The latest CO2 reading is 431.15. Due to our ages, my wife and I will be victims of climate/energy emergencies, especially if we live much longer. My advice to all those able to do it is to seek shelter. By shelter, I mean a location where self-sufficiency can be practiced either alone or in concert with other, like-minded people. People with longer life spans ahead of them should be focused on survival strategies. Yes, I'm aware that no one will survive but certainly some sort of lifestyle can be salvaged say, in the bread-basket region of upstate NY, the upper mid-west or in the PNW. We have already lived this lifestyle for 5 years in our 70s in the Blue Ridge Mtns. of NC. It can be done, the information is our there, the handwriting is on the wall. Very few are preparing for climate, shortages or disruptions. Such people will look to others for their survival and it will be survival of the fittest. Sorry to be so blunt.
Slow. Getting promised money from NC politicians is difficult. Worst education and teacher stats but cuts to education every year. Lake Lure just recently reopened. The western towns will never be the same. Some good stories of survival prepping and "what to do for next time" coming out of that region. A lot of self-help and local cohesiveness.
Disappointed, but not surprised by slow progress. Even under ideal circumstances recovering from that level of devastation would be monumental. Never lived in NC, but motorcycled the Blue Ridge Mountains and later spent time in lovely Asheville. I'm a bit younger than you and your wife, but share similar problems because of health issues. Stay strong.
Overpopulation scares people because of the eugenist rabble, a reasonable fear given the sickos running the country. I often mention consumption as well, an equal problem. Credible scientists feel the planet is only equipped to sustain 1 or 2 billion and certainly not at these consumption levels.
You make a host of good points here, but the article was focused on the non-reality of a green energy economy and its fatal reliance on diesel fuel. Yeah, fertility is breaking down, and I addressed AMOC in a previous article not long ago. And yes, some feel 3° C by 2060 is a strong possibility. It IS all madness and most don't have a clue of the actual fragility of our existence. There are more than enough potential hazards without doing ourselves in.
It appears the seven million year reign of the dinosaurs will easily beat our "advanced" civilization.
I appreciate your knowledge and angry frustration with the whole shit show.
“Purposefully reducing human population in light of what is actually happening here in this tiny, twirling, externally forced, exceedingly unstable clump of space debris, is actual madness”
Don’t worry, no one here that cites overpopulation is advocating a forced reduction in population, we’re just emphasising that it is the biggest issue of ecological overshoot, and to ignore it is also madness. We are breaking the taboo.
We all know that those in charge want more humans because they want more customers, and to those in charge the economy is more valuable than life itself, right?
Many of us that study this also know the points raised - the fertility crisis, micro-plastic/PFAS toxification, over-crowding, elevated CO2 etc are acheiving the desired reduction of population anyway. It’s just not kicking in fully yet due to the usual demographic lag. Trump and his bunch of Christian Taliban are also accelerating the same drivers even as they attempt to take over womens’ bodies with more and more onerous legislation and cultural ravaging.
The irony is that humans are causing their own demise with their own toxification, rather than natural forces causing it.
As well, the world chases gold as its monetary savior, with central bank vaults crammed with it. And for what? Nobody needs ANY MORE gold - there is too much already. Yet the severely damaging mining goes on, tearing up and severely polluting more land via the usual heap leach process, where a pile of ore is stacked up and chemicals such as cyanide are poured over it repeatedly to leach gold into the liquid. And the poisonous tailings? Collateral damage to the environment. Steven Newbury has written a lot about the impossibility of building a new energy system from the remains of this failing one. https://theuaob.substack.com/
We can't eat gold. Even the schmucks who have the most of it will discover a potato has far more value after they have destroyed the rest of us.
Mining is a filthy business with a long history of crimes against humanity as well. Let's enjoy that cobalt in our "smart" phones in part mined by children in the Congo.
Suffering from information overload, but I will check out Steven's work. We smaller voices are the last ones of sanity.
Thank you for reminding me to take in the wonders of Spring while we still have it! I loved your descriptions, and then I crashed on the side of my mind's eye road. Reaity is a harsh pill, and it tastes rotten. Degrowth sounds like the solution, but it will come with another price to pay. Your article brings us full circle and reminds me of what's to come. Again, thanks, Geoff.
Appreciating the good moments in life is what makes a good life. Unfortunately, as usual I had to turn stern. The circumstances dictate what I write.
Degrowth was a calm, rational plan based on the limits of what the planet can sustain and respect for all people. Implemented properly it would have meant less material wealth, but more time for our family, friends and community. I dislike referring to it in the past tense, but we have squandered that window of opportunity. Thank you for supporting my work, Pam.
Thank you for your data driven postings, Geoffey! I and some of my Zoom friends are wondering why it is taking so long to finalize the Average CO2 ppm for the month of March as it is still showing February's number and it's already the 26th of April: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
Thank you for reading and forgiving my sloppiness! In my anxiousness I published without a proper proofread (my shoulders were quite tight). The last paragraph particularly changed.
You probably know NOAA has been hugely damaged by DOGE hundreds of climate workers fired. I ran across some spurious government information in researching this article about how CO2 is a useful friend. It is fortunate others are working to take up the slack. I'm almost surprised that Mauna Loa information is still up at all.
I agree AOC has pushed right compared to what her original ideals were. The Green New Deal even its best form fell far short of the goals needed to be achieved on our GHG saturated, overshot planet. The only rational plan formulated in 1972 I believe was degrowth, obviously a political non-starter in the age of hallucinatory, oil powered consumption.
After our farm (south of Hot Springs), we lived in Asheville for 2 years, then moved east. Asheville was so cool-cafes and music venues, easy in-easy out. Tough to see all that beauty smashed. Why is it only some people can see that a warning shot, a premonition, a reason to prepare?
I stated passive solar comes without a price. When you add wind turbines, hundreds of thousands of acres of solar panels and "smoothing" battery grids, your back to overshoot feeding environmental destruction and all of that requires diesel fuel. Mining has a long ugly history and also competes with drinking and agricultural water. For example, one ton of raw mined lithium ore requires 500,000 gallons of water before it's even processed to battery grade material.
The latest CO2 reading is 431.15. Due to our ages, my wife and I will be victims of climate/energy emergencies, especially if we live much longer. My advice to all those able to do it is to seek shelter. By shelter, I mean a location where self-sufficiency can be practiced either alone or in concert with other, like-minded people. People with longer life spans ahead of them should be focused on survival strategies. Yes, I'm aware that no one will survive but certainly some sort of lifestyle can be salvaged say, in the bread-basket region of upstate NY, the upper mid-west or in the PNW. We have already lived this lifestyle for 5 years in our 70s in the Blue Ridge Mtns. of NC. It can be done, the information is our there, the handwriting is on the wall. Very few are preparing for climate, shortages or disruptions. Such people will look to others for their survival and it will be survival of the fittest. Sorry to be so blunt.
Tough, but realistic advice, Wayne. What is recovery in your neck of the woods looking like since Helene?
Slow. Getting promised money from NC politicians is difficult. Worst education and teacher stats but cuts to education every year. Lake Lure just recently reopened. The western towns will never be the same. Some good stories of survival prepping and "what to do for next time" coming out of that region. A lot of self-help and local cohesiveness.
Disappointed, but not surprised by slow progress. Even under ideal circumstances recovering from that level of devastation would be monumental. Never lived in NC, but motorcycled the Blue Ridge Mountains and later spent time in lovely Asheville. I'm a bit younger than you and your wife, but share similar problems because of health issues. Stay strong.
THANK YOU FOR USING THE WORD “OVERPOPULATION”. So many are afraid of it. And yes, I meant to shout the first sentence.
Overpopulation scares people because of the eugenist rabble, a reasonable fear given the sickos running the country. I often mention consumption as well, an equal problem. Credible scientists feel the planet is only equipped to sustain 1 or 2 billion and certainly not at these consumption levels.
Agree 100%. Still, I wanted to acknowledge that one word because not many have the courage to include it
You make a host of good points here, but the article was focused on the non-reality of a green energy economy and its fatal reliance on diesel fuel. Yeah, fertility is breaking down, and I addressed AMOC in a previous article not long ago. And yes, some feel 3° C by 2060 is a strong possibility. It IS all madness and most don't have a clue of the actual fragility of our existence. There are more than enough potential hazards without doing ourselves in.
It appears the seven million year reign of the dinosaurs will easily beat our "advanced" civilization.
I appreciate your knowledge and angry frustration with the whole shit show.
“Purposefully reducing human population in light of what is actually happening here in this tiny, twirling, externally forced, exceedingly unstable clump of space debris, is actual madness”
Don’t worry, no one here that cites overpopulation is advocating a forced reduction in population, we’re just emphasising that it is the biggest issue of ecological overshoot, and to ignore it is also madness. We are breaking the taboo.
We all know that those in charge want more humans because they want more customers, and to those in charge the economy is more valuable than life itself, right?
Many of us that study this also know the points raised - the fertility crisis, micro-plastic/PFAS toxification, over-crowding, elevated CO2 etc are acheiving the desired reduction of population anyway. It’s just not kicking in fully yet due to the usual demographic lag. Trump and his bunch of Christian Taliban are also accelerating the same drivers even as they attempt to take over womens’ bodies with more and more onerous legislation and cultural ravaging.
The irony is that humans are causing their own demise with their own toxification, rather than natural forces causing it.
Wut?
Love your nom de plume.
As well, the world chases gold as its monetary savior, with central bank vaults crammed with it. And for what? Nobody needs ANY MORE gold - there is too much already. Yet the severely damaging mining goes on, tearing up and severely polluting more land via the usual heap leach process, where a pile of ore is stacked up and chemicals such as cyanide are poured over it repeatedly to leach gold into the liquid. And the poisonous tailings? Collateral damage to the environment. Steven Newbury has written a lot about the impossibility of building a new energy system from the remains of this failing one. https://theuaob.substack.com/
We can't eat gold. Even the schmucks who have the most of it will discover a potato has far more value after they have destroyed the rest of us.
Mining is a filthy business with a long history of crimes against humanity as well. Let's enjoy that cobalt in our "smart" phones in part mined by children in the Congo.
Suffering from information overload, but I will check out Steven's work. We smaller voices are the last ones of sanity.
Thank you for reminding me to take in the wonders of Spring while we still have it! I loved your descriptions, and then I crashed on the side of my mind's eye road. Reaity is a harsh pill, and it tastes rotten. Degrowth sounds like the solution, but it will come with another price to pay. Your article brings us full circle and reminds me of what's to come. Again, thanks, Geoff.
Appreciating the good moments in life is what makes a good life. Unfortunately, as usual I had to turn stern. The circumstances dictate what I write.
Degrowth was a calm, rational plan based on the limits of what the planet can sustain and respect for all people. Implemented properly it would have meant less material wealth, but more time for our family, friends and community. I dislike referring to it in the past tense, but we have squandered that window of opportunity. Thank you for supporting my work, Pam.
Thank you for your data driven postings, Geoffey! I and some of my Zoom friends are wondering why it is taking so long to finalize the Average CO2 ppm for the month of March as it is still showing February's number and it's already the 26th of April: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
The scatter chart on the Last Month tab shows the story as undoubtedly it's above last May's record 430.51 ppm: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/monthly.html And away we go!
Thank you for reading and forgiving my sloppiness! In my anxiousness I published without a proper proofread (my shoulders were quite tight). The last paragraph particularly changed.
You probably know NOAA has been hugely damaged by DOGE hundreds of climate workers fired. I ran across some spurious government information in researching this article about how CO2 is a useful friend. It is fortunate others are working to take up the slack. I'm almost surprised that Mauna Loa information is still up at all.
Reading one-quarter in, it sounds like the Democrats invented the "Green New Deal."
Actually, the posturing AOC and others did the first watering-down, when they ripped off the actual Green New Deal from the Green Party.
https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-green-new-deal-vs-green-new-deal.html
I agree AOC has pushed right compared to what her original ideals were. The Green New Deal even its best form fell far short of the goals needed to be achieved on our GHG saturated, overshot planet. The only rational plan formulated in 1972 I believe was degrowth, obviously a political non-starter in the age of hallucinatory, oil powered consumption.
After our farm (south of Hot Springs), we lived in Asheville for 2 years, then moved east. Asheville was so cool-cafes and music venues, easy in-easy out. Tough to see all that beauty smashed. Why is it only some people can see that a warning shot, a premonition, a reason to prepare?
Yeah, Asheville was great. Loved it.
Sunshine and wind are finite?
I stated passive solar comes without a price. When you add wind turbines, hundreds of thousands of acres of solar panels and "smoothing" battery grids, your back to overshoot feeding environmental destruction and all of that requires diesel fuel. Mining has a long ugly history and also competes with drinking and agricultural water. For example, one ton of raw mined lithium ore requires 500,000 gallons of water before it's even processed to battery grade material.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/showdown-at-thacker-pass