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| 24 December, 2016 |
I mean, this is crazy. Seriously. Here and now.
The Arctic continues to run a fever.
On Thursday, the temperature there was almost 30 C warmer than average, and it continued into Friday morning. Ocean buoys recorded temperatures near the North Pole of 0 C or warmer. That's right: It's warmer in the Arctic than it is in Thunder Bay, Ont.
This isn't an isolated event. Arctic temperatures have been unusually warm for the past few months, though perhaps not quite as dramatically different as we're seeing now.
In November, the region was 20 C warmer than average.
"The temperatures there of the atmosphere are on … any given day, like 20 C warmer than they should be for this time of year," Jennifer Francis, a marine and coastal sciences research professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told CBC News at the time.
"The ocean temperatures there are also warmer than they should be. I'm really, really worried, and I think everyone should be."
Your climate change/global warming articles seldom bring out much conversation!
ReplyDeleteAre we overwhelmed by such reports or have we become numb to the future that awaits us and most importantly our offspring?
It's easy to be disillusioned.
Our elected leaders have absolutely no qualms about passing on disintegrating planet to future generations.
To make matters worse and exposing the pure effing evil that is our elected classes we are conned into carbon taxes that are used to prop up ailing carbon producing companies through the elimination or , at best, huge reductions in royalty payments to the Provinces.
Yet ; we stand like deers in headlights unable or unwilling to make the sacrifice that is needed to save the planet!!
Perhaps "Save the Planet" is too scary a metaphor to be taken seriously as it has no political or cultural boundaries?
Have we gone so far down the road of selfish Conservatism that we no longer have a social conscience unless it has a tax receipt or a promise of eternal life in heaven( wherever that is).
TB
I suspect that many, if not most, find the predicament too much to handle much less address. Think of your close acquaintances and ask yourself if you could see many of them agreeing to a sharp reduction in their standard of living that future generations might not have such a hellish ordeal.
ReplyDeleteI've already pared down my standard of living by a significant portion and I'm not sure I would do it again so that the SUV jet-setters can ignore or outright reject their responsibility to contribute.
We live in a neoliberal, consumer society that is intended to be as consequence free as befitting the individual's wealth. I wish that railing against it would change this predicament but I have no confidence remaining that it would.
I guess that's why I chose to join Dark Mountain. It's a site for those still willing to fight the good fight if only for the sake of the fight but no longer willing to swallow the lies that society tells itself.
George Monbiot put forward some solutions to our predicament and , at the risk of being shot down again,it was that of rationing of energy .
ReplyDeleteFor that to happen we would likely need a socialist dictator!
I think back to difficult days both in Canada and the UK when attempts were made to control both prices and wages.
Both failed because both ends of the political spectrum were unwilling to give back for the general good!
TB
War always comes to my mind in these discussions Trail Blazer. As Gwynne Dyer put it, even the friendliest, most peaceful tribe will raid their neighbour before they'll see their own children starve.
ReplyDeleteA while back some reader gave me a link to a YouTube video, a 70s movie that depicted a mass migration out of Africa seeking refuge in Europe. The European predicament was that they lacked the resources to accommodate such a huge influx of climate migrants in the European Union. The final scene shows an armada of refugee boats nearing the European Mediterranean shores where NATO tanks and troops await.
I think, Mound, that all we can do on an individual basis is to live as mindfully as we can, and continue to alert people in whatever way we can to the climatic perils that are now starting to engulf us. Does it make any real difference? Probably not, given the consumerism and narcissism our culture worships, but what other choice do we have?
ReplyDeleteRunaway global warming - imho it started this year*.
ReplyDeleteiow: humanity's "tipping point" is in the rearview mirror now
But aside from all that .....
Thank you Mound for providing a 'safe' place to agree and disagree.
Happy New Year
(and I hope I'm wrong*)
ReplyDeleteah, Lorne, you're becoming a "Dark Mountaineer." Yes, we must "live as mindfully as we can." That begins by recognizing that, while we may not be able to prevent runaway climate change the way we're going, there's much we can still do to make life even worse, more hellish for our grandchildren and theirs. Living mindfully is about ameliorating their fate as much as possible and hoping, even if for no particular reason, that we'll find other adaptation strategies in the interval.
ReplyDeleteNPoV - If you read the Stockholm Environmental Institute report or the subsequent NOAA report, you may well conclude that we have embarked on runaway global warming in 2016. The SEI Arctic Resilience Report 2016 identified 19 tipping points we've passed in the far north.
You and I don't always agree but we do manage to prove that you can disagree without being disagreeable. Sage advice.
And a Happy New Year to you also. 2017, the Year of Trump. Oh, sorry...
A while back some reader gave me a link to a YouTube video, a 70s movie that depicted a mass migration out of Africa seeking refuge in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI believe that was myself.
Please consider this link for both enlightenment and entertainment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACg6IuFfMJE
TB
I just witnessed two flocks of Canadian geese, over Nanaimo BC, heading north.
ReplyDeleteThis is odd as geese travel north when the ice melts!
TB
My neighbours and I have also had goose spottings, Trail Blazer. It's always the same question, "what's going on?"
ReplyDelete