By PARRY TEASDALE
WE WERE HOPING it would miss us, if we thought about it at all. When it got here, we said, oh that’s not so bad. Then it got worse. And now what is it anyway except for dismissing it as an inconvenience to handle when the time comes, as if we knew what’s ahead for our climate here.
People who live in or near cities all over the world face pollution every day. Often it’s worse than what we just endured. Much worse. There must be something we can do about that red Sun, the orange light it casts, the skim coat of microscopic dust it left on our windows. Outdoors, some of it is penetrating deep into our bodies with every unmasked breath we take.
So why aren’t we on a climate wartime footing? Where did electric buses go? Is this how will we teach the teachers who taught the students who captured and exploited the secrets of carbon: great wealth at the cost of extinction.
It’s easier to appreciate such wild ideas when we can observe the effects in the sky above us as we did last week. How wild is it to watch the air above smolder with potentially deadly smoke from… Quebec? Our friend and ally and maker of maple syrup? What is politically sacred if not our bond with Canada? There’s no place to run; no place to hide.
In past editorials we have recommended joining local environmental/climate organizations. That’s still an important step. But the time has come to be sure we vote for candidates whose platforms and voting records show they understand that climate change is the most urgent threat human beings face. There isn’t much time to save our species. The odds are even worse for us humans unless our elected officials join the effort.
But voting alone is not nearly enough. Make it personal. Check out the contents of your emergency kit. If you don’t have one, they are simple to create. The kits are collections of lightweight things you will need if officials order you to leave right away and don’t know when you might return.
The list below comes from a state program called NYS Prepare.
Emergency kit contents include
1. Battery powered flashlight with extra batteries or crank flashlight
2. AM/FM emergency radio with batteries
3. Work gloves, sturdy shoes, change of clothes
4. N95 face masks, pack of Wet Wipes, pocket tissue package, 30-gallon plastic bag, 3 10-gallon plastic bags
5. Aspirin or allergy medications plus an extra pair of glasses if you wear corrective lenses.
Keep the emergency kit in a convenient place. Open the bag on a regular schedule. Make the weight of the kit a reminder of our obligation to reduce our carbon footprints. Think about how it might be to live with those rations and the clothes on your back. What if you had to use it because of some climate crisis affecting this county? Accidents happen but climate change is no accident.
The contents of a state recommended emergency kit intended for three people. Photo contributed
