We're on thin ice and it's melting
We are on Earth to learn and try and do something positive with what we've learned. That means there is something between denial of climate change and passive acceptance of it.
Who would have imagined that we could affect the weather? We've recently - with so many dramatic stories of droughts, unusual freezes, and other record-breaking weather events - been rudely forced out of our denial. It took all of us a long time to change the weather, and it won't be easy restabilizing it. But it's not time to get depressed. Like 6 billion and counting ants on on a boat adrift, it's hard to imagine we'll figure out how to work together to steer the thing. But, humans being like ants in that a lot of us are hardwired to work together for the whole, we're bound to try - even if there's a good chance it's too late for ourselves as individuals. We don't have the right to give up.
The interaction between changes going on in the world, at this time in history, in my opinion, will result in the near future in enormous challenges for all of us. The price of food and everything else may skyrocket, so we should among other things be making serious community efforts to gear up to grow some of our own food. Increasingly unstable weather and violent international competition over fossil fuels mean we can no longer assume steady energy supplies and electricity, so businesses should be starting which can enable "distributed micro-power" - locally produced and distributed electricity like wind, solar and biofuels. Just as cell phones show their value when the power lines go down, local energy will be life saving when the big industrial power sources go on the fritz.
The Vietnam war was going on about the time laser technology came out. I recognized it's ability to be used as a weapon, but who would have imagined there'd be millions of them in grocery stores? We who grew up in the nuclear age have developed nuclear weapons to their logical absurdity, with weapons so powerful no one in their right mind would use them. Now we've a whole quantum leap forward of new technologies to use or misuse at our disgression. Laser and other technologies have been so advanced by military developers that the next [last?] world war would resemble Star Wars. If we can't see all life as one family, we as a species may be slated for extinction.
It's possible to see disaster looming and not become paralyzed by fear. This is called grace under pressure. We can see ourselves as bigger than we are - that we are a part of a much bigger picture. There is reason we are in this terribly challenging time. Acting for the whole community, in service of life though we can't see the future, is the only way to go. Otherwise, the nightmare will deepen. Things can always get better or worse.
One of the causes of my recently more frequent nightmares is that I read that some reputable scientists are discussing the possibility that both melting of ice and falling into the sea of the ice shelves could raise sea levels many feet. It was not too long ago when the discussion was in centimeters, hard to imagine making much of a difference. But now, with evidence of dramatic weather changes daily smacking us in the face, it makes sense to take seriously those who entertain the possibility that some of the world's major coastal cities could find their street levels underwater soon. Climate change is turning out to be much more abrupt than most would have seriously considered possible not long ago. Now that we're out of denial, let's stay out of it. Some of the worst predictions have come true. We must use all our resources - human, financial, technological - to save the Earth's ecosystem. After all, we're part of it.
Who would have imagined that we could affect the weather? We've recently - with so many dramatic stories of droughts, unusual freezes, and other record-breaking weather events - been rudely forced out of our denial. It took all of us a long time to change the weather, and it won't be easy restabilizing it. But it's not time to get depressed. Like 6 billion and counting ants on on a boat adrift, it's hard to imagine we'll figure out how to work together to steer the thing. But, humans being like ants in that a lot of us are hardwired to work together for the whole, we're bound to try - even if there's a good chance it's too late for ourselves as individuals. We don't have the right to give up.
The interaction between changes going on in the world, at this time in history, in my opinion, will result in the near future in enormous challenges for all of us. The price of food and everything else may skyrocket, so we should among other things be making serious community efforts to gear up to grow some of our own food. Increasingly unstable weather and violent international competition over fossil fuels mean we can no longer assume steady energy supplies and electricity, so businesses should be starting which can enable "distributed micro-power" - locally produced and distributed electricity like wind, solar and biofuels. Just as cell phones show their value when the power lines go down, local energy will be life saving when the big industrial power sources go on the fritz.
The Vietnam war was going on about the time laser technology came out. I recognized it's ability to be used as a weapon, but who would have imagined there'd be millions of them in grocery stores? We who grew up in the nuclear age have developed nuclear weapons to their logical absurdity, with weapons so powerful no one in their right mind would use them. Now we've a whole quantum leap forward of new technologies to use or misuse at our disgression. Laser and other technologies have been so advanced by military developers that the next [last?] world war would resemble Star Wars. If we can't see all life as one family, we as a species may be slated for extinction.
It's possible to see disaster looming and not become paralyzed by fear. This is called grace under pressure. We can see ourselves as bigger than we are - that we are a part of a much bigger picture. There is reason we are in this terribly challenging time. Acting for the whole community, in service of life though we can't see the future, is the only way to go. Otherwise, the nightmare will deepen. Things can always get better or worse.
One of the causes of my recently more frequent nightmares is that I read that some reputable scientists are discussing the possibility that both melting of ice and falling into the sea of the ice shelves could raise sea levels many feet. It was not too long ago when the discussion was in centimeters, hard to imagine making much of a difference. But now, with evidence of dramatic weather changes daily smacking us in the face, it makes sense to take seriously those who entertain the possibility that some of the world's major coastal cities could find their street levels underwater soon. Climate change is turning out to be much more abrupt than most would have seriously considered possible not long ago. Now that we're out of denial, let's stay out of it. Some of the worst predictions have come true. We must use all our resources - human, financial, technological - to save the Earth's ecosystem. After all, we're part of it.
posted by St. Jim the Composter at 2:26 PM
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