The end of the world is nigh, but not for me

We used to say when there was lightning it was just God taking your photo. Sheets of lightning cracked through the night skies, followed by rolling thunder a moment or two later, like the delayed report of a gunshot.

And when it rained, did it rain? Is the Pope a Catholic? Do birds fly? It rained a solid curtain of water, soaking everything within minutes, turning drains into the Devil’s Cataract, rattling tin roofs, getting the better of your windscreen wipers; it scythed down like it wanted to give work to Noah. And afterwards, like after a fantastic orgasm, it was quiet again. The smell was earthy. You had a sense that the fecund soil, the grass, the flowers, the crops, all were ravished by their only real partner, strong powerful abundant rain, and now they were coyly straightening themselves up after the delight of this ravishing. The clouds were quickly gone, having completely emptied themselves, and the warmth of the sun in blue skies made the ground steam and the fields radiate many-scented vapours. Winter mornings were clear and brisk. The rising sun sparkled on a light tinsel of frost. The sun ripened, matured and finally lengthened the shadows of the trees before sliding rapidly and effortlessly over the horizon, leaving a glow of burnished gold. What a day it had been!

That’s all gone now.

Extreme floods have wrought havoc in Afghanistan, central Africa, Dubai, India, the Philippines etcetera etcetera, the ice caps are melting, the oceans are warming, ageless coral is dying, the atmosphere is heating.

Catastrophic weather events have happened in cycles for centuries, say climate change sceptics who sneer at little Ms Thunberg. Scientists counter that by saying that facts speak for themselves.

Global warming is likely to shoot way past the 1.5C target set by conservationists and governments over the next few years. The world’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expects that target to be exceeded to 2.5C or 3C if more urgent steps are not taken to rein in fossil fuels. Not enough is being done to delay the end of the world as we know it.

“The forests were shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe. The axe convinced the trees because his handle was made of wood he was one of them” – Turkish proverb.

Consequences are a dystopian wasteland:

          Famine, Mass migration, Land hunger, War and conflict over surviving food and resources

All of this is to be caused by drought, heat waves, wild fires, floods, frigid storms and disasters far worse than any experienced so far. The time frame for Armageddon is 50 years, give or take. (Denzel Washington’s film The Book of Eli is worth checking out for its vistas of such destruction and the behaviour of humans it brings.)

The crisis has already brought loss of life and livelihoods all over the globe. 

My generation won’t see the final outcome.  But Hokoyo! (Watch Out!) Young families and children will bear the brunt. Wanna have more babies???