Jeff Masters: Earth's attic is on fire

[Gregorian]

5. After graduating as a mechanical engineer, I got a subscription to Design News.

It was about 1992 that the term "green" was coined. And I was immediately repulsed by it. So much so that I asked them to unsubscribe me. I knew then what I know now: that there is only one solution. And that is fewer people using fewer things. It's not just about global warming. It's about garbage, and medical supplies, and food, and fertilizer, and on and on. And we can't just decrease our use now because the number of people who are using things is still skyrocketing.

All I can do now is take care of my own emotions. There is no point in raging or crying about something that is so monstrous that I have no ability to affect it's outcome. Even when I was still a child my dad used to tell me the best thing I could do is write a book about it. That was forty years ago. A lot of damage has been done to my poor body since then. And now I either relax, or die from my own self-induced stress.

My best friend from childhood told me the other day, his default view of humans is that they fuck up everything they come in contact with. I guess I was far too optimistic in my view.

I see answers. That is what makes this so difficult. I see families who don't abuse their children, and a planet that is in natural equilibrium. Oh well. It's a nice dream.