Inevitable cataclysm or not? The very possible world we face on a much more rapidly heating planet than was predicted in Daydreaming on the Porch
- July 31, 2022, 3:13 a.m.
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- Public
I think it’s the moral equivalent of a war crime… The consequences of what they’ve done are just almost unimaginable
Al Gore
UK climate scientist Bill McGuire finally tells the full truth that his colleagues fear to say in public, only in private among themselves. In his new book “Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide” he lays out what is inevitably in store for humanity in the near future, and beyond, because of human-caused climate change since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century. And while all the Earth’s plant and animal species face cataclysm in decades now instead of by the end of the century, McGuire says we still have a little time left to stop the worst effects, but not much, especially since all this change is happening much more quickly then earlier computer models and estimates have predicted.
What sheer hubris human beings have deployed as they go about despoiling the planet, now as we have in the past. This should be surprising to no one. And also, who could possibly think mere computers could predict the vastly changeable parameters of global climate altered irrevocably, not by the forces of nature, but by oblivious human greed, stupidity, and market/profit-driven forces above all else.
All this is what I’ve been thinking for many years now, but no one wants to hear it. After this summer, it’s evident we have rammed through the tipping point with our human-caused climate change, and now must act much more quickly, despite the denialists. And this must immediately include engineering technologies that enable us to cope with the new extremes they are already here. We aren’t going back to the climate we once foolishly and selfishly took for granted .
The weather and climate news of the past two weeks, along with books like “Hothouse Earth” should convince even hard-core climate change deniers that they can’t keep burying their heads in the sand and driving their huge trucks, pickups, and SUVs as if they were totally free to do so, and a livable planet be dammed. Just for starters.
Soon it will be unrecognisable’: total climate meltdown cannot be stopped, says expert
Read in The Guardian:
Also recommended reading: “Falter“ by Bill McKibbon
Last updated July 31, 2022
Neogy Titwhistle ⋅ July 31, 2022
Yep, that's what happens when you burn 100 million years worth of trees in 100 years.
Oswego Neogy Titwhistle ⋅ July 31, 2022
At least that!
death-by-love ⋅ July 31, 2022
And, the icebergs to the north are melting, and they have dormant viruses which could cause some chaos too. :(
Oswego death-by-love ⋅ July 31, 2022
Not to mention the impending diasaster of the Thwaites ice shelf on Antarctica which if it and surrounding ice shelves collapse, could raise sea levels ten feet worldwide.
death-by-love Oswego ⋅ July 31, 2022
It is sad and pathetic. :(
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ July 31, 2022
Well at least he's honest.
Deleted user ⋅ August 01, 2022
Dear friend, I agree with what you say and I am deeply saddened by what humans have done to our beautiful planet. Not a day goes by without thinking about it. Worst of all are the idiots who keep burying their heads in the sand and those who keep denying that we are at a point where it is very difficult to slow down climate change.
I find it very hard to believe that humanity will repent and that everything will now be done to turn the tide.
There will be people who will commit to it, but the selfishness of the vast majority is catastrophic.
I think that many people will not survive this climate change. Here are already many lost crops and it doesn't stop because everything dries up. Farmers can no longer water their fields here. Our government has banned pumping water by law because the rivers are much too low and they fear for our drinking water. Some farmers steal drinking water to water their fields and receive fines for doing so.
We haven't had any rain in a long time and maybe it would rain a little tonight. We hope so!!
I posted some pictures of our holiday in Austria but two days after we returned home we left again and went to Johan's house to look after the grandchildren. Johan was on a business trip in Singapore and the other grandmother of the children was terminally ill with kidney cancer. Veerle was staying with her dying mother.
She was buried last Friday. She was 77. It was a very emotional farewell also for the grandchildren of course. Very sad!
Now we are finally home and the kids are spending the week with Veerle.
Take good care, 🙂
Deleted user ⋅ August 01, 2022
I think McGuire is wrong. We're out of time. Period.
Oswego Deleted user ⋅ August 01, 2022
This is what I was trying to get across that McGuire says: From this perspective it is clear we can do little to avoid the coming climate breakdown. Instead we need to adapt to the hothouse world that lies ahead and to start taking action to try to stop a bleak situation deteriorating even further, McGuire says
So basically he’s saying act now and with extreme urgency to mitigate the absolute worst case scenarios, and shift technological innovation into high gear like a huge Marshall Plan for the Earth, trying to prepare the planet for what might come even if we have no idea whether it really is too late or whether we can survive and adapt to an overheated world. What will actually happen and when, nobody knows. It’s gotten unthinkable now for me to contemplate the future of today’s children and youth.
Some pertinent points made here:
https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/26/chris-hedges-the-dawn-of-the-apocalypse/
music & dogs & wine ⋅ August 02, 2022
I just had some friends over this weekend, with their 3 year old and 5 month old, they were talking about how bad it is and they know they will be gone before it becomes unbearable, but they hope it will be ok for their kids, and their grandchildren. I just kept my mouth shut cause this is not getting better. It will NOT be good for them :(
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ August 03, 2022
Sounds like they are aware of the future realities, but still in denial about what might be in store for their children and grandchildren. With the trajectory this world and human civilization is on, I don’t see it getting better, BUT there could still be surprising develops technologically that will pull us back from the precipice. Otherwise, to survive we’re going to have to live in a sci-fi world of domed, climate-controlled cities where all our food is grown and goods produced until the levels of CO2 come down significantly, and that could take hundreds or thousands of years! 🤔🥺. And how on earth that’s all gonna happen, I have no idea!
music & dogs & wine Oswego ⋅ August 03, 2022
You are absolutely right. I am glad we won't be here to deal with that.
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ August 04, 2022
The thing is, we’re dealing with it now, it’s just that it’s severely affecting those who are in the worst danger zones where the temperatures are becoming unlivable and flooding and drought are affecting entire ways of living for so many. Maybe the younger generation will save themselves?? 🥺