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The Moment of Kairos

On the current need for awareness and civil disobedience.

By Danielle DraganiPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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Kairos: an ancient Greek word meaning the critical moment. The Greeks had two words that were related to time; one being 'chronos,' which refers to sequential time, and the other being 'kairos,' which refers to the proper or opportune moment for action.

“Kairos, that’s what I said was my reasoning for being there, that this is that moment in time. The moment to act,” and with a thick British accent he then apologized to me, and my co-worker for what his generation had done. His apology was grave, and half moons cut circles under his eyes. He was squinting under the mountain sun, and removed a felt brown hat to mop sweat from his brow. A sprinkle of grey facial hair had collected around his face, and I sensed a stream of restless nights.

He was a sustainability scientist. He was in town to meet with other top sustainability scientists from around the globe. They were meeting to address the problems of climate change. They needed to attack from all corners; from the big corporations, to the politicians, and to the consumers on the ground.

Kairos was the answer he gave his colleges as they went around the room, soberly speaking of why they were each there that day.

His flight was due to take off in a few hours, and so he was leaving. Before he spun on his heels, a hand was rested on my shoulder.

“They (the scientists) said we had about twelve years to cut our carbon emissions in half, or risk irreversible damage that the human race has not yet experienced. That was what they said. The timeline keeps getting shorter. The ice in the Arctic is melting much faster than…”

Clouds drew across the sun, and he stepped into the street. The sidewalk in front of the art museum was suddenly quieter. Or perhaps I just couldn’t hear anything other than the words left running through my mind.

I mulled over my own sanity. Why was it that no one else seemed as frightened as I was?

After I read the UN Climate report (well, the articles about the report, seeing as the report itself is 1,500 pages long) I thought the panic I felt then could not be matched. I also thought it would slowly slip away, and I would eventually think about something else. I was wrong.

The details still circle in my mind, and not quite unlike the micro-plastics that are quietly and deadly spiraling within our oceans natural currents forming indestructible and toxic trash islands.

  • By 2050 more plastic than fish in the ocean
  • Microplastics in fish. You eat the fish. Microplastics in you.
  • Half the population breathing polluted air by 2050
  • Water scarcity felt by 5 billion by 2025
  • One million species facing extinction; that’s 13 percent of our biodiversity
  • Extreme climate
  • 400 dead zones in the ocean
  • Dead birds full of plastic
  • Bones and feathers and cut open stomachs, bottle caps falling out
  • Whales starved to death; stomach full of 30 plastic bags
  • Blood and plastic
  • Rolling waves of trash knocking against a wooden dock
  • 98 percent of Nestle products wrapped in single use plastic
  • 90 percent of plastic never gets recycled
  • Deforestation
  • Disappearing coral reefs

Disappearing life. There is a floating trash island three times the size of Texas out there. We add the amount of one full dump truck per minute to the ocean. I remember it was a Tuesday morning, around five AM, when I began to read about the report. The sky was grey, and my light sent an amber hue about the place. It was raining, or it was going to rain... I remember I felt shaken to the marrow. I felt riveted in anxiety and I thought the emotion could not be any stronger. I was wrong. I found out how wrong I was when I left my apartment that day, and the report was met with deafening silence. It seemed like no one had read about it. The ones that did proceeded to inform me it made them ‘uncomfortable’ to talk about it.

I wondered how uncomfortable they would be once they found out how human beings act in survival mode.

And I was wrong again a few days later, when the fear was maximized again, after I was informed we now had less than 12 years to cut carbon emissions. How much do we have left? What will it take for us to wake up?

In science class we learned that all living things, and non-living; i.e stones, the wooden table in your kitchen that once was living, etc… all things, are composed of tiny atoms.

All things we see are made of the same particles. Perhaps we can take this truth a few steps forward.

This notion alone has forced me to understand that all life is equal (if it is made up of the same shit it must all be the same shit...) and that all life is valuable.

These minuscule particles communicate with one another, and each is relevant for the larger organism to function. This means millions, billions, of tiny living things within one larger living thing.

One might suggest neither truly knows how connected to each other they are.

One might also suggest this is not dissimilar to the planet we inhabit, and our relationship to it.

This big beautiful home we call Earth is one massive cell, in which we; the humans, plants, and animals alike, are the atoms that work, and communicate within.

Please allow this notion to settle for a moment.

We are a part of one another. Our health depends on our large living cell’s health. It easy to forget that nature, our existences are connected, and that they exist within a balance.

Losing 13 percent of our biodiversity will have an affect on us. Not simply on our ‘quality of living,’ but it will directly affect our survival as a species.

And those that are affected the harshest by climate change are the most vulnerable: the poor.

We must take a moment to remind ourselves of our connection, and we must ask ourselves, do we even deserve this wonderful world; the rolling hills in the countryside, the bumping mountain ranges, whispering corn fields, the mysteriously wonderful oceans, and the life that bubbles from all of it?

We must ask ourselves what have we done? What have we allowed to be done in our complicit ignorance?

And we must ask what can we do. Because we can do something.

Buy sustainable options (water bottles, coffee thermoses, avoid all single use plastics as much as possible). We as a body of consumers tend to forget just how much power is sitting in our wallets. Vote with your dollar. We buy their junk; the big corporations that led us violently down this shit path chasing wealth, and they should lead the shift towards sustainability. Or they should lose their wealth. Show them going green is profitable, for monetary gain is the only language they speak. Vote with your voice. Elect leadership that is brave enough to take a stand; to make changes, and to step away from the bullshitters, and the power hungry. Push for legislation that protects this planet; we all need something to stand on. Donate to trustworthy environmentalist groups. By trustworthy I mean do your research, not all masks match what is hidden underneath. Avoid charities that take money from corporations. They cannot hold those accountable for this fuming mess of a pile if their hands are stuck deep in corporate pockets. Remain informed, and conscious. Protest peacefully and creatively. It feels good to take a stand for what you believe in, and for others who cannot take a stand for themselves. Do it as much as possible. We are given more opportunities than we recognize to do what is right. Pay attention.

Believe in the good in this world, and actively pursue it.

activism
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About the Creator

Danielle Dragani

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