The various spectacles now, both real and synthetic; Killing each other with immediate acts of stupidity, entertaining or otherwise. Or marginalizing each other to death for a more, slow burn, kind of destruction, even as we marginalize all of life around us. All because we are burning up inside with needs that are not being met. And we have come to this pass because we cannot see our way to understanding much of any of it because:

1. Expression itself has been corrupted by old ways of doing things.

2. We fear change so much we'll do almost anything to avoid it.

3. We seem unable to imagine our way out of the old norms of ignorant scarcity.

4. Our material, and technological advancement has given us not only new instrumentality with which to conceive with, but by which we could truly affect having our reach exceed our grasp. But that means accepting change as a way of life.

5. A few have become so reshaped, and reconstituted by grossly excessive privilege that they think no situation is beyond their ability to simply decree their way out of it; because hasn't power always been able to do that? Or at least, now that we can express our fantasies so prominently, and persistently, a lot of these people are now more convinced than ever, about this supposed truism for power; because they can entertain themselves with it endlessly.

And now, so much that was once absolutely unacceptable is commonplace.

The ice at the poles is disappearing. Our response, at least in part: expand tourism to these places so that we may watch the spectacle close up.

A forest the equivalent size of New Zealand burned up in 2016 and the biggest response so far may only have been the desire to make more apocalypse movies, with ever more spectacular ways of showing colossal amounts of natural beauty getting trashed.

And what may be only tens of thousands of us now, here and there, that starve, die of thirst. die of preventable disease, die of direct brutality and violence, or sit in wait of this process; even those numbers, already unacceptable, those too will grow ever more horribly so.

Sometimes it's hard not being ashamed of be being human, but I do not let that discourage me. I do this because I still believe that the right expression, at the right time, even with the corruption that has occured to it, can be all the difference we need. Because all it takes is seeing a situation in the right frame of reference; a frame of reference that really surprising numbers of people can share, without necessarily giving up what they already believe in. And in all of it, all they have to do, is see that all it takes is a willingness to compromise so that we can cooperate again. Just cooperate; whether we dislike whatever others passionately or not. Just cooperate enough to start planting everywhere. To start building everywhere (because there will be other ways to take carbon out of the air, just as there will be new ways to combat drought). To start making transportation available everywhere to everyone who needs it. Just as we provide new habitat, and an energy source that does nothing but put more water back into play with its use. And drinkable water at that.

If we did that there wouldn't be any forest left to just burn, or left to just rot under new conditions we can't get ourselves agreeing enough to do anything about. Just as there would be no person left who will not be needed to take part in doing all of this desperately needed effort it will take to make how we must change possible. And I think, if we can get as involved as we need to get to start compromising, and cooperating, and making the unacceptable right again, we will find that the change we fear so much; the change we must endure; we will find it a great deal more bearable than we could have ever thought possible as well.

If there were such a new frame of reference, would you take the time to understand it better? Would you take the time to get everyone you know to try and do the same; and then have them get everyone they know on the same path?

As I have said before, I remain resolutely hopeful.