Yesterday I was once again hanging with Dan Arel, author The Secular Activist. This time we were at the State Capitol in Sacramento California lobbying on behalf of the Secular Coalition. Of the few conversations I could comment on, the one that stood out for me was someone who agreed with me. Christian Burkkin is a Communications Director for Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman. Dr Eggman is very supportive of secular policies on the issues we care about. So Burkkin and I didn’t talk much about that.
In his introduction, Mr Burkkin said that he staffs for issues concerning the environment -among other things. Knowing how inefficient government tends to be -particularly on this topic, I asked him whether he feels as though we’re all aboard a steadily accelerating train, arguing over whether we’ll ever appoint a committee to inquire about the value of investigating whether brakes exist or should be employed. He told me that he has to disable his mind from thinking beyond ten years in the future, because otherwise he would never be able to sleep again. He said that all they can do is too little too late and on too small a scale. He did say though that California can at least demonstrate that some of their models work well enough to market in other states or nations, and this at least gave him “a tick of something positive”.
A “tick”? He searched for a moment trying to find that word when another word would have fit so much better. So I said “I notice that you did not say hope”, and his reply was only to acknowledge that I did in fact notice that. I don’t know any other way to interpret that other than to think that the government agents most familiar with the scientific reports on all the contributing elements inevitably culminating climate change have no hope of addressing this matter either to the extent necessary nor with the urgency it requires.
