The seasons are big shifting as the first day of summer comes to my area with its predictable heat and humidity. Greenland and the arctic are loosing permafrost (as was predicted but not for decades) and Colorado just got two feet of snow at the 7,000 foot level, which is also unusual. My yard is working its way to a hellish summer, but surprisingly the June weather is perfect this week. Yes, weather anomalies are normal while not predictable. It is not the incident which we must accept but the trend for more frequent anomalies and anomalies of greater proportion. Whole communities are burned to ash or drowned in rising waters. Entire agricultural communities have been destroyed in drought and flood.
I have accepted that mankind is changing the world dramatically in many ways (not just the weather/climate) and I accept that we can destroy this planet so easily in both little and big ways and that we are basically too naive or distracted to realize our power. If you are a believer in a higher power, you may assume that there is a benign force that will pull us away from the cliff at the last minute while introducing a lesson in sin. Perhaps you assume that the higher power is not benign and just an entity with an intellectual curiosity about the evolution of all the living things he/she has installed on this blue planet and watches with fascination as we destroy ourselves.
I do not know. I do know we ignore at our own peril.
I will not argue with you on the whys of this danger, because beliefs are not weak opinions open to easy change, and I do not like argument. These are life-long postulations hung on the hook of certainty and security, and I am not able to reach that high and unhook them and then catch you as you fall.. I will discuss with you about mankind's ability to influence this planet, though.
I do believe finally in good and evil, but evil is hidden in camouflage and beauty and good is shrouded in sweaty work and sacrifice.
It is difficult to believe that many remain unconcerned.
ReplyDeleteI think, with climate change there are two unknowables. One whether the past changes had reasons we can logically discover and utilize for today to turn things around. Since so much climate research is based on projections, one has to use the past but how to do it-- that is the question. Those past changes might have been impacted by the sun, who even now mystifies us for what it does-- again unknowable nor can we control it. The second to me is how do you get the world to go along with whatever plan is offered. The Paris accords let developing nations as well as China and India continue on for more years. If an accord does not involve us all for similar carbon demands, is it more social than scientific? It is said that the US has reduced our carbon footprint in the last years-- while we encourage developing nations to have more middle class citizens, who will be using more fuel as they prosper.
ReplyDeleteOregon is going through its own tussle over this with a democrat controlled government (since '18), it tried to pass a carbon footprint bill that would be like cap and trade and follow California's lead. The cities love it. The rural dwellers not so much as it will much increase fuel costs due to their need to travel farther than city dwellers. So the truckers and loggers, etc. went to Salem to protest, not that the left cared. Then the right side of the legislature decided to leave the state to prevent a quorum, no vote, no bill. What the right wants is for this bill, which will muchly impact the poorer more than the richer, to be put to the people on a ballot. Our governor, far left lady, sent out the cops to round up the legislators as she fumes they are not doing their job. I guess she and the left fear if it comes to a vote, that Oregon is not far enough left to vote in added taxes. Exactly what cap and trade will do is debatable but it's popular to democratic socialists for whatever that means.
The problem with things like cap and trade are always do they really do anything or just make people think they did something-- usually at someone else's expense.
Myself I see the changes and feel concern more for the oceans than maybe land. We are not prepared for the fact that we perch on this earth but don't really control it, much as we might wish we did. Where some depend on a god to save us; others are sure that will be science. Maybe none can if we look at the past, best as we can understand it.
In any case, I believe our children and grandchildren will live in a very different world. Of course we all do so that is certainly not a profound thought, but I am not so sure it will be a better world.
ReplyDeleteit is obvious that some of the changes are caused by humans. we have only to look back 50 years or so when smog was commonplace and our lakes and rivers were catching fire and others so polluted that warning signs had to be posted. the EPA with it's clean air and water regulations cleaned it all up but now thanks to Trump, we are headed back to polluted air and water because of greed. the rich don't think they rich enough. it's also obvious when we know that trees are the lungs of the planet, that give us the oxygen we need to breathe and we clearcut the forests. we have poisoned the land that the food we eat is grown in thus poisoning our food. and there is no doubt that human activity is increasing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. perhaps the planet in whatever cycle is warming naturally but we humans have escalated it no doubt. I personally don't think humans have it in them to come together and do the hard work needed to curb our contributions. the people in Europe don't want the people fleeing devastation in the Middle East and the people in America don't want the people fleeing the dangers in Central America. Just wait until 50% of the world's population is on the move because their homes are underwater or land has become desert.
ReplyDeleteYour last two paragraphs are masterful, and give me pause to think as I examine the conflict in thinking I have with some close to me.
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat stymied as to what I can do about climate change. I see it happening and am conflicted. Referencing your other blog, do we build a fence against the hungry rabbit, or let or gardens go natural? If man tries to alter the forces of nature, how will nature react? Is nature reacting to our overuse and abuse of our planet? Probably. But we still keep on producing more and more people, and more flowers to protect from rabbits.
I too do what I can even with other things on my mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Linda, this is a masterful post. I don't know what will happen, but the world cannot continue on in this way. I believe that there will be some sort of cataclysm, like perhaps a pandemic, that will wipe out millions and perhaps change the trajectory. We have too many people,which is the crux of the problem. I know I have said it before: I'm glad I'm old and will probably not be around to see the worst of what's to come. :-(
ReplyDeleteI think things are changing... and more rapidly than people realize. While I do believe we must do what we can, I'm not so sure about how much we will affect. Nature will out in the long run.
ReplyDeleteAnthropocene, heard on TV, is the name of thus Earth era. Scary I say it us. While human activity has impact, I believe Earth's systems will (and are) impact back.
ReplyDeleteIt boils down to the fact that we need to care very deeply, as individuals and collectively, what impact we have, and do everything we can to do right by our home.
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ReplyDeleteThe change is obvious when I look at the shoreline here on this tiny island. It is disappearing at an alarming rate with extremes of heat, cold and wind every year now being the worst ever on record. What can I do as an individual.? I fear it is already too late.
The articulate amongst us must stick to the cause. Spread the word in any way possible and your blog does that commendably.
ReplyDeleteI think it was the late George Carlin who said (approximately) "Don't worry about Planet Earth. The planet will be fine; it's the people who are screwed."
ReplyDeleteIt's fine, I think, to lower one's carbon footprint and the like, but unfortunately the purposeful climate disbelievers run the show at present, at least in the U.S. A well-placed vote at the next appropriate time might be the best one can do for the race...
A scary post. I wish the whole world's population could work together to save the planet for our grandchildren. But I fear that is wishful thinking. I have faith in scientists finding a solution.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes even good and beauty are ignored or beaten down.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Tugster's post on Mermaids? Nice photos of mermaids for climate change.
ReplyDeleteI, perhaps, do no follow Tugster...so send me the link.
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