Lumiére

Finally, the days are getting longer and the light is returning. As Frede Viking started its descent into Gothenburg, the Western Sea was afire under a painted saffron sky. Two days later I am back walking along the River Ume, another 340 kg of books have been shipped from storage and the sun is again almost blinding me.

Sometimes, natural beauty can deafen the anxiety of being stranded on a planet which is helplessly hurling through the immensities of space (and so can watching William building with his Mega Bloks). I guess it is very human to try not to think too much about our collective condition and vulnerability. What makes it so frustrating is of course that, unlike in the past, we are on the cusp of achieving technological maturity in a way that would protect our species from extinction, yet we remain frustratingly unable to prioritize. Were it not for the existential implications, it would actually be quite funny that I own a whole library of books on “sustainability”, yet all of them fail to see the bigger picture of where our species is and, more importantly, where it can be in a couple of centuries if we play our cards right.