I have an event coming up in Vancouver this month with David Suzuki and I wanted to write a piece that talks about protecting our world. I think a lot of people get swept up in the hysteria of our ever changing world. Our beliefs are so polarizing, and yet we want to inspire others into action. It can be scary to want to say anything in this world online trolling and faceless shouting down of one another over beliefs. One needn’t look any further than any social platform to see deniers, provocateurs, and rabble rousers ripping apart a 16 year old for wanting nothing more than to save the world… not just for herself… but for everyone. I wonder if one of the things we lose sight of as our passions blind us is what we’re actually fighting to protect. There’s never been an issue that so clearly affects everyone on the planet, and yet we fight even about this. We can see a clear path of action needed to preserve the world for future generations, but instead we argue of the cost of the sacrifices we would have to make. I don’t even have children of my own, but I can feel the importance of why we need to make these changes. The acorn doesn’t get to see the tree it will become… so no… we may never see the progress that our sacrifice has bought, but we will get to hope every time we make those forfeitures. If the worst thing that happens is we save the world by accident… it’s okay because everyone will be able to live with that. This world is more than the job we get and go to, or the subjects we study. The world is a stage, but not one for us to merely strut upon or fret about… it isn’t just for us. The world is for everyone who comes next… for everyone who will write the next chapter of our civilization while the ink dries on whatever we managed to pen with our own time here. I believe that’s worth protecting. Even nature finds ways to protect itself so I wrote this piece with that in mind. This month’s poem is called The Problem With Roses.