tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post1888065771156126329..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: The Wind at Our BacksThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-88757672280427536632016-05-19T00:00:42.859-07:002016-05-19T00:00:42.859-07:00Yes, Toby. I was floored to realize that "Rev...Yes, Toby. I was floored to realize that "Revenge of Gaia" was published in 2006, a full decade ago. I still have it on my bookshelf. It's one of many books I must get around to reading again. <br /><br />"...in 2004, Lovelock's friend Richard Betts, a researcher at the Hadley Centre for Climate Change-England's top climate institute – invited him to stop by and talk with the scientists there. Lovelock went from meeting to meeting, hearing the latest data about melting ice at the poles, shrinking rain forests, the carbon cycle in the oceans. "It was terrifying," he recalls. "We were shown five separate scenes of positive feedback in regional climates – polar, glacial, boreal forest, tropical forest and oceans – but no one seemed to be working on whole-planet consequences." Equally chilling, he says, was the tone in which the scientists talked about the changes they were witnessing, "as if they were discussing some distant planet or a model universe, instead of the place where we all live."<br /><br />"As Lovelock was driving home that evening, it hit him. The resiliency of the system was gone. The forgiveness had been used up. "The whole system," he decided, "is in failure mode." A few weeks later, he began work on his latest and gloomiest book, The Revenge of Gaia, which was published in the U.S. in 2006."<br /><br />Thanks for posting the link.<br /> The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-23025548106085988042016-05-18T18:54:32.520-07:002016-05-18T18:54:32.520-07:00James Lovelock, the Prophet
http://www.rollingsto...James Lovelock, the Prophet<br /><br />http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/james-lovelock-the-prophet-20071101Tobynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-64206659151210242632016-05-18T15:54:50.709-07:002016-05-18T15:54:50.709-07:00@ Troy. It's been several years since I got my...@ Troy. It's been several years since I got my copy of Jared Diamond's "Collapse" the follow on book to "Guns, Germs & Steel." I suppose this is an appropriate time to go through it again.<br /><br />History offers many examples of civilizational collapse from which some common traits emerge. Societies tend to collapse at their zenith and collapse comes on very quickly. There's no gradual decline.<br /><br />Today we have a global civilization that is incredibly interwoven, inter-dependent. Past collapses were regional or even local. These earlier civilizations were also far more agrarian than what we have today. While organizationally a civilization might collapse, individuals were more self-reliant and capable of successful migration. How many of us today would have the faintest idea of providing our own food? Damn few. How many know how to hunt, how to fish, how to plant, tend and harvest crops? Not very many.<br /><br />James Lovelock was interviewed a few years back. He predicted that humanity will emerge from this century with a global population well below one billion. Given that we're at 7+ billion now and purportedly heading to 9, that would be an apocalyptic die off.<br /><br />At my age it enrages me that there's nothing I can do to protect my children from this.<br /><br />The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-29982721570427476612016-05-18T15:42:25.059-07:002016-05-18T15:42:25.059-07:00@ Cap - I think what you describe, this general fa...@ Cap - I think what you describe, this general failure of political will, is what I find most infuriating about this new Liberal government. I expected nothing better from Harper but I so hoped that a Liberal or NDP successor would reverse course and act decisively. Trudeau has wasted no time showing us his true colours and they're not what we were given to expect during his successful election campaign.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-26284318392912307022016-05-18T15:30:22.773-07:002016-05-18T15:30:22.773-07:00It's not that we'll change for the better....It's not that we'll change for the better. More likely, we'll be changed by what we can't even imagine.<br />There are abandoned cities across the globe with people that had to face a stark choice. Ditch civilization, and perhaps survive, or perish in the face of disaster. There are cities buried under earth, and submerged under water all over the world. Did the lost Mayans or the nearly forgotten Sumerians change for the better in the face of prolonged drought? Who knows?Troyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10759047914577194212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-55864363823392000122016-05-18T14:57:09.645-07:002016-05-18T14:57:09.645-07:00Try as I might, Mound, I don't see the politic...Try as I might, Mound, I don't see the political will anywhere to make changes in time to avoid climate catastrophe. I certainly don't see it in Canada, where Trudeau seems content to carry on where his predecessor left off. Trudeau and the premiers are still talking about pipelines and LNG terminals. The NEB is still a victim of regulatory capture and the state security apparatus continues to brief tar sands operators and notorious pipeline polluters instead of shutting them down as a menace to national and global security.<br /><br />I sadly don't share Trailblazer's optimism.<br /><br />CapAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-22825209193382808972016-05-18T14:28:21.683-07:002016-05-18T14:28:21.683-07:00Yes, we can change for the better but have we reac...<br />Yes, we can change for the better but have we reached the point where it's too little, too late? We're still working from a political number that ignores what nature is already visiting upon us. Nature is already in play. The whole idea of first 2C and then 1.5C was to prevent that.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-56615054368476645602016-05-18T14:21:48.110-07:002016-05-18T14:21:48.110-07:00We can change for the better.
http://www.theguard...We can change for the better.<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/18/portugal-runs-for-four-days-straight-on-renewable-energy-alone<br /><br />TrailblazerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com