Are we afraid of the extinction of our species or the incredible amount of knowledge that we have been able to amass? It’s sad to think that all the progress we have made in the sciences and arts could be obliterated for millions of years–or whenever the earth returns to balance and human-like intelligence is restored.
(Fun Note: Nero didn’t fiddle. Fiddles weren’t invented until the 15th century.)
I’m still surprised to see your predictions about linear changes and skepticism of environmental tipping points that would shoot Earth’s temp way above 3 degrees. The clathrate hypothesis (methyl hydrates in the oceans as well as permafrost) posits that 55 million years ago, Earth’s temp raised about 25 degrees and oceans 40 feet, in 75 years.
It has to do with the fact that If there are 180 GT of CO2-eq currently in the atmosphere, there are 500,000 GT CO2-eq clathrate at Earth’s surface, ready to be released with changes in pressure (sea level) or temperature (check). And this is just ONE tipping point…
What would be the BEST earth day ever?
Maybe some brave soul will gather the courage to provide some ‘external’ accountability to our friend, the Honorable James Inhofe (R-Exxon). It’s self evident he’s guilty of ‘breaching of the peace’ and grand theft and treason and does not represent the interests of anybody (whether they know it or not). It’s high time for him to go, and if our government doesn’t have the balls to do it, then…..
We should high jack mothers day…If we got them on board things would change.
Speaking of … I can not impart to my wife the gravity of the situation. I have given up to save my marriage. I think she is slowly coming round though along with the rest of the tribe, but it is frustrating and show how difficult it all is.
As with paulm, I’ve dialed way back in the interest of staying married and keeping family – but they too are coming around…if still not appreciative of such a fine rant as yours Joe.
(I hate to bring up BI but the one thing I think they totally underestimate is how quickly public sentiment can change – the politics are very fluid. An (imperfect) example is gay rights. I can remember some reactionary acquaintances going off on “special gay rights” not that long ago. Now, they’re not against gay marriage – it’s the type of avalanche the AGW situation requires.)
Things have not changed since the original Earth Day. More doom and gloom and hand-wringing by the Chicken Little segment of the environmental alarmists. Talk of tipping points, famine, disease, floods, cannibalism (that is too funny) etc.
And people are still gullible. They believe the flawed IPCC. They have left science behind. So sad.
And despite the warm month of march, we have had a decade of cooling since 1988. Mother Nature just does not want to cooperate.
Makes me think of the Alan Weisman book, The World Without Us. Humanity will lose against the Earth every time. This isn’t about saving the planet; it’s about saving us. Perhaps Human Day or Save Ourselves Day is more appropriate.
Yes, let us save ourselves from the destruction of industrial civilization that will result if we take seriously the proposals to drastically cut carbon dioxide output. When humans thrive in every climate from the tropics to the arctic, the alarmist predictions of apocalypse from a 2 to 3 degree temperature increase are preposperous. (Never mind the highly shaky “science” the temperature projections are based on, with problems in everything from raw data quality, through misuse of statistical analysis techniques, to highly-simplified computer models.)
Publius2012 — Both, the latter more than the former.
Dana H. — Agriculture depends upon the highly stable climate of the Holocene, especially the last two thousand years. As we leave this regime for a climate adventure, were seriously risk leaving agriculture behind. And the science is very good, thank you. Here are a couple of links to where you could actually begin to learn about it:
I’m starting to see these ideas of triage around the place – even a website devoted to it (http://www.climatechangetriage.net). There seem to be some substantial articles and links there that could contribute to the discussion here regarding Earth Day. And yes, it does need to be MUCH more than just one day
Everybody in the room was lol to this post. Thanks.
Whatever we call it, it needs to be more than one day a year.
Are we afraid of the extinction of our species or the incredible amount of knowledge that we have been able to amass? It’s sad to think that all the progress we have made in the sciences and arts could be obliterated for millions of years–or whenever the earth returns to balance and human-like intelligence is restored.
(Fun Note: Nero didn’t fiddle. Fiddles weren’t invented until the 15th century.)
I’m still surprised to see your predictions about linear changes and skepticism of environmental tipping points that would shoot Earth’s temp way above 3 degrees. The clathrate hypothesis (methyl hydrates in the oceans as well as permafrost) posits that 55 million years ago, Earth’s temp raised about 25 degrees and oceans 40 feet, in 75 years.
It has to do with the fact that If there are 180 GT of CO2-eq currently in the atmosphere, there are 500,000 GT CO2-eq clathrate at Earth’s surface, ready to be released with changes in pressure (sea level) or temperature (check). And this is just ONE tipping point…
What would be the BEST earth day ever?
Maybe some brave soul will gather the courage to provide some ‘external’ accountability to our friend, the Honorable James Inhofe (R-Exxon). It’s self evident he’s guilty of ‘breaching of the peace’ and grand theft and treason and does not represent the interests of anybody (whether they know it or not). It’s high time for him to go, and if our government doesn’t have the balls to do it, then…..
We should high jack mothers day…If we got them on board things would change.
Speaking of … I can not impart to my wife the gravity of the situation. I have given up to save my marriage. I think she is slowly coming round though along with the rest of the tribe, but it is frustrating and show how difficult it all is.
Wonderful RANT. Surely for the initiated!
As with paulm, I’ve dialed way back in the interest of staying married and keeping family – but they too are coming around…if still not appreciative of such a fine rant as yours Joe.
(I hate to bring up BI but the one thing I think they totally underestimate is how quickly public sentiment can change – the politics are very fluid. An (imperfect) example is gay rights. I can remember some reactionary acquaintances going off on “special gay rights” not that long ago. Now, they’re not against gay marriage – it’s the type of avalanche the AGW situation requires.)
Things have not changed since the original Earth Day. More doom and gloom and hand-wringing by the Chicken Little segment of the environmental alarmists. Talk of tipping points, famine, disease, floods, cannibalism (that is too funny) etc.
And people are still gullible. They believe the flawed IPCC. They have left science behind. So sad.
And despite the warm month of march, we have had a decade of cooling since 1988. Mother Nature just does not want to cooperate.
Makes me think of the Alan Weisman book, The World Without Us. Humanity will lose against the Earth every time. This isn’t about saving the planet; it’s about saving us. Perhaps Human Day or Save Ourselves Day is more appropriate.
Yes, let us save ourselves from the destruction of industrial civilization that will result if we take seriously the proposals to drastically cut carbon dioxide output. When humans thrive in every climate from the tropics to the arctic, the alarmist predictions of apocalypse from a 2 to 3 degree temperature increase are preposperous. (Never mind the highly shaky “science” the temperature projections are based on, with problems in everything from raw data quality, through misuse of statistical analysis techniques, to highly-simplified computer models.)
Publius2012 — Both, the latter more than the former.
Dana H. — Agriculture depends upon the highly stable climate of the Holocene, especially the last two thousand years. As we leave this regime for a climate adventure, were seriously risk leaving agriculture behind. And the science is very good, thank you. Here are a couple of links to where you could actually begin to learn about it:
http://www.realclimate.org/ index.php/ archives/ 2007/ 05/ start-here/
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.html
I’m starting to see these ideas of triage around the place – even a website devoted to it (http://www.climatechangetriage.net). There seem to be some substantial articles and links there that could contribute to the discussion here regarding Earth Day. And yes, it does need to be MUCH more than just one day