The View From My Bicycle (COLUMN)

Gustav's real name is Global Warming - and we're responsible

In 2005, when Katrina hit New Orleans like a weapon of mass destruction, I followed everything from a lonely apartment in Ilsan, South Korea.

Katrina links on this blog - go back to the day it happened.
Katrina's real name is global warming.

I used MSNBC to follow the hurricane's track. I actually prefer the older technology - it was simpler. MSNBC's current tracker is flashy, but half the time you can't find it,and it takes longer to load. The nice thing about the old track was it was also animated, so you got a feel not only for where the hurricane was going, but how it was functioning.

I also watched continuous streaming content from Yahoo, often with embedded citizens providing on the ground footage. What struck me and many others at the time, was that there was plenty of information available, and yet the storm caught so many, including the people at FEMA and the president unawares. Once again there is plenty of information, and it seems like the residents for one have learned to be proactive in anticipation of what is not necessarily a certain outcome (although using logic we can be pretty certain of what is likely).

It is also interesting to note that the IEA have recommended that the US tap it's SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve). Over the short term, this has allowed prices to stabilise. Of course, it is unlikely to contain the effects of a 77% shutdown entirely, meaning, prices will moderate and then as the constriction of supply becomes apparent, prices will probably rocket upward anyway.

One wonders when the world - the tv going audience, those with access to the internet - when the penny will drop and people begin to realise that it is over. This lifestyle we have. That these scenarios will continue, and each time they will be worse. Every time there is an interest rate rise, people ask: when will it be over. And a few economists assure the ignorant masses that these things happen in cycles, that we're at a peak etc. This provides a sort of license for people to go, oh well, we've survived that, now back to business as usual. Business as usual is over. But probably it will take - as I say - more scenarios, more reality, for reality to bite.

I have been sick these last few days, and have seen the fitness gained over the past week dissipate from my body. At the same time, I've looked at video footage of a Botswana trip I went on with my family about 17 years ago. I was about 19 years old. It is interesting to watch oneself and realise that despite the bridge of time, you remain who you are. Is who you are something that changes? Is who you are something that should change? Are the aspects of one's self that change the aspects that needed to change, or did one stubbornly maintain one's beliefs despite the march of time.

It is interesting to note that two major storms are whirling around the Gulf coast. I kindergarten child could tell you that these systems are intensifying. A child could also tell you that people are responsible for depleting the resources of the planet. But the same child would tell you what a wonderful world it is we live in. I recently wrote about the theory that the Earth was once a snowball. That for 3 billion years a bacteria was the dominant life force. Where we live is an amazing place. Do we respect ourselves and the environment?

The view from my bicycle is of a storm approaching. While it approaches it begins to break down the barriers around us, until there are no walls, no ceilings. It seems as though the storm is getting worse, but what is getting worse is our situation in it. For as long as we cling to our 'things', the storm will continue swirl overhead. In order to save ourselves from the storm, we need to move, to change our circumstances. Only by doing this, can we change a scenario that by hook or by crook we've invited upon ourselves.

I intend to move a lot during September. With much of that movement on my bicycle, and in running shoes. September 1 is the first day of Spring in South Africa. Let's shift our bodies simultaneously with the mindset shift that is necessary.