A Journey
When he got up that morning everything was different.
He enjoyed the bright spring day
But he did not realise it exactly, he just enjoyed it.
And walking down the street to the railroad station
Past magnolia trees with dying flowers like old socks
It was a long time since he had breathed so simply.
Tears filled his eyes and it felt good
But he held them back
Because men didn’t walk around crying in that town.
Waiting on the platform at the station
The fear came over him of something terrible about to happen:
The train was late and he recited the alphabet to keep hold.
And in its time it came screeching in
And as it went on making its usual stops,
People coming and going, telephone poles passing,
He hid his head behind a newspaper
No longer able to hold back the sobs, and willed his eyes
To follow the rational weavings of the seat fabric.
He didn’t do anything violent as he had imagined.
He cried for a long time, but when he finally quieted down
A place in him that had been closed like a fist was open,
And at the end of the ride he stood up and got off that train:
And through the streets and in all the places he lived later on
He walked, himself at last, a man among men,
With such radiance that everyone looked up and wondered.
Edward Field
Rather than being constantly at war with nature, contesting its authority over the planet, I would prefer to live at peace. If this means taking less of the world’s beneficence, and adjusting my style of life to avoid borrowing from future generations, I am content. This means no air travel.
-Chris………. Goodall
This means that the only morally responsible course of action is to avoid flying except in emergencies. People need to accept that this action may reduce chances of promotion and opportunities to see new parts of the world. The unhappy truth is that the arrival of rapid climate change is going to curtail human freedom – we cannot do everything that we want. The particular virulence of aviation’s impact on eventual global temperatures means that severe and uncompromising self-restraint is an obligation. Those of us who seek to change the behaviour of others must stop flying. If we do not, we are fatally undermining our own campaign. Perhaps like many others, I am appalled by the international conferences on climate change that involve thousands of delegates travelling many miles by air.
-Chris Goodall, How to Live a Low Carbon Life
