Today’s changing world: A readers guide
There was a book I read as a child, which I only partially remember. I pulled it off my grandmother’s bookshelf in the late ’60s, early ’70s; and only remember a snowy scene and a character trying to solve a mystery. The books hardcover was orange. The only other thing I remember was that it wasn’t a child’s book, but it was fascinating – the mystery remains one of my favorite drama types to this day: What’s going on? Who is involved? And why??
Mysteries are brain teasers and food for the soul. In comparison, an actual children’s book I remember reading back then is titled “An Otter’s Story,” by Emil E. Liers (pub. 1953). That book and its love of nature formed in me a lifelong love of nature and the great outdoors, and was read by me and my family members many, many times over the years.
Reading was and is a wonderful way to experience a vast variety of human experiences; in literature, both fiction and non. J.R.R Tolkien’s world is a great example of a series of books that can be read over and over (yes, it does include thousands of pages, but it is published book-by-book in much more consumable size). One of my earliest memories is of my father reading The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, to me before bed, while we visited his parent’s house. I distinctly remember the scene where Bilbo is on Gimli’s back in the Goblin tunnels, and gets knocked off into the dark. I was very young, so I imagine it might have been scary, and so I remembered it. Reading was a part of our lives, as it is part of billions of people’s lives today, going back thousands of years of human culture. You are reading right now! Ha ha.
A few years ago, I started writing a book – fiction, fantasy, action/adventure, mystery/thriller. It all takes place in a world I created, has a wide variety of characters, who work together to explore and attempt to solve a mysterious evil from the deep past. Having been an avid reader for most of my life, I have been engrossed with some of the great science fiction and fantasy novels: Tolkien, Isaac Asimov, George R.R. Martin, Madeleine L’Engle, Patricia McKillip, Anne McCaffrey, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Louis, Frank Herbert, Ursula K. LeGuin, Robert A. Heinlein, and Terry Brooks, to name-drop a few of my favorite fiction authors. I experienced the “good vs. evil,” and other genre defining motifs. I looked at a list of some great non-fiction books and writers, and sadly was much less well read. That was probably why my writing went to fiction and fantasy, a much more readily available pallet of history for me than the real world we live in.
Our world, to me, is still a vastly beautiful and wondrous place, with a multitude of experiences and places to explore and live in. The beauty of the ocean and its creatures, mountains which never lose their snow (for now…), plains and forests and jungles filled with life; which are all inhabited by animals and creatures which have existed for millions of years, and who have adapted to our world.
It is however, also, a chaotic and dangerous place for millions of species, including ours, who are facing war and strife, and a changing environment. Fantasy books help people to escape from many of the worlds most troublesome and persistent problems, but those problems remain. Poverty, hunger, racism and racial hate, persecution, human and child rights violations, and physical and psychological violence – all contribute to a world in crisis.
Climate change has occurred! Both natural and human activity driven change, threatens the stability of Earth’s sustainability for all species. 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, the earth’s orientation changed and the most recent glacial period ended, and a warmer earth period began. Greenhouse gasses have accumulated – from man’s activity and from this warming earth. As the earth warms, dramatic and often violent change occurs. Change has always been a fulcrum upon which we must adapt. A habitat changes; we adapt. A food source changes; we adapt. These other persistent societal malignancies – these long suffering and seemingly insurmountable issues facing mankind – these we still struggle to adapt to and change behavior surrounding them, and, for some of us, still choose to hate instead of love one another.
For all of these calamities (poverty etc.) facing our world, we as a species, argue and debate, we lie, cheat, steal, kill and murder, we point fingers of blame and seek retribution. We say you are not us or like us, so you are not as valued, and don’t deserve to live or have freedom to live; and the cycles continue. Other species do not have these issues, maybe they will survive – but only if we don’t eradicate the earths’ ability to sustain life.
We have seen in the fossil record, many examples of drastic and massive extinction events. Some say we are in the beginning of another one now. National Institutes of Health, the journal, Science Advances, and the Stanford Report, have published theories that there have already been multiple significant species wide extinctions and the potential un-stoppable drastic change, from in part, modern human accelerated and induced climate and habitat change, resulting in massive species losses. This is not beautiful.
Global travel can still find those places to explore and experience, giving the impression of the earth’s continuing beauty and wondrous natural ecospheres. Reading and writing are one of the specific human developments (though language and some rudimentary communication methods are used by other species) with which we can shape opinion and drive change. While ostriches don’t actually stick their heads in the sand, the concept is well known metaphorically to our species. Be an outspoken critic of all the horrendous and negative things we humans do. Read a book, write a book, use words to express yourself.
