Tuesday, January 15, 2013

It's Catching Fire

 It's not a question now of how much hotter the Earth will get, but of how quickly...
...the trees turn into what they can, countering the heat.
My little doo-da, and all the life around us, is going to have to face a tumultuous world. Isn't it humankind that has brought this extremity on, what with its greed to possess and its greed to control? 
We all joke about the weather. But I stare out of glassy windows, the air dead, the air hot as a stove-top, nothing in my hands making a difference...
...Eucalypts like this are among the many survivors that have stood up to transgressions inflicted upon their world. Can they be twisted interminably?
I wonder what gardening will be like, what sort of gardening there'll be, in a world screwed up, and screwed up by human will.  
Will there be any chance to rest, soon? Will the wheels stop, as we'd like them to, and will significant numbers of human beings wake up enough to repair the damage?
The last thing I want to see is suffering, but most of humanity doesn't notice it. It is asleep. It couldn't be called a natural sleep, as you see here, but it could be called a negligence...
Thus, there is hope. There's a hope that whatever we've done, it'll be forgiven now.


16 comments:

  1. Hello Faisal:
    Like you, we find what is happening, particularly where global warming is concerned, very, very frightening. And it is beyond our understanding why responsible governments, worldwide, continue either, at worst, to ignore the problem or, at best, to shelve it for some future occasion. But that future is NOW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jane and Lance,
      we seem to be stymied by vested and political interests, every time we have the chance to move forward. We are not thinking as a commonality, but as an individual. Which I'm sure you know. It is becoming the signature of our times, that we forget the common good. I wonder what all these awful wars were for, if it wasn't for a better world.
      Heat is, of course, symbolic, as well as real. It means we are burning with passion, that we are not yet able to put our passion aside.

      Delete
  2. Always hope. Mercifully it will all be changed and this time not by our hand. The flame colours on the bark of the Eucalypts are breathtaking...like the heat no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, gulp, Paul, the heat takes my breath away. Not so much for any given moment, but for the suspicion it can keep on growing, uncontrollably. Thankyou. I adore Eucalypts, and their colours. There's no reason why the whole world can't cool down, if we want it to...

      Delete
  3. Hi Faisal, thanks for your comments on my blog. Just to let you know we're thinking about you with all the fires happening. Sending hope and cool-ness, here in the Northern Hemisphere, where we shiver in the cold. We could do with some heat/cold exchange, couldn't we. Take care. Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jan, yes, definitely, we could do with some of your cool as much as you could do with some of our warmth. That could well happen...

      Delete
  4. The world climate issues truly have me concerned...no....worried is a better description for the way I feel. Do you truly believe it can be reversed? We are on a roller coaster ride here. Snow with temps rising into the 70s in less than 48 hours then back to the 20s. I hope you find relief from the heat soon. Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bonnie, given that the inexplicable and unexpected happen more often than we think, and that science - as far as I'm concerned - knows more or less nothing, the future could well be quite bright. We may simply be living through a crisis, and there may be no need to believe that's all there'll be. None of us knows a thing, really. The planet may well be righting itself into a more benevolent position.

      Delete
    2. that is an exceedingly optimistic view - I fervently hope you are at least a little bit right. In the last couple of days our summer heat has arrived with teeth and claws. No wildfires, thank goodness.

      Delete
  5. Ah Faisal, I like that! 'The planet righting itself into a more benevolent position'. Now that is hopeful! Gaia will survive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We tend to see current states as irredeemable. We could well be entering a temperate, peaceful age, as soon as present disturbances have subsided. For Gaia, and us all, I hope for a beautiful future!

      Delete
  6. sometimes hope is hard to hold on to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it can slip right out of our hands, Velma! But then, strength of character enables us to see it again. Hope I can never let go of.

      Delete
  7. Dear Faisal,

    I have read this post and spent some time thinking about it.

    The common good.

    An important phrase but one which appears to me (often in company with such as 'kindness' and 'beauty') to be left out, more or less on purpose, as a sort of purpose built design fault in the mechanics of those vested and political interests of which you write.

    Like you I do wonder if science knows anything - really - because it often seems that she doesn't. And within her ranks are so many schisms!

    Are the weather extremes we currently experience, the emotional distress that our planet is going through as a result of the common good being trampled upon? Will all be righted soon enough as she struggles to take charge once more?

    I also hope for a beautiful future!

    Kirk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Kirk,
      I suspect the world has been overtaken by too much thinking, ambition, politics and self-interest.
      I'm probably over-sensitive, but then, perhaps, 'humanity' is under-sensitive. I've been shocked, since I was a child, how regardless people are of the world around them, and of others. How everything is apparently a matter of self-advantage, of over-powering.
      But...we all have to lead by example, and there's no good criticizing, for that goes on forever.
      I'm believing that we're only currently going through the worst of times, that the better of times are on their way. The world has certainly been through numerous nightmares in the past.
      Weather, climate, these are things we feel with our bodies, see with our eyes and feel with our hearts. Once, not long ago, when the world seemed orderly and cyclical, it was as if we'd reached a necessary perfection, of sorts.
      I tell myself there are actually a lot of good things going on. People of all different backgrounds are friends with one another as we never have been before. Borders are breaking down. There's a general recognition that the world needs tenderness, not control. These are good things. Perhaps only a crisis brings these qualities out.
      Thanks, Kirk. I really appreciate your comments and your consideration.

      Delete