PAUL SIMON: “THE BOY IN THE BUBBLE”

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That’s dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry baby, don’t cry
Don’t cry

It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That’s dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry baby, don’t cry
Don’t cry

It’s a turn-around jump shot
It’s everybody jump start
It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That’s dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry baby, don’t cry
Don’t cry

http://www.alternet.org/environment/34474

“It’s a good thing the phrase “tipping point” became a cliche just in time to help us describe global warming. Just a few years ago, we were more or less cruising along on global warming, with maybe 50 years or so to Do Something about it. Suddenly, the only question is how soon to push the panic button, and 10 minutes ago appears to be the right answer.”

“As the Earth drifts toward crisis, our president [as well as all of his colleagues, worldwide] does not yet seem capable of grasping even the First Rule of Holes. We’re in one, and it is time to quit digging.”

- Molly Ivins

I think a big part of it for our leaders is “politics,” as hinted at by Bill Clinton.

As for people in general, I think it’s easy to lose touch with how low awareness of these issues really is. Just bring up in conversation something like “peak oil” or the “sixth extinction.” In my experience, a great many people still have little awareness of such terms. I think it’s just beginning to change, maybe, but there’s still a long way to go.

[The loss of species diversity] has already started – but sadly conservationists (like me) are limited to putting off the inevitable – holding back the flood if you like – in the hope that civilisation will realise the reality of the situation before its too late.

A key statement, if you ask me.