Blood on the Streets

The bad part of driving through a snowstorm is that it can be dangerous and, of course, it takes a lot longer to arrive at your destination. The good part is that I was able to listen to the whole January 7, 2011 episode of “The Bottom Line” hosted by Canada’s very own David Suzuki. This past week, the show was titled, ‘Eco’nomics and it followed David and former Minister, Jim Prentice, as they went camping in Haida Gwaii. It was really very interesting and David was extremely effective as he questioned the Minister about climate change and world economics.

At the tail end of the program, David interviewed the former chief economist of the World Bank about climate change. They admitted that there seemed to be a lack of urgency, that we needed a “wake-up call” that would force us to act on climate change. David stated that unless there was “blood on the streets” meaning that unless we could actually see the affect of climate change, that it would remain an abstract thing for most people, unless of course you live in the South Pacific or the Arctic or an African desert where the affect of climate change is evident.

I found the statement really compelling and so very true. We fail to act on so many things in our lives because there isn’t “blood on the street”. For example, we don’t quit smoking til someone close to us is diagnosed with cancer or we are diagnosed; we don’t tackle weight loss until we develop diabetes or a heart condition; we don’t tackle our addictions until we have lost everything. The list goes on and on.

Maybe what the world needs is a good old fashioned INTERVENTION

You can download the January 7th podcast through itunes here