Summary:
Feeling a little hot under the collar?
Glaciers and polar ice are melting, ocean levels are rising, we are experiencing hot, dry weather, massive forest fires, water restrictions, crop failures...
If these aren't already a part of your life, they will be soon. According to the International Panel on Climate Change and many scientists, global warming and climate change are now facts of life.
Massive issues beyond our control!
But are you sweating profusely?
If you aren't, you most likely...
Article Body:
Feeling a little hot under the collar?
Glaciers and polar ice are melting, ocean levels are rising, we are experiencing hot, dry weather, massive forest fires, water restrictions, crop failures...
If these aren't already a part of your life, they will be soon. According to the International Panel on Climate Change and many scientists, global warming and climate change are now facts of life.
Massive issues beyond our control!
But are you sweating profusely?
If you aren't, you probably live in a city where half of the world's population now resides and take many things for granted. Because we live in cities, we are disconnected from the natural processes that provide us with food, clothing, and energy.
Is your child aware that milk comes from a cow - or a soya bean, if you prefer - rather than a milk carton?
Even if you live in the city, you can't put your head in the sand (or under the asphalt? ), and you're not immune to climate change. Witnesses include the 15,000 people, mostly elderly, who died in Paris alone during the scorching European summer of 2003. Or the many people killed in New Orleans by the 'hands' of Hurricane Katrina.
And, if you're feeling hot under the collar, do you believe there will be some miraculous scientific breakthrough that will allow the ever-responsible 'They' to fix the Earth? Perhaps the ultimate stem cell technology will be able to clone a new home for us!
Seriously, it's all too much for many of us.
All we want is to live a life in which we can provide a future for our children.
A future with some predictability: schooling, a job, a family, a community, accomplishments, and a fulfilling life on a healthy planet Earth.
Is this a faded dream, or was it once a reasonable expectation?
Perhaps, perhaps not.
Our world is changing. There will be significant challenges ahead, and it will be too late to prevent global warming. The Earth has changed, and the processes that it uses to regulate itself are changing as well. And these changes will be incompatible with human life as it currently exists.
However, you are not helpless.
Individually, each person has the power to change the world. Allow me to explain.
Do I then say that we have control over these issues?
It will never be enough to survive and thrive.
Renewable energy sources will not teach us to accept limits, unpredictability, and what it means to live a fulfilling life on their own.
How we have collectively lived in our billions for the last few hundred years has led us to this point. And by changing our behaviour, we can adapt to climate change as best we can.
Even right now.
It's both simple and difficult. There's no getting out of it.
This is something that many people with severe disabilities are aware of. And, despite being in extremely difficult and vulnerable circumstances, they report the same or higher levels of life satisfaction as everyone else.
As a result, we can learn how to live well in a disabled world.
Whatever happens, you and I will benefit from the beliefs and strategies that people with disabilities use to not only survive, but also to live well.
These are legitimate alternative energy sources.
Those who show us how to use what we have in a sustainable way.
These 'disabled people' believe the following:
* Recognize that we are all fragile and vulnerable.
* The world is full of boundaries. Some of these are required for us to live comfortably.
* Vulnerability and dependence are unavoidable aspects of life.
* No one is self-sufficient; rather, everyone is interdependent.
* Our connection to others is our lifeline and our source of happiness.