Where is the future going?

We all live in the same world, using the same facilities that are made available to us. We are linked by our usage of electricity, gas, oil and food. No matter how removed we are from each other, we are all using the planets fruits to our advantage. No matter how big or small our impact is, or how conscious we are of this, we are united in the fight for survival.

I am speaking from a perception that is conjured up by the media and its offshoots. Whether it is a direct influence on me via tabloids, radio, TV or glossy magazines, it is all singing from the same hymn book. We are being programmed to digest this awareness and are expected to take onto our narrow shoulders the responsibility of the future of tomorrows children.

What is now becoming a subject that is unavoidable and quite theoretical, we would be considered to be irresponsible, uncompassionate and ignorant, if we were not to jump on the band wagon and proudly brag about the ways in which we are doing our 'bit'. I am obviously referring to the global issues of 'Warming' and the irony of the mass panic that we are faced with, as the fossil fuels we rely on so heavily are depleting so quickly.
The effects that I see apart from the obvious climatic influence on our seasons, are many. You will have heard all of what I am saying many times before. You may also think that from my slant of wording that I am a critic and maybe even one of the ignorant irresponsible people.
I don't think I am. I am aware of my choices and how they effect others, and would consider myself to have a primarily hippy approach to life. I eat fish but not meat, I recycle my rubbish mainly, I have a fairly humble lifestyle and have very little guilt about air miles. My carbon footprint on average, I would consider to be slightly lower than the average Uk citizen. I buy second hand clothes and see a use for most things that people would class as rubbish.
I am however changing my believes as I get older.
When I was a teenager, I was tenacious, outspoken and opinionated. I wore tie dyed clothes rallied up petitions for numerous well meaning causes, and intended on trying to be role model for those younger than me, in order to influence as many people as I could to follow suit. To be aware, responsible and heard.

That was me only ten or so years ago.

In the UK students taking Geography for A level have never been so low. The young people in my country don't seem to want to know about this subject?!

I loved geography in school, particularly the study of the physical world. But I was disappointed by the volume of subject matter that was essentially environmental studies. I was told that we all would have run out of oil eight years ago. We were all told about the climate and the massive devastating effects is was going to have on us. We were taught about deforestation, nuclear power, acid rain, the ozone layer, alternative power sources and fossil fuels, disease, war, famine, flooding, hurricanes, and an array of examples of severe weather and its effects. Carbon dioxide, monoxide, pollution and the increase of acidity in the sea.

To be honest, it was really very depressing. The future was really frightening and I thought that I wouldn't reach my 40th birthday, or even maybe my 30th. I was so deeply saddened by the state of our planet, and incredibly insecure about the future, I also decided not to take geography for A Level. It wasn't that I didn't want to know. I knew. I just didn't want to study it in any more depth, and certainly would not have considered doing a degree in the subject. I didn't like history much as the horrors of the past often repulsed me, but that repulsion was nowhere near the degree of fear that I felt for the future.

I may have become used to the ever increasing effects that global warming is having on us, and maybe just excepted that the rainforest is cut down continuously and rapidly, and maybe I have become numb to the fear over the years that my children will live in a world that is falling in on itself because of the greed of our species. Maybe I now just can't face it any more and refuse to take off my rose tinted spectacles.

I write this with tears rolling down my cheeks because I do not know the answers. I have at least lived long enough to bare children, so that in itself is a brighter picture than I had perceived as a teenager. But it is now my responsibility to prepare my children for the weight of this global issue.

I suggest that we start to take some time and consideration for what it is exactly that we are doing to our children. Lets not strut our way around and massage our egos when referring to the recycled loo roll that we have now decided to use, or compete with next door for the best most full recycling bin. Let us not show our children that we are living our lives in fear of not fitting in with the Jones's. Lets turn this around and make sure that they are well informed, and educated, but not scared out of their wits. They need to have hope to feel that this effort is worthwhile.

It may be the youth that preach to use to do our 'bit'. But lets make sure that we are doing our 'bit' for the right reasons. I am not denying that there is such a long way to go in tackling these issues. A think an awful lot more needs to be done at a far quicker pace, and the message needs to be getting through. But give our kids a break. Give them hope and nurture them. Please help me to help them, and resist the control that the governments are having on us. This is ultimately a political game. To have fear is to have control, and they know that. So don't allow this great effort to tackle our Earths problems, to be used as a weapon against us by the men in the seats of power.

The future is what we make of it, and as each day unfolds and I look into my babies eyes, I see no fear. I see no tears for the future, and I want it to stay that way. Responsable optimism is what is needed, not manipulative pessimism.