Last year, the New York Times had a profile of two people marrying: one 98, the other 94. They met in gym, they’re both active and happy despite their age.
What is their “secret?”
“People always ask what it is that keeps us young,” Mr. Mann said. “Of course, one part of it is medical science, but the bigger part is that we live worry-free lives; we do not let anything we cannot control bother us in the least.”
All times are bad times. Bad stuff is happening to a lot of people, somewhere in the world, and in your country. Oh, some times are worse times: the An-Lushan rebellion, say. WWII. The Great Depression. The Sea-People invasions that destroyed almost all civilization in the Europe and the Middle East, and so on. The Congo today.
And it may be that, as a species, we have a big one coming down the line. I’ve seen reasonable scenarios where climate change and ecological collapse get bad in less than a decade. I’ve seen scenarios where it takes a hundred years. My current over/under is about 40 years from now and has been for a long time. The science is creeping towards shorter and shorter numbers. (40 years is about where I expect us to start losing continental coastal cities.)
There are a variety of other problems, economic, technological, social, and political, and they are going to be aggravated by our environmental issues, though environmental issues may also make some of the worst stuff unlikely, or destroy bad civilizational choices like panopticon societies. (China is definitely going to have one. In certain cities, it almost does alread–held back only by the technical problem of way too much information. Other societies will too, the UK isn’t far behind in London.)
So it is entirely rational, in one sense, to despair for the future. Lots of bad shit coming down the pike, and anyone who takes their blinders off and looks can see it.
But it is not rational to despair and become depressed because of stuff you do not control.
And you do not control the environment, the economy, or politics.
You are one of seven billion people, and unless you are part of an elite of maybe 1,000 people, you have no real power. Maybe you’re part of the million or so people who have power locally. If so, use it well to help your locale. But even then, you aren’t stopping the big forces coming down the line; all you can do is prepare somewhat better and for more people.
Your responsibility can never be more or less than your power. Look at how much power you have over anything, including yourself, and that is the extent of your responsibility. Even when it comes to yourself, your power is not infinite. You don’t, for example, have direct control over your thoughts and feelings, though through various methods you have some indirect control and ability to slowly change the preponderance.
A clear recognition of what you can control and what you cannot control; of the exact extent of your power, allows you to relax. You don’t control it, don’t sweat it.
Of course this is easier said than done. It is unlikely that you can change to be that way overnight. But you can change to be that way over time, in part by simply remembering that worrying about things you don’t control is pointless.
Relax.
And remember, death and suffering are not optional. They happen to everyone. The schedule has some flex–when you die and suffer, but only some. You may have some influence over the amount of both, but other suffering will happen completely out of the blue, taking you by surprise.
Relax.
That which you cannot control, you should not care about. That doesn’t mean pain won’t happen, it means you won’t add to it with worry and self-blame. You didn’t cause climate change. You may be the proximate cause of your suffering or death, but you did not invent either suffering or death. So—
Relax.
Everything ends. Everything. Nothing is eternal.
This is, however, as true of everything bad as everything good.
And remember also that the good is always around too. Food that tastes good and satisfies. Love. Beauty. The satisfaction of a soft bed (hopefully). The good times pass and return, just as the bad times do.
And everyone dies, and everything ends, and in that is freedom.
Your worry hurts you and helps no one else. By all means do things. If you can make a difference, and want to, go ahead. But once that all is done—
Don’t worry and be happy.
The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.
Willy
Before I listen to McFerrin, then Pharrells “Happy” and Marleys “Don’t worry bout a thing”…
I think a discrepancy between the power one has, and the power one believes they’re entitled to, is partly to blame for these school shootings (or whatever violence these people would do if laws were different). Not sure if that condition should be called a mental illness or not.
Ever wonder where the phrase “pitchforks and torches” originated? I don’t. Strategically placed catchy phrases can counter other strategically placed catchy phrases. Since most people are sheep, I’d think there’s a lot of power in that. I also think special interest think tanks know this, and exploit it. We must be vigilant.
Okay, now I go listen.
Greg
I’ve been working my way through the internet philosophy encyclopedia books of epictetus whenever I need a reminder that there’s a reason stoicism is a thing – it’s very good
http://www.iep.utm.edu/epictetu/
Some things are up to us [eph’ hêmin] and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions–in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing. (Handbook 1.1, trans. White)
Hugh
My own timelines are a lot shorter. I figure we have until 2030 to shift our societies to a sustainable basis. For countries like the US, this means converting our industrial plant to run on renewables and non-carbon energy sources as well as making it much more self-sufficient. We also need to cut back on immigration since this is the principal source of our population growth and emphasize the importance and social responsibility of smaller families.
The problem is that none of these things are being discussed let alone implemented. While someone like Trump talks about immigration, he does so as a not so closet racist. This is not helpful. And like the rest of our elites and ruling classes he believes in the mantra of endless growth, which is of course what is killing us. Meanwhile the clock keeps ticking, the window for action closes, and the signs of disintegration continue to proliferate. Globalism, free trade, the rise of China, Middle East settlements, the war on terror, “making America great”, etc. are all part and parcel of a world that soon won’t exist.
Ian Welsh
Oh no Hugh, my timeline in that sense is shorter. We’re already pas the “stop this” date. The bad stuff is going to happen, we are not going to stop it, we are going to lose bilions. We might lose the entire species. The question is how bad.
Ramona
Certain types of people absorb responsibility for that over which they have little to no power. Simon Weil was one such person. One of my professors told me I had a lot in common with her when I was just 21.
Some of my suffering is the result of my powerful imagination which connects me deeply to events far from me; some of it is the result of a sense of responsibility because I feel that given my talents, I could make a positive impact. All this is complicated by the same sort of ill health Weil experienced.
I try to let go of all of this as much as possible and am considering moving to a location which places me in a psychologically remote position relative to the headlines of the day.
Ironically, that might allow me to write things which allow me to have an influence.
This a deep moral issue I cannot shake.
Webstir
It’s been a bit since I’ve been to an AA meeting. But I can hear that entire post coming out of some old timers mouth. That old timer would also remind the newcomers to be grateful.
AA taught me to pray. Nobody told me to believe in their god, or any god for that matter (I’m agnostic). They just told me told me to pray and to never ask for anything when I did. Just say thank you. So I do. And it works. Prior to sleep and upon waking I say this simple prayer:
Thank you for all you’ve given me.
Thank you for all you’ve taken away.
Thank you for what I have today.
The old timer would tell them that in his/her experience, when you’re all up in your head worrying about yourself, the surest way to cure the blues is to pick up the phone and call someone — then ask them how THEY are doing, and if there is anything you can do to help.
Thanks for the mini-meeting Ian. Needed that.
V. Arnold
How bad?
Worse than you can imagine; resource wars (far worse than the present) will be de rigueur.
I envision a slow motion domino effect; may the gods help the third world.
They’ll be helpless in the onslaught…
V. Arnold
How to be Happy in Bad Times.
In the yin and yang of life; happiness is an empty vessel; the same could be said of sadness.
IMO, contentment is a mid point, better suited to a fullfilled life. True contentment is an elusive state in today’s world of extremes; which actually demands that happiness is success.
Interesting times…indeed…
Bill H
When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease my wife immediately began to imagine a dreadful future. I told her that whatever else it was, that disease is characterized by a highly varied progressive nature. I said we should take it one day at a time, focus on how little it is affecting me today, and see what happens. She thought that was just one of my stupid AA slogans, but decided she could go along with it.
That was twelve years ago and to date medication is controlling it to the point that it is invisible to anyone who doesn’t know I have it. (Although we have increased the dosage a couple of times over the years.) The neurologist says that based on the nature of my condition by the time old age gets me the Parkinson’s may have become a little bit more inconvenient, but probably not all that much.
Had we gone her direction this would have been a much longer and more unpleasant twelve years than it has been.
Webstir
Bill H. —
Good to meet another friend of Bill W. on here.
My wife has a tendency to project to the worst as well. She sees how the program has worked in my life, but he precepts still elude her. She’s a norm and can get away with it I suppose. But it’s one more reason why I’ll always maintain that we tend to only grow spiritually/emotionally when our back is against the wall. I’ll always be grateful I walked in those rooms because I’d have never found so much of the beauty I find in my life today.
My best to both you and your wife.
someofparts
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.
– Tao Te Ching
RWood
This part of the blossom:
The Five Remembrances
I am sure to become old; I cannot avoid ageing.
I am sure to become ill; I cannot avoid illness.
I am sure to die; I cannot avoid death.
I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me.
I am the owner of my actions, heir of my actions, actions are the womb (from which I have sprung), actions are my relations, actions are my protection. Whatever actions I do, good or bad, of these I shall become the heir.
Bill H
@Webstir
Make no mistake, my comment was in no way intended to denigrate my wife. She is very much part of my support system and a daily inspiration to me.
Stirling Newberry
The question is “are the current rich going the hide it?”
The answer is “somewhat, but not entirely.”
Webstir
Mine either. Just stating a fact about mine. She’d totally agree. Sorry if you read it that way.
Peter
@Hugh
This sustainable industrial power base, whatever that means, is the largest industrial growth scheme ever envisioned and it would never end because all the components will need replacing on a regular schedule. To get our power from a wind/solar base worldwide would require covering 100,000 square miles of land with panel farms and erecting 4 million wind generators.
Most of this growth would depend on burning even more fossil fuels to mine, manufacture and transport/install this power source. Even with the growth of this huge industry we would still need FF power plants backing up every intermittent solar/wind instillation.
different clue
@V. Arnold,
One of the principal onslaughters will be China, and since you live so close to China; your future will be full of Very Interesting Times indeed.
Hugh
Peter, we are constantly building what is unsustainable. We are constantly talking about the lack of good meaningful jobs. Converting our industrial base to sustainability and self-sufficiency addresses both. We also don’t have a choice. We do this and responsibly manage our population downward, or Nature it will do it for us, impartially and without mercy.
V. Arnold
different clue
February 23, 2018
Actually, no. If one wants a truly global centric view; turn your globe to where you squarely view the whole of Eurasia dead center. You’ll notice North and South America barely show on the far left of the globe. That is our true position and perspective in the true world of today.
China and Russia hold truely immense reserves of all of earths resources.
They’ll (Eurasia) be the target of Orwell’s Oceana.
Strange how closely Orwell’s world view presages the coming reality, no? Precient fellow to say the least.
Oh, Thailand will be in the thick of it given its military connection to the U.S. Bur resourcewise, Thailand has very little to contribute in lew of the big picture.
Below is an interesting read from ZH.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-21/how-china-could-freeze-us-military
If one can find serenity knowing all of that; that one has truly found a thing of value…
Mojave Wolf
@Ramona — I’m sort of the same way. Still grieving deeply over many things it happened long ago and also other things which are currently happening far away and which don’t really have any immediate direct effect on me other than my knowledge of them.
I don’t actually want to change this about myself I like my attachments and I like caring. I understand that the Buddhist say non-attachment is different than not caring and it is possible to care deeply while letting it go in the way Ian says but I got no clue how to do that so in the meantime I’m staying me. Letting go of the emotional impact of my thoughts and memories would seem like a betrayal to those involved, and again, I just wouldn’t be me anymore and for a long time now I’ve actually been to the point where I (mostly) quite like myself (cue jokes, or at least it would be time to queue jokes except for the new moderation policy).
That’s sad I appreciate this post and it probably is really good advice.
@Hugh & Ian — entirely with you on the nature of the environmental crisis. Also agree that it’s too late to stop a lot of the damage but I’m hoping there’s still a chance to mitigate it and has I think it was Webster said in another post, even if logic said it was too late to do anything, I think at that point it’s time to bail on that particular part of logic and still find a way to try to save everything or as much of everything as we can anyway. I may not like most of the humans much but I love the rest of the world and wish to keep it going (which as a byproduct means keeping the humans going to)
Ten Bears
No, Stir, the answer is “only for a little while.” Woe be unto them, then.
We are past the point of no return, and at a cusp, an iteration, in our evolution as a species. Wither or no we make it is in our grandchildrens’, my great-grandchildrens’, laps. We often talk of totalitarianism here, and even occasionally of massive breakdowns – revolution, secession, catastrophe – and what may be on the other side of them. Where ever we go to survive: out into space, under the ground or into the seas, will be a sealed environment, a controlled environment.
If we make it, the garden of eden story will be true.
Keepin’ it simple, one day at a time.
Karen
Ian,
Given all of your prior posts on the importance of character: kindness, compassion, integrity, etc, I’m surprised to hear you defending this kind of superficial stoicism. Don’t get me wrong: stoicism is one of the great virtues. But I don’t think it precludes empathy. Per Joseph Campbell, compassion means suffering along with others. If you truly care about other people’s suffering, it’s hard not to suffer oneself… I think empathy is the origin of community and collective action. Its not just self-interest…we are hard-wired to care about fairness too. It’s precisely the kind of fatalism you describe that has made America so poor at grappling with its problems. People give up even trying because they believe there’s nothing they can do to change things…because no one else is trying.
This is my beef with the Eckhart Tolle style Zen Buddhists. You can’t always accept the status quo, sometimes you have to fight it. Like Schindler fought the Nazi deportations of the a Jews. His was a lost cause, but he knew he had to pursue it, whatever the risk to himself. He didn’t sit around telling himself that, since there was nothing he could do to stop it, he might as well try to be happy. He knew he could never be happy while innocent people were being slaughtered. Neither could I.
When we focus on big statistics we forget that everyone’s life matters. Small actions can make an enormous difference, and the rise of collective consciousness can change worlds seemingly overnight. Your website is helping to build that consciousness, and there is always hope.
Ian Welsh
Sharing people’s pain is valuable and appropriate while in their presence, but sympathy is what is needed in most cases, not empathy. The problem is that empathy is identity based. People are hurting right now, and we don’t let it get us down unless it is people we identity with.
When with someone who is suffering empathy is appropriate.
But action is what matters when not with them.
realitychecker
There’s nothing simple about trying to honestly tread a path that honors both Ian’s POV in this post, and the POV shared by Ramona, Karen, and Mojave Wolf. (I have always leaned more toward the latter, anything in pain gets my empathy, not just my sympathy. Maybe it’s just because it resonates with all the pain I’ve experienced in my life, but whatever the cause, it’s sincere, and my tear ducts would testify if they could lol.)
Both views have great legitimacy behind them, IMO. Perhaps a way to help rationalize the differences between them might be by viewing both as tools to help us understand what our obligation to the concept of “community” should be?
different clue
@V. Arnold
Perhaps my language was unclear. By “principle onslaughters”, I mean “principal perpetrators of onslaught”. China will be the principal perpetrator of onslaught in your area. America will hardly figure into your picture at all.
And China is bringing all Eurasia into the One Ball One Chain China Prosperity Sphere. What role will Thailand play in the One Ball One Chain China Prosperity Sphere? Time will tell.
Peter
@Hugh
Sustainable seems to be a magic word used today to support or reject processes but not to really explain anything. Can intermittent, disruptive, industrially dependent and expensive solar/wind power really be viewed as sustainable? Does that rhetorical badge allow people to disregard all the environmental costs, present and future, produced by this new industry along with the economic burden it is already imposing on consumers where it has been mandated and subsidised.
Good skilled jobs are needed but solar panels are produced in sweatshops in China and most of the solar installation workforce is or will be low skill low pay gypsy labor. The oil, gas and coal industry offers low cost reliable power and fuel for the future along with high skill high paying careers. The worry now in the oil patch is that we may see Peak Oil Demand before Peak Oil production.
When people have access to reliable resonably proced energy they can advance and develop wealth improving their lot. They also reduce their family size as we and most developed countries have already done. Restricting developing countries FF energy use will only doom them to more poverty and population pressures. Unless you are one of the neo-Malthusians who appear to want a bloody cull of about 2 billion people from the planet this FF energy developement offers a much brighter future.
If you still believe that CO2 is a pollutant and that adding 1 part per 10,000 to the atmosphere will be catastrophic the Earth is displaying a profound and positive reaction to this injection of plant life enhansing gas. Over the last 40 years there has been massive expansion and thickening of plant growth worldwide so it appears that the atmosphere had a CO2 defecit limiting plant growth including needed crops.
marku52
“Warm bed, well fed, got a roof over my head.”
My mantra.
Willy
It’s perfectly okay to have your initial emotional response, whatever that may be, from whatever the situation is. But getting wrapped around it for much more than the initial flare-up will likely impede your longer-term happiness and cloud your reasoning. It may be physically impossible (outside of drugs) to change your natural initial emotional reactions, but with discipline almost anybody can (gently) move themselves to a more useful (and happier) mentality.
That this comment was typed by somebody who aspires to be known someday as “The Sarcastic Guru”, should not diminish the fact that it was being passed along by him from far wiser minds.
V. Arnold
different clue
February 24, 2018
You were clear; I just do not agree.
The U.S. has a huge role is SE Asia and will be the principle aggressor towards China and Russia and their allies.
Yes, China is staking its claim to the South Chins Sea; but is not acting aggressively towards Thailand (or anybody else); quite the opposite. Thailand has a huge population of second and third generation Chinese (my wife’s grandfather was Chinese).
Russia and China are the principle targets of what passes for U.S. foreign policy.
China’s BRI is a huge threat to the U.S..
May I suggest you expand your resources re: China, Russia, SE Asia, and BRI.
V. Arnold
I’m pretty mush done with this moderation policy; it kills any flow of conversation and is a rather immature way of dealing with problem posters.
Ian, this whole thing is your fault; you refused to take responsibility for your own lack of action in dealing with the problem of ad homs.
The defining point of responsibility is; the ability to respond. You failed. Enter the sewer.
Parting suggestions;
1st ad hom; delete with a public warning.
2nd ad hom; delete with a public ban.
1st OT; public warning.
2nd OT; delete with public warning.
3rd OT; public ban.
It’s simple; it just takes action…
Later will be greater…
Ian – quite true that I didn’t deal effectively, mostly because I didn’t want the aggravation. However, this is simpler and so far it’s working. Also, frankly, problem posters included a number of people who think they weren’t.
someofparts
Flow of conversation seems fine to me. Also looks like more people are commenting. Nice to hear from more women.
Webstir
V. Arnold:
“it kills any flow of conversation and is a rather immature way of dealing with problem posters.”
What? Why lay this on Ian? He didn’t make people like me hurl insults because I was to lazy to employ a reasoned argument.
I’m pretty sure I was one of those problem posters and have the backbone to admit that many of my responses to others were a “rather immature” way of dealing with my own comments and conduct.
I’ve not seen one ad-hom since and I don’t think that’s b/c Ian is deleting. It’s because the worst offenders think this blog is valuable enough to self police rather than get banned or put a bunch of work into a brilliantly demeaning ad-hom only to have Ian delete it.
And I certainly think the “flow” has actually improved without having to wade through all the ad-homs.
Some Guy
I always thought the lyrics would have been better as:
‘landlord says the rent is late,
he may have to litigate
don’t worry, be homeless’
In retrospect, I took the popularity of ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ as a marker of decline.
As Lao Tzu wrote, “Only when the family loses its harmony do we hear of “dutiful sons” Only when the state is in chaos do we hear of “loyal ministers. Only when life sucks does “don’t worry be happy’ become a number 1 hit single.”
What you say makes sense Ian, but I think Karen provides some needed balance above. Realitychecker’s summary is correct in my opinion.
Ten Bears
I’m man enough, thank you Web, to admit that some posters here pissed me off to the point that I stooped to their level, and became a problem poster. And then I went away. Stopped visiting a place I’ve been visiting far longer than the problem posters. But that never lasts long.
I don’t like skipping over my favored writers, those I’ve been following since BOP, and comments, in particular those of little or no demonstrated value, are easy enough to just not go into, to skip over; and indeed I did until Ian initiated moderation. Which to my observation isn’t working.
(Ian — the idea wasn’t to make them leave, it was to get them to post politely, and ideally constructively.)
The problem posters are still posting.
Willy
@Karen,
People give up even trying because they believe there’s nothing they can do to change things…because no one else is trying.
Yet, there sure have been a lot of national conversations lately. And these marches are huge. Even if people are just venting, some kind of critical mass seems to be building.
I didn’t see any Florida students being hopelessly, emotionally out of control, or just a little too happy to be in the spotlight. They sure seemed to have a focused determination. Maybe the point is that if you’re being bullied by some form of PTB, it’s better to have your emotions fuel you, instead of just uncontrollably burning you up.
I’ve given up at times, to carry on with my own personal business. But then something happens, and I find that those emotions are all still there. Maybe that’s what they’ve been designed to do. So even if you’ve officially given up, it’s not the end. Most of us normals may be stuck with it whether we like it or not.
scruff
Yes, that’s exactly what it is for. Have you noticed the gushing over cultured meat lately? Maybe you don’t pay attention to vegan trends like I do and you’d be mentally healthier for it, but somehow someone got it into their heads that an industrial process that requires mining, hydrocarbon refinement, disbursement of various chemical pollutants and a host of other inherently eco-unfriendly and inherently inefficient actions could somehow all together EVER be more efficient than the biological systems evolution has produced over millions of years of trial and error. Now they label this “sustainable” and in doing so provide a sort of intellectual path of least resistance that people will follow just because it’s easier than thinking things through themselves. It’s all false of course, but truth doesn’t matter here anymore.
different clue
” The problem posters are still posting.”
Are the posts they are posting . . . problem posts? If the posts are not problem posts, then the posters are not problem posters.
If that is the case, then what is the problem?
(Ian – I was unclear, I was making the precise point that the new policy had turned people who were problem commenters into good commenters, and with remarkably little work. I call that a win/win.)
different clue
Here’s a side of Mass Mortality Events to go with that dish of Better Plant Growth from Global Carbon Skydumping.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/25/mass-mortality-events-animal-conservation-climate-change
different clue
And here’s a side of coral reefs dissolving from Acid Ocean caused by Global Carbon Skydumping to go with that dish of Better Plant Growth from Global Carbon Skydumping.
https://thewire.in/226927/coral-reefs-pose-risk-of-dissolving-as-oceans-get-more-acidic-study/
Webstir
different clue:
Read those this morning as well on my journey through the links. Literally made me sick to my stomach. Now having a 3mo. old son I struggle with the future he’s inheriting. I’d love to hear some other people’s ideas on how separate the world I knew growing up from the one he will.
Jayarava
The UK Office of National Statistics tweeted today “Today we’ve published our Personal Well-being in the UK bulletin: average life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness ratings all improve slightly in the year ending September 2017 http://ow.ly/kSv430iC0HE ”
Correlating this with anything happening in the socio-political sphere is beyond my powers of deduction.
Stirling Newberry
Do not sing “Don’t worry, be happy”
Don’t chant “Make America Great Again”
Hugh
Money is a medium to move resources around a society. We are currently transferring trillions to a handful who do not use those resources to help us or our society. If we redirect that money, we can build and install solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, and even some forms of nuclear, such as thorium based and pay those doing this and other societally useful work a living wage.
It is not just that we can. We must. Climate change and political disintegration are already happening. US population on its current trajectory will be 400 million by 2050. Our energy and other resource needs would be a lot less if our population was in the sustainable region of 150-200 million.
I have always found it odd that conservatives will go on and on about the need for the government to live within its means (misunderstanding the nature of government and also finance) but then rail against our society doing the same (a ral physical constraint)
different clue
Here’s another item copy-pasted from Naked Capitalism.
“Record low snowpack foretells troubling spring, summer” [New Mexico Political Report]. “The lack of snow in New Mexico’s mountains will have implications for farmers and cities in the spring and summer. And certain tree populations in many of the state’s mountain ranges, including the Sandias and Jemez Mountains, are already experiencing large-scale dieoffs. Drought and warming temperatures have weakened ponderosa pines and some conifers, which make them even more vulnerable to insect outbreaks. And communities should be preparing for wildfire season. ‘We are standing at the driest start to any water year on record in the observational period, which goes back to the late 1890s,’ [Kerry Jones says. ‘There is no one alive today that’s seen it drier for any start to a water year.’”
Whoops. Oops. Uh-oh . . . . . looks the the trees in this article won’t be growing faster from all the fresh CO2. Looks like they won’t be growing at all.
Here is the link.
http://nmpoliticalreport.com/804529/record-low-snowpack-foretells-troubling-spring-summer-en/
Webstir
@Hugh:
It’s a boomer thing. The great majority of individuals that don’t belong to that generation get it. The great majority that belong to it do not.
It’s certainly not guaranteed we’ll change this country for the better once their grasp on power is broken. But given, as you say, that we must (and I certainly agree), I’m optimistic.