Golden Gate Bridge this weekend in San Francisco, California

While talking to a coworker recently I compared the current state of the world to the first law of thermodynamics: in physics, when you heat up a closed system, the molecules bounce around faster (because energy can't be created or destroyed, it can only transfer to a different form). It just seems as the Earth warms with climate change, and our tempers flare by "the other side" on social media, our collective energy speeds up. It feels like large groups of the population are incensed with each other, about Gaza-Israel, about Ukraine-Russia, about the economy, about Covid. This is only my interpretation of current events of course. But negativity seems to abound around the world.

It's understandable, as we're more connected now than ever before, and are thus more easily made aware of hardships or atrocities elsewhere on the planet. Large corporations feed us this negativity, because it results in more clicks, more engagement, and thus more profit.

But I reject the notion that all is lost. That our civilization, our species, and our planet are in decline. Even if some or all of that were true, wallowing has never yielded change. We are an imperfect species within a flawed civilization. Earth has significant problems. But we are also a powerful species, a species I believe to be inherently good, not evil. We've built up a civilization that has empowered billions. And our planet is the most wondrous known thing in the universe, capable of weathering significant storms. We can work towards a collective global consciousness, a united species, one that remains inspired to effect change. I vehemently believe, still to this day, that we can change the world.