Around the entire planet, presidents, prime ministers, dictators and monarchs struggle to maintain a positive image to their subjects while fighting nature’s infectious army. Science struggles to keep up with nature; politics struggles to keep in step with the march of new, deadly viruses and destructive weather; human confusion increases as social media misrepresents the issues; the economy struggles to sustain order in the marketplace as employees abandon jobs in fear; education is brought to its knees by conflicting policies and solutions; financial support by the government is shutting down as party politics block national responses to national pandemics and weather.

Let’s face it. Nature is slapping humanity around as if humans were a bunch of namby-pambies. Societies and their power structures have ignored global warming since its first documentation in 1853. Societies and their power structures have ignored the disruption and raping of the planet’s Eco structure until the planet had to put its foot down and doubled the rate of global warming. The ratio of planetary resources to population is on an increasingly negative curve toward inadequacy for humanity in general.

In the day-to-day life of humans, these issues seem vague and ill defined. Finding the next meal or the next income source is more important. Keeping one’s wealth as storm clouds gather obstructs the big picture.

Unlike moments in history when some element of reality suddenly brought change, e.g., electricity, automobiles, TNT or artificial intelligence, today the planet is a player; it can make changes, too. Genuinely destructive weather has become commonplace; volcanic eruptions are becoming commonplace; the oceans, by human interference, have grown so warm as to create massive extinction of the sea’s Eco system and will disrupt weather for many decades.

Yet the political environment speaks of petty wars and egotistical posturing. Mariner is reminded of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

This must be a movie. Mariner has been drawn into a metaverse environment. No, not really. Our times today are difficult and many answers are unknown. All a person has left is a stable ethic and what factual information may, or may not, be at hand.

Ancient Mariner