This may seem a little crazy, but what if we boil down something as complex as climate change, by asking a couple of questions:
Is ignoring climate change about the same as ignoring maintenance on something like, let’s say, your home?
Deferred maintenance… is that what this whole thing, really, is all about?
I got a lesson in deferred maintenance, serving on our homeowners association board.
When it comes to spending money, I’m cautious. And that’s okay, I’ve always believed. But I was overdoing it, I discovered, when we were having discussions about some fairly major maintenance for the community… having all the homes and other structures repainted, and considering construction upgrades, as well.
I was thinking we could, maybe, hold off a year, or two, which led to a discussion on deferred maintenance. We talked about cost factors, and such, when you let something go for too long. Fresh paint, sooner rather than later, would protect wood and stucco walls. The construction upgrades would address some dry rot issues.
Climate change, you’re thinking, is far more complex than the goings-on at our small community, but then again… what if our entire planet is overdue for some major maintenance?
There’s been much debate about climate change. It’s a ‘hot’ issue, so to speak. And, it’s one thing to debate repainting and construction upgrades for a small community, so you’re not deferring maintenance, and quite another thing to apply similar thinking to Planet Earth. Considering, for one thing, the estimated 24,900-mile equatorial circumference of this planet we all inhabit.
But still… deferred maintenance is deferred maintenance. And as they say in advertising…You can pay me now, or pay me later. The ‘me,’ in this case, I suppose, being Mother Nature?
And what if what might have to be paid later is bigger than all outdoors, quite literally? If deferred maintenance turns out to be so big and beyond control, that this whole place – Planet Earth – simply can’t be repaired and upgraded, anymore?
You’ve gotta think about deferred maintenance, I learned, talking things over with our homeowners board.