Thoughts on a Warm November Night
It’s 2am. I can’t sleep. Haven’t been able to for the last hour. Something is bugging me.
I decide to take a walk out. I close the door of my London flat and step outside. As I leave my garden and get into the street I see a big web with a spider. Normally I would just walk past but I decide to stop and take a look at it, and wonder what the spider thinks of this night.
It feels warm. The thermometer says 13C. At 2am in the middle of a November night in London, the thermometer says 13C.
I remember going to a Halloween party back in 2008 when I first moved to the UK. End of October — it was freezing, there was snow and ice. Now? 13C.
As I walk down the street I can hear and see the creatures of the night. Foxes. They are screaming. And they are all over the streets in London. Tomorrow is garbage collection day on my street so they are now hunting for food in the streets.
I carry on. I want to see and hear the sounds of the night, so I decide to go to the small park near home.
On a clear night I would be able to see tiny stars up above but tonight the sky is overcast. It has been raining a few hours ago.
I listen. I can hear the sound of the trees, moved by a gentle wind. As I walk, I step over all the colours of the Autumn — yellow, brown leafs. This at least feels normal for November.
Far in the distance I can hear the noise of the cars passing by. I feel like I have become more sensitive to undesired noise recently, or maybe just more attentive. The wind on the trees sounds relaxing — the noise of the cars, not so much.
I decide to turn around and go back. As I’m about to leave the park, a fox is crossing the street, notices me and stops. She seems undisturbed by my presence. I continue walking, and get closer. We look at each other. Two species that have well adapted to the city environment.
For a moment I feel that humans and foxes have developed some level of symbiosis. Us humans source our food on a grandiose scale, and it conveniently reaches the shelves of our local supermarket. We eat some, and waste plenty of it. Foxes banquet on it at night.
I pause and think. I think about the book I have been reading. This one:
I am becoming increasingly aware of the toll that our actions are taking on the planet. I need to do something. I want to do something. We need to do something. Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep tonight.
7 billion people in this world. We are all so caught up in our own doings. We need to stop. Take a step back. Look at what we are doing to our planet. We depend on it far more than we realise, yet we take it for granted and abuse it mercilessly. How arrogant.
What can we do? Get informed. Read about global warming. Talk to each other about it. This should be the single most important topic of the 21st century. Our survival depends on it. We need to take small and big steps in our lives and our communities to be better inhabitants of this planet. Whatever it takes, we must do it.
I want to get more involved. I want to play my part in keeping this planet livable for future generations.
I have to go back home now. I have to write this.
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