We think that Covid is bad. But look we have all the food we want and homes (at least for now) to be in. We are just waiting to get back to our lives and do what we used to do. But we are heading towards destruction with our habits. With all our free time we should be doing some deeper thinking, not just about our own hides but about the planet we are living on.

We are going through the largest extinction in the history of the Earth. The current extinction rate is 10 to 100 times higher than any other previous mass extinctions.* Some say we are on the tipping edge of loosing many of the life forms on this planet including us.

*Wikipedia

We even have a name for the present day extinction- it is called the Holocene Extinction or the Sixth Mass Extinction and it is accelerating.

So are we going to do anything about it?

Maybe not much. Hey, let’s watch a funny movie and make some popcorn. The scientist and all those smart politicians will make it better… hopefully in time. As long as I can eat my cheese burger - so now I am the problem. OR - do something, anything to make a change.

Extinction Rebellion is a world wide movement started by Roger Hallam, a small organic farmer who lost his farm due to extreme weather. Deciding to get his PhD at Kings College, he studied civil disobedience. He used his knowledge to create protest at the university because much of the universities money was invested in oil companies. Through social disobedience and chalk he got the University to divest their money from fossil fuels and reinvest in renewable energy.

Here is a simple list for anyone. It doesn’t take much…

-Stop eating cows. Let me slap that cheeseburger out of your hand. Cows are one of the leading problems with the land use, one third of the land mass is used to feed cows, destroying habitat and increasing the greenhouse gases.

-Stop using single use containers. Get a water bottle and fill it. Gatorade is not good for you and does not grow vegetables.

-Stop driving and flying around. I know it is so fun to go to Thailand or Hawaii or Europe but try just gardening naked. Go for a walk and squint your eyes at the green hills- hey it looks just like Ireland. You’re there and you saved a pile of money. And get an electric bike. They are so fun to ride and cheeper and faster than a car.

-Join Extinction Rebellion or any other environmental movement. For the price of your netflix subscription you can be helping save your own a**. If you are really motivated get involved, find or start a local chapter.

-Plant a garden and get to know the planet you live on. That means get out of your house and go outside.

-Talk to people about Extinction Rebellion.

-Get in touch with your hippy side because ya know the bible says…the hippies will inherit the Earth. This is not a reward for how cool our cloths are but a serious job. We will have to be the janitors for the foolishness of our past.