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CHARLOTTE R. MENDEL
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Sorry and Adieu!

8/9/2022

8 Comments

 
I want to apologize.

I realized I am always exhorting people to do things; I guess it’s part of the life of an author; you are always begging people to come to readings and launches. Ditto my Climate Action Game. And now I’m exhorting you all to start a discussion around my blog! I apologize. It is highly unlikely that I have ever responded to a single FB post of yours.
Why should I expect you to find what I write interesting, if the interest isn’t reciprocated? In your mind, that beautiful picture of your kids (or worse, your dog) is interesting and my climate rants are boring. While I understand your desire to project the impression that you are surrounded by sentient creatures who love you—I urge you to read your Tolstoy! “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

All reciprocal likes on FB are really reciprocal lies. Nobody wants to read a story about a happy family, and nobody spends more than two seconds looking at your photos, which is exactly how long they remember them after they move on. And the fact that your dog loves you does not mean you are lovable. Blondi gazed adoringly at Hitler, even as he killed her. Dogs are just kinda stupid that way.

Damn! I’ve just got back from a month at DDL and actually practiced fairly consistently; I can’t post the above and spread negative karma, can I? I know my POV is a very small lens. I’m only saying that we find each other equally boring. 😊

But we all need to find people that interest us, and are interested in us. I was blessed to find some at DDL—the next blog will examine my absolute joy in the results of my efforts to spread environmental knowledge while I was there; but—just like at university where most of the students loved me but one or two always hated my guts every class no matter what I did—some DDL folks loathed me on sight (like the fellow who jabbed his finger at my face and screamed, “Fuck you”. He seriously needs to meditate or toke more—results are very similar if you’re short on time). More on “lessons learned in my quest to develop an influential script for climate change” in the next blog.

But still, none of the people who excited me at DDL are from NS. I think in order to find people who will be interested enough in what I have to say to engage with me, I need to leave NS. I will be leaving next month, in September.

When I was 16, I lived in my house with my parents, usually a sibling or two, my horses, cats, a dog; I had a regular life with school and work in the summer. Six weeks after I turned 17, I lost my father. By the time I was 18, I had lost everything. My mother had gone abroad, the animals were gone and the house was empty. I got kicked out of Katimavik and I had nowhere to go. Luckily a friend rented me her room in her father’s house in Toronto.

Then I left NS for 12 years. The first three years I travelled the world on my own, but I was basically frightened the whole time. So when I settled in one place for ten years (Israel) I latched onto a man who wanted to look after me forever, who did everything competently, who would provide well and be a brilliant father. And these things were all true, but that wasn’t a brave choice. And so 32 happy years passed.

Fast-forward to 2022 and it’s all happening again—the loss of a parent, followed by the loss of an entire life. In 2020 I lost my mother, whom I loved passionately. In 2021 I left my husband, losing my home, my goats, sheep, chickens—except the ones in my freezer 😊. Now I need to leave NS and retrace my steps, and this time I trust that I’ll find the courage; because this time I have a mission, and it’s not centered on my paltry life and desires (this focus led me to marriage/children). It is centered on the fact that I passionately believe the human race can avoid catastrophic climate change.
First, because the scientists tell us there is still time.
Second, because we have a global roadmap—the Paris Agreement.
Third, because there is a tsunami of change happening.
And more than all those put together, because I want to live a worthwhile life.

It doesn’t matter what the outcome will be—nobody can predict the future. What matters is that my definition of living a worthwhile life is to devote it to enabling others to realize that we have a personal responsibility to reduce our own footprints in order to pass on a sustainable earth to the next generation. I am working to develop an influential script, and I need to find others like me, who can help me.

To finish with positive karma due to DDL influence, I would like to end by remembering all the lovely people from NS who have supported me in a myriad of different ways. By reading my books, coming to my launches, playing the Climate Action game, getting me into their schools, giving me feedback—thank you.

Keep in touch. I might be outside of NS, but I’m still on FB. And I read all my messages. Bless you!

8 Comments

Disclaimers

7/21/2022

2 Comments

 
My idea to write a blog met with surprising resistance from my loved ones.
From my sister: “Charlotte - do you mind leaving the country before you publish your blog? I feel that your 'rants/ fresh thoughts' will come across better from a distance!”
From my ex: “You can’t put the word ‘penetrate’ in your blog. You can’t put anything personal.”
Me: “My dear man, every single man alive is penetrating thousands of times during their lives. How is that personal?”
Ex-Hubby: “It’s crude and vulgar.”
I stare at him incredulously. Ex-Hubby is my definition of vulgarity. I basically slept in a sewer for 32 years; every time I turned over in bed a wave of Hubby-Farts permeated the air.
So to calm ruffled family feathers, here are two disclaimers:
  1. DNA similarity in NO WAY denotes similarity of opinion
  2. Everything I write is from my own limited perspective. Perhaps from Ex-Hubby’s perspective I was the source of the Flatulence in our Four-poster. But you’ll never know, because I’m the one wielding the pen. BAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAA 
And one more disclaimer: don’t read my blog if you have any expectations. If blogs are supposed to be consistent, too bad. I hope that the fact that my first blog was about Trump and Trudeau and my second one was about Toots makes this clear.
So why am I writing a blog? I guess, ultimately, my goal is to start a terrorist group, but I get distracted by bodily functions because they’re so damn fun to write about.
Did you know how much the twelve biggest oil companies will spend daily for the next eight years on new oil and gas exploration—aka carbon bombs? $384 million. According to The Guardian, this will ‘’drive catastrophic climate breakdown around the world”.  
Unless the oil companies are stopped.
This is the moment when you have to ask yourself that famous philosophical question: If you were in the room with Hitler and you knew what he would to in the future, would you kill him?
We know what the Exxon oil executives will do. According to 97% of the world’s scientists, their actions will cause temperatures to exceed human tolerance in some areas. If this happens, we can expect heat waves that will cause more deaths over a period of two weeks, than Hitler caused over the entirety of the war. Cooked alive.
And it’s not even because of a twisted ideology about the greatness of one’s own race/creed/belief (as a Jew I have been privy to these types of biased feelings myself)—it’s about short-term profit. Isn’t this much, much worse?
The difference between a 1.5 degree temp rise and a 3.6 temp rise (where we’re headed if the oil companies go ahead with their plans) is the difference between reasonable lives—or horrific ones—for our children. Our CHILDREN!
So if we love our children and our grandchildren, then how can we argue against a few strategic assassinations, aimed at people who are lining their pockets with our kids’ future? Perhaps they think billionaire toots don’t smell so bad. They’re wrong—and if you don’t think they’re despicable and dispensable—you’re wrong too.
If you think I’m full of crap, I’d love to hear why. Because I’m asking you to stop with this polarized bullshit. Our different views about Roe Vs. Wade, or immigration, are distractions preventing us from uniting against our common foe.
Leonard Cohen sang:
“There is a war between the rich and poor
A war between the man and the woman
There is a war between the left and right
A war between the black and white
A war between the odd and the even”.
At the time Leonard Cohen wrote it, he was correct, but today there needs to be an extra line: “Not all wars are born equal.’’
There is only one war that will wipe out billions of people. And it’s not between the black and white or men and women.  And it’s certainly not our very divided opinions on these subjects --it’s not about the war between the left and right.
It’s the war between the rich and poor. We all love our children and the vast majority of us are good people.  Let us unite against our common foe, for the sake of our children. How about it? Ready for a little eco-terrorism?
I will struggle to tell the truth, but I only possess the information I know, so if readers have information that disputes something I am saying, inform me so I can learn and shift my views!


2 Comments

Trudeau vs.Trump

7/5/2022

0 Comments

 
Goodness me—what is happening to our neighbours in the South? Trump appointed 33% of America's nine supreme court judges and they’re jumping into action, bringing back the dark ages. Here in Canada, we don’t even notice that Trudeau has basically appointed the entire supreme court (I’m crap at math, is 66%--twice as many as Trump)?
So why aren’t Canadians up in arms about this, like they are down South? Is this because we’re nice Canadians?
Nope, people are the same everywhere (and Canadian Complacency irritates me).
So is this because Trudeau is way better than Trump and we all love him?
Nope, about 50% of our population hate his guts. I insist that my nails were just as chewed up during the 2019 election than any American nail the following year. Andrew Scheer’s ‘climate plan’ didn’t set any targets for greenhouse gas reductions—which is the whole POINT of the Paris Agreement. He also planned to do away with the carbon tax, which is demonstrably one of the best leverage actions to meet our Paris Climate Targets. Yes I know, I know, why should we poor Canadians pay more at the pumps (even though we’re actually not because the cost is rebated)?
Well, maybe because climate change is a leading cause of hunger, and between 2019 and 2020, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 161 million.
The huge upsurge in support for Ukrainians made me smile—how many posts did I see saying, “Stop complaining about gas prices. Ukrainians are dying”. I guess it’s just a natural tendency for people to identify with their own colour the most. Ouch, us nice Canadians don’t like to hear that, do we? It’s those Yanks who are racist—not us!
So that means that we believe every human is equal, and we should be happy to pay a carbon tax to save lives (even though we’re actually not because the cost is rebated), just like we bite the bullet at the pump for the sake of Ukraine (all right, mostly it’s lack of choice, but it’s fun to feel virtuous just because we’re doing what we have to do anyway…). 
Meanwhile Trudeau is busy depicting himself as a climate champion even as he builds oil pipelines. So not sure what we should feel virtuous about, since he’s equally destroying the lives of our children. Wish I’d voted for Sheer now (almost).
But even with the climate we’re doing better than the US, where the Supreme Court has just limited the E.P.A’s  ability to regulate power plant emissions. Overturning Roe & Wade is sad, but this decision is on a whole different scale. Why was there so much more outrage on FB over this? You really think that fighting for our rights as women is more important than climate change? 
I gave up my belief in my right to control my own body at some point in my 30s. I was lying on my side in bed, utterly exhausted, with a baby male at my breast and a bigger male penetrating me from behind. I thought how everybody was enjoying my body so much more than I was. I thought how Nature herself regulated me to a second-class citizen in my own body, when she took calcium from my teeth because the fetus needed it. Anyway, if we haven’t solved racism and sexism during the apex of human affluence, it sure ain’t going to happen when we’re in a climate crisis. 
But I digress; back to the original point. Since Trudeau has elected massively more supreme court judges than Trump, why aren’t his foes screaming blue murder? Because luckily for Canadians, we have managed to hold on to our key democratic values on both sides of the polarized border. Trudeau’s appointments have not hastened to overturn prior decisions based on their individual political beliefs. They continue to try to reach objective and just conclusions, just like Supreme Judges are supposed to.

I know there’s lots of stuff in this piece that people I admire might disagree with. Please feel free to dialogue—I don’t see the point of a blog unless it opens discussion.

0 Comments

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    I am a writer and I will try to amuse and entertain you with this blog, while provoking thoughts that challenge your existing beliefs. But beliefs only change with dialogue--so trust that I am looking for the truth as much as you are.

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