Just a short one today. I'm working on a project completely unrelated to climate change (I sometimes do educational work for Aravind Eye Hospital, the south India-based eye hospital that is the biggest and busiest in the world) at the moment, and have a big deadline coming up.
But as I work on helping eye care workers in developing countries learn how to run outreach programs, I can't help thinking that cataract blindness will soon be low on their list of priorities.
Needless blindness due to preventable diseases, nutritional deficiencies and treatable conditions is a huge social and financial burden in many parts of the world. But as we continue to burn, burn, burn through our fossil fuels, we continue to destroy, destroy, destroy their opportunities to develop sustainably their health care programs and food security and access to clean water.
In the meantime, I keep reminding myself that just because climate change is a huge menace to the world —impacting first the poorest and most vulnerable in developing countries — my compassion for the individuals, families and regions struck by other tragedies cannot stop.
So today, I extend my climate action compassion to all other endeavours attempting to reduce human suffering and destruction of the rest of Nature.
There but for the grace of the Universe go I. I must do what I can.
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I would appreciate hearing your thoughts or questions on this post or anything else you've read here. What is your take on courage and compassion being an important part of the solution to the climate change emergency?