Now for the sake of getting a conversation started, let me expand on my criticisms. No one, absolutely no one is advocating that we sit in sack cloth and ashes and do nothing -simply because we have done our homework and see the disastrous trendlines. In fact, it's we dispairers who are the least likely to sit and do nothing to try and slow down and mitigate the changes. We live in the fact-based community. The dreamers who think that humans will come up, inevitably, with some constellation of fixes and everything will be all better, are the ones most likely to sit on their hands. Being lectured that big oil and the fossil fuel industry are the villains and all it takes is political action to rein them in and, presto chango! everything will be hunky dory, does no good. We ourselves created that industry- they didn't come to earth in flying saucers! We created them, nurtured them, sustain them and must take responsibility. We ourselves are the villains and always have been and likely always will be. There are limits, hard evolutionary limits, to human intelligence and the way we handle and prioritize problems and the Anthropocene, the Pyrocene, are the outcome of humans as change-agents limited by their own biology. I see no reason, short of reengineering ourselves, not to believe that we wont keep repeating the same mistakes over and over.
Hi Michael, sorry for the delay in response. August is busy. Thanks for putting all this energy into responding to Solnit's article. I'll say just a few quick things here. First, that I think that you and Solnit are saying much the same thing: that you can (in her words) be heartbroken and motivated at the same time, or (in your words) that those who despair will fight to fix what they can. Second, that there are plenty of people (unlike you) who, upon shallow analysis, find it easier to do nothing because they think there's no way to make a real difference. Considering how many people aren't engaged in the fight, we can probably safely assume there's a sizable contingent among them that fits the description. Third, you're right that the tipping points we seem to be tipping or about to tip (Arctic ice/permafrost, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, ocean currents, etc.) are planetary-scale forces that may not be untippable. But we won't know how each plays out under best-case scenarios until we reach that point. I'm confident that the scale of ice loss at the Poles cannot be rebuilt on a human timeframe, but if (cue the fantasy) we suddenly found ourselves back at 300ppm and with a solid plan to restore habitats by, say, 2050, we could staunch the loss of ice and perhaps see the ocean conveyor belt fall back into its current pattern. Point being, Solnit is perfectly aware of the worst- and best-case scenarios, and is calling out those who are sitting out the fight to help aim for the latter.
That's my quick take, Michael. Thanks again for always taking a deep look at my writing (and my sources).
Thanks for your kind and measured words Jason. I originally posted something far more critical of Solnit, as I thought she had (perhaps for the sake of polemics) inverted the order of analysis and dispair on the part of us who are in the climate change maximalist camp (as I am). She claimed it seemed that we had substituted emotion for analysis, when the real case was that we were dispairing precisely because of thoughtful analysis.. I was rather harsh with her for a perceived flippant tone, but then repented turning into a pamphleteer myself and saying harsh things to anyone. So I deleted the original and am glad I did. My analogy of the infant in the high seat knocking a bowl down to the floor is my final take on climatic developments. Even a child can push a precariously placed boulder to start rolling down a steep canyon wall. But the avalanche that can then develop is unstoppable even by an army. Small initial inputs can lead to huge effects. We're seeing it out here in the West happening in real time: the growing avalanche. But of course we won't sit on the sidelines and wave our hands helplessly. We'll fight. Alongside Solnit, you. Sam, Kathleen, Bill and everyone else not lost in this dreaming ostrich culture obsessed with Its senseless wars, petty politics and engrossing trivial entertainments. History will not look kindly on us of this time.
[This long message is for you. Please delete it if you want. I don't want to set up a permanent presence in the comments section and promise to keep my remarks short from here on out.]
I have literally been the young man who pushed the boulder down the mountainside, Michael, and I certainly see the metaphorical boulders falling everywhere now: extinctions, ice loss, and ocean changes come to mind. But within that landscape of loss is the larger truth that systems changes on this planet are easier than we imagined. Which to me means that large-scale good decisions will also make systems changes. What that looks like as we travel further into the landscape of loss is beyond me, but the sooner the better.
Nothing to delete here, Michael. Your comments are always welcome.
Thank you Jason. I have to admit that I am a climate change maximalist just as I am a Covid 19 maximalist. Must be something in my psychology. I believe both are real, ongoing threats to human civilization. But I think our biological sciences can cope with the mutating pandemic, but am unsure we have our physical sciences puissance to deal with the climate. That's why I wrote about Calorviator- humanity might have to use it's burgeoning mastery of biology to adapt to a heated up planet..
Lastly, let me unnecessarily perhaps remind folks that there are forces, far larger than even a united humanity operating in concert, in play and surrounding us, unseen by most. They are called feedback loops, self-reinforcing, enormous global actors. And we had a hand in nudging them too. And once nudged, they can bring abrupt climatic changes-. not taking centuries, but only decades or less than decades to create, but geologic ages to uncreate. Consider that too.
Fir example of such loops, consider what happens if the AMOC collapses as it is possible that it might. How will it be possible that Humanity get it restarted!? An infant can push a bowl of food off its high chair tray to the floor, but be entirely unable to return it to the tray. Once nudged, sometimes impossible to un-nudge, these great loops.
Now for the sake of getting a conversation started, let me expand on my criticisms. No one, absolutely no one is advocating that we sit in sack cloth and ashes and do nothing -simply because we have done our homework and see the disastrous trendlines. In fact, it's we dispairers who are the least likely to sit and do nothing to try and slow down and mitigate the changes. We live in the fact-based community. The dreamers who think that humans will come up, inevitably, with some constellation of fixes and everything will be all better, are the ones most likely to sit on their hands. Being lectured that big oil and the fossil fuel industry are the villains and all it takes is political action to rein them in and, presto chango! everything will be hunky dory, does no good. We ourselves created that industry- they didn't come to earth in flying saucers! We created them, nurtured them, sustain them and must take responsibility. We ourselves are the villains and always have been and likely always will be. There are limits, hard evolutionary limits, to human intelligence and the way we handle and prioritize problems and the Anthropocene, the Pyrocene, are the outcome of humans as change-agents limited by their own biology. I see no reason, short of reengineering ourselves, not to believe that we wont keep repeating the same mistakes over and over.
Hi Michael, sorry for the delay in response. August is busy. Thanks for putting all this energy into responding to Solnit's article. I'll say just a few quick things here. First, that I think that you and Solnit are saying much the same thing: that you can (in her words) be heartbroken and motivated at the same time, or (in your words) that those who despair will fight to fix what they can. Second, that there are plenty of people (unlike you) who, upon shallow analysis, find it easier to do nothing because they think there's no way to make a real difference. Considering how many people aren't engaged in the fight, we can probably safely assume there's a sizable contingent among them that fits the description. Third, you're right that the tipping points we seem to be tipping or about to tip (Arctic ice/permafrost, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, ocean currents, etc.) are planetary-scale forces that may not be untippable. But we won't know how each plays out under best-case scenarios until we reach that point. I'm confident that the scale of ice loss at the Poles cannot be rebuilt on a human timeframe, but if (cue the fantasy) we suddenly found ourselves back at 300ppm and with a solid plan to restore habitats by, say, 2050, we could staunch the loss of ice and perhaps see the ocean conveyor belt fall back into its current pattern. Point being, Solnit is perfectly aware of the worst- and best-case scenarios, and is calling out those who are sitting out the fight to help aim for the latter.
That's my quick take, Michael. Thanks again for always taking a deep look at my writing (and my sources).
Thanks for your kind and measured words Jason. I originally posted something far more critical of Solnit, as I thought she had (perhaps for the sake of polemics) inverted the order of analysis and dispair on the part of us who are in the climate change maximalist camp (as I am). She claimed it seemed that we had substituted emotion for analysis, when the real case was that we were dispairing precisely because of thoughtful analysis.. I was rather harsh with her for a perceived flippant tone, but then repented turning into a pamphleteer myself and saying harsh things to anyone. So I deleted the original and am glad I did. My analogy of the infant in the high seat knocking a bowl down to the floor is my final take on climatic developments. Even a child can push a precariously placed boulder to start rolling down a steep canyon wall. But the avalanche that can then develop is unstoppable even by an army. Small initial inputs can lead to huge effects. We're seeing it out here in the West happening in real time: the growing avalanche. But of course we won't sit on the sidelines and wave our hands helplessly. We'll fight. Alongside Solnit, you. Sam, Kathleen, Bill and everyone else not lost in this dreaming ostrich culture obsessed with Its senseless wars, petty politics and engrossing trivial entertainments. History will not look kindly on us of this time.
[This long message is for you. Please delete it if you want. I don't want to set up a permanent presence in the comments section and promise to keep my remarks short from here on out.]
I have literally been the young man who pushed the boulder down the mountainside, Michael, and I certainly see the metaphorical boulders falling everywhere now: extinctions, ice loss, and ocean changes come to mind. But within that landscape of loss is the larger truth that systems changes on this planet are easier than we imagined. Which to me means that large-scale good decisions will also make systems changes. What that looks like as we travel further into the landscape of loss is beyond me, but the sooner the better.
Nothing to delete here, Michael. Your comments are always welcome.
Thank you Jason. I have to admit that I am a climate change maximalist just as I am a Covid 19 maximalist. Must be something in my psychology. I believe both are real, ongoing threats to human civilization. But I think our biological sciences can cope with the mutating pandemic, but am unsure we have our physical sciences puissance to deal with the climate. That's why I wrote about Calorviator- humanity might have to use it's burgeoning mastery of biology to adapt to a heated up planet..
Lastly, let me unnecessarily perhaps remind folks that there are forces, far larger than even a united humanity operating in concert, in play and surrounding us, unseen by most. They are called feedback loops, self-reinforcing, enormous global actors. And we had a hand in nudging them too. And once nudged, they can bring abrupt climatic changes-. not taking centuries, but only decades or less than decades to create, but geologic ages to uncreate. Consider that too.
Fir example of such loops, consider what happens if the AMOC collapses as it is possible that it might. How will it be possible that Humanity get it restarted!? An infant can push a bowl of food off its high chair tray to the floor, but be entirely unable to return it to the tray. Once nudged, sometimes impossible to un-nudge, these great loops.