I was sitting in the chair with my head down
as my hair stylist lathered the back of my neck. The cut for the most part was already done, and this was the last step before a final comb out and style. Ohhh how I love the sensation of the heated shaving cream, it’s like a glorious sunbeam on an early spring day . With a straight razor she gently swiped, cleaning up my minute neck hairs at the bottom edge of my hair line. It never takes long, before you know it – it was already over, and i began to reposition my self in the chair. I noted out the large window a parking sign swinging precariously on a pole across the street. As she disposed of the razor she remarked how bad the recent storm was. Of course I knew, as I was reporting on it – and it was a major event. 18 hours of icepellets, freezing rain and then wind gusts over 100km/hr. It caused almost $200 million dollars in damage for our region. “Things are getting crazy”, she said eluding to the storm that ended. For me it was just another example of “extreme” weather that is inline with a changing planet. Sure one can never hang the “climate change” hat on one storm event – but this was just one example of many severe weather events that have unfolded across not just our region but the entire country.
We briefly chatted about that, and I went into “eco ambassador” mode, trying to “convert” someone to “give a crap” that if we don’t make changes events like these will only get worse.
And then it happened she said it ; “thats for those guys to do, and figure out”. She was referring to government officials. I was shocked – for the Government to figure out??!! I initially held back and didn’t want to get defensive or preachy, but i replied – “No no no – we all have to do our part. And it starts in our own daily routine”.
She then pressed on and added “what am I going to be able to do”? That was my aha moment. There are likely many people who feel that way. The problem is that we have over complicated this scenario and deemed any resolution is beyond our grasp and only attainable on the grandest scale. It has manifested into a labrynth of science buzzwords. “green house gases”, “atmospheric warming”, “carbon dioxide”,”glacial melt” “fossil fuels”, “carbon footprint”, “climate change vs global warming” – and peppered in there “tax” as in “carbon tax”. Who likes the word “tax”? No One. [Please don’t interpret that these terms are invalid, its just that it they fail to engage the average person – in fact detach us from embracing the monumental problem of our changing planet.
So let’s forget them for now….
Let instead focus on how all of that – is creating chaos in our daily lives and it will continue to progress. Real life consequences, that we can tangibly start to control by acting now. Everything we love will be impacted by the rapidly changing environment we live in. Nature does not make mistakes – humans do. We all have a role to play – no matter how small of a contribution you think you are making the time to commit to it is now. We can be a huge part of “what happens next” but it will only evolve if you engage in it.