You know things have gotten bad for your subconscious when you start dreaming about natural disasters. And I almost never watch the TV news, so I’m not inundating my brain waves with active imaging.
But, still, this past week I found myself waking up worried, stressed, overwhelmed and tired from a dream that went back to my childhood on the Jersey shore. Like any other dream, why the heck was I there? What triggered it?
More importantly was what happened. I was on the boardwalk. Wind whipped sand. The waves got bigger and bigger. On came the hurricane.
Torrential rain followed, buffeting me, and I ran and ran and ran inland, trying to get away, the water surging and chasing me, overflowing the boardwalk.
The wind blasted a car, flipping it over and over. It rolled right at me, charging like a rhino, and I had to dive to the side as it continued a westward assault.
That’s essentially the gist of what I remember. The feeling stayed with me afterwards -- making me wonder why a catastrophic disaster so thoroughly penetrated my thoughts that I’d dreamed about it in terror.
Why not the wildfires in Colorado or California? Why not the flooding in Louisiana? The venue doesn’t really matter, I guess. Your mind goes back to something you knew as a kid, and uses that as a backdrop to alert you to something.
A close friend recently mentioned how much of our country is burning and how much is flooding out. And, that we aren’t strongly addressing the causes leading to these increasingly intense weather events that affect millions of lives and livelihoods. She was deeply concerned about our collective lack of action.
I couldn’t agree more, and maybe that drove some thoughts deep into my brain to get me obsessing. Rain pelting you, cars flipping in the wind, waves surging down roadways tend to get your attention the next day when you think about them.
We have choices to make in the coming weeks, months and years. We aren’t going to solve the climate crisis with a quick decision. We’re not going to make things better by talking about things. We aren’t going to reduce human-made carbon emissions by standing by.
We will start making a bigger difference as we individually and collectively take actions. Three legs to the stool stand out: Individuals, business and government. All three play an integral role in terms of how we choose to address the issue of carbon reductions.
Businesses must lead. Government needs to set appropriate standards and enforce them. Individuals need to access their lifestyles and how their personal actions can make a difference in reducing their carbon footprint.
Decisiveness is imperative. Clear steps must be outlined. Everyone must recognize we’re in this together as humans. Through our use of vehicles, through our power plants and industrial processes, we all contribute to carbon emissions. Which means we are all part of the solution.
This column isn’t going to change the world in a day. Hopefully, it will get more people thinking about their personal impacts on a daily basis.
More dreams are coming, that’s for certain. A fire storm might explode and chase me in the next one. I hope not. The hurricane was bad enough.
But, still, this past week I found myself waking up worried, stressed, overwhelmed and tired from a dream that went back to my childhood on the Jersey shore. Like any other dream, why the heck was I there? What triggered it?
More importantly was what happened. I was on the boardwalk. Wind whipped sand. The waves got bigger and bigger. On came the hurricane.
Torrential rain followed, buffeting me, and I ran and ran and ran inland, trying to get away, the water surging and chasing me, overflowing the boardwalk.
The wind blasted a car, flipping it over and over. It rolled right at me, charging like a rhino, and I had to dive to the side as it continued a westward assault.
That’s essentially the gist of what I remember. The feeling stayed with me afterwards -- making me wonder why a catastrophic disaster so thoroughly penetrated my thoughts that I’d dreamed about it in terror.
Why not the wildfires in Colorado or California? Why not the flooding in Louisiana? The venue doesn’t really matter, I guess. Your mind goes back to something you knew as a kid, and uses that as a backdrop to alert you to something.
A close friend recently mentioned how much of our country is burning and how much is flooding out. And, that we aren’t strongly addressing the causes leading to these increasingly intense weather events that affect millions of lives and livelihoods. She was deeply concerned about our collective lack of action.
I couldn’t agree more, and maybe that drove some thoughts deep into my brain to get me obsessing. Rain pelting you, cars flipping in the wind, waves surging down roadways tend to get your attention the next day when you think about them.
We have choices to make in the coming weeks, months and years. We aren’t going to solve the climate crisis with a quick decision. We’re not going to make things better by talking about things. We aren’t going to reduce human-made carbon emissions by standing by.
We will start making a bigger difference as we individually and collectively take actions. Three legs to the stool stand out: Individuals, business and government. All three play an integral role in terms of how we choose to address the issue of carbon reductions.
Businesses must lead. Government needs to set appropriate standards and enforce them. Individuals need to access their lifestyles and how their personal actions can make a difference in reducing their carbon footprint.
Decisiveness is imperative. Clear steps must be outlined. Everyone must recognize we’re in this together as humans. Through our use of vehicles, through our power plants and industrial processes, we all contribute to carbon emissions. Which means we are all part of the solution.
This column isn’t going to change the world in a day. Hopefully, it will get more people thinking about their personal impacts on a daily basis.
More dreams are coming, that’s for certain. A fire storm might explode and chase me in the next one. I hope not. The hurricane was bad enough.