Our predicament can't be blamed on a lack of knowledge or misinformation. There's a mountain of research and a library of books on climate change in all its permutations. We've made choices, many by default of choosing, and more of them are becoming irreversible. We're watching the consequences of those decisions unfold and much sooner than we may have expected.
When I think of the clear warnings that people like Schellnhuber have given and how they've been ignored by those who cannot give up the fantasy of perpetual, exponential growth - including our sitting prime minister - I can no longer even muster anger, just resigned sadness.
Oh well, we have a rich history of what befalls societies and civilizations in these situations. Abrupt climate change has been killing them off almost since the beginning of civilization. Those, however, were "natural" climate change events. Today it's a different scourge altogether, anthropogenic or man-made climate change, on a scale that eclipses natural climate change events of the past.
It's telling that all climate change denialism is rooted in commercial interests. It's not the stuff of religion or ethnicity or political ideology - it's commercialism. Yes it has infected most of the political spectrum but that's simply a corrupt response to the invisible hand of financial forces.
I was just watching a bit of Rick Perry's news conference on the environment. He is telling whopper after whopper, including that the U.S. leads the world in emission reductions.Another one is that the science of climate change is not settled. When people choose fantasy over fact, they are dooming the world.
With that massive denialism, what hope can there be?
If we can't -- or won't -- read the signs, Lorne, we're doomed.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to say this, Owen, but I pretty much believe we have reached the point of no return.
DeleteOur predicament can't be blamed on a lack of knowledge or misinformation. There's a mountain of research and a library of books on climate change in all its permutations. We've made choices, many by default of choosing, and more of them are becoming irreversible. We're watching the consequences of those decisions unfold and much sooner than we may have expected.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the clear warnings that people like Schellnhuber have given and how they've been ignored by those who cannot give up the fantasy of perpetual, exponential growth - including our sitting prime minister - I can no longer even muster anger, just resigned sadness.
Oh well, we have a rich history of what befalls societies and civilizations in these situations. Abrupt climate change has been killing them off almost since the beginning of civilization. Those, however, were "natural" climate change events. Today it's a different scourge altogether, anthropogenic or man-made climate change, on a scale that eclipses natural climate change events of the past.
It's telling that all climate change denialism is rooted in commercial interests. It's not the stuff of religion or ethnicity or political ideology - it's commercialism. Yes it has infected most of the political spectrum but that's simply a corrupt response to the invisible hand of financial forces.
I was just watching a bit of Rick Perry's news conference on the environment. He is telling whopper after whopper, including that the U.S. leads the world in emission reductions.Another one is that the science of climate change is not settled. When people choose fantasy over fact, they are dooming the world.
DeleteWith that massive denialism, what hope can there be?