Considering a contrarian’s “Global Warming Pathways”

Mikie the Contrarian writes:

What I see is there are (two) separate Global Warming pathways going on at the same time. ...

But first.  Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.  Though I only had a lifetime of self-study regarding our marvelous planet and its processes and history under my belt, I still felt qualified enough to put in hundreds of hours directly confronting contrarian claims with rational arguments, backed by copious links to more authoritative sources for real learning opportunities.  

Various impulses drove this passion, since I’m basically self taught it provided me with great personal learning challenges.  I’ll admit to dreaming of winning over some contrarian, though more important was a desire to produce substantive study guides to help jump start interested students to engage in their own efforts of public debate and standing up to the massive malicious astroturfing going on.  

I’d also hoped to network with like minded citizens who resented the nonstop transparent lies as much as I do and who were likewise motivated to engage in the public “debate.”

I’m aware that with over a decade of blogging all I have to show for my efforts is a good deal of self-education which is satisfaction in itself, but still never any substantive connections that would help me improve my work, nor any sort of organizing a bit of intellectual confrontationalism against all the malicious deception being astroturfed everywhere.  

Seems everyone rather keep it polite and play by the contrarian handbook.  

Yet, it’s 2017, and it seems that despite all that has unfolding in past years and again this year not a damned thing has been learned by so-called conservatives and the GOP in general, heck the Democratic liberals themselves remain stunned and clueless as ever.  

So, what’s the point at this point?  

Calistoga CA and end of The Dream

As I write this the northern California fires continue raging and Calfire doesn’t expect containment for another week.  Santa Rosa the area’s ‘big city’ has been decimated, quite literally.  Major fires in Mendocino County and around Clear Lake (yet again) with Sonoma and Napa valleys being particularly hard hit this past week.

Right now heroic efforts continue to cut fire-lines and other defenses against the huge Tubbs fire in order to save Chateau Montelena Winery of “Bottle Shock” fame and the beautiful little town of Calistoga at the head of the Napa Valley.

All hinges on the weather.  Beyond a certain point, heat and wind will overcome the best defenses, given a few days of favorable winds/temps and the town has a good chance.  (Saturday turned out to be a good day for them and I wish them well these next couple critical days.)

Not that it’s more important than the other catastrophes going down, but this one’s personal, I know the town and the landscape fairly well so this hurts in a way destruction in places I'm not connected with can't. 

AGW awareness, but is it too little, too few, and too late?

Over at Hotwhopper there was a story: Dissenting view on Climate Change Action - No longer silent, but is it too little, too few, and too late?

http://blog.hotwhopper.com/2016/09/dissenting-view-on-climate-change.html#comment-form  | September 6, 2016

Basically it was the story of two members of Australia's Climate Change Authority who have published a minority dissenting report to their Authority’s, Special Report from the CCA: Special Review of Australia’s climate goals and policies. It’s interesting and worth reading.  

Though as I was finishing the article I was thinking, okay that was all about the “no longer silent” but nothing about the “too little, too few, and too late?”  I was curious because being a long time witness to the profound changes that have been occurring on this Earth and in particular the increasing tempo of eco-system breakdowns and extremely destructive weather events these past few years and the awareness that we have only worse to expect, I find myself confronting the specter of despair and hopelessness more often.

A commenter to Sou’s article stepped up to fill the breach with a sobering answer to the title’s question: “too little, too few, and too late?”  It's a painful well written assessment.  I feel compelled to share it because it contains many thoughts I've been trying to corral myself.   

The following isn't for general consumption, this comment is restricted for the serious student of our planet. The ones who appreciate our Earth and her systems and who understand what this AGW is about.  If you are one of those, you know the horror of realizing what we are doing to ourselves and our younger generations, not to mention this fantastical planet we inherited.  Dealing with that awareness is going to become an increasing personal spiritual challenge.  This essay gives voice to that horror.  I found it somehow comforting (or was that refreshing?) in it's brutal honestly.

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Anonymous | September 6, 2016 at 4:16 AM | commented at Hotwhopper.com

It's going to become very obvious that the posturing everyone is doing on both side of the fence is irrelevant in the end. If the goal was to waste time and money, both sides have accomplished this. But there are no "sides" in reality, it's just us ignorant humans and the millions of other life forms trying to live on this planet.

Government, business and industry are often thought of as the problem to climate change inaction, but it goes much deeper then this. Our civilization is the problem, right down to the individual (you and me). It is intractable and immutable as long as it exists.

Everything will be done to protect civilization and our so-called "way of life". Nothing will be done to change any of this. Every individual is responsible. Every scientist, every doctor, every mother, every father, every sister, every brother. Both by virtue of our very existence, and by our silence and by our individual obligation to a habitable future.