Environment & Energy
Related: About this forum'We Have Less Than A Millisecond Left'
Lee Camp, comedian, writer, activist. Truthdig, June 25, 2019. Excerpts:
..You see, the planet we call home has existed for roughly 4.55 billion years. But numbers that large mean almost nothing to me, nor to most people, so I choose to break it down. If we lay the age of the Earth out over a calendar year, that would amount to 518,264 years per hour or 144 years per second. So if we have 10 or 11 years until the point of no return, as climate scientists have repeatedly told us, that means we have a millisecond left before midnight in which to change our society completely to avoid turning the Earth into a piping hot fajita..None of us should be thinking about anything other than climate change. We all kind of know it even if we think we dont know it. Even people who deny climate change exists probably secretly know it. Theyre just confusing what they want to be true with what they subconsciously know to be true.
I dont just mean there should be a report every couple hours about climate change by our bloviating bullhorns of mainstream news. I dont mean once a day you should mention to a friend that Al Gore seems vaguely douchey but probably has a point. I mean climate change should be ALL were thinking about. It should be a major factor in every conversation, every job, every TV show, every humor column, every tweet, every clever T-shirt slogan and every fortune cookie message. Climate change should be everything.
Plastic action figures for kids should have one arm melted off to symbolize the effects of climate change. Your server at a nice restaurant should sprinkle sand in your soup du jour to remind you of the disappearance of fresh water. Ice cream should be exclusively served melted to symbolize rising temperatures. Hamburgers should cost $200 to compensate for the global emissions of factory farming. And every time you go ice skating someone should punch you in the face and yell, Enjoy it while it lasts!
We have less than a millisecond left.
Simply put, humans have no business going about our day-to-day actions as if we arent on the event horizon. Its equivalent to working on your model train set while your kitchen is burning down, your spouse is in the bathroom battling an alligator that took up residence in the bathtub, and your 12-year-old daughter is in the living room having just been offered heroin for the first time.
Right now, humanity is still focused on the model train.
The International Governmental Panel on Climate Change says the point of no return is the year 2030..The year 2030 is the point of no return. It is the date of our impending, prolonged suicide. Lets assume the worlds greatest climate scientists are way off. Lets assume these people who do nothing other than study climatic models using computer programs so sophisticated I wouldnt be qualified to turn them onlets assume they have their swollen heads up their highly-educated asses. Lets assume that they were so wrong that its not 10 years but instead 20 years until the point of no return, so the amount of time we have left is double what they thought. That still means we should be thinking about nothing other than climate change. It still means our very survival as a species, or lack thereof, will be decided in the next couple decades. It still means we have only a millisecond.
Maybe were right to die off. Maybe our hubris and egos the size and shape of SUVs have doomed us, and we should just give up and enjoy our final few years. But if thats the case, I would like an announcement. I would honestly prefer a national address by some of our so-called leaders stating clearly, Look folks, in order to continue civilized society of the human species, we would need to change everything. Every single one of us would have to labor toward a massive shift to a sustainable culture that works in harmony with nature, rather than abusing nature like its a servant who gave us an ugly look.
We would have to focus on achieving this new society rather than spending a third of all our free time watching superhero movies. But we have no intention of doing that because it sounds kinda hard, not to mention corporate profits would suffer in the short term. So instead, were declaring here and now that well all just keep functioning as is until such time as the oceans turn to acid, the ever-growing storms consume us, and California feels like the inside of a kiln...
More, https://www.truthdig.com/articles/we-have-less-than-a-millisecond-left/
Lee Camp is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and activist.
Mickju
(1,803 posts)The election, impeachment and every other issue pale in comparison to climate change. I get caught up in the political stuff frequently, but in actuality climate change is the one and only thing that really matters. I don't think we are going to make it out of this.
Boomer
(4,168 posts)And when I get too overwrought about 2020 or other political messes, I take a breath and remind myself that we're actually living in a golden age right now. We'll look back at these days with longing. Well, someone will... it won't be me because I'll be gone before too much longer. Given what's coming at us, I'm not too sorry about that.
I won't be around much longer either and that's okay. I just don't want to leave this country and the world in such a dire situation.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)And has been too late for 5000 years, ever since we embedded ourselves in an unsustainable global way of living. The mechanism is conquest and the end products are material comfort and power-over.
So long, suckers. Enjoy your last SUV...
Boomer
(4,168 posts)I've always thought the beginning of the end was earlier, with the invention of agriculture.