We live in strange times. Never before in all of history has
access to knowledge been so easy, so attainable, to so many – and yet ignorance
abounds. Never before has the world been so small and nations so completely
interdependent on each other – and yet xenophobia, bigotry, racism, hate of
‘others’, and blind patriotism still the way of so many. Never before have our
actions held such potential for global catastrophe and our mutual destruction,
be it from nuclear holocaust or global warming, and yet denial, isolationism,
fear, hate, and the utter hypocrisy of a fatalistic outlook even amongst the
deniers – the way of so many.
Denying global warming in the face of overwhelming evidence is
selfish, cowardly and just plain stupid. The people who do so are fearful fools
– akin to the flat earthers, and geocentric universe believers of days past.
The difference, however, is denying a round earth or that the earth rotates
around the sun, results only in the persecution of a few - denying global
warming ushers in the wholesale destruction of our planet.
I have a colleague who has enjoyed an education few in the
history of this planet have ever known. And yet he is the poster child of those
that will usher in the destruction of our planet and our species through
ignorance. The man denies global warming while he drives his gas guzzling,
oversized, over powered, survivalist mobile. He drapes himself in the flag –
purposefully covering his head to blind himself to the complexities of the
modern world, to its interdependency – oblivious to the simple fact that he
will not find safety behind walls – be they on national borders or constructed
of bigotry, hate and fear. Head buried deeply in the sand, he and the millions
of others like him, refuse the only thing that will save them, save of us all –
acceptance of scientific fact, of other cultures, a worldview and a spirit of
international cooperation.
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