The Open Forum We were too busy to save Earth

We might have been able to save Earth 30 years ago. But we were too busy to care. Now, according to recent national climate assessments, time has run out. And we are still too busy to care!

We are 7.7 billion strong, and heading for 10 billion, seemingly without a care in the world. Two hundred twenty-seven thousand more of us will be at the dinner table tonight than last night — eighty-three million more than one year ago. (Don’t believe it? Do the math.) For all of us, Earth is our only home.

Our species has become the greatest catastrophic force of change the planet has ever known while, simultaneously, becoming the victim of the global changes we have wrought. And yet, we dare not mention that Homosapiens has greatly overshot Earth’s carrying capacity. And we continue to smother our planet with the combustion byproducts of a seemingly incurable addiction to fossil fuel Kool-Aid.

If we should ever find the courage to explain to our children and grandchildren that we were too busy to care about their futures, how hollow will our excuses ring? Quite hollow, I suspect. Or will we be too busy navigating the basics of survival on a hot planet to find the time?

I am so proud of our city council, proud of Denver, proud to be living here right now. Enabling a supervised use facility (also called “overdose prevention sites”) is such a bold and compassionate act. Enabling the establishment of supervised use/overdose prevention facilities is a next bold public health step in saving and improving the lives of some of the most vulnerable and stigmatized people in Denver.

Thank you Denver City Council.