What if Normal is the Problem: A Reflection on Collapse
A while ago I decided to no longer travel by air, but early this year we broke the rule and went to Vietnam. It was a kind of pilgrimage to see where my partner’s recently deceased brother had lived for twenty-five years and find out why he had stayed there for so long.
Overall, it was an excellent experience. Full of colour and life, great food and an interesting arty vibe. But there was something else. At first I couldn't put my finger on. It's South East Asia so you have to expect that it won't be pristine countryside, but there was a sense that the land itself is in distress. There is too much plastic choking the rivers and overly hazy polluted skies. Whole stretches of coastline are laid to waste, scraped clean for luxury resorts, half built and abandoned before they came to fruition. But even beyond that weirdness, there was something deeper, an absence that I couldn't put my finger on—and then I realised.
There were no birds….