Or Let’s Fix This Mess!
Sustainability is the Future – if There is a Future!
Having spent thirty years writing about environmental issues, trying to help people understand the dire situation we’re in and what we might be able to do to mitigate or avoid drastic results, I’m getting a bit weary, to be honest. True, it is heartening that finally after so many years, we are seeing that most people understand that we have a problem, and that we are exacerbating it by continuing to use petroleum for everything imaginable, from plastics, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals to fuel for our homes and vehicles. But the steps to correct our resultant air, water, soil and food pollution are painfully slow to materialize, and sadly we won’t succeed on those terms.
So a few years ago I adopted a fine new logo for my efforts to raise awareness:
Party Like There’s No Tomorrow
was the theme of Cinema Verde 2018 because… unless we wake up and deal with reality, we might as well forget it. We’re sunk. I’m feeling this way again.
Quitters Never Win
Of course, my father did teach me that “Winners never quit and Quitters never win,” so I can’t quite abandon my quest to get everyone on board to create a healthy future… but really. It turns out there are something like 100 companies that produce the majority of the pollution and CO2 that threaten our survival. Unless the leaders of those 100 companies get with it and take these threats seriously, we really don’t have a chance.
But the way I see it, 100 isn’t an insurmountable number. It should be within reach to engage such a small group of leaders and help them to see reason… which may be the biggest problem. It seems that money has a tendency to warp people’s sensibilities and to become the only focus of their efforts and lives. This is also the major flaw in the business model that runs capitalism – more profit each quarter is completely unsustainable, yet it is driven by this inherent greed that seems to grip so many people when the money begins to flow.
Is it possible for us to step back a bit and be satisfied with enough instead of more, more, more? We shouldn’t need to hurt others to satisfy our own needs or greed… there should be enough resources in the world to take care of everyone, if we could share rather than grab for all we can get.
Cooperation Trumps Competition
I have a little motto I like to use to remind us: Cooperation Trumps Competition. We don’t have to have it all at the expense of others… we should all be able to have enough, and that might buy us extra time to explore our creativity and spend time with our children and loved ones. So let’s come together and party and enjoy each day at its best, and let’s make room in our lives and our world for one another.
We have created a forum where we can all share our ideas. Let us convene an online, ongoing plenary inviting the leaders and everyone in the world to help solve the problems – bring on those who own the businesses and power companies that are using poison petrochemicals in plastics, pharmaceuticals, energy and everything else. Success is within reach – let’s get together and make it happen.
Cinema Verde Free Pass for You Visit CinemaVerde.org and use the discount pass CoruzantPerkPass to explore our films, news and private discussion forum. Please join us to create a sustainable future and world where we all want to live!
Listen in to her latest Podcast! Trish Riley © 2022
