What is happening to my home, the fair Planet Earth? Spare me the statistics, and the research, show me the truth, speak candidly and don't deceive me. I can take it.

Are we truly on the eve of destruction? How do we know? What authority can we trust?
Commonsense, perhaps, though it is not a popular option.

Commonsense is not always guaranteed through the type of understanding which requires a handbook of obscure instructions and a remote control. That's not much use if the canal wall has broken and the water can be heard gushing down the hillside, now is there?

You need to get the children always, and the old folks if there is time, and run. Don't leave your glasses, your false teeth, your keys or your medications. Let the animals free and give them a chance. Run to high ground, leave the books and the computer behind.

Books may be useful to make fires with in the days to come, when the waters have receded, and they have dried out a little. Laptops at least would make quite good tiles for the roof.

The Planet may be in melt-down, but this does not displease all its inhabitants. Oil and gas in particular have got the Arctic floor already politically and geographically divided. We will loose the polar bears and all that they depended upon, but we gain cheap fuel.

Does this matter? We now have virtual reality. If we need polar bears, we will recreate them in a beautiful moving picture. Why should 99.9% recurring of the vehicle owning population of Planet Earth care more for polar bears than for the motors of their vehicles. Well they don't, and more than that, they can't. This is no time for guilt or blame.

We are all sitting on the same grain of dust we call home. We've been locked in, seat belts on, the machines are in motion. Because they are unclean machines, destruction is unavoidable. Help out. Do a good deed and plant trees for your district and drive to the venue, using up the carbon credit those trees will give.

But plant them anyway, because equilibrium is a good goal.

Equilibrium is the natural goal of commonsense.

Things got out of kilter, someone forgot to look after the river, and it died, and the rains did not come. Everyone thought someone else was doing the job, and anyway, as a cause, the balance of Nature lacked cachet.

On the other hand, there was always money to spend on armaments and so Peace must have been served, somewhere, because the weapons of war are all about. Peace, apparently. Comforting to the martyrs and their families, no doubt, that they have in this way served Peace.

Rain on the dry earth can be salvation to the seed or it can be destruction to the topsoil.
Who's winning in this war of balance with Nature? Those who exploit it to extinction for a nicer lifestyle, or those who exploit it for reasons of greed and warfare.

Perhaps there's still a chance for well integrated self supporting systems of life to establish themselves, but better than before. Mankind living in harmony with the natural systems which exist here in on a dot in the Universe, thanks to a serendipitous placement among the stars. Though currently all seems madness, we have no option but to consider this outcome to be possible.

Yes-ss-s, maybe, could happen, perhaps. As the elders of many tribes are supposed to have done, we could try to dream it. If others whose wisdoms we have come to treasure, if not live by, believed that to dream was worthwhile, maybe we could try it. Lets take that on trust. If we search for a better way for life, we first must dream it. Your dreams are your own. Dream a better world.

Anna Pembroke. Gidgegannup. 16.6.2008.