little planet?
“Oh! Fractured hope!
How will they cope,
Lost in the vast ethereal sphere
Gripped by suspicion, greed and fear?
“Oh, doom, oh, gloom.
Not I? Then whom?
Who will be there to keep them moral,
To teach them how to love, not quarrel?
God searches here,
He searches there,
On moons, black dwarfs, dark energy,
But not a human could He see.
“Ah! Infinitesimal speck!
Hey, what the heck?
If men on Earth possess a flaw
Forget it! I’ll just make some more.
And thus time passed
Until at last,
While rambling through a group of stars,
Why, Earth appeared, alongside Mars.
Ah! Eureka!
Planet seeker!
He cried, “Aha, that’s where they’ve gone!
Let’s see how they are getting on.”
Amazed, He found his two creations
Had spawned a multitude of nations.
No one thought or spoke the same,
Or, if in the wrong, would take the blame.
“Jehovah! Lord!
(With one accord!)
We’re glad you’ve come as prophesied!
We thought we’d see you when we died”.
So saying, men
Proceeded then
To pepper God like proper pests
With thousands of inane requests.
Most were self-seeking,
Falsehood-reeking,
“Bless me, Lord, and kindly strike
And punish those whom I dislike”.
“Oh, God, to whom we genuflect
Mine’s by far the holiest sect.
We praise you more, and they are weird.
What’s more, we wear a longer beard”.
And God was pained
When people claimed
He’d picked upon a chosen few
And helped them win a war or two.
And God above
Said “Where is love?
I should have been around to ground ’em,
I rather wish I’d never found ’em.”
….…………………………………………..
Since 2010 the number of pedestrians killed by cars in Europe and US has steadily
increased every year, in the States by 41% in the ten years between 2008 and 2018.
It is more dangerous, per kilometer of travel, to be a pedestrian than to be a driver or passenger in a vehicle. Worldwide, more than 700 pedestrians die every day, and 4 times that number are injured. But the worst country for these deaths in the US.
More Americans are driving than ever, living in cities or out in the urban sprawl, where high-volume, high speed roads exist, near where most people live. The trend is to push up the speed limits, and to design roads to accommodate speeding, the free flow of trafffic being regarded as a public good, despite the deaths speed brings. People feel “safe” in an SUV, and you can see these SUVs, disastrous if they hit a pedestrian, exceeding the speed limit. Pedestrians are regarded as necessary nuisances, ignored by planners (I was astonished when I cam to the US at the lack of sidewalks in so many places.
We need to slow the traffic, recognise the fact that there are human beings called pedestrians, make drivers more aware of other vehicles, and have hefty fines for using cellphones while driving.
I think it is Epicurean to walk wherever possible and whenever you have the time, IIt is good for your health, despite the fumes, gives you thinking time, and is better for the environment. But keep an eye open for those ubiquitous texters!
A quote from Epicurus:
“Live your life without attracting attention”
Even if every car on the road was electric, it wouldn’t solve the problem of urban air pollution – because exhausts aren’t the only source of vehicular emissions. According to a new government report, over half of the air pollution attributed to road transport comes from brakes and tires. Each time a car is driven, its brakes throw up tiny particles of iron and its tires shed fragments of plastic; other particles come off the road surface. These enter the airstream, where they pose a threat to human health; the micro-plastics from tires can also enter waterways via the sewers. (According to a study commissioned by Friends of the Earth last year, tires are the biggest single source of micro-plastic pollution in lakes, rivers, and oceans.)
Now, the Government’s Air Quality Expert Group has warned that at this rate, non-exhaust emissions could account for 10% of all PM2.5 matter by 2030. It says more needs to be done to get people out of cars, and to encourage drivers to lower their speeds, and reduce their braking. (The Week 20 July 2019)
Today I am visiting my GP. To walk to his office would take an hour and a half both ways. So I will go have to go by car. But for anything local my wife and I walk everywhere. The downside of this is that in America the car is King. Local governments don’t care a whit about pedestrians.
Our local government is currently proposing to allow up to 10,000 scooters on the road, (which often means the sidewalk, where they are allowed in the suburbs) and dumped after use. Meanwhile, there is one crossing near our house with a clear HALT! sign, ignored by an estimated 6 out of 10 car drivers, who barrel through. But I will re-visit the issue of dangerous driving and pedestrian deaths tomorrow.
