Heartbreak in Rio

Wild fires in Colorado. Tornado in Florida. Went to Rhode Island last week and was met by grueling temperatures and dreadful humidity. I hear my hometown has temperatures in the 90s. It's not even July yet. I remember when it wasn't safe to plant before July 4th due to cold nights and frosts. Mild winters and hot summers are happening everywhere. That's just the U.S. too, there have been floods in China, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and a tornado in South Africa just in the last 3 days. THREE. DAYS. (disaster report)

As I posted about before, Rio +20 happened, ending in what is most certainly the most depressing news I have heard in some time. It is so clear to me that the governments do not care about our futures, or even their own, as long as their pockets are still padded with cash. Nothing of substance, as far as I can tell, came out of Rio. Oil subsidies remain and those leaders who even showed up (Obama, of course, not included) took their jets back home. The youth, as expected, stood up for their future and were ignored. The Huffington Post reports that even though over 45,000 people attended, including delegations from 188 countries, 4000 journalists, and 45,000 religious leaders/organization. The NGOs and environmental groups were, of course, present. Nevertheless,  

"The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (aka Rio+20) is concluded in Rio de Janeiro amidst commentary that ranged from utter despair to very tempered hope."

This is disheartening and, in fact, horrifying. If the best part of the conference was youth walking out because they felt their need weren't being met then I can say honestly that I'm pretty disappointed. Some say it's progress that the meeting even happened. I'm sorry, what? Just because we talk about something, if you haven't noticed, doesn't mean it changes. I suppose in the end, I'm not surprised. Global Warming isn't political and we are realizing through things like Rio +20 and Durban that change won't be coming from these meetings, at least not the changes we need. I would very much like to say that we can keep praying for action from the governments of the world, but this is going to have to be one gigantic grassroots movement. I feel like I'm a mother rolling my eyes and saying "fine, I'll do it myself" except I can't. We all will have to work together because obviously those "representing" us won't work for us.

Lastly, there were a lot of Indigenous groups there. Here is a conversation with one! Please watch, it's so important!