tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post6208895832669510033..comments2024-03-28T22:02:16.520-04:00Comments on Politics and its Discontents: We Reap What We Sow, Eh?Lornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-17444449854533718902017-04-26T12:22:50.199-04:002017-04-26T12:22:50.199-04:00And collectively, Owen, we are asleep at the switc...And collectively, Owen, we are asleep at the switch.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-8119771329419776532017-04-26T11:50:35.380-04:002017-04-26T11:50:35.380-04:00Like a train heading for a washed out bridge, Lorn...Like a train heading for a washed out bridge, Lorne, we are hurtling to our own destruction.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-6634747085315683392017-04-26T08:29:58.925-04:002017-04-26T08:29:58.925-04:00I fear your bleak analysis is far too true, Mound....I fear your bleak analysis is far too true, Mound. I find it hard to maintain any hope for the future, given our politicians' cowardice and the 'creeping normalcy' that you describe here.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-1773616624109447462017-04-26T01:31:05.551-04:002017-04-26T01:31:05.551-04:00Reports are being published at a pace that blurs o...Reports are being published at a pace that blurs our ability to comprehend their significance. The recurrent theme is "latest research shows previous predictions were unduly optimistic." The latest research then turns out to be valid until it is overtaken, in turn, by the next. I'm left wondering if climate scientists haven't been cowed by fears of being criticized as alarmists which leaves them always behind the curve on their projections. If you were to look at nearly three decades of consensus reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, you would be struck by how seriously understated their conclusions have been even as they are routinely denounced as alarmists.<br /><br />For years I would post on these studies as they were released but I do that infrequently now because of the blur and because of how public interest has waned. These worsening conditions have achieved a measure of what politicians call "creeping normalcy." The political caste is reluctant to allocate funding to measures that may primarily benefit future generations, money they would prefer to use for tax cuts or programmes that will buy votes over the next electoral cycle or two. Creeping normalcy resulting in public apathy is manna from Heaven to the politicos as it takes them off the hook. Trudeau's supposed postponement of Canada's climate change plan until 2025-2030, by which time he'll be very likely gone from office, is a reflection of this cynical expediency. The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.com