The Joke That Wasn’t
For years, I had a go-to line whenever conversations turned to the climate crisis:
“I don’t need to worry. I’ll probably be dead before the real collapse comes.”
It was tongue-in-cheek, of course. But like many jokes, it hid something truer than I was ready to say out loud. It wasn’t that I didn’t care — it was that caring hurt. The scale of the problem made me feel irrelevant. So I laughed instead.
Then the rivers dried up.
In late 2022, the Mississippi River — that mighty artery of the continent — dropped so low that barge traffic stopped and drinking water systems strained. Memphis recorded the river at –10.81 feet, the lowest level ever measured. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Rhine became so shallow that cargo ships were stuck, paralyzing a key European trade route. People were literally walking across riverbeds that had carried ships for centuries.
Suddenly, 2050 wasn’t some distant dystopia. It was now. And the joke wasn’t funny anymore.
I started seeing these headlines not as data points, but as signals. The future wasn’t arriving — it was already here, slipping in through droughts, food insecurity, water crises, and economic shocks. The language of “climate change” began to feel weirdly polite. What we’re facing isn’t just change — it’s unraveling.
In that moment of grim clarity, something surfaced from memory — a conversation with a maple syrup farmer I’d met once. He said something about planting trees you’d never see bear fruit. At the time, I didn’t quite understand it. But that line would come back to me later — and change everything.
I’m not saying this was an instant transformation. But it was the first crack in my well-armored cynicism. The first time I felt the question rising, quietly but persistently:
“If collapse is already here… what now?”
I’d genuinely welcome your thoughts — whether you agree or disagree. But if you feel like sharing, I’m especially interested in your personal reflections… how you navigate these questions, if they matter to you. And if this resonates, feel free to share it with others who think or wonder along similar lines.
Whoa, major reality check about climate change! Rivers drying up made it clear that it's not a distant problem, it's happening NOW! That maple syrup farmer's idea of planting trees for the future really hit home. It's all about figuring out "what now?" since the future is already here. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteDeeply stirring. And deeply sad. So many of us have been in such deep denial for so long. And many, even now, still are. This reflection puts the exclamation point on our seemingly insatiable needs and activities, without regard for consequences. We seem to collectively need to wander carefree right up to the precipice of the consequences of our actions, and peer over the edge. Let us hope that we are each inspired with our own small but real answer to the author's question: "what do we do now?"
ReplyDeleteBeautiful thoughts to foresee future- immediate and distant. One should not live his own life his own time alone but also future time and generations to come. A bit of concern every human being on earth today need to imbibe honestly as that of the benevolent author.
ReplyDeleteWhat now is here!!!! We are living in the now, we need to come face to face with our reality and make a difference for the generations to come.
ReplyDelete