There is a direct relationship between the extent to which one is informed on issues pertaining to humanity's 'overshoot' of our planetary boundaries and the extent to which one is prone to pessimism about the future. Unfortunately, climate change is only one of many aspects of this overshoot (others include soil degradation, collapse of insect numbers, collapse of fish stocks, severe pollution of land sea and air, poor management of fresh water, habitat loss, mass extinction of wild species, increasing pandemic vulnerability, worrying population projections, proliferation of PFAs and micro-plastics, decreasing mineral and fertiliser availability, the persistence of new bird flu strains and their devastating effect on the poultry industry etc, etc) and it is the combination of all of these impacts – together with our quite severe global economic and energy-related challenges, that have led the well informed to their somewhat bleak outlook. And that's before you even consider the tense geopolitical landscape, the seemingly unstoppable rise of the hard right, and the impact of rapidly developing use of AI in all aspects of our lives. Even climate scientists can be prone to myopia on the big picture issues. They are used to viewing the world though a narrow lens and this can impede their ability to see the bigger picture. A climate scientist might, for example, suggest that we have decades before the worst climate impacts are witnessed, which may be true according to some models, but this belies the fact that the climate is only one of a myriad of issues that threaten our way of life. I find that systems experts and those from more generalised academic disciplines tend to be the ones who see things most clearly, as they seem adept at 'joining the dots' in the way that is necessary to truly understand the perilous state of our predicament. The 'doomer' movement is growing with every failed COP, and now includes some very eminent scientists. Alternatively, the likes of Michal Mann and others who refuse to accept our predicament are now in a minority and their pleas, like your own, Michael, are sounding increasingly plaintive against the backdrop of relentlessly bleak news and data. And it hasn't escaped our attention that climate scientists are increasingly reporting that the pace of climate change is taking them by surprise – making their previous models and predictions look somewhat optimistic, to say the least. There have been a huge number of scientific articles and reports in recent years that have highlighted the extent to which the latest data is puzzling scientists. What was thought to have been a slow process is, in fact, racing away from us at breakneck speed. I, for one, expect that trend to continue, and even accelerate, and I see no value in clinging to the hope that our (hitherto ineffective) governments will suddenly see sense, untether themselves from fossil fuel interests and act rapidly and purposefully on this issue. Let us face it…that is simply not going to happen. Rather, the methods that have been used so effectively to date (misinformation, the systematic undermining of science and scientists, the use of funds to 'buy' political influence etc) will be ramped up and will result in further political inertia until we finally enter a collapse phase. It doesn't take much research to expose the 'green transition' as a myth. Electricity accounts for but 20% of our collective energy needs, the rest is fossil fuel-powered. The airline industry, shipping, steel, the pharmaceutical industry, concrete and a myriad of other industries still rely on fossil fuels and their bi-products with no viable alternatives in sight. And with what do we replace our reliance on plastics in manufacturing? Siloed climate scientists are all too often unaware of these problems. As for 'doomers'. They are simply people who have read widely, understand, and recognise the severity of these complex and multifarious challenges, and refuse to countenance denial as a means of dealing with our predicament. Pretending things are not as bad as they are is disempowering people from making the kind of sensible decisions that might give them a chance at surviving climate chaos by becoming more resilient. A person who is of the view that things are 'in hand' and governments still have time to respond will not act with due urgency by taking control of their own food, water and energy needs. It's time to face facts….Our governments are not going to solve this problem, no fix-all technology is on the horizon and things are going to get very bad, very quickly. Let's be grown up and start having this difficult, but necessary conversation.
mean
There is a direct relationship between the extent to which one is informed on issues pertaining to humanity's 'overshoot' of our planetary boundaries and the extent to which one is prone to pessimism about the future.
Unfortunately, climate change is only one of many aspects of this overshoot (others include soil degradation, collapse of insect numbers, collapse of fish stocks, severe pollution of land sea and air, poor management of fresh water, habitat loss, mass extinction of wild species, increasing pandemic vulnerability, worrying population projections, proliferation of PFAs and micro-plastics, decreasing mineral and fertiliser availability, the persistence of new bird flu strains and their devastating effect on the poultry industry etc, etc) and it is the combination of all of these impacts – together with our quite severe global economic and energy-related challenges, that have led the well informed to their somewhat bleak outlook. And that's before you even consider the tense geopolitical landscape, the seemingly unstoppable rise of the hard right, and the impact of rapidly developing use of AI in all aspects of our lives.
Even climate scientists can be prone to myopia on the big picture issues. They are used to viewing the world though a narrow lens and this can impede their ability to see the bigger picture. A climate scientist might, for example, suggest that we have decades before the worst climate impacts are witnessed, which may be true according to some models, but this belies the fact that the climate is only one of a myriad of issues that threaten our way of life. I find that systems experts and those from more generalised academic disciplines tend to be the ones who see things most clearly, as they seem adept at 'joining the dots' in the way that is necessary to truly understand the perilous state of our predicament.
The 'doomer' movement is growing with every failed COP, and now includes some very eminent scientists. Alternatively, the likes of Michal Mann and others who refuse to accept our predicament are now in a minority and their pleas, like your own, Michael, are sounding increasingly plaintive against the backdrop of relentlessly bleak news and data. And it hasn't escaped our attention that climate scientists are increasingly reporting that the pace of climate change is taking them by surprise – making their previous models and predictions look somewhat optimistic, to say the least.
There have been a huge number of scientific articles and reports in recent years that have highlighted the extent to which the latest data is puzzling scientists. What was thought to have been a slow process is, in fact, racing away from us at breakneck speed. I, for one, expect that trend to continue, and even accelerate, and I see no value in clinging to the hope that our (hitherto ineffective) governments will suddenly see sense, untether themselves from fossil fuel interests and act rapidly and purposefully on this issue. Let us face it…that is simply not going to happen. Rather, the methods that have been used so effectively to date (misinformation, the systematic undermining of science and scientists, the use of funds to 'buy' political influence etc) will be ramped up and will result in further political inertia until we finally enter a collapse phase.
It doesn't take much research to expose the 'green transition' as a myth. Electricity accounts for but 20% of our collective energy needs, the rest is fossil fuel-powered. The airline industry, shipping, steel, the pharmaceutical industry, concrete and a myriad of other industries still rely on fossil fuels and their bi-products with no viable alternatives in sight. And with what do we replace our reliance on plastics in manufacturing? Siloed climate scientists are all too often unaware of these problems.
As for 'doomers'. They are simply people who have read widely, understand, and recognise the severity of these complex and multifarious challenges, and refuse to countenance denial as a means of dealing with our predicament.
Pretending things are not as bad as they are is disempowering people from making the kind of sensible decisions that might give them a chance at surviving climate chaos by becoming more resilient. A person who is of the view that things are 'in hand' and governments still have time to respond will not act with due urgency by taking control of their own food, water and energy needs. It's time to face facts….Our governments are not going to solve this problem, no fix-all technology is on the horizon and things are going to get very bad, very quickly. Let's be grown up and start having this difficult, but necessary conversation.
I'm buying this guys book
FOS
Studies show CO2 levels have been higher when it was cooler temperatures