Read: Warmth

I like to play a game where I’m put in charge of “fixing” our society, culture, species and planet. Yes, I enjoy things that are totally implausible. When I look at around at America, I see system failure. Not just individual parts are failing, no, I’m talking the entire system. Healthcare, education, general health, government, law enforcement, housing, transportation, etc. It’s not that these systems have ceased to exist, it’s just that the decay, corruption, greed, and acceptance of brokenness have reached the highest levels of my lifetime. (Having said this, in some ways, our species is far better off now than ever before, and the doom and gloom profits are just telling the stories that sell.) And there doesn’t look to be many remedies in sight. In fact, it looks like we are embracing the destruction, pointing fingers, and blaming the “other side,” for our worries and grievances as our foundation cracks beneath us.

Whenever I play this game, I ponder what I would fix first.

Education always seems like a good place to start. But if you don’t address general health then why bother with education. General health might require government assistance, so should I start there? You see where I’m going. You can’t remedy ONE system. You must remedy all systems all at once. But there’s more. There is one system I realize, more and more, trumps them all. If we fail to fix it, or can’t collectively agree there even is a problem, then attempting to fix the other systems is a fool’s errand. I recently made a stop in Texas and spoke to a friend who doesn’t believe this problem. Our conversation went something like this.

THEM: “I have to get out of Texas now, it’s unbearable.”

ME: “What do you mean?”

THEM: “It was so hot last summer I was a prisoner in my home, car, place of work.” “Trapped like a hostage.” “And every year it gets worse.” “It’s still hot when winter arrives, the lakes are low and the rivers are dry.”

ME: “So, you had a bad summer?”

THEM: “It was a bad year.” “It’s only March and we had a ninety-degree day.”

ME: “So, you think it’s getting worse than when you were younger?”

THEM: “For sure.”

ME: “So, you think the planet is changing?”

THEM: “No.”

Here in lies “The Problem,” which is covered in Daniel Sherrell’s “Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World.” This book is one long letter to someone who doesn’t exist quite yet. Written without ever saying the words because we have reached a point when the words, the title, the official naming has begun to undermine the entire conversation. It’s just “The Problem.” My friend in Texas quickly turned away, and when I gently probed with additional questions I was met with the now common, “We can’t talk about this.” “We will never agree.” That’s where we find ourselves. Unable to even discuss matters.

Sherrell walks the walk. The Problem is at the center of his life and work. There are moments of fleeting hope followed by crushing defeat. One of my favorite aspects of the book is how the author features one particularly evil government official, Scott Pruitt, who led his short lived appointment via slash and burn methodology before being run out of office for corruption and scandal issues. This dude was so out of control. You know how bad you are when Donny tells you to resign. (For you sensitive types, both parties are to blame here, but folks like Pruitt and Zinke were especially egregious when it comes to ethics.)

I’ve said this all along. I don’t think we can save ourselves. I think we passed that point a long time ago. Things like the Paris Agreement are like winning participation ribbons in elementary school. When the train finally derails, the execs of today, the ones knowingly selling us down the line, will all be dead. But this falls on you and me as well. I’m no saint. With my job, and a van, refrigerators, heaters, etc. I’m a climate violator. I believe that for this to work, it will take every single person on the planet committing to change, and I just don’t see that happening. This book is an interesting read, so if this story is poignant to you, get a copy.