Is dystopian-esque even a word? I don’t think so but that’s the best term I could think of to describe how this feels.
The Canadian wildfires that are raging to the north of us are making the air so thick with smoke that it’s impossible to walk more than a few blocks outside without feeling as though you’re going to cough up a lung. Normally I love the smell of a campfire but not being able to escape the smoke is something different entirely.
According to the air quality forecast this pollution should be moving out by tomorrow morning and I hope they’re right. This is the worst air quality I can remember in my lifetime and I grew up in the 1970’s when there was leaded gasoline and almost no pollution control on vehicles.
As a species, we’d better get our act together when it comes to managing our environment. This article paints a pretty grim picture of our future, saying human society (as we know it) is set to collapse by 2040. We’re quickly running out of chances. I’m sad to say that the world I dreamed up in my first novel Alarm Clock Dawn seems to be becoming a reality. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
On A Brighter Note
We’re set to take our first real non family related road trip of the post-Covid lockdown era this coming weekend. This trip will be a practice run for a few exciting international trips coming up in the next year. After nearly eighteen months of being grounded our travel skills are a bit rusty so Raymi and I are trying to get back up to speed.
One of our greatest challenges is making sure we get proper nutrition when we’re on the road. We had an epiphany while watching one of our favorite YouTube channels, Kara and Nate the other day.
They sponsor a product called Athletic Greens. It’s a whole food based powder you mix into water and drink once a day that contains pretty much all of the nutrition you need. The only problem with it is it costs over $100 for a 30 day supply. I found a very similar product that seems super solid nutritionally and it’s less than half that price from a brand called Garden of Life.
Maybe we can opt for the better stuff if we become celebrity influencers on YouTube. 😊 Not only am I going to use this powder while traveling, I plan on replacing my daily multivitamin with it and see how much better I feel.
This is going to go a long way to alleviate one of the nagging stresses of traveling. It became apparent on our four day road trip to Sedona, Arizona last year that good/healthy food options were very limited once you get outside of larger cities. I had a fast food sandwich in Liberal, Kansas that was so dehydrated that I swear it was a food prop they dusted off and bagged up. It’s all part of the adventure I guess and ended up being a good story to tell.
All for now.
With Gratitude,
Eric Vance Walton
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
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We have an abnormal heat all over Russia, forests are burning. Karelia and Yakutia suffer the most. The area of forest fires in Karelia has exceeded nine thousand hectares. The area of active fires in Yakutia is more than 2.1 million hectares. Burning, including specially protected natural areas, in particular, the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site - the Lena Pillars National Park. According to the news, all settlements have been evacuated. I think nature decided to fry or drown us, like in Germany :)
Wow, that is one HUGE wildfire! It seems to be happening worldwide. I think you're right, Mother Nature isn't happy with us. Good to hear from you @magnata!
I hope you had a great weekend. And no, I would not jump. Nor would I drink that green powdery stuff either. I'd rather eat grass. No offense.
But I do know the struggle!
I take alfalfa seeds with me, so I can sprout them, if I'm going to be somewhere completely devoid of edible vegetable matter. Ya need four days though. A decent burgers can be found almost anywhere (if you eat meat), and rural folk are rightfully proud of their pickles, jams and coleslaw, so I can usually find some of those that are edible.
Thanks, it was a great weekend...albeit a humid one. I have to admit the taste leaves a lot to be desired but I can't believe how much better I feel after taking the powder for a week. I have much more energy and feel healthier overall.
We had a bunch of smoke over the past couple of days here too. Not really obvious smoke, but just this kind of haze in the sky. I thought it was just the humidity, but then I saw on the news the jet stream was picking up the smoke from out west and up north and dumping it on us. It made for some beautiful sunsets, but was still a bit scary. I have a weird perspective on wildfires in general, probably not something I should get into here...
For some reason it's all congregating here. We must be getting smoke from the west coast fires as well. I'm curious to hear your perspective on the wild fires. I think I read somewhere they're necessary for forest regeneration.
Yeah, that is kind of my take on it. Despite idiots and accidents, they would happen naturally due to lightening and stuff. It has been happening for centuries. I think it just seems so horrible because humans have chosen to sprawl so much. I'm all about a cabin in the woods, just don't be all shocked and appalled when it burns down... Don't get me wrong, I have empathy for people's loss, but picking some of those locations, they kind of asked for it.
I read in the media today with sadness and horror that catastrophic processes on Earth are already irreversible... Global warming, hurricanes, summer heat waves and drought... This is all our reality now! How do we survive?
I think a lot of it is irreversible at this point. It's so sad and frightening to think about the kind of world we're leaving for younger generations. This report speaks volumes - https://www.livescience.com/amp/collapse-human-society-limits-to-growth.html
Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton good day
This is a problem suffered by many parts of the world, in relation to forest fires. In Argentina and other surrounding countries it is becoming more frequent and they are related to the wrongdoing of people.
With my wife we are thinking of starting to consume these dietary supplements, we did not do it before due to the high cost.
I take this opportunity to wish you a splendid day
Hello my friend! The wildfires seem to be happening all over now. Probably due to the drier weather and disrupted weather patterns. We haven't seen rain in quite a while. I'm only two days into taking the powder. I'll be interested to see how much different I feel after a month. This one was $43 per month...a little more than $1 per day. If you buy the 60 day supply it's cheaper, I think it brings the cost down to around $.80 per day. I hope you're having a good week!
Wow, that's a long time to have to breathe the smoke!