Monday, April 16, 2007

A Vocal Warning on Global Warming

15/04/07

A Vocal Warning on Global Warming

In a society where global warming is on the average Joe Dope’s lips more often than Paris Hilton is (in the perfectly literal sense of the word) it becomes an extremely heated (excuse the terrible pun) topic of debate, and alarmingly so. Conservationists, meteorologists and Futurists have long been pointing toward this distressing trend, which has the agency to irrevocably change the manner in which humankind functions as a global society. The natural disasters such as the Boxing Day Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and European heatwave, as well as the horridly unnatural disasters such as the Iraqi War and Afghanistan invasions are but some of the highly noticeable consequences of a world dealing with its loss of resources, both naturally and unnaturally. (I’m taking it you understand the economically motivated reasons for the Iraqi War, such as the rich oil supply found in the area, when reading this.)

However, closer to home these effects are to be seen on a rapidly increasing basis. The freak tidal swells destroying much of the development along Durban’s pristine beaches is a devastating example. South Africans elsewhere have slowly become used to the power failures and blackouts affecting metropolitan areas on a regular basis. Sadly, but truly, Eskom is running out of much needed resources to fuel South Africa’s energy demand and this screws up our daily functioning, dependant as we are on electricity. With all the screw ups Eskom makes, you’d be surprised that it was a missing screw, at the Koeberg Nuclear Plant, which caused severe blackouts in the Cape Town metropolitan area. And tonight Eskom remained true to form with a blackout in my beloved hometown, taking with it the power and an unsaved 8 page essay in progress.

For Fucksakes!

But the darkness isn’t all that bad.

Outside the moonlight shines cool and pale against the slate tiles of my rooftop. The moonlight seems brighter than usual, casting its wings like death over the grassy expanse. A nice death. Like in your sleep, dreaming of the Shire.

Somehow, humanity’s future looks bright, if only because our past is so impenetrably dark.

[D]