I just got into Chicago for a couple of days of hanging out with my dad. And it should be a lot of fun. We have a hotel on the Navy Pier. We have a spectacular view. Only there’s no view.
That’s maybe an exaggeration, but not by much. We have arrived at precisely the moment that a new wave of Canadian wildfire smoke has hit the upper Midwest.And while we were on the train to Chicago from Kansas, I read online about the Atlantic ocean currents, collapsing thanks to climate change.
I guess I’m not feeling very relaxed.
I have a bit of an apocalyptic outlook, I realize. So I try to restrain myself somewhat. And yet sometimes I look around and wonder why people aren’t acting like their hair is on fire. Things are bad. Things are very bad with the climate. And it seems to be possible that all the arguments we are having about all the other issues in the world are either of the result of this climate problem, or will be exacerbated by climate problems, or will come to be seen as minuscule because of just how big the climate problem is.
So why am I on vacation? Why isn’t my hair on fire?Is this how we all go down, pretending, like everything is normal, even as smoke fills the air? Is it all going to be just so mundane?
Maybe I’m a little tired from travel. Maybe I’ll wish I hadn’t sent this out.I should be more adult, more in control of my feelings, less prone to hyperbole and disastrous thinking.
But I can’t see much out the window. Not as much as I should be able to. And the smoky sky has me unsettled.
I guess I’ll have a good dinner first.
If you haven't seen Station Eleven yet, it's good Chicago apocalypse content!
Get a good Italian beef and an Old Style. Maybe catch a Cubs game. It’ll set you right.