Wednesday, February 28, 2018
No Big Deal - Episode 3
This Arctic thawing business went largely overlooked for several years. In the middle of the pitch black Arctic winter, there would be a sharp spike in temperatures, often 30 degrees Celsius above normal, that would last a week to ten days and then pretty much be forgotten. It might earn a story in some news publications and no mention in others. Like most climate stories, including some really important accounts, it was straight down the Memory Hole in a week or two.
Not this year. This dark of night Arctic winter hasn't seen just a spike of a few days' duration. This year the Arctic has been an average of 20 degrees Celsius hotter. An average. And, for the media, it seems to have sparked one of those "oh, shit" moments.
It's not just the stuff of The Guardian any more. They're sounding the alarm all over the place - CNN, Forbes, CBC, even the once skeptical British papers. They're realizing that we might just be in the grip of something here, something very real, something disruptive, something that might just become our next "new normal."
Just as it has taken years of mass murder atrocities in American schools to finally reach a critical mass that America's political caste can no longer ignore, maybe it will take some sort of deadly climate havoc to compel our political caste to get serious about climate change and realize that there's nothing good for Canada or the world in pimping bitumen.
Maybe.
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5 comments:
" . . . maybe it will take some sort of deadly climate havoc to compel our political caste to get serious about climate change . . . "
One would have thought that the pine beetle epidemic, the raging forest fires and the repeated unnatural floods would have sparked some sort of recognition. There's some willful ignorance actively being pursued.
Point well taken, Toby.
it might be good if not only those politicians, but the average citizens took more notice of those high temperatures. hasn't any one in this country looked at a map and seen how much of this country is in the Artic. this might not end well if a lot of that stuff melted and headed south.
I've not seen much indication that the public are ready to really engage on this stuff, e.a.f.
Years ago a contingent of Japanese professional foresters toured a TFL run by a major forest company in the BC Interior.
One and all were absolutely shocked at how much timber lay on the ground AFTER this company had completed its logging plan for a particular Cut Block.
Anyone with half a brain knows that this high-grade type of logging leaves a pile of fuel dried and ready to burn up a huge section of any forested area in the Interior.
There were times when a taxpayer funded project did some clean up in order to reduce the fire hazard, but rarely was the forest company expected to clean up the mess they left.
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