I’ve written this morning (under Our Community – Seniors) about old age and eldership; and (under Head Heart Hands – Population) about population doubling times bringing us past the 59th minute. I encourage you to read those threads before reading this one.

What can we do now? What should we do?

I think a better way of framing the question is the way Wilf (Andrew Wilford) put it: How do I live as a man?

How do we live as humans now? In this time. The final minute before the hour when our human population exhausts the resources of our closed system that sustains us the earth.

I suggest that this final minute is a time for making our personal peace with the planet.

A large part if not all of our species are likely to go extinct in the 60th minute and we do have a choice.

We can spend the last minute scrabbling for every final shred on this planet. We can destroy the soil and groundwater fracking the sub-strata for the final hydrocarbons. We can chop down the final forests. We can drag the final fish in nets from the oceans. We can try to make our life boats more and more impregnable to the desperate people fleeing the most exploited and denuded areas of the earth.

We can have a final fling and party like there is no tomorrow drinking and drugging ourselves into oblivion and blowing everything.

Inevitably we will go through emotional roller-coaster rides like the Americans who are struggling with anger at the moment finding their comfortable circumstances suddenly reduced.

We can scapegoat and destroy and deny.

But ultimately is this the best way to spend the last minute?

We don’t have much time but we do have time to ask ourselves how we choose to spend this time.

We do have time to make peace with our families.

We do have time to turn to stop. Like someone who has just been given a cancer diagnosis we have time to ask ourselves: What matters?

We have time to be deeply real with each other. To let go all the charades and pretense.

We have time to comfort and be concerned for each other.

We have time to reflect and appreciate and give thanks for all we have had the marvellous journey that we have all been on as humans in this late period in the history of humanity. We have time to remember the special moments the special people the special places.

More than any time in all of human history now is when we need to take time and to make our peace. To end the journey of our lives in harmony.

Last night we watched David Suzuki’s final lecture in the film Force of Nature. This is basically David’s message.