‘A Rising Tide Floods All Houses’

I have been reading really heavy books for work. None of which are pleasurable to think about, much less have them linger in my head after. The topics are depressing. These books tend to make me retreat into a shell in order not to be affected by mild dispiritedness or sink into a blue funk.

When I read for pleasure, genres preferred are always fantasy and magic, horror and the supernatural, graphic novels of more fantasy, and silly articles. The many newspaper and magazine provide information and current happenings that are often not as heavy as work reads, and they supplement it. Came across a painfully relevant old article. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Ginny Hogan’s ‘Idioms Updated for Climate Change’ published in The New Yorker on January 21, 2019. Yes. 2019. Last January... which is still painfully relevant this January, and likely for many more January-ies.

• Can we please address the elephant in the room? Why has this elephant been displaced from Africa? It doesn’t belong in New York City.

I thought I wouldn’t live to see this world suffer the consequences of the Holocene extinction, or simply, the sixth mass extinction. But it’s happening fast and brutal. It seems as though this world is dying. Devastating news ring out across the world. Wildfires, war, extreme weather events, epidemics, viruses, and everything horrible is upon Earth. Climate change is a big word, but surely, we can see that the natural world is telling us that all is not right. We need to scale back on how much resources we've leeched from the natural world, and understand that we're not giving it enough time to replenish ad rejuvenate.

I’d love to keep my head stuck in the ground, and enjoy the current safe shelter that living in Singapore provides. But that’s not possible. I can't think that it doesn't affect me and go on with my life of relative ease and privilege. The least I could do, is to consume consciously and responsibly. I can't preach about sustainable living till I get back to basics and live in a forest, suffer some sort of food poisoning, don't fly and don't travel far in order to leave minimal carbon footprints. On that note,  if the human population dramatically decrease, our scientists and engineers could trot out commercially viable sustainable spheres for humans to live in, then this world could exist in a different form.

• It’s not rocket science. You know, rocket science? The only type of science that matters anymore because we need to find a new planet to live on? 

• Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, as we escape this raging fire and sprint for dear life toward the rocket ship.