The Fanstastic Ms. Fox

A few days ago, there was a story on CBC about an airport in the Northwest Territories. They usually did cold-weather testing for aeronautics manufacturers, but recent mild winters (i.e. frequent highs over -40°) interferes with this, and people worry for their jobs.

I wish I could remember when it ran, because I would like to write them a letter pointing out that air travel is a major cause of global warming.

I am changing how I view the world.
One of the problems with living in a society undergoing marked socioeconomic change is that our eye to what was and what will be expects not a slow cycle of ages, with salient difference centuries distant on either side, but shifts and swings that are noticeable in a generation. If you're like me, this can enable viewing the present only in how it stacks up to what recently was, and what soon will be - with an eye to what should be, since our society, or at least portions of it to which I subscribe, also expects active criticism of the status quo.

Given that we're in the kind of long-term trouble that has economists shaking their heads (at best, we will have to adjust to a markedly different way of doing things; at worst we're fucked), such a world-view makes it hard to be happy in ones surroundings.

Whether or not the world will end tomorrow, there is something to be said for enjoying one's surroundings, be they dynamic, transitive or static. If your neighbourhood is being gentrified, or your economy is in some serious shit, this does not mean that you're obliged to cringe whenever you look outside. You can try to fix, avoid or accept the problem, whether or not you're moping about it.

Wise people in our less fortunate ages understood that this year may be good, but there will be famines, sickness and death, yet I doubt they tried to drive keen minds to depression or isolation in the same ways that we do - or the same way that I'm habituated to doing to myself.

If I owe the world something and have some duty to mend what is, then I should keep in mind that I'm also more productive when I'm happy, thus you could I'm obliged to be more cheery as a means to maximizing my personal utility.

Or - I could smarten up and drop the intellectualization and self-ablation and just say, "As long as I'm here, I might as well enjoy it."