It is an extraordinary time, but for the pandemic Trump might now be president. Like disease, the reality of climate change is coming home to roost in severe storms, rising oceans and extreme heat. We need unity and leadership through these times.
It is an extraordinary time, but for the pandemic Trump might now be president. Like disease, the reality of climate change is coming home to roost in severe storms, rising oceans and extreme heat. We need unity and leadership through these times.
Thank you. Any discussion beyond restoring democracy that doesn't include the Climate Crisis is actually a waste of time. Because our time is running out. We should be preparing. But we are literally ignoring the tsunami of horrors headed our way.
We should be planning the retreats from the coast lines and areas around major rivers. We should be constructing alternate ways to feed billions of people as crops are failing. Our mono crop farming using enormous amounts of fertilizer is killing the waters surrounding Florida and in the Gulf.
The ocean is being over-fished - and its ecosystem is collapsing due to unexpectedly fast warming. Coral reefs and mangroves where ocean life begins are dying.
The human migration we are seeing is just a tiny preview of the millions and millions of desperate humans who will have no choice but to leave their homes. We are short of workers, so logically, we turn them away. That's a mystery that apparently can only be solved by Hunter Biden's laptop.
We are all talking about the sad story of 5 rich people who tragically died on a sight seeing tour of a sunken ship. But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives?
Perhaps all this disaster is just too much for our spoiled little minds to process. But I am just naive enough to think that just like in a good sci-fi movie, the right leaders could sound the alarm and rally most of us to start focusing on the real threats and devising some clever solutions.
But I guess it's more fun to look at pictures of Classified Documents in a bathroom with a chandelier. Of course, I want to see the orange toad locked up. But in the long run we are indeed ignoring the "universal threat".
Thank you for an eloquent statement of who and where we are. It could go on the front page of any newspaper (or editorial page) in America to the advantage of all of US. Might you send it out? At least to your own?
Bill, your assessment is accurate. There is no Planet B. This is what we've got, and we are ignoring those threats you so clearly articulate. (I am referring to the global "we" as I know many of us here are absolutely concerned with the health of the planet.)
Bill, you nailed it. Watching this unfold is worrying and dispiriting. I am losing hope, and see that caring for each other and our fellow creatures & ecosystems is still being thwarted by greed and ignorance. IтАЩve read that the Uber-rich are developing their hide-y holes in тАЬsafeтАЭ placesтАж.might help for awhile, but the global scope of this will not allow them to run and hide for long. I fear, too, that we canтАЩt тАЬtechnoтАЭ our way out of thisтАжat least not soon enough to avoid massive pain and disruption. I despair at the hubris of humankindтАж
What they are building are luxury prison cells, all the comforts of home except for any sort of freedom worthy of the name. The space ships might provide an exit into hellish exile, or a nasty demise. Its one thing to be an intrepid explorer and another to see what spring is like on Jupiter or Mars. Like so many MAGAs in COVID, we snoozing while losing.
Yes, and will they be able to trust those they hire to make this possible & take care of their ongoing needs? IтАЩll bet they will not/do not plan to make it on their тАЬownтАЭ.
Bill I think you are exactly correct in your assessment of the catastrophic crisis of which the scientists have been warning us for more than 40 years (think Rachel Carson), however, I suspect the most important activity we can embark upon is finding ways to separate people's personal interests in employment in or by polluting industries. This includes anyone and everyone involved in selling or promoting use of internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, aircraft, boats, RVs, or motorcycles as well as promoting travel in general. It also should involve persuading us all of the benefits of reducing our dependence on meat and dairy products in our diets and the value of buying produce locally whenever possible. This represents a HUGE portion of our country's population shifting not only their attitudes but their actual employment and sources of income. That's a huge lift and yet it all involves individual choice, the very essence of a free democracy.
yes, as I get older, I have less of a need for meat (which I hunted and shot) and rely on fish I can catch and freeze, can, and smoke. I am lucky. Homemade bread is a staple. The local farmers markets have a great supply of vegetables. But I am fortunate to be able to choose this lifestyle; others are not.
Good assessment! May I add encouraging adoption instead of procreation and building ships to cross oceans. My husband (green before Rachel Carson) spoke of engines run on recycled steam.
And meanwhile, an 18 year veteran meteorologist in Des Moines resigned because as he tried to explain weather patterns and how climate change was causing so many issues with the weather, he received death threats and hate filled emails and voicemails from people that watched his broadcasts...
"But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives? "
Excellent question and metaphor. The rivets are showing signs of failure in our submersible "bubble".
Very well-said, Bill. Meanwhile, instead of addressing climate change (or even acknowledging that it exists), Republicans are busy banning books and denigrating drag queens.
We need to focus, and I'm saying so as a pretty scattered person. I think the primary power of great democratic leaders, in office or "grass roots" movements, is focus. That was what one young Swedish girl was able to very disproportionately pull together.
Does it not seem that focus in essential to wisdom? To justice? Combined with an open mind, to creativity and resilience? Science, which is in my blood, can reveal and clarify what is real and illusion, what what is likely to work and likely to fail, but it cannot, in the end decide for us what most matters. It can sort it out, but not speak for us.
That's where human experiential sentience and empathy come in. We collectively must focus on what, in the end, makes life worth living, and whether this human awareness of our vast and amazing universe will prove sustainable at all. As a species, compared to dinosaurs, we have just arrived on the scene, and capacity for deliberate agency is a wondrous blessing and a curse. Where is humility and wisdom in all this?
It is an extraordinary time, but for the pandemic Trump might now be president. Like disease, the reality of climate change is coming home to roost in severe storms, rising oceans and extreme heat. We need unity and leadership through these times.
And NEVER FORGET that so far the GOP refuses to admit the reality of climate change, a universal threat
Thank you. Any discussion beyond restoring democracy that doesn't include the Climate Crisis is actually a waste of time. Because our time is running out. We should be preparing. But we are literally ignoring the tsunami of horrors headed our way.
We should be planning the retreats from the coast lines and areas around major rivers. We should be constructing alternate ways to feed billions of people as crops are failing. Our mono crop farming using enormous amounts of fertilizer is killing the waters surrounding Florida and in the Gulf.
The ocean is being over-fished - and its ecosystem is collapsing due to unexpectedly fast warming. Coral reefs and mangroves where ocean life begins are dying.
The human migration we are seeing is just a tiny preview of the millions and millions of desperate humans who will have no choice but to leave their homes. We are short of workers, so logically, we turn them away. That's a mystery that apparently can only be solved by Hunter Biden's laptop.
We are all talking about the sad story of 5 rich people who tragically died on a sight seeing tour of a sunken ship. But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives?
Perhaps all this disaster is just too much for our spoiled little minds to process. But I am just naive enough to think that just like in a good sci-fi movie, the right leaders could sound the alarm and rally most of us to start focusing on the real threats and devising some clever solutions.
But I guess it's more fun to look at pictures of Classified Documents in a bathroom with a chandelier. Of course, I want to see the orange toad locked up. But in the long run we are indeed ignoring the "universal threat".
Thank you for an eloquent statement of who and where we are. It could go on the front page of any newspaper (or editorial page) in America to the advantage of all of US. Might you send it out? At least to your own?
Bill, your assessment is accurate. There is no Planet B. This is what we've got, and we are ignoring those threats you so clearly articulate. (I am referring to the global "we" as I know many of us here are absolutely concerned with the health of the planet.)
Bill, you nailed it. Watching this unfold is worrying and dispiriting. I am losing hope, and see that caring for each other and our fellow creatures & ecosystems is still being thwarted by greed and ignorance. IтАЩve read that the Uber-rich are developing their hide-y holes in тАЬsafeтАЭ placesтАж.might help for awhile, but the global scope of this will not allow them to run and hide for long. I fear, too, that we canтАЩt тАЬtechnoтАЭ our way out of thisтАжat least not soon enough to avoid massive pain and disruption. I despair at the hubris of humankindтАж
Yep,
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/superyacht-industry-booms-during-covid-pandemic
What they are building are luxury prison cells, all the comforts of home except for any sort of freedom worthy of the name. The space ships might provide an exit into hellish exile, or a nasty demise. Its one thing to be an intrepid explorer and another to see what spring is like on Jupiter or Mars. Like so many MAGAs in COVID, we snoozing while losing.
Yes, and will they be able to trust those they hire to make this possible & take care of their ongoing needs? IтАЩll bet they will not/do not plan to make it on their тАЬownтАЭ.
Bill I think you are exactly correct in your assessment of the catastrophic crisis of which the scientists have been warning us for more than 40 years (think Rachel Carson), however, I suspect the most important activity we can embark upon is finding ways to separate people's personal interests in employment in or by polluting industries. This includes anyone and everyone involved in selling or promoting use of internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, aircraft, boats, RVs, or motorcycles as well as promoting travel in general. It also should involve persuading us all of the benefits of reducing our dependence on meat and dairy products in our diets and the value of buying produce locally whenever possible. This represents a HUGE portion of our country's population shifting not only their attitudes but their actual employment and sources of income. That's a huge lift and yet it all involves individual choice, the very essence of a free democracy.
yes, as I get older, I have less of a need for meat (which I hunted and shot) and rely on fish I can catch and freeze, can, and smoke. I am lucky. Homemade bread is a staple. The local farmers markets have a great supply of vegetables. But I am fortunate to be able to choose this lifestyle; others are not.
Good assessment! May I add encouraging adoption instead of procreation and building ships to cross oceans. My husband (green before Rachel Carson) spoke of engines run on recycled steam.
And meanwhile, an 18 year veteran meteorologist in Des Moines resigned because as he tried to explain weather patterns and how climate change was causing so many issues with the weather, he received death threats and hate filled emails and voicemails from people that watched his broadcasts...
Thank you for reporting this. Climate change denial is likely from fear. Question: how to get Americans involved instead of fearful.
And some folks just donтАЩt believe in science (ever evolving w/ new data/observations)тАжIтАЩve talked with a fewтАжthey are non-curious IMHO.
I smell Canada burning.
And Calif & the mountain west, Italy, Australia, Africa, the Amazon and the ArcticтАж.itтАЩs pretty much the whole world now.
We're in big trouble. Don't do it if you don't have to drive to it. Vote. Reduce, reuse, downgrade. Save the earth while there's earth left to save.
Yes. And President Biden is coming to Chicago where we have 180 dirty air.
"But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives? "
Excellent question and metaphor. The rivets are showing signs of failure in our submersible "bubble".
Very well-said, Bill. Meanwhile, instead of addressing climate change (or even acknowledging that it exists), Republicans are busy banning books and denigrating drag queens.
Canadian fires and a"disasters" around the world is the "smoking gun" and data strongly suggests we are seeing a trend, see graphic: https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/300/video-climate-spiral-1880-2022/ . We need to run to put out fires and we need a plan to stop the arson.
We need to focus, and I'm saying so as a pretty scattered person. I think the primary power of great democratic leaders, in office or "grass roots" movements, is focus. That was what one young Swedish girl was able to very disproportionately pull together.
Does it not seem that focus in essential to wisdom? To justice? Combined with an open mind, to creativity and resilience? Science, which is in my blood, can reveal and clarify what is real and illusion, what what is likely to work and likely to fail, but it cannot, in the end decide for us what most matters. It can sort it out, but not speak for us.
That's where human experiential sentience and empathy come in. We collectively must focus on what, in the end, makes life worth living, and whether this human awareness of our vast and amazing universe will prove sustainable at all. As a species, compared to dinosaurs, we have just arrived on the scene, and capacity for deliberate agency is a wondrous blessing and a curse. Where is humility and wisdom in all this?
We may have the dubious distinction of being the first species to arrange our own mass extinction.
AND be doing it eyes-wide-open! Kinda makes me wonder if we really are all that intelligent!!!
JL, human hubris may do us in.