Diary 8/14/17 - Where do we go from here?

Historically science has been about learning stuff and better understanding the functioning reality in front of us.  It has always been a constructive dialogue, and even a contact sport between intellectual adults.  That’s because science demanded dedicated nonstop learning and often new information would conflict with long standing beliefs.  Still scientists adhered to rules of honesty, not just honesty in their own scientific work and reports but representing other’s position and evidence honestly, even when debating contentious issues.

Deviants and demagogues would appear from time to time, but given that they were embedded within a skeptical community of informed all-around skeptical experts, the occasional frauds found themselves exposed, while the wheels of science returned to the solid ground of allowing verifiable facts to dictate what people ‘believed’ (though always provisional, knowing that new information could modify and enhance the more simplistic established understanding.

As it turned out, none of that was ever a problem so long as scientific learning was tied to increasing earnings and profits and riches, all was well.

Then during the course of the twentieth century something fundamental and unavoidable changed.  Our science facilitated human population explosion came face to face with the reality of our finite Earth’s limits on growth which then came face to face human’s avaricious appetites.  

Scientists being at the forefront of understanding our living planet, were the first one’s to appreciate the Faustian Bargain our fast paced fossil fuels driven society had locked all of us humans into.

By the 70s the reality was clear,

Earth had limits and humans were beginning to exceed Earth’s ability to sustain ever more, ever greedier humans.

Too many babies, too much consumption and biosphere destruction, too much ocean degradation, too many discarded poisons and too much greenhouse gas ‘insulation” added to our atmosphere promising to radically warm, thus alter climate systems along with the biosphere that weather and climate conditions regulate - and that we depend on for everything. 

The warnings, the message, the evidence, the logic was clear and there for all to learn from and take into account as we moved on into an increasingly crowded contentious world and as always uncertain future.

Eye popping Global Temperature visualization by Antti Lipponen (1900 - 2016), plus supporting info.

http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2017/08/antti-lipponen-visualize-globalwarming.html

Archive, Hanscom AFB Atmospheric Studies, Cambridge Research Lab

http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2016/02/archive-usaf-atmospheric-studies-afcrl.html

CO2 Science - Why We Can Be Sure.

http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2016/12/co2-science-just-facts.html

When science started including bad news about what we were doing to our one and only planet, the increasingly powerful and consolidated oligarchs of industry and business took note, then umbrage at the new science being produced.  Science that made clear their striving for ever more consumption and profits was a guaranteed road to long term ruin for our planet and the society that depends on her health.  

Unfortunately people in general were having too much fun and took the attitude of “Don’t rain on my parade!”  Thus the religion of selfishness championed by the likes of Ayn Rand and the Christian Prosperity Gospel and then supercharged by the deep pockets who genuinely believed their own self-interest was the most important thing on Earth.  How can such thinking not end up in self-destruction?

In America we’ve seen the fruition of this decades long unholy marriage of right-wing extremist politicians and religious extremism (A religious “extremist” being anyone who actually believes they understand God and are acting on behalf of “God Almighty’s Will” rather than out of their own prejudice and avarice - Seems very clear that such people have merely substituting their own EGO’s in place of an unknowable God of time and light, creation and love.)

Where do we go from here?

{to be continued}

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The past half year has been quite a period of changes and reflection for me.  One inescapable seems to be that rolling over and wrapping myself up in my own lucky circumstances and writing off the rest of the world simply isn't an option.  I am and will continue to be an engaged member of our global community during my time, it is there and I can't hide from it.  Hope is a survival strategy in hopeless times.  

So now despite the feeling I'm little more than the sound of one hand clapping, I think I'm going to try and step it up - even try to go for some source funding so that I can finally focus full time on writing rather than this scattered interruption infested effort I live.  I'm what I say I am and two, three thousand a month would buy me that freedom.  Often it seems an impossible dream, other times I realize it doesn't matter, gotta try, take it one day at a time.  What's the worst that can happen?  More silence?  Or perhaps the time to finally be able to really focus and perhaps really accomplish something I can be proud of.

Critique (and/or donations) welcome:

Peter Miesler
aka citizenschallenge
PO Box 56
Durango, Colorado 81302
( citizenschallenge at gmail )

And now I need to run off to another job - new one, who knows what surprises this one holds.