Safe at Home

Ah, Spring. Warm sunlight, light breezes, budding flowers, laughing children, young German couples washing their cars…

There's magic in the air. We want to be outside.

In colder, harsher seasons we seek the haven of home, where we can lock out the rest of the world and feel safe.

But are we ever really safe, even at home?

The Japanese thought so…

It’s human to want to bury your head and ignore big problems until it’s too late. That's why we try to avoid thinking about gloomy topics like pollution, global warming and nuclear disaster.

That's why, despite problems we can see like massive oil spills, nuclear plant containment failures, melting ice bergs and dying species we believe people who tell us what we want to hear.

Meanwhile:

• We keep voting for politicians who ignore the problem or pretend it doesn't exist
• Leading countries continue to rely on outmoded, centralized, unsustainable energy production
• Other countries follow their lead, probably with even lower safety standards
• Industrial leaders lobby for lax environmental laws and win
• Nursing moms can’t eat tuna because of high mercury content
• Tokyo - one of my favorite cities - has radioactive water

We’re not safe at home. The Germans have recently woken up to this fact, electing the green party in the heart of car manufacturing country. They get it.

What about the rest of us?

I read an excellent post today about envisioning the future you want but belief must be combined with action. How we vote, how we buy, how we behave is just as important as how we believe.

By combining belief with action we can create the future we want to live in.

A future in which are safe at home.