Generativity Versus Stagnation: A Climate of Change

Being a Progressive isn't just about one person and one vote, it is about caring for your fellow humans, fighting for their rights too, and about leaving the world a better place for all our children. Today, after many tears and sheer exasperation, I decided to no longer share my opinions on the American election with my real world friends and family on my own Facebook page. Some people think that, as a Canadian, I should not be so invested in the American political dysfunction going on just south of our border. If you don't care, that is your choice. I care because the next four years of American environmental policy will affect each and every one of us, our children, and every generation to come, no matter what country or part of the world you are in.

Trump thinks climate change is a Hoax by the Chinese, Clinton thinks fracking is just fine and can be done safely in 'certain places'. Clearly there is no major American Political Party with an exclusive claim to stupid anymore. It's already too late to turn back the clock, entire species are going extinct, air is visibly polluted, sea levels are rising, oceans are being devastated by pollution and the bleaching of coral reefs, and wildfires are out of control in the US, Canada, and around the world. I could go on and on, but you get my point. We don't have another planet, another option other than immediate action, or a way get back all we have lost. If you think life is expensive now, imagine it when there is no more oil, no more coal, no more natural gas to be got, nothing clean and sustainable in place, and no petrochemicals to make the plastics and other elements so vital to the technology of today. We are striping the planet of more than fossil fuels, but also of rare minerals, metals, and materials that are finite elements. The refugees of Climate Change will far outnumber those from international conflict. Will we suddenly be better equipped to deal with an influx of people looking for higher ground, potable drinking water, and breathable air?

Go ahead and turn off your TV, don't read at the news, or treat it all as entertainment, but that doesn't mean this problem is going away. None of us wants to admit we have all been a party to what amounts to the rape of the planet, but the only thing worse than unwillingness to own our history is letting it go on while watching and saying nothing. I know that while my personal passion is wasted on even members of my own family, people I love but now clearly disagree with, it won't be a waste if even one person thinks a second time. If you are of retirement age and your only concern is lower taxes and the money you have worked your whole life to save for your retirement, I understand your motivations, but in 20-30 years your own grandchildren will be living on a dying planet unless you also care about climate change and environmental protection. Without a living wage they may never be able to afford to live independently, without affordable education they will never be able to reach their full potential, and without ongoing reform to the Health Care system, they may not even have access to the mental health care that too many of them already need.

This is not merely about American politics, this is about what we owe future generations. This is Erik Erikson's 'Generativity versus Stagnation' in a nutshell. As a nurse, I have been a student of Psychology for many years, Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages has made a large impact on me. According to Erikson, the seventh stage of development is about the virtue of Care. You either start to give back to the world and care about it's future, making it a better place, or you fail to find a way to contribute, withdraw, and likely disconnect from society as a whole. Future generations would ask for this if only they knew the facts, facts we feel are too disturbing to burden children with because they are too bleak. I hope you care enough about your own children and grandchildren to do the best you possibly can, in whatever way you find most meaningful, because that is the only way we as a society can move forward. I hold no ill will against anyone who wishes to unfriend me or block me, disagree with me or mock me, it's not my child you have to explain your action [or inaction] to, it is your own. Let's do it for them, our kids have no vote before the age of majority, so we must vote with them in mind.