We all may die. I’m not just talking about each of us as individuals. Our species may die. Our world may die. Many high level systems are now changing very quickly in our biosphere. The oceans are acidifying with the absorption of more CO₂. Huge lakes have been forming on the Greenland ice sheets and then disappearing through cracks to the area under the ice. The polar ice caps are melting. At some point all of these changes will accelerate as feedback loops lend strength to all of the changes and we reach tipping points after which any human intervention will be fruitless.

So what do we do? I have friends, wonderful people who dedicate themselves with every ounce of their extra energy to trying to find an answer; trying to figure out how to engage the appropriate key parts of the decision making machine of our culture, made up of corporate, governmental and grassroots populace. Where do we focus? What is going to work? How do we save ourselves?

I think back to what Mairead Corrigan Mcguire said in her speech to the University of California. Follow the link back to my earlier entry to watch the YouTube video, if you want. Here is an excerpt from that speech which begins at about 6:10 in that clip:

” We look out in the world today and there are so many problems. . . . and do we prioritize? Do we say, yes there is global warming, we’ve got to do something about it. Do we say, yes, there’s dreadful poverty. We’ve got to do something about it. Or do we say, well there’s nuclear weapons, we’ve got to do something about it? Do we say it’s time for no more wars? Do we say that it’s time that we say no to violence, no to war, no to nuclear weapons, or do we prioritize? Or do we simply have another drink and get on and enjoy our lives? I think we mix both. I think life’s for enjoying yourself. It’s for celebrating. And perhaps we need more music, more dance, more beauty in the world today. And you know, if the University of California is teaching its finest minds and its beautiful people to make weapons that are dropped on our brothers and sisters around the world, that’s a tragedy. That’s an insult to our humanity. That’s throwing back in the face of God the gift of life. But if the University of California has smart men and women, they are intelligent enough because they got to the University of California in the first place, they are intelligent enough to ask, is what I am doing beautifying life, or is what I am doing destroying life. And they were given free will. And they must make the choice. Life is all about using your intelligence, your imagination and your creativity and making a choice. So can we make good choices? Or do we make bad choices?”

If we each individually attend to our own lives and make each decision which is in front of us at each present moment with this question in mind, maybe we can save ourselves. I have a ways to go. Not all of my choices have the result of beautifying life. But I will continue to be as honest as I can with myself with each step I take. Sometimes those steps seem so multifaceted and complicated. Sometimes I begin to lose hope. But if I can turn these steps into a dance and use my faith in conjunction with my intelligence maybe this dance will bring me to where I want to be.

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