It struck me as ironic coming on the heels of yet another profoundly damaging Democratic Party failure. That is their inability to stop the GOP Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination atrocity against democracy. It serves as yet another example of avoiding the real issue and talking past each other. So I selected the following quotes before trying to enunciate what’s missing.
"Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet”
The easy way to cut emissions – closing coal power stations – is exhausted. Now the public has to be convinced to make sacrifices
“Partisanship is a problem, too. Arguments about climate change are often polarised between left and right, and the public widely see it as a left issue. This is a problem because people are more likely to believe what they hear from those they identify with, and to reject what they hear from others. …”
“And there are more psychological barriers. Cutting emissions requires people to trust authorities to be competent, honest and fair – a tall order at a time when only a third of people say they trust government. …”
“Yet, daunting though these barriers are, they can be beaten with political leadership and honesty. …” (nice, a wave in the general direction of the need for truthfulness, but it still misses the boat)
* Begs the question how many ‘Black Swan’ events do we want. Have you checked in on the running tally over at the Understanding Climate Change channel lately? * https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo-r5Q-5TWB43oLI8eZ6euA
Regarding Senator McConnell gloating: “Mitch McConnell thanks ‘these clowns’ (aka rape victims) for protesting Kavanaugh” by Kaiser, October 08, 2018 https://www.celebitchy.com/595027/mitch_mcconnell_thanks_these_clowns_aka_rape_victims_for_protesting_brett_kavanaugh/
*Okay, that's just a tally of significantly destructive weather events, "black swan event" is of another order of intensity (see Chris Mooney's article, ). The bad joke there, by the time we get to the truly hyper-storm stage, you can be sure society will have already been knocked resoundingly on its pins. Consider the tempo of extended droughts, torrential rains, destructive winds, rising sea levels and cyclone intensity storm driven waves - that's not slowing down baby.
Personally I have a weather/climate baseline set in the 1960s and '70s, I remember getting dismissed (in the '70s, '80s, and since) for being into Earth sciences and climate science and concerned about stuff like increasing our atmospheric insulation and the fearful cascading consequences of the resulting global warming. We first learned about the obvious, melting ice caps, shifting climate zones, weather disruption, worse storms based on commonsense physics.
Still the fundamental physics driving all this was thoroughly understood that's to US Air Force scientists. Its true that specific mechanisms were far from well understood. But, please we knew about the fundamentals physics driving the show. Warm a closed system, it's going to increase activity.
Any fundamental appreciation for our biosphere and society's complexities makes it obvious that this is a lose lose situation for humanity and our individual lives, no matter where on the economic scale you stand.
But tragically back then society was too busy learning how to dance to the new Reaganomics' siren song, Greed Is Good, Too Much Is Never Enough, Maximize Profits-Minimize Expenditures and Externalities. Endless economic growth was the promise most everyone bought into. Encourage corporations to gobble up each other in a ruthless drive for personal enrichment, until they are big enough to buy up and privatize our US government.
What's most galling is how little appreciation people have for the complexities of society and business and transportation and communication. Everyone seems to be taking it all for granted as they run around chasing entertainment. and so on and so forth. (10/22/2018)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My response:
I read Barasi’s article, can’t disagree with a thing. Although lets be honest that article was simply a repackaging of what’s been written many times, for decades now. It’s as ‘right on’ now as it was in the 90s, the problem is with its omissions.
I could not find a thing addressing the influence of lavishly funded and very methodical, strategic attacks based on deliberately dishonest media campaigns, intent on sowing confusion rather than constructive debate and learning.
You know, all those deliberate campaigns to lie about the facts, all intended to confuse an under-informed and rather apathetic public. Instead, I’m told to look on the bright side.
I’m told that it would be impolite and only a jerk would dare actually talk right into contrarian faces and directly at their lies.
Only a jerk would make a point of explaining God is in our minds and hearts and is profoundly personal; that no human has a one on one relationship with god, not now, not ever! That what we have is ego and personal drive to do better and have more. That what we need is each other to keep ourselves honest and moral.
Nope instead I’m told keep it polite, don’t ruffle any feathers. I’m wondering should my example be those old white men/women sitting on the Judiciary Committee who keep within everyone’s comfort zone.
Even if it meant being incapable of exposing Kavanaugh’s rabid partisanship, which was on full display, threatening promises and all. Then standing up to demand that we recognize that in America, such behavior disqualified a person from judgeship, before anything else is even considered!! But no, our Democrat leaders fold yet again.
