These are Aristotelian scholars in Brecht's play Life of Galileo refusing to look through a telescope.
They are Freud, according to Judith Herman, so worried about his career, he hid patients' abuse.
They are Meletus against Socrates in 399 B. C., and McCarthy against Richard Wright in 1953.
It was widely-reported Big Oil had the "largest delegation" at COP26 strange as hanging their logos on Chartres Cathedral.
There is a thick fog of ignorance in the room, and almost no time to open a window.
Congrats to Denmark for being the first country to "Offer 'Loss and Damage' Climate Funding" according to Valerie Volcovici at Reuters, republished at U.S. News & World Report Sept. 20, 2022.
The climate situation has become like a doctor telling a patient: "You may get sick if you don't change your energy diet." followed by "You will get sick." followed by this summer's news, "In worst-case scenarios, you may not survive."
Western red cedars, my favorite local trees, are dying in many areas likely from drought caused by climate change, according to scientists. Nathan Gilles of Columbia Insight wrote at The Register-Guard [in Eugene, OR] September 1, 2022, "To many Indigenous peoples, who used the trees for houses, clothes, weapons, tools, medicines, art and canoes, they’re known as the Tree of Life. [par break] They’ve been recorded to live for over 1,500 years. [par break] But these trees are now dying." He added, "The dieback is widespread, and the cause appears to be climate change. What’s more, we now know that the dieback could be the beginning of the end for the species in many parts of the Pacific Northwest."
When I was a writer-in-residence at Artsmith on Orcas Island, a trail plaque explained western red cedars slowly migrated north after the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. Serena Renner wrote at TheTyee.ca September 15, 2020, "While plant fossils show that a tree like red cedar has been growing around the northwest for as long as 50 million years, the species has only become widespread in the past 4,000 to 5,000 years — long after humans arrived in the region, says Richard Hebda, a paleontologist and adjunct associate professor at the University of Victoria. [par break] Coast Salish Oral History tells that before there was red cedar, there was a generous man. Whenever his people were in need, the man gave food and clothing. Recognizing the man’s good work, the Creator declared that when he died, a red cedar would grow where he was buried and continue to provide for the people. Red cedar did just that, co-evolving with First Nations and helping them build sophisticated societies of unparalleled wealth, abundance and ingenuity. [par break] Prior to cedar, canoes and homes on the coast were often built of Sitka spruce. But once abundant, mother cedar became the tree of choice at least 3,000 years ago. 'Without the environment we live in, we are not who we are,' Hebda says."
Given that, it's a great time for nonviolent creative action to protect who and what you love.
In 2020 I posted
a brief chart about impacts of “What 2C, 3 C, 4 C, and 5 C Mean,” but the above video is much more detailed. It
is my recent favorite climate video, and was made by writer/advisor (for The
Maldives, Government of the Netherlands, “and vulnerable countries”) Mark Lynas
and host Luke Kemp. It was posted Feb 4, 2022, and as of today 9/12/2022 has 25,010 views, but it deserves over two million views.
This post is taking longer than
usual because my wife is scolding me to take out the garbage, and do other
chores. “Uh, I’m helping save all human and nonhuman life on Earth if that’s
okay with you,” I said. She said it wasn’t okay.
What Can Be
Done:
In the above video
Mark Lynas argued human behavior change is not a realistic plan to respond to the climate issue so we must focus on
scalable technology solutions. He may be right, but what if scalable technology
solutions are not possible, given fast rate of change, before human societies fall apart? Interviewer
Luke Kemp responded to the issue of “stratospheric aerosol injection” which I noted in a previous post, according to Corey Gabriel, Executive Director
of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Masters of Advanced Studies in Climate
Science and Policy, is not currently possible at large scale: “Professor
Gabriel said large-scale geoengineering is a challenge because the least
expensive method of using sulphate particulates is not currently possible over
1 C above the 1850 baseline when they fall from the sky, and we are at or over
1 C now [1.2 C as of September 2022]. Therefore, he believes more research is
needed, but [he said] small-scale geoengineering will do more
good than harm.” Kemp noted in the above
video, ”I think that it’s likely to happen in uncoordinated unilateral fashion.
[ . . . ] This is what the modeling almost never actually accounts for. They
always kind of assume this coordinated [ . . . ] best-case scenario in terms of
governance. I think if it does happen, it’s probably going to happen in a much
more ramshackle fashion. And I can’t see us doing it if it stays at 1.5 but once
things get to 2 degrees or 3 degrees [C above 1850 preindustrial baseline] if
the impacts you [ Mark Lynas . . . ] laid out here do come to fruition, I think
it only takes one country to spend a couple billion. They’re going to.”
I agree with Kemp
as I wrote in my aforementioned post, “Scientist and Forbes writer James Conca noted September 10, 2019, '[ . . .
. ] The Chinese have specifically said they will do exactly this [small-scale solar
geoengineering] if things get too out of hand with global warming. And they
have a robust research program already underway.'"
So what
next?I was impressed with inventor and MacArthur
Fellow Saul Griffith’s idea in another Forbes article, “Climate Change Ponzi Scheme” April 6, 2009. Griffith wrote, “You know those
adults who don't let you stay out late, don't let you see certain movies, don't
let you vote--and don't install enough solar cells and wind turbines? Well, you
hold something in your hands that scares the willies out of them: their own
self-interested future. Next time they refuse you a reasonable request, like a
beer on your 18th birthday, the keys to the Prius, or a regulated carbon
market, on the grounds that it's irresponsible, simply reply: 'Then I won't
cover your health care costs and you can rot in your rusty wheelchair with no
dentures to speak of.'"
