Punished by Rewards

The western world – at least the images i see on the internet and those I make up from the people I talk to – isn’t exactly a happy place these days. The bankers have taken all the money, pollution is something we love to talk about but nothing more, and jobs are vanishing. I couldn’t really name anyone that I’ve met recently who is genuinely excited about the future. They may not be upset now, but excited? That’s a bit out of reach.

This last week saw another massive confirmation; the failure of the climate talks to provide anything meaningful – or maybe anything at all.

The rich developed world has moved away from the spirit that propelled the baby boomers to reach for the moon to a much more moderate “let’s just try and keep our jobs until we retire” mindset. Long gone are the big aspirations replaced instead with dreams of simply “just getting back to where I was 2 years ago”. The few that actually seem to have a lot to lose – the wealthy – are desperately trying to hold onto whatever status quo they can. The Republican party is a great example of this. It doesn’t put forward any new ideas about improving the future since mostly it can’t see anything wrong with the present. Why fix what ain’t broke.

Back here in Canada, we’ve got a federal government that must know in its heart of hearts that climate change is a danger and menace to its people. It’s impossible to send troops to the frozen north to defend the opening of seaways due to melting ice and not be aware of the effects of climate change. And yet, despite the obvious contradictions, they just can not imagine a world without the oil sands. They can’t see any hope for the future. And so they cling to the present and provide no guidance.

This is depressing stuff indeed.