Happy 2018 -- I think

Happy 2018!  

Well, here we are, at the start of a new year.  It's that time when many people reflect on the year past, and what good and evil things were done in the past 365 days.  I've been reflecting a lot too, both relating to the planet in general, my own country, and the country I came from.  

The planet is still revolving around the sun  (queue Monty Python's great song) and while our immediate spatial vacuum is filled with dead satellites, working satellites, space dust and the odd space station, we seem to be still surviving rather well, considering the circumstances.  Climate change, anathema to some, that is, those whose nations are not sinking into the ocean, seems to have gathered world wide attention, to the extent that most nations in the  world are working to do something about it -- except for two:  Australia and the USA.  

Now Australia is the place where we have all gotten rich by digging stuff up; first gold, then iron, then coal,  the last commodity which has contributed mightily to global warming, lethal smog in India and China, with it being exported from Aussie ports.  The current government (please, I know, it's a noun only, not that they actually do anything except screw the less well off), is a signatory to the Paris Accords, and is  working very hard to sabotage these same accords by exporting coal.  Go figure.  

Renewable energy is taking off at a nearly logarithmic rate notwithstanding, and it won't be too far in the future where the whole country is powered by renewables.  That's a real positive.  Perhaps the "government" may even get its head of its respective orifices to note that they really should put in some policies to enhance renewables and let coal quietly compress in the ground.  

Then we come to the USA, the country of my birth.  Because of active participation by Russia, the worst possible candidate got elected.  And then with his Svengali advisor, one Steve Bannon, managed to stack his cabinet with the worst possible candidates, who are now busily dismantling their own departments, to the detriment of all the people these same departments were established to assist.  

The USA has abrogated its international leadership role.  It has abandoned the Paris Accords.  It has ceased its work on any international free trade pacts.  It is  monstering its own citizens over their skin  colour, religion and immigration status.  Basically, the current president has managed to do one thing well:  if there is  a decision to be made, and there is a good  choice and a bad choice, he will  always opt for the bad choice.  

Millions of words have been written about the USA's catastrophic  leadership, so I won't belabour it anymore here.  But let's move on to more positive things:  what the rest of the country is doing.  

It seems that states, and cities are taking very positive action to counter the disasters emanating from Washington, as much as they are able.  For 2018, let us encourage them to do even more to defend the poor, the infirm, the old, and children.  

So this seems to be the overall scenario as we head into 2018.  We don't know what will occur.  It's up to us to work to overcome the negativity, the destruction, the fear and the greed, to work together to create a livable planet, country, and a neighbourhood.  The joys of living in a democrary is that we can make a difference.  It's all our own work. 

Let's get started.