Two stories in The Guardian today rather stood out. Firstly, this one; apparently North Carolina did no like the science on climate change, so passed a law to ensure than no policy was made that was based upon it. You could not make it up.

Think about it- is this not the very definition of madness? Legislate to make truth irrelevant.

I know, NC legislators are claiming that the science they are referring to is ‘worst case scenario’- as if when preparing for disaster, you would do anything else. It is hard not to see these assaults on inconvenient truth of the kind that does not chime with your ideology as anything other than collective madness that is passing the burden on to future generations.

Which brings me to this;

Excerpt from Rise by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Aka Niviana

The very same beasts

That now decide

Who should live

And who should die …

We demand that the world see beyond

SUVs, ACs, their pre-package convenience

Their oil-slicked dreams, beyond the belief

That tomorrow will never happen

And yet there’s a generosity to their witness – a recognition that whoever started the trouble, we’re now in it together.

Let me bring my home to yours

Let’s watch as Miami, New York,

Shanghai, Amsterdam, London

Rio de Janeiro and Osaka

Try to breathe underwater …

None of us is immune.

Life in all forms demands

The same respect we all give to money …

So each and every one of us

Has to decide

If we

Will

Rise