Certainly, the deprivation of Germany after WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The roots of the Civil War are ugly, but it did emancipate slaves, which of course was morally correct. All war is heinous, and I agree, one needs to look at the conditions that precede these horrors. I am fearful of the conditions we see today.
Very passionate and scary article, Geoffrrey, and i appreciate the fact that my friends who don't feel as committed as i and others do will read and be grabbed by it. i'm a farmer (albeit a small one and every time harvest, planting, fertilizing, aerial spraying assaults us all, I feel guilty on behalf of my neighbors (I eschew any of those methods - I'd rather have an achy back for a few days.) But i do wonder 'how are we going to get all this done' since it's off the plates now, thank goodness. (I'm n author, musician and organizer, too, among other things.) And I have some of that poison in my body from prior surgeries which harm everyone but i didn't know that at the time. i'm very glad you've brought these very scary issues up - we used to do them but as I learned more, both about agriculture and politics (the same as mega-corporate control of our society - world. I do what i can but how much can we cut back, during all 4 seasons. I'm glad you opened this bucket of worms because the beaucratic mess will only, as you note beard this lion in the den.
Betsy, you are in a unique position as a Native American, a minority persecuted with a perspective lost on the conquerors. Frankly, that term NA offends me, because that is a name put upon indigenous people when whites with their command of the oceans and gunpowder exercised genocide over those they discovered, dismissing them as inferior. I don't feel personal guilt as I was not there, but I do feel rage and sadness about these things, which I try to channel usefully into my writing.
The spraying you mentioned reminds me of Monsanto, whose genetically modified plants cross-pollinated with farmers growing organic crops years ago. Lawsuits were lost. Another corporate evil undermining a reasonable, sustainable way of living on our planet.
Writing this stuff is draining, but I feel it's an obligation. If I can see the truth, and have some ability to communicate it, then I must. This is truly our make-or-break moment on the planet, and it's horrifying how few understand this. One Earth, one people, or we're done. Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.
Thanks Birgitte, I know there are many smart, passionate people doing good work. I feel more alone than lonely, if that makes sense, an awareness that so many are unaware.
It does make sense. Yes, many are unaware, but many are also more awake than they let on. Our perception of society is shaped by what we read, see, and hear—and that alone is a full-time job multiple times over!
Indeed, keeping up with information is an impossibility. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Our mainstream media falls so short. My goal with every article is to pull from numerous sources, make connections, and in some cases make technical information understandable. I was only on Twitter briefly, but in that time was introduced to many climate scientists. Their publications of course are dry, and sometimes almost impenetrable. I try in part to bridge that gap, and also make people aware of the seriousness of this crisis.
Some days it's daunting. Who am I to do this? There are so many great journalists out there that have made careers and written books on the subjects I am concerned with. Bottom line for me is if I know something, I need to do something. Hopefully, some of the modest readership I have gained learns something of value and carries it forward.
Certainly, the deprivation of Germany after WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The roots of the Civil War are ugly, but it did emancipate slaves, which of course was morally correct. All war is heinous, and I agree, one needs to look at the conditions that precede these horrors to avoid them. I am fearful of the conditions we see today.
I am familiar with much of the thinking of the opscience article. I think the carbon capture scenario is complete shit. It will never happen at the scale required, and its own energy consumption and pollution would need to be captured as well. Radically cutting CO2 and methane emissions NOW, is absolutely necessary. Yet, cutting it off would cause massive suffering and ensuing violence. Some think we should look at nuclear again. I have misgivings about that, but have not researched it since college and understand the technology has changed greatly. Of course, none of this addresses the core problems of over population and overconsumption or the concept of conservation (where did that go?) or sensible urban planning, mass transit, or continuing the trend of working from home since Covid. There are a ton of low tech approaches we could take, maybe not complete solutions, but ones that should be implemented, but no political will or wisdom.
-- Omission: the need to protect our communities from the consequences of climate emergency.
-- False impression given that individual contributions have an impact at all comparable to those of the corporations and governments. Urging people to reduce personal consumption puts pressure in the wrong place. For example, people in rural areas may need to run fossil-fueled chainsaws to protect themselves from out-of-control wildfires driven by climate change.
It seems too ironic, but we will need fossil fuels to protect us from our failure to stop the use of fossil fuels.
-- helpful display of complex ecological factors 🙏🏼🌲💧
I'm glad you found the article useful, thank you for reading and commenting. I agree that corporations and governments are the primary culprits in the climate emergency. The U.S. military alone emits equivalent GHGs to be the 47th biggest contributor in the world if it was a country. I also agree, survival for the vast majority of us is dependent on FFs. Even if your rural example could get by with electric chain saws, that does little good if the power is supplied by a dirty plant. Transitioning to renewables requires massive FFs as well.
Adequately protecting communities from the changes we're seeing is a huge issue. That should have started many years ago and carries complex economic and social issues. Apparently, a $52 billion plan exists for protecting NYC with walls and dykes. However, what about once again those rural communities endangered by agricultural failure? What about people who lose the grid in the south and west during a grid failure in extreme heat? I've written about wet bulb temperature twice.
Heck, New Orleans never completely recovered from Katrina in 2005 and there were 28 billion dollar events in the country last year. Our government is not getting the job done. They're in the pockets of big business.
This is why I call on individuals to do what they can. We can all cut consumption. We can boycott. Some of can strike. Some of us can protest, as proven by the massive rage over Gaza. We need to pressure our governments and corporations in any way we can at this point, because if fascist forces we're seeing rise, (which will likely be exacerbated by climate change and economic crisis), it will be game over for a planet that can sustain us.
It's extremely disappointing Biden hasn't used his bully pulpit to lay out a big vision. He's managed to enact some policy, but he hasn't rallied the people. I think that has been a serious failing. FDR infamously had his fireside chats when the country was in deep crisis. Biden should have been doing the same.
New Freedom Rides sound appealing. There is much from the Civil Rights movement that could be applied here. Many of the deepest rifts in our society are completely manufactured, that's why I called out Murdock. The same person who rages about climate change being a left-wing hoax, would often be the neighbor who would lend a hand if asked. There are many drivers of this, starting with our government that used to be able to find consensus, degraded to nothing more than a power struggle in which the rhetoric grows more absurd and inflammatory by the day. There are an array of systemic problems that need to be fixed, but no time now as far as tipping points are concerned. That's why I keep calling on people to do what they can, something at least. If you're older or handicapped in some way, you can still move your bank accounts. If you're younger, healthy and have little personal wealth to affect change, you can march and protest. We can all boycott and eliminate unnecessary consumption. Corporations do pay attention to their bottom lines if not our voices. The horror in Israel and now bombing of Yemen demonstrate how beholden our government is to corporate power and the flow of oil. That's where western power flows from. They have no intention of ending drilling until every last drop is extracted.
Certainly, the deprivation of Germany after WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The roots of the Civil War are ugly, but it did emancipate slaves, which of course was morally correct. All war is heinous, and I agree, one needs to look at the conditions that precede these horrors. I am fearful of the conditions we see today.
Very passionate and scary article, Geoffrrey, and i appreciate the fact that my friends who don't feel as committed as i and others do will read and be grabbed by it. i'm a farmer (albeit a small one and every time harvest, planting, fertilizing, aerial spraying assaults us all, I feel guilty on behalf of my neighbors (I eschew any of those methods - I'd rather have an achy back for a few days.) But i do wonder 'how are we going to get all this done' since it's off the plates now, thank goodness. (I'm n author, musician and organizer, too, among other things.) And I have some of that poison in my body from prior surgeries which harm everyone but i didn't know that at the time. i'm very glad you've brought these very scary issues up - we used to do them but as I learned more, both about agriculture and politics (the same as mega-corporate control of our society - world. I do what i can but how much can we cut back, during all 4 seasons. I'm glad you opened this bucket of worms because the beaucratic mess will only, as you note beard this lion in the den.
Betsy, you are in a unique position as a Native American, a minority persecuted with a perspective lost on the conquerors. Frankly, that term NA offends me, because that is a name put upon indigenous people when whites with their command of the oceans and gunpowder exercised genocide over those they discovered, dismissing them as inferior. I don't feel personal guilt as I was not there, but I do feel rage and sadness about these things, which I try to channel usefully into my writing.
The spraying you mentioned reminds me of Monsanto, whose genetically modified plants cross-pollinated with farmers growing organic crops years ago. Lawsuits were lost. Another corporate evil undermining a reasonable, sustainable way of living on our planet.
Writing this stuff is draining, but I feel it's an obligation. If I can see the truth, and have some ability to communicate it, then I must. This is truly our make-or-break moment on the planet, and it's horrifying how few understand this. One Earth, one people, or we're done. Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.
Holding space for you Geoffrey. Many of us doing this work, some more silent than others. As lonely as it feels sometimes, you're one of many.
Thanks Birgitte, I know there are many smart, passionate people doing good work. I feel more alone than lonely, if that makes sense, an awareness that so many are unaware.
It does make sense. Yes, many are unaware, but many are also more awake than they let on. Our perception of society is shaped by what we read, see, and hear—and that alone is a full-time job multiple times over!
Indeed, keeping up with information is an impossibility. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Our mainstream media falls so short. My goal with every article is to pull from numerous sources, make connections, and in some cases make technical information understandable. I was only on Twitter briefly, but in that time was introduced to many climate scientists. Their publications of course are dry, and sometimes almost impenetrable. I try in part to bridge that gap, and also make people aware of the seriousness of this crisis.
Some days it's daunting. Who am I to do this? There are so many great journalists out there that have made careers and written books on the subjects I am concerned with. Bottom line for me is if I know something, I need to do something. Hopefully, some of the modest readership I have gained learns something of value and carries it forward.
Our war for independence from England may have been righteous, but the civil war and WWII ... we created the conditions that led to both of those.
Certainly, the deprivation of Germany after WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The roots of the Civil War are ugly, but it did emancipate slaves, which of course was morally correct. All war is heinous, and I agree, one needs to look at the conditions that precede these horrors to avoid them. I am fearful of the conditions we see today.
Read this one: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad059e
and my related post at https://kathleenmccroskey.substack.com/p/a-graet-mindshift-part-two
I am familiar with much of the thinking of the opscience article. I think the carbon capture scenario is complete shit. It will never happen at the scale required, and its own energy consumption and pollution would need to be captured as well. Radically cutting CO2 and methane emissions NOW, is absolutely necessary. Yet, cutting it off would cause massive suffering and ensuing violence. Some think we should look at nuclear again. I have misgivings about that, but have not researched it since college and understand the technology has changed greatly. Of course, none of this addresses the core problems of over population and overconsumption or the concept of conservation (where did that go?) or sensible urban planning, mass transit, or continuing the trend of working from home since Covid. There are a ton of low tech approaches we could take, maybe not complete solutions, but ones that should be implemented, but no political will or wisdom.
Kathleen, your own post looks as if it contains many of the issues i ponder. I look forder to leading it tomorrow.
Thank you for your comment. Note that the page address for that has changed to https://kathleenmccroskey.substack.com/p/240170114
Thanks for your excellent discussion:
-- Omission: the need to protect our communities from the consequences of climate emergency.
-- False impression given that individual contributions have an impact at all comparable to those of the corporations and governments. Urging people to reduce personal consumption puts pressure in the wrong place. For example, people in rural areas may need to run fossil-fueled chainsaws to protect themselves from out-of-control wildfires driven by climate change.
It seems too ironic, but we will need fossil fuels to protect us from our failure to stop the use of fossil fuels.
-- helpful display of complex ecological factors 🙏🏼🌲💧
I'm glad you found the article useful, thank you for reading and commenting. I agree that corporations and governments are the primary culprits in the climate emergency. The U.S. military alone emits equivalent GHGs to be the 47th biggest contributor in the world if it was a country. I also agree, survival for the vast majority of us is dependent on FFs. Even if your rural example could get by with electric chain saws, that does little good if the power is supplied by a dirty plant. Transitioning to renewables requires massive FFs as well.
Adequately protecting communities from the changes we're seeing is a huge issue. That should have started many years ago and carries complex economic and social issues. Apparently, a $52 billion plan exists for protecting NYC with walls and dykes. However, what about once again those rural communities endangered by agricultural failure? What about people who lose the grid in the south and west during a grid failure in extreme heat? I've written about wet bulb temperature twice.
Heck, New Orleans never completely recovered from Katrina in 2005 and there were 28 billion dollar events in the country last year. Our government is not getting the job done. They're in the pockets of big business.
This is why I call on individuals to do what they can. We can all cut consumption. We can boycott. Some of can strike. Some of us can protest, as proven by the massive rage over Gaza. We need to pressure our governments and corporations in any way we can at this point, because if fascist forces we're seeing rise, (which will likely be exacerbated by climate change and economic crisis), it will be game over for a planet that can sustain us.
It's extremely disappointing Biden hasn't used his bully pulpit to lay out a big vision. He's managed to enact some policy, but he hasn't rallied the people. I think that has been a serious failing. FDR infamously had his fireside chats when the country was in deep crisis. Biden should have been doing the same.
New Freedom Rides sound appealing. There is much from the Civil Rights movement that could be applied here. Many of the deepest rifts in our society are completely manufactured, that's why I called out Murdock. The same person who rages about climate change being a left-wing hoax, would often be the neighbor who would lend a hand if asked. There are many drivers of this, starting with our government that used to be able to find consensus, degraded to nothing more than a power struggle in which the rhetoric grows more absurd and inflammatory by the day. There are an array of systemic problems that need to be fixed, but no time now as far as tipping points are concerned. That's why I keep calling on people to do what they can, something at least. If you're older or handicapped in some way, you can still move your bank accounts. If you're younger, healthy and have little personal wealth to affect change, you can march and protest. We can all boycott and eliminate unnecessary consumption. Corporations do pay attention to their bottom lines if not our voices. The horror in Israel and now bombing of Yemen demonstrate how beholden our government is to corporate power and the flow of oil. That's where western power flows from. They have no intention of ending drilling until every last drop is extracted.