Anything could happen,
and whether we act or not has everything
to do with it. Though there is no lottery ticket for the lazy
and the detached, for the engaged there is a tremendous gamble
for the highest stakes right now. I say this to you not because I haven’t
noticed that this country has strayed close to destroying itself and everything
it once stood for, in pursuit of empire in the world and the eradication of democracy
at home, that our civilization is close to destroying the very nature on which we
depend—the oceans, the atmosphere, the uncounted species of plant and
insect and bird. I say it because I have noticed: wars will break out,
the planet will heat up, species will die out, but how many,
how hot, and what survives depends on whether
we act. The future is dark, with a
darkness as much of
the womb as the
grave.
Rebecca Solnit
