In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
(Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot)
I find it increasingly easy to be misanthropic now.
Climate action malaise.
Zoonotic diseases (e.g. COVID-19, Japanese Encephalitis Virus).
Rampant speciesism.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and who knows what country next.
All unnecessary. All preventable.
I find myself speaking about homo sapiens in the third person more and more, despite (obviously) being a deeply flawed member of that species.
Despite a willingness to be conciliatory, to be a glass half full kind of guy, to encourage open, honest conversation, some days, I find it really really hard to have any hope that our species will mature quickly enough to significantly mitigate the coming climate catastrophe or to avoid decades more unnecessary suffering and death of the members of many species, but especially those that members of species homo sapiens use and abuse.
Every so often though, my spirits are buoyed and hope seems possible. That happened recently, when I watched this video.
Having said that, I do tire of the us and them phrasing of the title of videos like this (“meat eater” vs “vegan”). The content is positive and respectful though.
But there will need to be many more such intellectually honest, respectful conversations, before my view of the future is likely to be significantly perturbed.
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