Corn stalks stood at attention for harvest, but oddly, they looked as if a blow torch had consumed them, leaving burnt skeletal remains of crops, mile after mile.
A deep sense of dread welled up in me as we drove along those fields. A fear that signaled, “Disaster! No food!”
Emotional responses can be reactions to the world around us. These responses are to both real and imagined dangers. A sense of foreboding alerted me to what looked like a natural disaster, crop devastation which potentially endangered my survival. I had ignored my thinking brain that recognized food was still available in stores.
Our brains respond to the way the natural world should be, with predictable spring showers that give way to fresh unfolding tree leaves, healthy ripe fields of crops and clear summer skies.
What we are experiencing currently with nature hasn’t been seen by us before. So, we must respond to the way the world is now with life-threatening heat, poor air quality from unprecedented extreme wildfires and toxic contamination of water and soil from floods caused by powerful storms with heavy rains.
Mid-July spawned a dangerous heat wave that expanded from the West Coast through central and eastern parts of the country. On the heels of the heat wave, Johnson County, Kansas, was inundated with strong winds and 10 inches of rain in some parts which prompted flash flood warnings. And, indeed, ensuing flooding occurred on residential streets of Shawnee, Kansas.
Poor air quality alerts were issued across multiple states occurred from wildfires in eastern Canada which carried damaging smoke across hundreds of miles.
The strife or discord we are experiencing between what we expect of nature and the reality likely contributes to information overload. Too much going on and all at the same time. We are left, consequently, with thinking we “don’t know what to do” or we “won’t deal with it.” Either choice can immobilize us.
As Jews, we can either call upon our values to solve real problems with nature or respond with snap decisions and knee-jerk solutions. The latter are emotion dominated solutions that may result in constant high alert with fear, anger and blame, to name a few. Knee-jerk solutions by recent legislative bills, for example, focus on imagined problems. By focusing on made-up challenges, no pressing natural world crises are resolved.
As we Jews observe our holiest days, we are encouraged to seek social action commitments. Tikkun olam, to mend the world, can mean nature and our place within it. I believe that our broken relationship with nature requires urgent attention to be put back into good order.
Look out of a window! Each of our own and our family’s lives are inextricably linked to nature. We humans desperately need normal range temperatures, clean and ample water and unpolluted air to be healthy. These essential elements support all life on earth and are needed both for our sustenance and total existence.
Yes, there is a dramatic rupture between what we expect of nature and what we are actually experiencing. Only we can correct the imbalance between nature and humans. Our actions will determine the success of our future. Take opportunities to talk about environmental troubles with others. And let’s join groups that support our beliefs. Power is in people acting together.
Mary M. Greenberg, Ph.D., serves on the State of Kansas Holocaust Commission. Her speaking engagements on impeding antisemitism are based on her research that advances the study of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. She is dedicated, also, to writing about how a Jewish perspective enriches our contemporary lives.