Chaos. Anarchy.

Those two words come to mind when describing the demonstrations, rioting and statue toppling we’re seeing in many Western nations these days.

Historians of the future might look back on this era as a great period of social transition, perhaps started with the flower power generation of the 1960s, were it not for the great elephant in the global room: climate change. Things could have all turned out for the better, with a more equitable society for everyone.

Last year, the subject of climate change was all the rage. This year it has largely been forgotten amidst the global coronavirus pandemic and the aforementioned action in the streets.

But we can’t escape the karmic effects of mankind’s abuse of Mother Earth. We sowed, we will reap big time, and all the fighting for social justice in these times will be irrelevant.

I’m thinking the species could be preserved with some dignity intact if we would only seriously address climate-change issues right now and prepare for climate armageddon. But we’re too preoccupied with the battle for human rights — which in itself is noble.

Human rights may be a utopian dream in the years to come as the remnant of mankind struggles to stay alive in a harsh environment. There may not be any governments and law enforcement. There may not be any grocery stores. Forget about electricity and smartphones and Twitter. Only the fittest will survive, and they undoubtedly will revert to the brutality of early man.

That’s if any humans survive at all. It’s not unlikely in this world gone mad that somebody will push nuclear buttons that will annihilate all life — except the cockroaches and the like feeding on the corpses of mankind.

Mankind’s social justice issues could be resolved in a single day now if they embraced one simple golden rule. But climate change issues can’t be resolved with a change of attitude.

We will pay for what mankind has done to the environment. We can’t escape that. We can only mitigate the effects, if we would stop fighting long enough to focus on them.

But that won’t happen. So, everything you see on the nightly news today will be eclipsed in the not-too-distant future when newscasts will be no more.

Click, click.

— Jillian