Environmentalism and the Future of Humankind
You and I have a great number of features in common, one of which is obvious: neither of us wants to die. But, though we try to keep the thought of death out of our immediate consciousness, in the back of our minds, the question is quite present for both of us — and for anyone with an IQ greater than that of a stalk of celery: How much longer will we be on this planet?
For us environmentalists, the question has an additional dimension: Will we be around long enough to see if humankind turns the corner vis-à-vis the horrific position in which it finds itself regarding the long-term ecological damage it has wreaked upon itself over the last 50 years – damage that will undoubtedly grow with little or no abatement over the coming few decades?
If I live that long, I’ll be 90 in 2045. Will the answer to the question I’ve laid out above be written in stone by that time? I’m not sure.
What I am sure of, however, is that I won’t be as adept at anything at that age as my dear friend Mario Feninger is right now at the piano, videotaped here in 2013, his 90th year. I hope you’ll check out the video, in which Mario plays, with an effortless and timeless beauty, one of Chopin’s 24 etudes.
