Gandhi's Truth

It is a quiet, bright sunny day in the southwestern desert. Last night as the stars twinkled brightly over my little condo, my son and daughter in law were terrified by the tornadoes that ripped through their town south east of Nashville.

My family has experienced extreme weather events for the last three years. My father and two of my sisters live in Pensacola on the Gulf. Gulf waters are the cause of the hurricanes that devasted Pensacola and New Orleans and the region in general. These Tennessee and Texas tornadoes are also the result of a warmer Gulf. http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/facts_and_figures/

While Washington pundits argue over immigration, the war in Iraq, and play their games of truth and consequences, global climate change is accelerating. We will not be able to claim we did not know. For over three decades scientists have been warning us of the possible tipping point humans could trigger if we continued to dump so much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3629540a6026,00.html

Perhaps the evolving part of our intelligence is still in the frontal cortex, responsible for forecasting and long-range planning. Indeed, Americans seem to be infants in this regard by our lack of leadership in the world community to stave off disaster by acting with prudence and self-discipline. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4501636

It is a bitter pill to watch who is hurt most by climate disasters. While the rich can pull up and move, buy generators and other survival gear, the majority of people and certainly the poor and low income citizens of our country are without resources to recover without a huge burden.

In so many sectors of American society we witness the skewed nature of what we tolerate as acceptable behavior: amassing huge wealth in the face of so much poverty and suffering; irresponsibly continuing a lifestyle that contributes to global warming; claiming our tolerance for freedom of speech as we attempt to subdue and dampen the voices of reason and protest that seek to reveal the wrongs of our government's policies and behavior world wide. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/04/06/stories/2003040600120200.htm

Last night and this morning I rewatched the movie "Gandhi" which I do each year about this time to reset my moral compass. Today his word's are ever more prophetic:

"Whenever I despair I remember that the way of truth and love has always won out over hatred and war. It can seem for a time that despots and tyrants will win, but in the end they always fall. Always. Think of it."
http://www.mahatma.org.in/index.jsp

The connections between peace and justice and the environment are becoming defined in this decade as we see that unjust economic and political movements reek havoc on the earth either by omission or commision.

Hopeful signs are the many unadvertised efforts of companies and individuals already reducing their carbon dioxide load on the environment. I have been looking into ways I can do that too. Here is an interesting site to get started seeing who is doing what, and where you can find green watts for your energy consumption:
http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/

Replacing your regular lightbulbs with flourescent long life bulbs is the modern version of a peace prayer.

Think of it.

Susan