Hope in humanity

I worked on the recent election day. I was one of those people who cross the names off in those big books. It was a long day, yes, but very pleasant. Everyone I worked with was lovely and we all worked together well. And all the people who came in to vote were lovely. Every time I looked up I noticed people with soft faces. Nobody was any trouble.

The other day I went to the Art Gallery to see Art Express - that's the exhibition of the top HSC art works. It was fantastic. I was really impressed with the breadth of knowledge the children draw from. It made me feel like there is hope in the future, that teenagers are smart and thoughtful and concerned about what is happening in the world, and that it might be quite satisfying for me to become a teacher.

I'm trying to hold onto this hope in humanity as we discuss, once again, and quite belatedly, putting a price on carbon, which we knew we must do years ago. I like to think we, in our household, live as if there is already a price on carbon, because we consider where things come from and where they go, and the embedded energy in everything. The whole story of climate change seems quite hopeless at times. We know our use of fossil fuels, which take millions of years for the Earth to make, is running out. We know we could invest in renewable energy. We know we make more waste and more pollution than we can sensibly dispose of, yet, yet, we just carry on as we've been going because it is convenient.

Must hold on to hope in humanity.