I think 45's Supreme Court ( really the altright's) choice can only contribute to the amount of disinformation and alternative facts put into the public realm as I am afraid that the weak separation s of church and state that exist now will become extinct . I really fear we are doomed in that regard.
4
There are many, many planets in the universe void of life, doing just fine. Circling in endless travels around a sun or two. We have some in our own solar system.
The climate deniers are hideous agents wanting our Earth to join them.
All for money. In evolution, that's a Trump mutation. It must not succeed.
The climate deniers are hideous agents wanting our Earth to join them.
All for money. In evolution, that's a Trump mutation. It must not succeed.
10
April 23, 2017
The Great Mother Earth isn’t someone that even a Trump Octopus mind should attempt to provoke or disturb her Natural Order of equilibrium’s wonderful domain from cradle to eternal pursuit for happiness in the greatest planet of the free universe . Lusting for power excesses will only be held to justice in all truthful times and that's not fake science or great journalistic news especially.....
jja Manhattan, N.Y.
The Great Mother Earth isn’t someone that even a Trump Octopus mind should attempt to provoke or disturb her Natural Order of equilibrium’s wonderful domain from cradle to eternal pursuit for happiness in the greatest planet of the free universe . Lusting for power excesses will only be held to justice in all truthful times and that's not fake science or great journalistic news especially.....
jja Manhattan, N.Y.
5
Earth will make it through our human period, whether humans are still here is the question. Perhaps some form of us will endure climate change. The attitude by some reality deniers or climate change deniers is we cannot stop it so might as well live as long as we can or technology will save us. True, if it gets too bad technology might be able to place a few remaining humans on some other planet or up in space. It is our very existence as humans that is at risk. Technology could genetically engineer a type of human species that can live in space or on another planet. But this is home. We need to understand the connection between Earth and us, otherwise we will make the same mistakes on another planet.
5
This is hyperbolic. But one thing is certain: if the US doesn't take steps to reduce our fossil fuel addiction, countries with fewer economic resources certainly won't. Where is their incentive to spend money on renewable energy, if big/wealthy, big/footprint US won't?
In India, e.g., 1/4 of the population has no electricity. How can we expect them to do we won't, especially since they have cheap coal?
In India, e.g., 1/4 of the population has no electricity. How can we expect them to do we won't, especially since they have cheap coal?
4
The Trump Admin and the many science detractors now in appointed positions of power all need some sort of a Clockwork Orange like intervention. Where their eyes are kept open, and they are forced to watch endless videos, and scientific committees debating and concluding that human caused climate effects are real and ARE altering critical variables in the planets environments. Just make them watch and listen and read the piles of studies, arguments for and some against - instead of them listening to lobbyists for all the fossil fuel companies. Force them to learn how many diverse fields in the sciences reach the same conclusions about climate change, and its ever expanding impacts on the planets environments and species.
You know basically force our elected employees, and those appointed by one in particular, to learn more then they claim to know now, force them to look at and rely on data, and not their gut feelings. Make them better informed and more learned then they are now. As it should be a job requirement to head up any science-relying and/or based Agency or Department, to actually know a fair amount about the How, Whats and Wherefores of the sciences involved. Not some Ex-CEO with millions involved in the things they are regulating, or anxious to no longer regulate.
That having millions of dollars of personal interest in the businesses and industries being overseen or effected by the Dept or agency, is viewed as a dis-qualifier for the position.
You know basically force our elected employees, and those appointed by one in particular, to learn more then they claim to know now, force them to look at and rely on data, and not their gut feelings. Make them better informed and more learned then they are now. As it should be a job requirement to head up any science-relying and/or based Agency or Department, to actually know a fair amount about the How, Whats and Wherefores of the sciences involved. Not some Ex-CEO with millions involved in the things they are regulating, or anxious to no longer regulate.
That having millions of dollars of personal interest in the businesses and industries being overseen or effected by the Dept or agency, is viewed as a dis-qualifier for the position.
15
As the effects of climate change worsen the religious right will hunker down with the belief that it's the second coming of Christ, Armageddon. I have read that most GOP members of congress accept that climate change is real, however, they continue to pander to the delusional religious voters who would like nothing more than to see their vision of the world realized. I am again astounded by the capacity of the human mind to distort the truth regardless of what is destroyed in its path.
11
I think the planet could get hit by an extinction size asteroid....the GOP and other alt-right conservatives would call it a leftist plot.
8
Funny, Miss Emma doesn't seem to be aware that over the last couple of decades plant mass has increased by between 25% and 50% - massive growth. The growth is largely due to additional CO2 in the atmosphere, something our climate Apocalypse "scientists" did not predict. This massive plant life explosion is a good thing for most animal species. If our climate "scientists" were unable to predict this rather obvious implication of more CO2, what else are they missing?
With respect to the Mojave desert - the threat there are the climate Apocalypse folk themselves calling for massive solar farms that are beginning to destroy thousands of acres of the desert environment.
With respect to the Mojave desert - the threat there are the climate Apocalypse folk themselves calling for massive solar farms that are beginning to destroy thousands of acres of the desert environment.
4
If correct, the 25-50% plant growth you site, won't last long when thermal runaway begins.
We won't either.
Not funny Jaco
We won't either.
Not funny Jaco
8
the u.s.and the world can survive trump but will definitely not survive the 7.5 billion humans who are here now and the 10 billion that will be here soon enough. the nyts and the open borders folks are only making it worse but can't bring themselves to acknowledge that population is at the root of climate change and most problems we face, environmental and otherwise. there is no technology, no lifestyle change, that will reverse what we are going to deal with if we don't reduce our numbers. the planet can be used to grow humans or a few humans and everything else but our unlimited growth will over whelm everything if we don't come to grips with the biggest challenge facing us. us.
5
Trump is only the manifestation of the true overlords in our world, the individuals and corporations who have seized control of the governments throughout the planet.
He's especially suited to represent these entities too, since he's one of the most ignorant individuals ever elevated to office, and possibly the biggest idiot to occupy the White House.
Barney Frank said it best I think. He said Trump was "incoherent". This last week illustrated just how Trump lacks coherency. His attempts to distract people from his ignorance aren't working and the actions show that Trump is way out of his league.
One of his gleeful supporters thinks that Trump's opposition is marginalized but as any troll knows it's only by ignoring the obvious can he feel elated. That's a recipe for failure on a catastrophic level and I'm sure that Trump will be seen as such in the future. The troll and Trump have a lot in common!
Unfortunately the planet will not recover from Trump anytime soon. The Hawaiian birds will probably go extinct in the wild, Miami and similar cities will be submerged, the Joshua Tree will be restricted to smaller and smaller territory, and life will become more tenuous and more difficult for people all around the globe. That much is more than likely to occur.
The only way to prevent these acts from happening over and over again is to make the supporters and enablers of people like Trump pay a price for their acts. And we can do that. Start with boycotts, like Exxon.
He's especially suited to represent these entities too, since he's one of the most ignorant individuals ever elevated to office, and possibly the biggest idiot to occupy the White House.
Barney Frank said it best I think. He said Trump was "incoherent". This last week illustrated just how Trump lacks coherency. His attempts to distract people from his ignorance aren't working and the actions show that Trump is way out of his league.
One of his gleeful supporters thinks that Trump's opposition is marginalized but as any troll knows it's only by ignoring the obvious can he feel elated. That's a recipe for failure on a catastrophic level and I'm sure that Trump will be seen as such in the future. The troll and Trump have a lot in common!
Unfortunately the planet will not recover from Trump anytime soon. The Hawaiian birds will probably go extinct in the wild, Miami and similar cities will be submerged, the Joshua Tree will be restricted to smaller and smaller territory, and life will become more tenuous and more difficult for people all around the globe. That much is more than likely to occur.
The only way to prevent these acts from happening over and over again is to make the supporters and enablers of people like Trump pay a price for their acts. And we can do that. Start with boycotts, like Exxon.
9
What ever happened to the California drought? Wasn't it supposed to be permanent? And how come they didn't build reservoirs to handle their water needs?
Chicken Little strikes again. Or is it the boy who cried wolf? Is it Russia or the climate that going to destroys us now? This from the people who think Trump is a fascist.
Chicken Little strikes again. Or is it the boy who cried wolf? Is it Russia or the climate that going to destroys us now? This from the people who think Trump is a fascist.
8
Stephen, you sound like your senator, Imhof, who showed a snowball on the Senate floor as evidence human-caused global warming wasn't real. You can pick this or that phenomenon to deny anthropogenic climate change, but that isn't science. If you can stop for a minute listening to your echo chamber of rightwing deniers and educate yourself a little, you will find out what is really going on. And with regard to trump, similarly, if you let a little alt- altright facts into your head, that is, what a majority of people around the think and believe, based on science, you will realize how shallow, egomaniacal, and mendacious he really is. If not you will go on thinking climate change is a "Chinese hoax." Wait and see what trump does with tax "reform." See if what he proposes benefits the rich, and developers like him.
13
It might be useful for you to crawl up and out of Fox Anti-news propaganda, open your ears to Truth and see the world as it is.
13
Weather is not climate and no scientist ever said the drought would be permanent....as to building reservoirs...read the real news. They built lots of them.
7
The earth will survive along with its biosphere,perhaps with a greatly diminished diversity of its living species ......many vanishing before being discovered.
What should not continue to reproduce and survive are political process models,which always seem to evolve into a toxic culture of institutionalized opportunistic corruption.........which benefits the few by being parasitic on the many .......and threatens the healthy process of life itself.
The Trumpean regime is a prime example of a failing political system, which survives by rewarding political loyalists with destructive and corrupting opportunities for further self enrichment....... along with many other opportunistic regimes..........tottering along to a giant ponzi scheme collapse.
Maybe at this stage of evolution .....humanity cant do any better!
What should not continue to reproduce and survive are political process models,which always seem to evolve into a toxic culture of institutionalized opportunistic corruption.........which benefits the few by being parasitic on the many .......and threatens the healthy process of life itself.
The Trumpean regime is a prime example of a failing political system, which survives by rewarding political loyalists with destructive and corrupting opportunities for further self enrichment....... along with many other opportunistic regimes..........tottering along to a giant ponzi scheme collapse.
Maybe at this stage of evolution .....humanity cant do any better!
4
"We may never recover"?? -- No. Make that we WON"T recover. In any case, not at the rate we're going now.
But what else would you expect when the person in charge of making the right appointments to safeguard the planet, gives those posts to people who are all sitting comfortably in Corporate pockets?
It's bad enough the head of the E.P.A. is a sworn enemy to the agency, as well as a climate-change denier -- and that the Secretary of State has vested interests in drilling the Arctic Circle for oil. But the worst thing is the message it sends to those high-polluting countries who were just sucessfully dragged into the Paris Climate Agreement; that all bets are off. And since the U.S. is now bailing out, they might as well do the same.
So, no. The planet can't stand this presidency.
And quite possibly, this country can't either.
But what else would you expect when the person in charge of making the right appointments to safeguard the planet, gives those posts to people who are all sitting comfortably in Corporate pockets?
It's bad enough the head of the E.P.A. is a sworn enemy to the agency, as well as a climate-change denier -- and that the Secretary of State has vested interests in drilling the Arctic Circle for oil. But the worst thing is the message it sends to those high-polluting countries who were just sucessfully dragged into the Paris Climate Agreement; that all bets are off. And since the U.S. is now bailing out, they might as well do the same.
So, no. The planet can't stand this presidency.
And quite possibly, this country can't either.
12
The planet will not survive, nature will bat last and Mother Nature believes in science, especially fact-based science. Mother Nature also ignores selective ignorance just like government ignores reality. So-called leaders will continue to be ignorant fools until the bitter end all the while blaming the terrorist they created to help rape the plant of oil and resources while exterminating every form of life and the planet simultaneously as humanity chooses to exterminate itself for a buck.
8
Whether Trump realises this or not but whenever humans have upset the delicate balance of the symbiotic relationship between the humans and nature it is always the former who is at the receiving end. Thus even with all the environmental degrading policy package of President Trump the planet might come under the short term crisis, yet it has enough resilience to regenerate itself.
4
Gee. Climate change wasn't an issue before Trump? Somehow in 100 days Trump has caused the world's climate to heat up. I think not.
For the progressives out there, what of substance did either Clinton or Obama do re CC? At best, lip service and token gestures. As those defending Obama on coal like to point out, it was fracking and the cheapness of natural gas that hurt the coal industry, not Obama. Of course that's not true, but that was an easy call for him -- placate your base by a few actions that for the most part only hurt working class White people in red states. But as far as anything substantive, not much.
So, for all those who want to blame Trump, that's a stretch. If CC is occurring and if it is influenced by human activity then the key actors are people. People don't require government to change how they live. Anyone can reduce their carbon foot print (even Al Gore could, if he wanted) without government help.
Government regulations might help, but individual consumers are the critical piece. So do things like buying things (including food) that are produced locally. Buy American if for no other reason the carbon footprint of a product made here should be smaller than the same item made overseas then shipped here by boat or plane then loaded on trains and trucks to reach the final destination. Vacation close to home. ETC.
Boycott companies that produce products overseas -- and media that accept advertising from such companies.
For the progressives out there, what of substance did either Clinton or Obama do re CC? At best, lip service and token gestures. As those defending Obama on coal like to point out, it was fracking and the cheapness of natural gas that hurt the coal industry, not Obama. Of course that's not true, but that was an easy call for him -- placate your base by a few actions that for the most part only hurt working class White people in red states. But as far as anything substantive, not much.
So, for all those who want to blame Trump, that's a stretch. If CC is occurring and if it is influenced by human activity then the key actors are people. People don't require government to change how they live. Anyone can reduce their carbon foot print (even Al Gore could, if he wanted) without government help.
Government regulations might help, but individual consumers are the critical piece. So do things like buying things (including food) that are produced locally. Buy American if for no other reason the carbon footprint of a product made here should be smaller than the same item made overseas then shipped here by boat or plane then loaded on trains and trucks to reach the final destination. Vacation close to home. ETC.
Boycott companies that produce products overseas -- and media that accept advertising from such companies.
4
Gee Ralphie ... let me see if I can follow your "logic" --
As to coal -- you claim that natural gas didn't start the demise of coal? You think Obama jaw-boned it to death? Coal-fired electric power was dying while GWB was president, and coal-mining jobs were disappearing much faster than coal tonnage due to automation. Appalachian coal is DOA -- all the good seams are mined out, and Columbian coal is delivered cheaper to ports on the Atlantic sea coast than Appalachia can now.
Then as to Trump: it's true he has accomplished almost nothing in his first 100 days .... except firing just about everybody in government who actually know anything beyond 8th grade science ... so you argue that firing everybody who actually knows something will have no consequences?
This is like that old joke about the guy who jumps off the Empire State Building and is heard to remark as he passes the 50th floor: "I don't know what everybody was talking about -- great ride so far!"
As to coal -- you claim that natural gas didn't start the demise of coal? You think Obama jaw-boned it to death? Coal-fired electric power was dying while GWB was president, and coal-mining jobs were disappearing much faster than coal tonnage due to automation. Appalachian coal is DOA -- all the good seams are mined out, and Columbian coal is delivered cheaper to ports on the Atlantic sea coast than Appalachia can now.
Then as to Trump: it's true he has accomplished almost nothing in his first 100 days .... except firing just about everybody in government who actually know anything beyond 8th grade science ... so you argue that firing everybody who actually knows something will have no consequences?
This is like that old joke about the guy who jumps off the Empire State Building and is heard to remark as he passes the 50th floor: "I don't know what everybody was talking about -- great ride so far!"
14
Some of this is personal responsibility. There are actions we can all take to make things better. It turns out the future is already here, and we can power our homes and cars with electricity. We do it here. In California, entire tracts of new homes come with PV solar systems to provide their power.
When you see the surprising benefits of electric transportation, you will not go back. The future really is here now, and it works.
When you see the surprising benefits of electric transportation, you will not go back. The future really is here now, and it works.
4
Yikes! We're all going to die!!!
2
Of course...but we don't need to hasten it for the next generation.
6
This opinion piece is just a "repost." We know all about global warming. Please, news we can use.
Thanks.
Thanks.
2
Trump is killing us. He is killing the planet!! Trump must be removed from office. He must be impeached! He has put in place the very people that will destroy the institutions that they are suppose to protect.
It is disgusting that NONE of the GOP have stood up to him about climate change and pollution. In fact he has put someone to destroy the EPA. They do not value human life. The entire anti-abortion movement is purely to control women because those same people support WMDs and war and destroying the earth.
I never ever thought we would have people in power who have no concern about clean water, clean air and protecting the natural environment. Trump MUST GO IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is disgusting that NONE of the GOP have stood up to him about climate change and pollution. In fact he has put someone to destroy the EPA. They do not value human life. The entire anti-abortion movement is purely to control women because those same people support WMDs and war and destroying the earth.
I never ever thought we would have people in power who have no concern about clean water, clean air and protecting the natural environment. Trump MUST GO IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10
Somehow, every person bemoaning Trump needs to get involved. Action is required. The French say "qui n'avance recule". That that does not advance recedes. There is no standstill progress. Mr. Trump is the most pronounced interloper United States Presidency has ever witnessed. He must be fought with every ounce of energy if we are to survive and that requires a united front. Mr. Trump: Interloper, Climate Denier, Liar, Tax Evader, Traitor--J'accuse!
7
I am sure Bret Stephens will straighten out Bill McKribben on climate....after all, he is the new authority for the NYT climate change.
I can't tell whether this is snark, or satire, or both.
Bret's "climate commentary" at the WSJ was almost entirely ad hominem insults; he never actually made any point or coherent argument of any kind.
What few 'points" there were in it always followed the Marc Moreno/Heartland talking-point du-jour ... taken from yesterdays Daiiy Caller. One example was the "CO2 is a nutrient, it can't be a pollutant" one.
Sheesh, Phosphorus is a plant nutrient too. Everybody accepts that excess phosphorous is a pollutant in our waterways. This was (and remains) a truly dumb argument -- but the best the Heartland people could think up.
I've always wondered if there was some term in Bret's contract with the WSJ that they got to insert whatever they wanted into his columns, because it's just patently obvious that Bret never actually thought about climate issues at all -- he just spewed out other people's pre-chewed baloney ... with a large added dash of personal insult.
I've no real idea why the NYT Times hired Bret -- my theory is that it is jewish charity to a down-and-outer: as a never-Trumper he became persona non grata at WSJ once Trump won the election. I can only conclude the Sulzbergers never read Stephens in the WSJ, or at least didn't read him past his pro-Israeli and weak-Obama screeds.
And you'll notice we haven't heard a peep yet out of Bret at the NYT.
Bret's "climate commentary" at the WSJ was almost entirely ad hominem insults; he never actually made any point or coherent argument of any kind.
What few 'points" there were in it always followed the Marc Moreno/Heartland talking-point du-jour ... taken from yesterdays Daiiy Caller. One example was the "CO2 is a nutrient, it can't be a pollutant" one.
Sheesh, Phosphorus is a plant nutrient too. Everybody accepts that excess phosphorous is a pollutant in our waterways. This was (and remains) a truly dumb argument -- but the best the Heartland people could think up.
I've always wondered if there was some term in Bret's contract with the WSJ that they got to insert whatever they wanted into his columns, because it's just patently obvious that Bret never actually thought about climate issues at all -- he just spewed out other people's pre-chewed baloney ... with a large added dash of personal insult.
I've no real idea why the NYT Times hired Bret -- my theory is that it is jewish charity to a down-and-outer: as a never-Trumper he became persona non grata at WSJ once Trump won the election. I can only conclude the Sulzbergers never read Stephens in the WSJ, or at least didn't read him past his pro-Israeli and weak-Obama screeds.
And you'll notice we haven't heard a peep yet out of Bret at the NYT.
4
It was a sad lament more than anything. Bret Stephens uses tired fallacious arguments for his "rhetoric." However, it seems to be the norm in media now as it generates controversy, clicks and advertising. Sad the NYT has joined the fray and added a writer that does not understand a farthing of climate science into a position where his "opinion" will be "valued." We should be ready to educate him despite what would likely be an unwillingness to actually learn climate science.
3
I was a working "climate scientist" for over two decades, these days I study hurricanes because all the easy/interesting questions are solved in my opinion. We also know the answers to all the questions that rationally affect policy, and the public does not want to, nor would I really advocate for, funding to answer the questions that still tickle my curiosity. Hurricanes are plenty interesting too.
Having said this, I have offered repeatedly to the New York Times that I would answer Bozos like Bret, if they would allow any real "debate." But the fact of the science deniers is that they don't do scientific debate -- it's too complicated. Instead, like Bret they just name-call, and do the Gish-gallop from one made up nonsense claim to the next.
Do you know of that reputed arabic saying "a waste of soap to wash the hind end of a sick camel?" That's Bret, on climate.
Having said this, I have offered repeatedly to the New York Times that I would answer Bozos like Bret, if they would allow any real "debate." But the fact of the science deniers is that they don't do scientific debate -- it's too complicated. Instead, like Bret they just name-call, and do the Gish-gallop from one made up nonsense claim to the next.
Do you know of that reputed arabic saying "a waste of soap to wash the hind end of a sick camel?" That's Bret, on climate.
1
Climate change was and is a socialist scam to justify looting the wealth of the people.
5
And what advanced degrees do you have to support that assertion? Or maybe education and even literacy is also a scam? That would explain a lot. But those AM Talk Radio University degrees are a good value, I heard somewhere.
4
And you can prove this how? Or does the fact that you, Eric of New Jersey, say so supposed to make us all believe it?
6
The Matriarchy is destroying Father Earth
Women use skin care products which contain micro-beads. These beads make it to the oceans. Fish and other marine life eat these beads instead of plankton and they die.
Women pee out the hormones from hormone replacement therapy and this wrecks havoc on the reproduction of marine life.
Women use most of the plastic conveniences.
On this recent earth day, we must remember Father Earth and how feminism is trying to convince everyone that men are the prime culprits.
(Psst: actually we are all in this together and equally to blame, but don't you get tired of feminists always blaming men?)
Women use skin care products which contain micro-beads. These beads make it to the oceans. Fish and other marine life eat these beads instead of plankton and they die.
Women pee out the hormones from hormone replacement therapy and this wrecks havoc on the reproduction of marine life.
Women use most of the plastic conveniences.
On this recent earth day, we must remember Father Earth and how feminism is trying to convince everyone that men are the prime culprits.
(Psst: actually we are all in this together and equally to blame, but don't you get tired of feminists always blaming men?)
I Marched 'for' Science in Portland Maine, with my "Political Revolution against EMPIRE" sign because Science can't survive under an EMPIRE -- just ask Galileo.
Dump the Trump Empire and Emperor Trump's War on Science.
BTW, I just bought Shawn Otto's fabulous new book, "The War on Science", in which he excoriates Empires for being the Enemy of Science and points out how Empires always try to dominate honest Science into building advanced weapons systems for the "Merchants of Death", and using AI systems for immoral and inhuman purposes.
Dump the Trump Empire and Emperor Trump's War on Science.
BTW, I just bought Shawn Otto's fabulous new book, "The War on Science", in which he excoriates Empires for being the Enemy of Science and points out how Empires always try to dominate honest Science into building advanced weapons systems for the "Merchants of Death", and using AI systems for immoral and inhuman purposes.
8
> The War on Science
Kant ,the leading modern intellectual, attacked science to save the religious depravity of sacrifice. Intellectuals and scientists now claim that mindless (but socially acceptable) guessing, not observation, is the base of science.
Kant ,the leading modern intellectual, attacked science to save the religious depravity of sacrifice. Intellectuals and scientists now claim that mindless (but socially acceptable) guessing, not observation, is the base of science.
The planet cannot stand 7 billion people.
Trump is not the problem. 7 billion people is the problem.
Any article that does not acknowledge that the cause of our environmental problems is due to too many people is lying to us, the readers, and themselves.
Trump is not the problem. 7 billion people is the problem.
Any article that does not acknowledge that the cause of our environmental problems is due to too many people is lying to us, the readers, and themselves.
6
At first, I thought you believed what you were saying, but then you started to hedge your bets. Incredible! I thought you were a scientist.
1
A Trump presidency is the world's biggest threat. Nort Korea, Syria, Russia, etc are middling problems compared to javing an greedy, spiteful ignoramous as the leader of the most important and indespensble nation in the world.
5
And still the madness continues.
Every day new science reveals the extent of the peril to the planet and still the truth is ignored.
Every day real scientists unmask the unproven claims of industry minions and still the truth is ignored.
Every day new evidence is released to refute those that pontificate and still the truth is ignored.
How much longer will we be subjected to the lies?
Probably forever. You see everytime the truth becomes known the anti-science hysterics of "global warming" get a new dose of fake news from The Grey Lady.
Every day new science reveals the extent of the peril to the planet and still the truth is ignored.
Every day real scientists unmask the unproven claims of industry minions and still the truth is ignored.
Every day new evidence is released to refute those that pontificate and still the truth is ignored.
How much longer will we be subjected to the lies?
Probably forever. You see everytime the truth becomes known the anti-science hysterics of "global warming" get a new dose of fake news from The Grey Lady.
Typically the author, a global warming, climate Apocalypse evangelist has not real training in science. Don't sweat it folk, don't let fear mongering frighten you - the planet will be just fine.
1
We know 'the planet' will be just fine, it's the more than 7 billion people and all the animals and plants that live here too that are in jeopardy at this moment, thank you very much.
6
Science? Ha. Who needs it?
OK let's just say it.
There are a lot of undereducated people in this country. They believe in National Enquirer-level explanations of how the world works. They are of the birther ilk, they are rabid believers in the irrational, they are not very smart and of a conspiratorial bent.
They are idiots on bar stools all across America. They are wackos on this and particularly right wing sites.
Now, they've invested their trust in a man who has told them he will 'fix everything'. As we see from this health plan, he will not only not fix things, he will make them much, much worse. Their lives will not get better, they will pay a shocking amount for health insurance if they can get it at all, burden their children with debt, they will continue to retreat into God, guns and opioids.
Donald Trump is not a mystery. He has been a buffoon from the get-go.
So the blame for him being in this office falls squarely on the shoulders of the simpletons who voted for him.
OK let's just say it.
There are a lot of undereducated people in this country. They believe in National Enquirer-level explanations of how the world works. They are of the birther ilk, they are rabid believers in the irrational, they are not very smart and of a conspiratorial bent.
They are idiots on bar stools all across America. They are wackos on this and particularly right wing sites.
Now, they've invested their trust in a man who has told them he will 'fix everything'. As we see from this health plan, he will not only not fix things, he will make them much, much worse. Their lives will not get better, they will pay a shocking amount for health insurance if they can get it at all, burden their children with debt, they will continue to retreat into God, guns and opioids.
Donald Trump is not a mystery. He has been a buffoon from the get-go.
So the blame for him being in this office falls squarely on the shoulders of the simpletons who voted for him.
10
No.....the people you call "simpletons"are perpetual victims of the 1% chosen few,who use their millions and billions of debt capitalist monopoly money to fool and convince the "simpletons"that they are electing a populist "hero"of the masses ......."for change"or "to make America great again"............but really to put their insiders to keep their grip on power and the publics piggy bank!
3
> They [undereducated people] are idiots on bar stools
So you dont go to upscale bars?
So you dont go to upscale bars?
> debt capitalist monopoly money
Ie, counterfeit created by that Progressive institution, the Fed.
Ie, counterfeit created by that Progressive institution, the Fed.
You, Bill McK. may say such things, to note decades of alarm, but the larger #NYT audience cannot blame someone else for its largesse, privilege and complicity in profiteering throughout human error's crimes against humanism.
Check yourself people, state law; human behavior needs be its own codes.
Check yourself people, state law; human behavior needs be its own codes.
Complete bull, typical leftist gloom and doom pseudoscience.
I celebrated Earth Day by watching George Carlin's brilliant rant on idiots who think we...Man...can change the climate. The hubris is astounding.
I celebrated Earth Day by watching George Carlin's brilliant rant on idiots who think we...Man...can change the climate. The hubris is astounding.
3
You mean Carlin's hubris, I assume. If you take your science education from a comedienne rather than peer reviewed scientific consensus, what's that say about you?
4
That 97% is a vague, ambiguous Leftist lie.
2
Science trumps Trump
Why is this in op-ed? This is news, informational/educational, and important.
5
Before Trump descended to being president their had been a move, sluggish at first but gaining momentum, among most major manufacturers in accepting the fact based notion of Climate Change. All but the 'fossil fuel' industry. that is. But with Trump in the White House all that has changed. Once again, it's all about greed. Those who momentarily saw the light are right back to their obscene shortsighted ways, wanting all the money as soon as possible and damn the planet.
5
Alternative Facts about the Earth are preached constantly tp the Faithful. Jesus controlled the Weather. He walked on Water. Dinosaurs and Man co-existed. The list goes on and on. If you doubt these miracles, that defy Science, your are damned to hell ! Trump, not a Religious Man, has taken advantage of the situation. His only Religion is Money and Power but the Faithful see him as a man of God. Funny how he has all the traits of the Biblical Satan. We are in a fight for our lives and our Planet. Fake News or Science. What will humanity choose ?
6
Trump's anti-environmental impetus is not occurring in a vacuum. Nope. He has ever so many millions of Americans cheering on this move against the planet's climate. Too facile by half to demonize the tangerine toupe and blame it all on him. How many corporations is the NYT invested in that support balls-to-the-wall consumption of fossil fuels, for starters?
4
There is a shift of citizen power being drawn away from an artficially elitened class of zero population eunuchs to a complete and distinct nation, indivisible and under God.
1
I think the Secretary of State was realistic in his assessment of global warming. I think he stated that we are causing it and that we will come up some technical solution to solve it. From the evidence I have seen it is too late to stop it by lowering CO2 emissions, but that means we should be starting to try to figure out how to solve the problem.
During the Vietnam War the government looked into putting a huge mirror in space to reflect sunlight on Vietnam 24 hours a day. It was easier to fight a war in daylight, but the cost was prohibitive for this project. Perhaps the cost would not be prohibitive if we now put a sunshield in space to physically block a portion of the sunlight.
During the Vietnam War the government looked into putting a huge mirror in space to reflect sunlight on Vietnam 24 hours a day. It was easier to fight a war in daylight, but the cost was prohibitive for this project. Perhaps the cost would not be prohibitive if we now put a sunshield in space to physically block a portion of the sunlight.
Both wind and solar work very well intermittently. Let's strive for a world-wide society where we decrease poverty, increase education, increase production and bring food and fresh water to all people - intermittently!
Earth Day has been a marvelous vehicle for publicizing and politicizing the needs of our environment, but perhaps we could go one better for Mother Earth. It would be great to see an official Day of Rest for the Planet. Imagine a day in which all non-essential, non-emergency travel simply stops, everywhere on earth... A day in which we allow Nature to perpetuate life, without man-made offsetting pollution. Yeah, I know, crazy...
Trump is just the final nail in the coffin. One of the reasons I consider Obama to be a failure is the lack of REAL leadership HE displayed in helping the fight against Climate Change. At the time of Obama's first inauguration we were at a tipping point. We passed it during his time in office. In Mark Hertsgaard's book "Hot", he said we will have two options: work to change the climate for the better or learn to adapt to what we have done to our environment. The WORST thing is that the Trumps in this world will "adapt" by simply moving to more comfortable areas of the world and let the rest of us TRULY adapt to the world THEY created.
3
Surely, the climate change deniers are willfully blind. On the coal issue, the product simply is not economically very viable, not just because of pollution but because of natural gas. And, regardless of what our POTUS says, China realizes coal is their biggest enemy, much, much bigger than any global military threat or any trade threats. Clearly, Europe realizes as well that coal is an enemy as are cars and the carbon productions of populations that grow.
Trump is but a blip of offensive nonsense and a temporary threat. Not clear is that we can reverse our climate change path very much. I submit that if we really could change, it would involve a massive, global shift to solar, nuclear, and wind power, away from fossil fuels, away from animal protein, cultural changes that are now only nascent. The electric car only makes sense if electricity is not from fossil fuels. Solar energy only makes sense if electrical grids and energy storage systems are built.
If Trump and Congress could only see that the long term infrastructure we need most is one that imagines dramatically less carbon generation...if only!!!
Trump is but a blip of offensive nonsense and a temporary threat. Not clear is that we can reverse our climate change path very much. I submit that if we really could change, it would involve a massive, global shift to solar, nuclear, and wind power, away from fossil fuels, away from animal protein, cultural changes that are now only nascent. The electric car only makes sense if electricity is not from fossil fuels. Solar energy only makes sense if electrical grids and energy storage systems are built.
If Trump and Congress could only see that the long term infrastructure we need most is one that imagines dramatically less carbon generation...if only!!!
3
Mr. Trump, unfortunately, lacks curiosity. For all his desire to throw others off balance with "unpredictability," he remains very conventional. The natural world he knows is a manicured golf course. Food in his kitchens and on his menus have little relation to the outside world in which they were created.
The danger to the natural world is Mr. Trump's conventional, incurious mindset, the assumption that what was always thus shall remain so. He has no notion of just how delicate and precarious all life really is.
The danger to the natural world is Mr. Trump's conventional, incurious mindset, the assumption that what was always thus shall remain so. He has no notion of just how delicate and precarious all life really is.
3
Donald Trump: eternal poster child for unabashed perfidy and cynicism.
No doubt Trump thinks that he, his family, and his friends will be protected from global warming and climate change – that they somehow will persist in living in the eye of the storm. Trump fails to grasp that no one will be harbored in some safe haven from this imminent cataclysm.
On a more positive note, the AI that will soon subsume us may appreciate a warmer Earth, as it could exploit the added energy at the planet’s surface. So perhaps these storm clouds will have silver linings after all … just not for us.
Or maybe, sooner rather than later, people will come to their senses, and we will sort all this out – and the needed solutions will no longer be relegated just to wishful thinking.
No doubt Trump thinks that he, his family, and his friends will be protected from global warming and climate change – that they somehow will persist in living in the eye of the storm. Trump fails to grasp that no one will be harbored in some safe haven from this imminent cataclysm.
On a more positive note, the AI that will soon subsume us may appreciate a warmer Earth, as it could exploit the added energy at the planet’s surface. So perhaps these storm clouds will have silver linings after all … just not for us.
Or maybe, sooner rather than later, people will come to their senses, and we will sort all this out – and the needed solutions will no longer be relegated just to wishful thinking.
1
The climate change civil war in Syria is just a precursor to the mass migrations, resource and water wars, drought and famine that the future holds for humans. Some, not all, but some of humanity have an arrogant selfish streak that dismisses the evidence of climate change. Obviously this is manifest in Donald Trump et al. There will be a great dying of humanity over the next generations. And very possibly this will be accelerated greatly if the wars blossom into nuclear conflagration. I grieve for the environment, the loss of species and the enlightened people who understand and are trying to avoid this scenario. But the powers of greed and self satisfaction will bring the above to pass. I am 59 and probably will not see the worst. But I am grieve now for what will come to pass.
4
Trump's thinking on "making America great again" and preserving the coal culture is so up-side-down. He says he does it to save jobs but job numbers are increasing faster in the green energy space than the number of jobs to be preserved in coal. We once derived energy from whale oil but we moved on. We once made buggy whips but we moved on. What made America great was innovation not feet dragging. Move on!
3
As long as we Americans hold President Calvin Coolidge's statement "The Business of America is business" as gospel, we will find ourselves unable to express ourselves in a different cultural context. Within that context, we seem to lack appreciation for science but only after engineers find ways of crafting marketable products from it.
If climate change can make millionaires out of businessmen, and not be government driven, then people would flock to it like speculators to a gold rush.
How can businessmen make millions out of altruism? Therein, lies the conundrum. Government must push the markets in a certain direction to help us from ourselves. And presently, America is running short on altruism.
Whatever good befalls this nation and its impact on the world will come from outside the whitehouse. It will come from outside the halls of republican run governments.
It will come from good men and women who organize and overcome the immense deficit of morality located in our nation's capitol.
To believe that climate change does not require a deep altruistic impulse in our government servants is to overlook a major problem in resolving climate change.
We must look for it elsewhere. This will not be solved if Trump is impeached. Pence shows himself just as beholden to unrestricted and unregulated business practices as the next republican.
Republicans are a curse upon our nation. The future is not with them.
If climate change can make millionaires out of businessmen, and not be government driven, then people would flock to it like speculators to a gold rush.
How can businessmen make millions out of altruism? Therein, lies the conundrum. Government must push the markets in a certain direction to help us from ourselves. And presently, America is running short on altruism.
Whatever good befalls this nation and its impact on the world will come from outside the whitehouse. It will come from outside the halls of republican run governments.
It will come from good men and women who organize and overcome the immense deficit of morality located in our nation's capitol.
To believe that climate change does not require a deep altruistic impulse in our government servants is to overlook a major problem in resolving climate change.
We must look for it elsewhere. This will not be solved if Trump is impeached. Pence shows himself just as beholden to unrestricted and unregulated business practices as the next republican.
Republicans are a curse upon our nation. The future is not with them.
3
> To believe that climate change does not require a deep altruistic impulse in our government servants is to overlook a major problem in resolving climate change.
"Instead of their old promises that collectivism would create universal abundance and their denunciations of capitalism for creating poverty, they are now denouncing capitalism for creating abundance. Instead of promising comfort and security for everyone, they are now denouncing people for being comfortable and
secure. They are still struggling, however, to inculcate guilt and fear; these have always been their psychological tools. Only instead of exhorting you to feel guilty of exploiting the poor, they are now exhorting you to feel guilty of exploiting land, air and water. Instead of threatening you with a bloody rebellion of the disinherited masses, they are now trying—like witch doctors addressing a tribe of savages—to scare you out of your wits with thunderously vague threats of unknowable, cosmic cataclysm, threats that cannot be
checked, verified or proved. One element, however, has remained unchanged in the collectivists’ technique, the element without which they would have had no chance: altruism—the appeal for self-sacrifice, the denial of man’s
right to exist."
-Ayn Rand, Anti-Industrial Revolution
"Instead of their old promises that collectivism would create universal abundance and their denunciations of capitalism for creating poverty, they are now denouncing capitalism for creating abundance. Instead of promising comfort and security for everyone, they are now denouncing people for being comfortable and
secure. They are still struggling, however, to inculcate guilt and fear; these have always been their psychological tools. Only instead of exhorting you to feel guilty of exploiting the poor, they are now exhorting you to feel guilty of exploiting land, air and water. Instead of threatening you with a bloody rebellion of the disinherited masses, they are now trying—like witch doctors addressing a tribe of savages—to scare you out of your wits with thunderously vague threats of unknowable, cosmic cataclysm, threats that cannot be
checked, verified or proved. One element, however, has remained unchanged in the collectivists’ technique, the element without which they would have had no chance: altruism—the appeal for self-sacrifice, the denial of man’s
right to exist."
-Ayn Rand, Anti-Industrial Revolution
Ayn Rand was so ridiculous it's shocking she ever got past self-publishing. "The Virtues of Selfishness" was so illogical and poorly written I wanted to throw it against a wall. You need to understand something, Stephen. Like it or not, you live in a closed loop system. The carrying capacity and resources of this planet are not infinite. What that means is to survive, all species must conserve, share, limit their impact. Those that don't are dealt with harshly by nature. That's just life in a closed loop system. Please take a biology class or something. A number of comments here are a critical indictment of our public educational system.
3
Somehow, maybe a Leftist "education," you omitted man's independent mind, w/its virtually infinite creativity. Recall the good, old days when liberals praised creativity, even over reason and knowledge. For Leftists, creativity is out, giving up and state-worship is in.
1
The environment is our Life-Support system. It makes our Oxygen, cleans our water, and provides us with food. Would these folk diddle with the ir life support system on a spacecraft? Well,we really ARE on Spacecraft Earth.
Since I earned a Master of Science in this field, I have watched with concern as politics overwhelmed science, . . and now threatens our very existence.
Since I earned a Master of Science in this field, I have watched with concern as politics overwhelmed science, . . and now threatens our very existence.
5
> The environment is our Life-Support system. It makes our Oxygen, cleans our water, and provides us with food....I earned a Master of Science in this field
So we can sit, close our eyes, and evade reasoning, like Buddha, and we can survive, somehow, magically, mysteriously, mystically. Leftist lemmings have taken leave of their senses and gone out of their minds as they rush toward the cliff.
So we can sit, close our eyes, and evade reasoning, like Buddha, and we can survive, somehow, magically, mysteriously, mystically. Leftist lemmings have taken leave of their senses and gone out of their minds as they rush toward the cliff.
Steve, your posts would be more believable if did not put "leftist" in every one of them.
1
Climate change is not the disease but a symptom of a much larger problem facing humanity that rarely gets the attention it deserves – species overpopulation.
Humans are a spectacularly successful species. Carl Haub estimates 100 billion people have been born in the past 2000 years. We are becoming increasing aware of one result of this population explosion: our living resources across the entire spectrum from local to global are being stretch to the breaking point.
Conservation will not fix this problem alone. If each individual cuts their recourse consumption by half while at the same time our species continues to increase the global number of humans living on the planet, simple math tells us we will eventually work our way back to the same climate challenges we are facing today.
The balance of nature will not be outdone by human ingenuity. Over the course of four billion years, nature has always, and with brutal force, corrected every single overpopulation imbalance through the forces of natural selection. Homo sapiens are not exempt.
Humans are a spectacularly successful species. Carl Haub estimates 100 billion people have been born in the past 2000 years. We are becoming increasing aware of one result of this population explosion: our living resources across the entire spectrum from local to global are being stretch to the breaking point.
Conservation will not fix this problem alone. If each individual cuts their recourse consumption by half while at the same time our species continues to increase the global number of humans living on the planet, simple math tells us we will eventually work our way back to the same climate challenges we are facing today.
The balance of nature will not be outdone by human ingenuity. Over the course of four billion years, nature has always, and with brutal force, corrected every single overpopulation imbalance through the forces of natural selection. Homo sapiens are not exempt.
2
> our living resources across the entire spectrum from local to global are being stretch to the breaking point.
As soon as man uses up the 8000 miles of nature to the Earth's core, I'm with you, comrade.
As soon as man uses up the 8000 miles of nature to the Earth's core, I'm with you, comrade.
And this is one of the most important reasons why the Democratic party establishment, The Times and the rest of the corporate news media did the world a grave disservice by ridiculing and dismissing and ignoring Bernie Sanders during the campaign for president. Every single poll made it undeniably clear that Bernie Sanders was the only Democratic candidate who beat Trump hands down. Hillary had the highest negative ratings of any Democratic candidate in history. She was at risk of losing and then she lost and the consequences of that loss are monumental. The corporate news media, including The Times, cared more about other things, their own profit, the profit of their friends, whatever, than about defeating Trump This is the lesson we need to learn.
4
The fragile systems that support all life on earth are ignored by the financialized global marketplace because because the individuals who have charge of the giant money machine are too greedy, too delusional and too egotistical to acknowledge the simple reality that when these systems collapse, so will the human race.
4
Don't worry, the Planet can stand us. And, if we are gone, something else will evolve to take advantage of the situation. Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, &ct.
2
Ice Age, Warming, Ice Age, Warming, Human caused thermal runaway heating, end of life.
1
Americans and the world can take heart in the fact that "We The People" did not vote for him.
He was installed, against our Will, by republicans in the Electoral College who had help from Russia's Putin. Trump's top priority is to thwart any investigation into this. Look for the many diversions and distractions he will come up with.
He is undermining every National institution, proof that he and Putin mean America great harm. HIs regime must be removed.
He wore his biggest lie on his hat.
He was installed, against our Will, by republicans in the Electoral College who had help from Russia's Putin. Trump's top priority is to thwart any investigation into this. Look for the many diversions and distractions he will come up with.
He is undermining every National institution, proof that he and Putin mean America great harm. HIs regime must be removed.
He wore his biggest lie on his hat.
3
Trillions for weapons, wars, prisons, police, spies ... to keep us "safe." But none to keep us safe from climate disaster.
Maybe if we could put a hijab or hoodie on coal-fired power plants, we'd get our fear-mongering, pandering politicians to act.
Maybe if we could put a hijab or hoodie on coal-fired power plants, we'd get our fear-mongering, pandering politicians to act.
5
For the last 40 odd years, "scientist/politicos have been shouting that the end is nigh. For example Ehrlich stated that by the year 2000 Britain would be a collection of small islands." and that Antarctica is going to be the only habitable part of the planet. Well as I sit here in the Shropshire Hills, I can assure you that we are not being flooded out. But instead of taking him away to the funny farm, they invite him to become a Fellow of the Royal Society. These doom profiteers remind me of the placard waving evangelists marching along Oxford Street. When one catastrophe fails to materialise they simply change the date to another time in the future.
2
You need to read Ayn Rand's "Anti-Industrial Revolution."
Americans knew Trump was a climate change denier before they voted. They knew he would dismantle the EPA and give fossil fuel companies rights to pollute the land. They didn't care and voted for him anyway. This is the problem in America; the ignorance of the average American. While Fox was cornering the fake news market for the fossil fuel industry money and Koch was buying up congressman who'd go along with the destruction of their own lives for payola and Exxon was funneling millions to spread fake news along with Russia, where was the news media? Why were there no marches in the street then? Now we have close to half the population brought up and brainwashed on fossil fuel propaganda and enough benzene and lead in their water supplies that they can't see past today. Global warming should be front page news every single day on every major news outlet. An uniformed and misinformed populace is what got us here. We need an army of psychiatrists to unbrainwash them and the truth needs to be told every single day....loudly this time so those in a brainwashed stupor can snap out of it and face the fact WE ARE CAUSING the end of human civilization willingly. Our kids in grandkids are in grave danger and it our fault. Time for us who know better, to take the fight to the courts, the street and to the media.
4
The planet doesn't care what Donald Trump or a few millions of CO2 savers will do in the next four years. We should care for the poor people and their children, stop wars and fights between people of different religion. Prepare for earthquakes around the pacific rim and try to live in peace with your family and your neighbors. Keep the spirit of democracy and do not elect dumb politicians.
Plant a garden and improve your local environment. If time is left you should join Climate March. Don't go there by car!
Plant a garden and improve your local environment. If time is left you should join Climate March. Don't go there by car!
I think the most effective way to save the planet and all the species on it is human population control. I don't understand why no one ever talks about this. Our species is so successful that we're running everything else off the planet, but it doesn't have to be this way. Why not have fewer humans with a higher quality of life? The idea that technology will save us is just delaying the inevitable. Yes, we could live in smalll boxes stacked on top of each other way up into the sky in a few cities around the world, drinking our own recycled urine and eating soylent green, but is that really how we want to live?
16
Educated people have fewer children. Bill and Melinda Gates' foundation has the data. The deplorable dupes who voted for trump for reasons I do not understand deplore science, and educated people. By a residue of Alexander Hamilton's thinking, brought from aristocratic England, the Electoral College, as well as our two senators from each state requirement, continues the underlying anti-democratic belief that the "common people" cannot be trusted to govern. So we end up with trump, who Hillary Clinton beat by almost 3 million votes. The republican gerryrigging contributes to the great distortion of our democracy - white men, mostly, mostly poorly educated, are afraid as they see what's coming, the end of their control of America. And the fossil fuel corporations, and the US Chamber of Commerce, pushing "alternative facts," get what they want out of this, profit profit profit unchecked by regulation.
3
I asked my wife yesterday if she thought we would ever recover from Trump, and her answer was that we never recovered from Reagan. From the implementation of the catchy slogan that government couldn't solve problems, but IS the problem to the various machinations like the Iran-Contra foreign policy, the S&L scandal which wiped out hard earned savings for thousands of people, to the ongoing GOP love affair with the useless concept of "trickle down", the seeds were planted for a level of corruption, greed and incompetence that now exists in the White House. Only now it's magnified with Trump, and the sense that if we didn't just waste money on government programs is still the kneejerk reaction of many as the solution to our problems. Denial is a big weapon in the GOP arsenal, no matter the issue.
Elections have consequences, is the ism that we've been exposed to in spades over the past two months. Just how big those consequences are has been terrifying thus far, and the expose' on climate change issues only reveals it further.
Elections have consequences, is the ism that we've been exposed to in spades over the past two months. Just how big those consequences are has been terrifying thus far, and the expose' on climate change issues only reveals it further.
6
Self interest is the rule of the day. Self interest has propelled our society to where it is today. Most people aren't concerned about the survival of birds in that American vacation spot in the Pacific or about birds that rely on horseshoe crabs for food on their flight to the Artic. Most people are concerned with what is in front of them in their drives to and from work and afterwards to and from their preferred fast food joint. Everything else is someone else's problem. Of course, they can hopefully afford to escape to Palm Beach or some other vacation spot once in a while where they can commune with natured while golfing.
4
Nazism, Marxism and other religions are blood-drenched attacks on America's founding politics of self-interest. Environmentalism is the nihilist prostitution of science. Nature-worship pollutes man.
Sustain man. Exploit nature. Produce. Dig. Extract. Build.
Sustain man. Exploit nature. Produce. Dig. Extract. Build.
Ayn would be proud.
> Self interest is the rule of the day. Self interest has propelled our society to where it is today.
This was the mantra in pre-Nazi Germany. I wonder where it will take us this time.
This was the mantra in pre-Nazi Germany. I wonder where it will take us this time.
I don't "save" a lot of articles. I saved this one!
5
Is the problem that this planet can't stand this president or that this president can't stand this planet? It must really irk him that our planet refuses to remain a beautiful and wonderful thing just because he is now running the show. Of course just like everything else he will say one thing and never follow up or do something contrary to his initial claim. Despite the unnecessary advancement of our planets demise his supporters will foolishly continue to worship his presence.
Perhaps this is natures way of ridding the solar system of careless and irresponsible fools who see no need for environmental responsibility.
Perhaps this is natures way of ridding the solar system of careless and irresponsible fools who see no need for environmental responsibility.
4
Impeach impeach impeach! And make sure Mr. Pence knows the Republican Congress will tumble to progressives who are hard at work today gaining support as resignations occur and for the next elections.
4
People who are on the lower rungs of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Physiological - food, water, shelter, sleep, breathing and Safety - Security of body, employment, family) could care less about the higher rungs on the ladder (Esteem - confidence, achievement, respect for others, respect of others and Self-Actualization - creativity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts). Hence people of low education and who lack the motivation to develop critical thinking will continue to support the likes of Trump and his cronies while ignoring the consequences of tomorrow for the good times of today.
5
> people of low education and who lack the motivation to develop critical thinking
Leftist university grads.
Leftist university grads.
Contrary to McKibben, the planet will recover.
It will be a different planet from the one in 2017 just as the 2017 planet is vastly different from that 5 million or 145 million years ago.
Species come and go and homo sapien mostly likely will go just as the mega-fauna in North American did 12,000 years ago.
The physical forces (astronomical and geological) that drive the climate will reassert themselves. We have probably forestalled the onset of the next "ice age" by 30,000 or so years but it will happen just as the last 19 or 20 "ice ages" have happened over the last 2.8 million years.
"Never" and "forever" are human terms. They mean nothing to the planet.
It will be a different planet from the one in 2017 just as the 2017 planet is vastly different from that 5 million or 145 million years ago.
Species come and go and homo sapien mostly likely will go just as the mega-fauna in North American did 12,000 years ago.
The physical forces (astronomical and geological) that drive the climate will reassert themselves. We have probably forestalled the onset of the next "ice age" by 30,000 or so years but it will happen just as the last 19 or 20 "ice ages" have happened over the last 2.8 million years.
"Never" and "forever" are human terms. They mean nothing to the planet.
1
Some well-researched estimates give the human species about another 8,000 years of existence.
Fred......"species come and go." Such reckless ingratitude should get you banned from springtime, from the beauty, joy and services other species freely provide that you take for granted. That little insectivore bird you think dispensable could be protecting you from Zika. You live on the only planet in the known universe to support life. Prove yourself worthy....respect and protect its blessings.
1
It's not about Trump; it's about us. It's about the decisions we make every day. We can decide not to use coal power. We can decide not to drive a gas guzzler. We can decide to insulate homes, use public transportation, not throw food into the garbage, put solar cells on our roofs. What matters is what the people do. The notion that it's one person at the top who decrees our fate is false and the most disempowering message of all.
1
The cause of global warming denial is not our incompetent President. The cause is a relentless campaign by the oil industry in general and Exxon Mobile in particular. Our Secretary of State, who was chosen while CEO of Exxon Mobile, is the worst cabinet pick in American history and more responsible for the current threat to life on the planet than anyone else now living on it.
3
The worst thing about this administration is watching hard-fought sane and progressive regulations and ideals being stripped away from government by demented old men in favor of greed, all the while knowing that we have the knowledge, technology, and wealth to follow a life-sustaining path. I alternate between hibernating to preserve my sanity and coming up for air to write substantial checks to every environmental organization out there and send pleading emails to legislators. Nothing dulls the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Treasure every moment you have, folks, especially those with your children. And vote for the Future.
7
Donald Trump is going to kill us all.
Literally and figuratively.
Literally by seetting loose poison gas, poison water, war, incoherent foreign policy, turning the militaty into our foreign while decimating our state dept. He will bust the budget, cut off funds for the sick and the poor, letting peolple die in the streets, sort of like Calcutta..
But figuratively, that's how we, the American people, dedgolstroy the world. Since WWII we have been the hope, the beacon, the GOLD standard for how people can govern themselves without an autocrat.
And how, after WWII, we have made people around the world believe that we were special, we were a GOLD standard. With our liberties, our constitution, our distaste for "rulers" set us apart.
No more. There is a king in the white house with his bevy of courtiers. Family held closest, follwed by people who are aligned with Russia, the KKK, the neocons.
Yes, we're going to war. It boosts Trump's ratings. W's approval ratings before 9/11 were going South and fast. He was down to 50%. All it took was 9/11 and he jumped to 84%. Bloodlust. When all was said and done he was a complete failure. Down to the mid 20's when he left.
Trump has no "policy." He doesn't care about Obamacare or the budget or taxes (unless they enrich him.) All he wants is more money and higher ratings. And that means war. Jason Chafetz is leaving. No more Benghazi hearings. And the Republicans choose Trump over the United States of America.
Literally and figuratively.
Literally by seetting loose poison gas, poison water, war, incoherent foreign policy, turning the militaty into our foreign while decimating our state dept. He will bust the budget, cut off funds for the sick and the poor, letting peolple die in the streets, sort of like Calcutta..
But figuratively, that's how we, the American people, dedgolstroy the world. Since WWII we have been the hope, the beacon, the GOLD standard for how people can govern themselves without an autocrat.
And how, after WWII, we have made people around the world believe that we were special, we were a GOLD standard. With our liberties, our constitution, our distaste for "rulers" set us apart.
No more. There is a king in the white house with his bevy of courtiers. Family held closest, follwed by people who are aligned with Russia, the KKK, the neocons.
Yes, we're going to war. It boosts Trump's ratings. W's approval ratings before 9/11 were going South and fast. He was down to 50%. All it took was 9/11 and he jumped to 84%. Bloodlust. When all was said and done he was a complete failure. Down to the mid 20's when he left.
Trump has no "policy." He doesn't care about Obamacare or the budget or taxes (unless they enrich him.) All he wants is more money and higher ratings. And that means war. Jason Chafetz is leaving. No more Benghazi hearings. And the Republicans choose Trump over the United States of America.
2
There's no way our planet is helped by the 10 to 15 thousand Atomic bombs now in the hands of 10 to 15 countries. Some - like Russia and the United States have thousands of them, while others have ONLY 300 or fewer.
Although only two such bombs have ever been exploded in anger, hundreds of thousands of innocent people were vaporized immediately and many other hundreds of thousands of others were grievously injured and maimed.
Currently two countries - neighbors - have relations which are just short of all- out war, in large because of historical and religious differences (and Kashmir). One of these two - Pakistan - has A bombs that seem to be not in complete control of the Pakistan government because of terrorist groups, while India also has its own internal conflicts.
Finally, there are two Atomic countries - North Korea and the US - which are ruled by uncouth and unstable leaders who have recently threatened each other. Even 5 to 10 Atomic bombs would render much of our air and water
toxic for many years.
Atomic bombs are the elephants in the room which nobody seems willing to talk about. Why not?
Although only two such bombs have ever been exploded in anger, hundreds of thousands of innocent people were vaporized immediately and many other hundreds of thousands of others were grievously injured and maimed.
Currently two countries - neighbors - have relations which are just short of all- out war, in large because of historical and religious differences (and Kashmir). One of these two - Pakistan - has A bombs that seem to be not in complete control of the Pakistan government because of terrorist groups, while India also has its own internal conflicts.
Finally, there are two Atomic countries - North Korea and the US - which are ruled by uncouth and unstable leaders who have recently threatened each other. Even 5 to 10 Atomic bombs would render much of our air and water
toxic for many years.
Atomic bombs are the elephants in the room which nobody seems willing to talk about. Why not?
2
Let us hope President Trump keeps his promises and pulls out of the Paris agreement and junks the junk science of climate change which for all practical purposes is now the religion and dogma of the hardcore left. Let us also hope that a President Le Pen follows suit.
4
You write from New Jersey, but it seems you don't live on the Jersey shore or you might see climate change differently. This issue often depends on whose ox is being gored.
1
Thank you, for expressing my thoughts. Perhaps these people should take a basic geology class. They might then learn that there was once a land bridge between Alaska and Far East Siberia, or that one could walk from Germany to England. It would also help if people learned that in the last 350,000 years of the earth's history, the climate has shifted immensely. Humans should stop thinking they are the center of the universe!
1
Donald Trump, his cabinet choices, his core supporters and much of the Republican Party are a stain on humanity. It was clear that these people had no critical thinking skills when they all applauded Trump's claim that climate change was a hoax originating in China. These people wanted to upset the apple cart in Washington not realizing Trump is interested in his own image and will not act in the best interest in not just the country, but the planet. They never realized the status quo was a better choice since we were, in spite of years of obstruction on the way to a better world under a responsible, thoughtful President who had vision, empathy and courage. Embracing corporations who could care less about climate change, people, healthcare and everything else that supports human kind but instead thrive on greed and war will not "Make America Great" again and will just accelerate our undoing. A portion of the electorate always voted against their own best interests but I never considered the extent of their collective ignorance. They have no understanding that we only have one Mother Earth and no options when we destroy everything wonderful she has provided us. If there is a God I'm certain this was not in his or her plan for mankind. We were left to our own devices and are blowing it. Nice job Republicans. Your silence on Trump's policies make you as guilty as he is but your lust for power, based on fear and ignorance has blinded you from reality. Great job.
2
Based on their policy on the environment ,it is fair to say that the Republicans are evil.
4
Noam Chomsky said that the republican party is the most dangerous organization in history.
4
The man is evil. His base is ignorance. He fits the profile of the Anti-Christ I grew up hearing about in church.
4
This is so ridiculous. When there are so many unchecked nations committing far worse acts against our planet, one can only assume that the NYT is once again ignoring the much bigger problem just to attack Trump. He is simply taking a common sense approach to how we spend our money and compete in the world. Alternative fuels will become a reality in the not too distant future and then we won't have look back on the trillions of dollars we wasted on climate change because such clean energy sources weren't economically available yet.
In the meantime, he has committed to clean air and clean water which is more than you can say about a lot of countries including India and China.
In the meantime, he has committed to clean air and clean water which is more than you can say about a lot of countries including India and China.
4
Argh...why do environmentalists keep saying "The Planet". I can't stand it... I totally agree with the consensus on climate change, I am very concerned about what's happening, but scientists need to go read Scott Adam's blog (which granted is a bit tough of a read, but is good if you get by his being a 1%'er in love with Trump). The material he has on persuasion is very insightful.
Bill, I'm a big fan...loved your WWW III article, was amazing, but PLEASE, PLEASE work on your persuasion angle. My point is...the PLANET could care less than two whits what happens to it...it has seen much tougher in the past. You could wipe out life back to small multi-cellular level, and in a few hundred million years, it's all back (with a hopefully more enlightened large brained species). Heck when algae came on line, they changed the entire atmosphere from reducing to oxidizing, humans are doing 400 PPM CO2, they did 200000 PPM O2...now that's some climate change! (I know it took them a few billion years, and us just 150 so far, but you get the point).
My point is, the PLANET is not what climate change threatens. What climate change threatens is SOCIETY/CIVILIZATION...that's a big difference. If you're trying to convince 1%er oil executives to do something, saying its a problem with the PLANET, which they've already shown they could care less about, is not going to work. Saying it's going to impact their multi-million dollar beach front properties, maybe you start getting through.
Bill, I'm a big fan...loved your WWW III article, was amazing, but PLEASE, PLEASE work on your persuasion angle. My point is...the PLANET could care less than two whits what happens to it...it has seen much tougher in the past. You could wipe out life back to small multi-cellular level, and in a few hundred million years, it's all back (with a hopefully more enlightened large brained species). Heck when algae came on line, they changed the entire atmosphere from reducing to oxidizing, humans are doing 400 PPM CO2, they did 200000 PPM O2...now that's some climate change! (I know it took them a few billion years, and us just 150 so far, but you get the point).
My point is, the PLANET is not what climate change threatens. What climate change threatens is SOCIETY/CIVILIZATION...that's a big difference. If you're trying to convince 1%er oil executives to do something, saying its a problem with the PLANET, which they've already shown they could care less about, is not going to work. Saying it's going to impact their multi-million dollar beach front properties, maybe you start getting through.
3
Careful: heresy.
So Greg, you think other species that share the world with us aren't worth respect, protection and preservation? Then live without them.
1
The US has been slow to react for a number of reasons but a key factor is the backing given to ignorance and self-absorption by religious fundamentalists who indulge in bizarre narratives of how they will evade the consequences of environmental inaction. Other advanced societies are spared the negative side-effects of religious clout.
4
A big part of their narrative is that the Second Coming, and judgment of souls, is at hand. Climate change disaster is "end times" for them, so they welcome it.
2
The "Beating Atom" of absolute logic, missing or overlooked purposefully in this conversation of saving the Earth, is human population growth! It is the beating atom of this supposed pollution problem. It feeds the measurements for all other polluting factors. Reduce population and you would reduce growth of pollution. Not just to our sky but, more importantly to our soil and water!
BY the way! Earth shattering news! Cris Wallace is Liberal!
BY the way! Earth shattering news! Cris Wallace is Liberal!
I wonder when those who elected him come to the same conclusion.
2
Why would you expect someone as ignorant as Trump with an obvious case of narcissistic personality disorder to care about any one or anything other then himself, least of all the environment that everyone - even him - depend on for life.
I seem to remember that as Trump went into great detail about the chocolate cake he was eating while recounting when he inform the visiting Chinese president about the missiles just launched on Syria. His sensibilities for the world around him kind of reminds me of another political leader in France who once talked about cake.
I seem to remember that as Trump went into great detail about the chocolate cake he was eating while recounting when he inform the visiting Chinese president about the missiles just launched on Syria. His sensibilities for the world around him kind of reminds me of another political leader in France who once talked about cake.
5
Aside from people with sense, who cares?
The men who "lead" our world are to a large degree brutish thugs who, if we lived in a world of thoughtful people, would find themselves safely locked away in padded cells.
Those who seek power and control for their own personal benefit throw the hollow promise of another better afterlife with an all knowing god if we just follow orders.
After all it is estimated that thoughout history only one of every 281 people has ever been killed in wars.
A working plan which thus far has kept most of us on our planet in subjugation.
Reality?
The men who "lead" our world are to a large degree brutish thugs who, if we lived in a world of thoughtful people, would find themselves safely locked away in padded cells.
Those who seek power and control for their own personal benefit throw the hollow promise of another better afterlife with an all knowing god if we just follow orders.
After all it is estimated that thoughout history only one of every 281 people has ever been killed in wars.
A working plan which thus far has kept most of us on our planet in subjugation.
Reality?
2
Trumpism is too kind a word to describe the effect on the current state of the world. The world is TUBAR.
2
When Trump was elected I knew he could wreak a great deal of damage, but the damage that must be stopped - at all cost - would be that which would be undoable.
Human beings are quite resilient, except for health, which should be a right, not a privilege. Pain, illness and death are undoable.
But most everything else can be resisted in the streets, fought in the courts, defied in the voting booths, or borne for what in geologic terms is the blink of an eye - not even that. They will leave no indelible trace - they are undoable.
Except for what he can do to our Mother Earth, she who gave life to each of us, who tends to us, comforts us, delights us, provides a lifegiving bounty of food to eat and and water to drink and and air to breath, and brought to us every good thing we have ever experienced and if allowed, will continue to do so for thousand of generations to come. No thanks needed, just good manners.
She who Trump - of all men on earth - of all men in history for god's sake -seeks to rape and defile, to grope, to poison, to slash and burn, to denude, to drill and pump till she's dry of every drop of the oil of the millions of years of her earlier life and to then burn that oil up into the air where it was never intended to be - where we - her children - are forced to breathe it - to ever more rapidly bake her - like that frog in the pot, until one degree too much, and the frog, and Mother Earth dies - and so do we all.
Undoable.
Human beings are quite resilient, except for health, which should be a right, not a privilege. Pain, illness and death are undoable.
But most everything else can be resisted in the streets, fought in the courts, defied in the voting booths, or borne for what in geologic terms is the blink of an eye - not even that. They will leave no indelible trace - they are undoable.
Except for what he can do to our Mother Earth, she who gave life to each of us, who tends to us, comforts us, delights us, provides a lifegiving bounty of food to eat and and water to drink and and air to breath, and brought to us every good thing we have ever experienced and if allowed, will continue to do so for thousand of generations to come. No thanks needed, just good manners.
She who Trump - of all men on earth - of all men in history for god's sake -seeks to rape and defile, to grope, to poison, to slash and burn, to denude, to drill and pump till she's dry of every drop of the oil of the millions of years of her earlier life and to then burn that oil up into the air where it was never intended to be - where we - her children - are forced to breathe it - to ever more rapidly bake her - like that frog in the pot, until one degree too much, and the frog, and Mother Earth dies - and so do we all.
Undoable.
5
I confess to having gone a bit numb on American politics. My mind is starting to reject information and I appear to be hunkering down into a bleak malaise. I am finding it difficult to focus on the long litany of outrages being perpetrated by the fascist junta that has infested Washington. I have grown weary of trying to mentally parse the never ending avalanche of lies coming from the "right" and separate the slender threads of truth from the enormous snarl of partisan propaganda the media has become. But I do think the most horrendous damage being done by these authoritarian ignoramuses will be to the planet where we currently reside. What Trump is doing will directly impact the survival of every species on earth including our own. Who wants to move to Mars? Can I see a show of hands? The truth is that when it comes to our planet there is no plan B. GOP = "game over people."
41
Trump is 100 days into it. You are numb and weary? Poor you. Get angry and do something, like stand up for something you believe in. There are countless people who have re-organized their lives to stand up for marginalized people, against corruption, for science, etc. Pick one that affects you or you feel strongly about and get off your malaise! You are needed.
3
A professor @ Middlebury College, how interesting??? I wonder where he was two weeks ago?
For me though, it was our last President who did almost irredeemable damage to our planet on a more basic scale...the human rights scale.
Now, it's time to clean up president Obama's mess, so to speak...PJS
For me though, it was our last President who did almost irredeemable damage to our planet on a more basic scale...the human rights scale.
Now, it's time to clean up president Obama's mess, so to speak...PJS
A tree spiking buddy was telling me how he saved millions of deers lives. Way back beer and soda cans had had a tab on it designed so you didn't need a can opener. Similar to the one today but it detached and was usually tossed away. People did that with the cans to but there were laws passed and soda and beer cans started disappearing from the landscape. Except the tabs were left behind. Which troubled some people. Rumors started the tabs were killing deer. Eventually the tab was replaced by what's there today.
I asked my tree spiking buddy why I never read of deer actually dying from eating these tabs. He said they weren't. What matered was he and his green friends got to protest and lobby and got one congressman on their side and made the new tab law. You see said it wasn't about deer it was about power to make change. Some facts are lies.
Zand that's how my tree spiking buddy saved millions of deer from certain death.
I asked my tree spiking buddy why I never read of deer actually dying from eating these tabs. He said they weren't. What matered was he and his green friends got to protest and lobby and got one congressman on their side and made the new tab law. You see said it wasn't about deer it was about power to make change. Some facts are lies.
Zand that's how my tree spiking buddy saved millions of deer from certain death.
Yea; so add this to the other lists of complaints.
Then ask, “Why are you still voting Republican?”
Then ask, “Why are you still voting Republican?”
2
If the planet survived Obama, it can certainly survive Trump. Maybe we can have one day without stories about how Trump is going to end the world. You've already got one head this week (O'Reilly)...can't that be enough political activism and nonsense for a while..?
2
It is the people that are going to suffer...the planet will be fine. And the insects shall rule. No politics needed.
1
There is only one anthropogenic interference of cataclysmic proportion & Obama owns it.
Obama's legacy-driven deal/secret side deals de facto nuclearized Iran, setting up a nuke arms race in entire insane, apocalyptic region intent on annihilating us—deals that IF OBEYED, give Iran nukes in a blink of an eye as they defeat the grim logic of MAD
Against the will of the people, Obama gave a mortal enemy devoted to our destruction the means to achieve that very end.
“I’ve been very clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”– Obama to Thomas Friedman
The latest Paris brew / Terror infused w/ CO2. / Apocalyptists. Nukes. Fusion / Café au 'bama's delusion.
Obama's legacy-driven deal/secret side deals de facto nuclearized Iran, setting up a nuke arms race in entire insane, apocalyptic region intent on annihilating us—deals that IF OBEYED, give Iran nukes in a blink of an eye as they defeat the grim logic of MAD
Against the will of the people, Obama gave a mortal enemy devoted to our destruction the means to achieve that very end.
“I’ve been very clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”– Obama to Thomas Friedman
The latest Paris brew / Terror infused w/ CO2. / Apocalyptists. Nukes. Fusion / Café au 'bama's delusion.
3
Tis truth will hurt so I downluaded it for post flag resubmission...beautiful.
Climate change and the devastation is it causing NOW should be front page news every day. It is bigger than the stupid tweet our president made and more consequential than 3/4 of the articles listed on the front page of this very newspaper, the most respected newspaper in the world. What is wrong with the media in the USA? Why aren't we talking about the biggest challenge and danger this world has ever faced and the solutions to it every single day? The media is guilty of the ignorance that exists today and if they want a future for their kids, it's high time they start reporting on the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced, unabashed and straight to the gut. Give the people the truth! We are in dire danger!!
3
The world will never see a worse environmental vandal than Trump
4
Bottom line is, this earth is telling what is happening and what may happen in future how soon? nobody knows not even Earth, just like Earth does n't know when & how. Vedic explanation of cosmic Universal principle is well summed up in Riga Veda. Vol 10 .129. 1-7 (Wikipedia) and everything explained in terms of Karma (action/ reaction/consequences, past, prasent & future) & Dharma everlasting with no beginning and end just like '0' (Zero)
So interesting to read New York End Times today. Leisure hours passed blaming the last days on a single individual. Meanwhile, one can almost hear the whispers, the past objectives of Kermit Gosnell hovering over and looking upon us. Good thing Monday is around the corner. You can interrupt this collective delusion and get back to work.
1
Mother Earh's glory is fading away. I imagine If "she" could, we would be flicked off this planet like a flea off an animal.
3
Historically having described myself as a pessimist who hasn't quite given up hope, these days I find myself occupying ever greater depths of cynicism regarding the human condition. Humanity seems little more than a scourge upon the earth - its linear notion of progress inflicting a mortal wound on our host organism. An out of control pathogen devouring all in its path, we are fundamentally at odds with the cyclical feedback loops that are the operational basis of our environs. We are living an act of hubris that cannot be sustained and are headed for disaster. I'm a great believer in ironies and our human centric view has become our biggest enemy. Medicine, representing a perceived moral high ground, is serving to defeat the planet's immune system with every life it saves. What kind of hell will we have created if we should indeed win that battle. Such are the consequences of not feeling part of anything greater than ourselves. With Trump, this myopic self centeredness has descended to new lows accelerating our collision course with the greater reality. Perhaps the most critical imbalance of all is our deficit of wisdom in relation to our knowledge. To paraphrase Alan Paton - 'humanity be not proud' - death awaits at the door.
4
I meant to say John Donne - not Alan Paton.
1
Seems like its up to the French, yet again,to rescue the World from the power-hungry and ignorant. Let's hope they can begin tomorrow! Viva La France!
There are people who think The Earth is theirs to bulldoze and if the past 200 years is any evidence, it is impossible to change their minds, and their minds are of the type you just can't even stand to be around let alone change.
Thanks, Bill. You are a love.
Thanks, Bill. You are a love.
6
Trump is a greedy guy surrounded by greedy people. How many flights to Palm Beach? His many flights for the grifter kids? How many big SUVS gassed up to drive Ivanka to the White House for a photo op? And then you've got Pence and the group who think the earth is 5000 years old. Probably none of them could get a good solid C in high school science. It's a pathetic prospect. They will do everything to mess things up, but it's good to keep the pressure on to educate those that are educable for the future.
6
Nuclear testing and explosions are contributing to climate warming more so than greenhouse gasses. Many articles on the internet by scientists about how nuclear testing and explosions being more of a threat to climate change than greenhouse gasses. Trending now... The North Korean leader has threatened to nuke Australia because of their association with the USA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=118...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=118...
4
This claim is not true, and the cited article doesn't support the claim at all. Is this some curious spam, or delusional?
4
You don't want the truth because you cannot handle the truth.
http://progressive.org/dispatches/nuclear-power-causes-global-warming/
Do a web search: How Nuclear Power Causes Global Warming
Plenty of articles in the highly regarded, The New Zealand Herald, newspaper, if you want the truth and are not brainwashed because you are living in a nuclear dependant nation.
NZ isn't the first country in the world to see the sun for nothing! We're nuclear free and it's part of our Constitutional law. NZ is also out of a H bomb range if the North Korean leader decides to nuke whatever nation :)))
http://progressive.org/dispatches/nuclear-power-causes-global-warming/
Do a web search: How Nuclear Power Causes Global Warming
Plenty of articles in the highly regarded, The New Zealand Herald, newspaper, if you want the truth and are not brainwashed because you are living in a nuclear dependant nation.
NZ isn't the first country in the world to see the sun for nothing! We're nuclear free and it's part of our Constitutional law. NZ is also out of a H bomb range if the North Korean leader decides to nuke whatever nation :)))
As Donald Trump moves forward on dismantling the environment initiatives begun by the Obama Administration, we need to step back and ask ourselves; is this man “evil.”
But first some definition: What is an act of evil? It is an act by one human being that brings harm to another human being or to other human beings. Unintentionality is no excuse. We humans, at least those of us not overcome by psychosis, have the capacity to foresee the outcomes of our actions. Even our courts are explicitly clear on this.
Within the next 150 years as many scientists are now predicting because of Donald Trump’s refusal to recognized the information at hand with regard to global warming a methane hydrate feedback loop in the Arctic bringing on catastrophic global temperatures is likely. As a result, seven or more billion humans will perish, does that identify him as a man of evil?
I say it does.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
But first some definition: What is an act of evil? It is an act by one human being that brings harm to another human being or to other human beings. Unintentionality is no excuse. We humans, at least those of us not overcome by psychosis, have the capacity to foresee the outcomes of our actions. Even our courts are explicitly clear on this.
Within the next 150 years as many scientists are now predicting because of Donald Trump’s refusal to recognized the information at hand with regard to global warming a methane hydrate feedback loop in the Arctic bringing on catastrophic global temperatures is likely. As a result, seven or more billion humans will perish, does that identify him as a man of evil?
I say it does.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
6
The sooner the Obama legacy is dismantled the better. Junk climate change science is only a start.
Climate change will certainly happen if people don't start pressuring governments around the world to stop stockpiling nuclear arsenal. Nuclear deterrence works up until the time it will prove not to work and with more rouge governments having nuclear weapons than there is more chance of permanent climate change for the world and the human race to be wiped out. Stop sweating the small stuff and concentrate on the biggest threat to mankind; nuclear. No one ever talks about the dumping of nuclear waste and how that's stuffing up the planet, as well, for future generations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=118...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=118...
2
But her emails!
4
In short: Donald J Trump is an evil person, whether of ignorance or of pure malice. The world can't accept this kind of leadership. Neither should we accept Putin, al-Assad and countless other ignorant and stupid men. It's time for the 21th century to put in place an international organization that is the embodiment of what the United Nations was supposed to be - a legaslative body with real mandate to stop human folly and evil in whatever form it turns up.
6
There is a new Pharaoh in Washington D.C. and he lives where ever he wants to and can treat the globe anyway he wants to. That's what he was told when he was little and he still believes it. You don't. So the next time you don't vote think of the mess your going to pass in taxes and he won't pay a dime.
5
This will be the ultimate crime, the real eternal sin. Not the nonsense the religious folks spin.
81 % of the Evangelicals voted Trump. You folks should be ashamed. You truly voted for the suffering to come. I cannot say I respect you.
81 % of the Evangelicals voted Trump. You folks should be ashamed. You truly voted for the suffering to come. I cannot say I respect you.
11
It is unfortunate that the editors choose to repeat the lie that Rachel Carson saved the bald eagle from being poisoned by DDT. It demonstrates that the editors have zero grounding in science, and prefer false scientific consensus to the truth.
During the 1960's and 1970's, scientists misinterpreted a new technology, gas chromatography, and misidentified DDT. They drew erroneous conclusions during an experiment that asserted that DDT was causing the thinning of egg shells when they exposed birds to DDT while feeding them a calcium deficient diet, which was the cause of the thin egg shells.
The scientists are well aware of the facts involved. That the politicians refuse to correct the record regarding inappropriate policy decisions based on popular myth is grounds to reject the proposed political solution to hypothetical global warming.
It is impossible to make a scientific argument that if the industrialized nations give $100 billion per year to the autocratic leaders of the third world that global warming will be reduced.
During the 1960's and 1970's, scientists misinterpreted a new technology, gas chromatography, and misidentified DDT. They drew erroneous conclusions during an experiment that asserted that DDT was causing the thinning of egg shells when they exposed birds to DDT while feeding them a calcium deficient diet, which was the cause of the thin egg shells.
The scientists are well aware of the facts involved. That the politicians refuse to correct the record regarding inappropriate policy decisions based on popular myth is grounds to reject the proposed political solution to hypothetical global warming.
It is impossible to make a scientific argument that if the industrialized nations give $100 billion per year to the autocratic leaders of the third world that global warming will be reduced.
3
Because one man banned DDT in 1970, hundreds of thousands of people died in Sub-Saharan Africa as malaria flourished. Great job, leftist kooks.
ebmem: Perhaps you should read this on why DDT impacted eggs.
https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/DDT_and_Birds.html
"The insidious aspect of this phenomenon is that large concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons do not usually kill the bird outright. Rather, DDT and its relatives alter the bird's calcium metabolism in a way that results in thin eggshells. Instead of eggs, heavily DDT-infested Brown Pelicans and Bald Eagles tend to find omelets in their nests, since the eggshells are unable to support the weight of the incubating bird."
https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/DDT_and_Birds.html
"The insidious aspect of this phenomenon is that large concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons do not usually kill the bird outright. Rather, DDT and its relatives alter the bird's calcium metabolism in a way that results in thin eggshells. Instead of eggs, heavily DDT-infested Brown Pelicans and Bald Eagles tend to find omelets in their nests, since the eggshells are unable to support the weight of the incubating bird."
3
Search shows the probable origin of ebmem's claim was an article by Stephen Malloy in FOX news in 2006. (Wow!)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/07/06/bald-eagle-ddt-myth-still-flying...
and it cites a claimed article in Pesticide Monitoring Journal, 1970, for the "defective" feeding study. But ...
* such a feeding study would have had a control group, and had egg-thinning been caused by calcium deficiency the control group would have shown that
* there is no such study in the 1970 issues of the Journal.
The old article in Fox News is a "Gish Gallop:" a wild farrago of made-up claims and false citations, or none at all.
But then ebmem attempts to use it to argue something about global warming -- and this would be completely irrelevant even if some of the claims about DDT were substantiated.
His real beef appears to be "$100 billion per year to the autocratic leaders of the third world" -- that was a hot-button phrase among the right, Google search finds 1000's of hits for it and related phrases. Space does not allow this to be addressed adequately here, but his claim that "it is impossible to make a scientific argument" can be trivially refuted ... presuming one accepts economics as a science -- look here:
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n8/full/nclimate1548.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/07/06/bald-eagle-ddt-myth-still-flying...
and it cites a claimed article in Pesticide Monitoring Journal, 1970, for the "defective" feeding study. But ...
* such a feeding study would have had a control group, and had egg-thinning been caused by calcium deficiency the control group would have shown that
* there is no such study in the 1970 issues of the Journal.
The old article in Fox News is a "Gish Gallop:" a wild farrago of made-up claims and false citations, or none at all.
But then ebmem attempts to use it to argue something about global warming -- and this would be completely irrelevant even if some of the claims about DDT were substantiated.
His real beef appears to be "$100 billion per year to the autocratic leaders of the third world" -- that was a hot-button phrase among the right, Google search finds 1000's of hits for it and related phrases. Space does not allow this to be addressed adequately here, but his claim that "it is impossible to make a scientific argument" can be trivially refuted ... presuming one accepts economics as a science -- look here:
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n8/full/nclimate1548.html
2
"Rather than celebrate Earth Day, which is intended to further the anti-human ideology of environmentalism, celebrate Exploit-the-Earth Day, which is intended to raise awareness of the anti-human nature of environmentalism and the pro-human nature of of capitalism."
-Craig Biddle, The Objective Standard
-Craig Biddle, The Objective Standard
1
I cannot understand why the greenies are getting together so late. April 22, is a month later than the first Earth Day.
The organizers of the first earth day scheduled earth day on March 21.
Here are the UNOFFICIAL minutes from their meeting:
Minutes from the 1969 UNESCO Conference in San Francisco.
Peace activist John McConnell (speaking) "I propose a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This will also give us time to recover for May Day."
The organizers of the first earth day scheduled earth day on March 21.
Here are the UNOFFICIAL minutes from their meeting:
Minutes from the 1969 UNESCO Conference in San Francisco.
Peace activist John McConnell (speaking) "I propose a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This will also give us time to recover for May Day."
1
Fact-free hyperbole, with a healthy dose of no understanding of earth science, whatsoever.
6
Fact-free insults, with no understanding of earth science, whatsoever.
"Objectivist" -- you post this kind of thing routinely. Argue some proposition here, making a physics-based argument. I don't believe you can.
"Objectivist" -- you post this kind of thing routinely. Argue some proposition here, making a physics-based argument. I don't believe you can.
As if trump and his henchmen care about birds, let alone constituents.
2
Give me a break. He'as been in office for a whole 3 months, and your are prophesying doom already?
5
The propaganda is really something, given that the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis already lies in tatters. The day will come when all of this will be visible even to common people.
3
In America, short term profits for billionaires outweigh the long term survival of the human race...
7
Businessmen think long-range unless forced to think short-range by anti-ideological, Pragmatist politicians.
"Our idiot POTUS needs to visit Beijing and Shanghai to see the very visible effects of pollution."
Or India. Or Pakistan. Or Kenya. Or many other places.
One almost always notices two things in badly-polluted places:
1. Lots of pollution.
2. Lots of people.
Reducing the amount of pollution is an obvious first step, and that's what's properly being advocated here. Can you see another possible solution?
Or India. Or Pakistan. Or Kenya. Or many other places.
One almost always notices two things in badly-polluted places:
1. Lots of pollution.
2. Lots of people.
Reducing the amount of pollution is an obvious first step, and that's what's properly being advocated here. Can you see another possible solution?
2
Tell me how you are going to reduce those "lots of people."
Empower women to have more control over their lives.
Support planned Parenthood.
You could help promote mass media that portrays the benefits of smaller families; this has tremendously beneficial effects in as far away places as Mexico, Thailand, Brazil for instance. All markedly reduced population growth without coercion.
Work into the culture a little reverence for all life, not just human life.
Recognizing that the hardest thing to convey is that for civilization to work we have to recognize that we give up rights that when performed by one individual are harmless but collectively spell disaster .
Offer rewards to producers and screenwriters who can come up with story lines and dramas that convey the consequences of overpopulation.
Incorporate into themes the impact on countless animal species that lie outside the everyday lives of people. Leading to the 6th great mass extinction.
Show factory farm conditions in which the horrendous, merciless treatment of domesticated stock goes on in order to fill the stomachs of billions of people.
Show the Korean fishing trawlers that go out to sea with nets 5 miles long dredging up every living thing, leaving behind dead zones.
Show the bloated stomachs of children whose numbers have long ago surpassed what there land can provide food for.
Show pictures of the miles upon miles of deforested land.
Point out that a greater gross domestic product does not imply a better quality of life.
Remove the taboo on talking about it!
Support planned Parenthood.
You could help promote mass media that portrays the benefits of smaller families; this has tremendously beneficial effects in as far away places as Mexico, Thailand, Brazil for instance. All markedly reduced population growth without coercion.
Work into the culture a little reverence for all life, not just human life.
Recognizing that the hardest thing to convey is that for civilization to work we have to recognize that we give up rights that when performed by one individual are harmless but collectively spell disaster .
Offer rewards to producers and screenwriters who can come up with story lines and dramas that convey the consequences of overpopulation.
Incorporate into themes the impact on countless animal species that lie outside the everyday lives of people. Leading to the 6th great mass extinction.
Show factory farm conditions in which the horrendous, merciless treatment of domesticated stock goes on in order to fill the stomachs of billions of people.
Show the Korean fishing trawlers that go out to sea with nets 5 miles long dredging up every living thing, leaving behind dead zones.
Show the bloated stomachs of children whose numbers have long ago surpassed what there land can provide food for.
Show pictures of the miles upon miles of deforested land.
Point out that a greater gross domestic product does not imply a better quality of life.
Remove the taboo on talking about it!
Lee ... San Fran.
I hope someone asks Pres. Trump what "clean coal" is.
2
These climate change dramatists are always saying, "We only have X number of years before the point of no return!" They've been saying this since the 60s.
2
That is probably the saddest article I've ever read. I feel ashamed to be human, to have been put in charge of the earth. When, in Genesis, God said man should "have dominion . . . over all the earth . . . and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," it's a sure bet He didn't want the earth destroyed. What can we do? Is there no one to knock sense into T***p (I can't write the name!)?
6
The sociopaths of the fossil fuel & chemical industries are our present day scourge. They employ multitudes like Pharoahs in building monuments to their megalomania & hubris. Their time having passed, rather than devote their power & wealth to the life affirming changes & processes the ethical & scientific community say is necessary to our ultimate survival, they persist in delusion.
The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka is a must read for those seeking to purify the human spirit & offering a foundation for permanence & simplicity in our food production, spiritual & physical health. It's also a blueprint for coping with the effects of global warming as they exist.
The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka is a must read for those seeking to purify the human spirit & offering a foundation for permanence & simplicity in our food production, spiritual & physical health. It's also a blueprint for coping with the effects of global warming as they exist.
6
Fossil fuels are pro-man.
Environmentalism is pro-bugs, dirt and swamps.
Environmentalism is pro-bugs, dirt and swamps.
We know climate change is critically important but here are a few questions to ask yourself. And when your done ask yourself why isn’t human population being discussed.
1) Which is more responsible for the ethnic tensions causing wars around the world?
a. Is it a: global climate change or
b. Human population growth
2) Which is more responsible for habitat loss?
a. Is it a: global climate change or
b. Human population growth.
3) Which is more responsible for the massive species extinction?
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human population growth?
4) Which is more responsible for human starvation, historically and into the future
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human Population growth
5) Which is more responsible for water scarcity and pollution
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human Population growth
6) Is the human population explosion caused by climate change or is climate change caused in large part by the growth in the human population?
7)
IN all cases the culprit is human population growth.
US population grew by 40 million people between 1970 and 2000. The world population doubled to 7 billion in the last 50 years. The US population is on a growth path that will take it to 450 million people mid century?
So final questions: why isn’t anyone talking about population growth? And why should Trump take seriously McKibben’s points when out of political correctness he doesn’t mention human population growth first?
1) Which is more responsible for the ethnic tensions causing wars around the world?
a. Is it a: global climate change or
b. Human population growth
2) Which is more responsible for habitat loss?
a. Is it a: global climate change or
b. Human population growth.
3) Which is more responsible for the massive species extinction?
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human population growth?
4) Which is more responsible for human starvation, historically and into the future
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human Population growth
5) Which is more responsible for water scarcity and pollution
a. Is it global climate change or
b. Human Population growth
6) Is the human population explosion caused by climate change or is climate change caused in large part by the growth in the human population?
7)
IN all cases the culprit is human population growth.
US population grew by 40 million people between 1970 and 2000. The world population doubled to 7 billion in the last 50 years. The US population is on a growth path that will take it to 450 million people mid century?
So final questions: why isn’t anyone talking about population growth? And why should Trump take seriously McKibben’s points when out of political correctness he doesn’t mention human population growth first?
9
Trump policies would increase human population growth. His policies are against abortion and birth control.
1
Because population growth is important for maintaining an upward trajectory in quarterly profits - and that's how far ahead we are capable of thinking.
1
Another four year delay in action on anthropogenic climate change is pushing the planet's ills closer to the present. Even the rapid changes that the climate is seeing today are much too slow compared with people's near term struggles. A comprehensive energy policy world wide was needed three decades ago. It would have been nice if the US would have lead the way.
3
Carter tried.
> comprehensive energy policy world wide
Global, dirt-poor, near-starvation primitivism, much like pre-capitalist industrialism.
Global, dirt-poor, near-starvation primitivism, much like pre-capitalist industrialism.
Why on this warming earth is anyone surprised by this? Mr. Trump has a history of making money pure and simple. His goal is to remove any barriers so that other huge money makers will not be restricted by rules and regs to prevent them from making more money. In return, they will make sure he is elected again. God help us.
4
What's needed is a well funded, structured, action PLAN. That's how you get things done. So where is the PLAN? What's the strategy and why hasn't it been communicated?
They have a PLAN. Where's ours??
They have a PLAN. Where's ours??
4
This wonderful essay is proof that today's science march was one of the best things to happen in America in some time. It needs to be followed by science teach ins. Democrats (and courageous GOP strategists) need to recruit scientists or Bill Nye-style science popularizers to run for office. It is past time to make America fact-based again. Hey, I won't mind if someone puts that wish on a baseball cap.
3
Who made Bill Nye the science guy? He is an entertainer.
Let's also not forget something else:
"... congressional Republicans fought Obama on [climate change] for eight years."
Until shortly before the 2016 Presidential election, Obama and Hillary Clinton were FOR the Keystone XL Pipeline. Then they were against it.
True enough, Trump was always for the Keystone XL Pipeline but, if Hillary Clinton had won, do you could we have counted on her not to flip-flop 180 degrees -- just as she had on that issue, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and gay marriage? Would she have honored her vow to establish a "no fly zone" over all of Syria?
Who knows? Predicting whether Hillary Clinton would flip-flop on an issue is like trying to nail Jello to a wall. On any issue, we'd have had no clue what she'd do once the pressure of an election had been removed.
"... congressional Republicans fought Obama on [climate change] for eight years."
Until shortly before the 2016 Presidential election, Obama and Hillary Clinton were FOR the Keystone XL Pipeline. Then they were against it.
True enough, Trump was always for the Keystone XL Pipeline but, if Hillary Clinton had won, do you could we have counted on her not to flip-flop 180 degrees -- just as she had on that issue, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and gay marriage? Would she have honored her vow to establish a "no fly zone" over all of Syria?
Who knows? Predicting whether Hillary Clinton would flip-flop on an issue is like trying to nail Jello to a wall. On any issue, we'd have had no clue what she'd do once the pressure of an election had been removed.
1
Yeah, she probably would have neutered the EPA as well.
Give me a break.
Give me a break.
1
This is a war between rational control of society by means of mutually agreed planning for the fair and democratic distribution of wealth versus a worldwide economic free-for-all propelled by uninhibited capitalism that has accelerated economic inequality in the last four decades. It is no coincidence that rationalists are getting their clocks cleaned in this timeframe. We are living in a modern matrix driven by massive capitalistic profits that we are unwittingly feeding even as it degrades our purchasing power. It is a largely narcissistic wave of behavior and decision-making that has prioritized what we want instead of what we need. No individuals need Walmart, Facebook, Starbucks, Amazon, endless Middle East warfare, miles of supermarket store shelves filled with high-fructose empty carbs, or YouTube cat videos. As public polling indicates, there is a vast chasm between what the majority of citizens say they need and what the three-headed hydra of greed and self-serving profiteering-- private enterprise, government, and the media -- produce and market. Collusion of this magnitude doesn't unintentionally just happen, and it also doesn't magically disappear. Instead, it festers and feeds on its victims. As a 65-year-old, I remember when our country was driven by a consensus among corporate, government and media leaders to do what was necessary to deliver a ration, organized society that benefitted us all and appealed to our better nature. Now all we have is cat videos.
4
> No individuals need Walmart, Facebook, Starbucks, Amazon, endless Middle East warfare, miles of supermarket store shelves filled with high-fructose empty carbs, or YouTube cat videos.
Individuals need independent judgment, not mindless submission to The Consensus.
Individuals need independent judgment, not mindless submission to The Consensus.
As a practicing geologist I can tell you the earth is just going to be fine. No matter how much we pollute, geologic processes will overcome anything the human race can do. The next variation in the Earth's orbit, the Milankovitch Cycle will occur in about 10,000 years and the climate will experience an even greater change.
The thing is climate change is a "fact". Earth's geologic history is full of climate change. The only thing in dispute today is how much human activity has changed our climate and how fast the change will occur. If you're a skeptic check out the British Antarctic Survey or the Danish Geologic survey. They have been looking at the climate record a long time and have the facts.
The only real question is how much climate change will it take to get governments to make changes in policy. Probably won't happen until they start building seawalls around Manhattan and Miami.
So Trump is just noise in the data.
The thing is climate change is a "fact". Earth's geologic history is full of climate change. The only thing in dispute today is how much human activity has changed our climate and how fast the change will occur. If you're a skeptic check out the British Antarctic Survey or the Danish Geologic survey. They have been looking at the climate record a long time and have the facts.
The only real question is how much climate change will it take to get governments to make changes in policy. Probably won't happen until they start building seawalls around Manhattan and Miami.
So Trump is just noise in the data.
7
Then you of all people should know that the earth has warmed and cooled perhaps 100 times, maybe more. Florida and much of the coastal plains have under water many times and will be again. Personally, I see massive floating cities, perhaps as much as several square mile as the only alternative. No amount of policy change will stop the warming, or cooling.
Pretty cavalier view on the matter. It sure is not about the planet, that sure will survive, we do know that.
It is about US, people, human beings, other species endangered because of us, our greed and stupidity. Who will take the brunt of the changes? The poor and the less wealthy.
TRump is on this front as much as many other ones a total disaster.
It is about US, people, human beings, other species endangered because of us, our greed and stupidity. Who will take the brunt of the changes? The poor and the less wealthy.
TRump is on this front as much as many other ones a total disaster.
3
Holland built seawalls centuries ago because they valued human life. Environmentalists are explicit about their hatred of human life, as many posts here show.
Today, 22 April, 2017, I heard a report which quoted Mr. Trump as having said, "Economic growth enhances environmental protection."
In this, I think Mr. Trump has it exactly backwards. It is protection of the environment that enhances economic growth.
In this, I think Mr. Trump has it exactly backwards. It is protection of the environment that enhances economic growth.
10
Protection of the environment is an explicit attack on economic growth. Economic growth ,w/its tech and prosperity, has been cleaning man's environment for 300 yrs. UN reports show radically decreasing environmental deaths. See Alex Epstein's, _Moral Case For Fossil Fuels_.
Or live in a hut or teepee with creosote poisoning from wood fire.
Or live in a hut or teepee with creosote poisoning from wood fire.
I am weary of reading and hearing that we have only a short amount of time to curb climate change and preserve the planet, and we need to do this and we need to do that. They are empty words, not actions, and in the years we have been uttering them, that window of time has passed us by. The planet is dying and all life will perish and we have only ourselves to blame, and reproduction continues unabated as though the future is a given.
9
Boy, are you ever gloomy. We can change it.
If the Democrats had any sense, they would run on this issue and become the climate change action party. This issue has the ability to unify the country and create massive economic growth as we move to 100% renewables and a green infrastructure.
7
Agreed. The Democrat should calls themselves CCCP concerned climate change party.
The democrats corporate donors will not allow it!
Deems don't vote in mid terms and they never fight. But they sure whine about losing
We seem to always put the blame on the government in this case. We are very complicit in this matter, even though we like to point fingers. Capitalism pairs well with democracy because the market is dictated by the consumer. We barely do anything to move the market in the direction of clean energy. We can blame 60 million Trump voters for science denial (that claim alone is self-aggrandizing and perpetuates discourse & tribalism) even though 60 million democrats are enough to move markets. We will then complain about the pricing on solar energy for our homes, electric cars, etc. is out of our monetary range. Even though, we could most certainly cut back on our consumption of trivial possessions to move our money in those directions. We will then insult corporations for running America when they're trying to be viable and profitable. We over simplify these matters and name a boogeyman to scream about. I'm not trying to defend Trump and the republicans who have minimized the impact of these issues, but we need to look at what daily actions we partake in that contribute to the problem. We can't wait for some liberal superhero to come save us from this nonsensical approach to the environment (not that it would hurt). We can solve this together through introspection and understanding of the plight at hand, not through pointing the finger, and then going on with our life of hypocrisy and resentment.
5
"Capitalism pairs well with democracy because the market is dictated by the consumer"
Not a true statement. Consistently the fossil energy sector has worked against this .
Alternative energy forms were always declared the technology of the future and would always be that. Because exploiting existing investments in fossil energy comes with a much higher return, for those companies, at the future expense of the rest of the society.
Not a true statement. Consistently the fossil energy sector has worked against this .
Alternative energy forms were always declared the technology of the future and would always be that. Because exploiting existing investments in fossil energy comes with a much higher return, for those companies, at the future expense of the rest of the society.
>the market is dictated by the consumer
Consumers are part of markets like a fly is part of a bowl of soup. Markets are producers trading w/producers. Beggars ,thieves and govt subsidy recipients are not part of markets.
Consumers are part of markets like a fly is part of a bowl of soup. Markets are producers trading w/producers. Beggars ,thieves and govt subsidy recipients are not part of markets.
Thermohaline circulation carries oxygenated water to the deep ocean. The polar seas produce the frigid water, which drives the Great Ocean Conveyor. These waters are storm-swept; the turbulence oxygenates the water, and its frigidity allows it to carry vast quantities of dissolved gas. Descending to the ocean floor, this frigid water oxygenates the deep sea―"the lungs of ocean".
Without this input of highly oxygenated water, the deep ocean would become anoxic. A weak thermohaline circulation results in ocean stratification and deep water anoxia.
Anoxia and the increased acidification of the ocean create conditions for a vast growth of H2S-producing archaea. H2S emissions from the ocean have reached levels high enough to kill every human on earth about 5-10 times in past history.
NOAA data show how the thickness of the oxygenated bottom layer of water near the Antarctic, the source of the Great Ocean Conveyor, which brings oxygen to the bulk of the world’s oceans, seems to be just 40 years away from zero on the Pacific side. This is not a matter of fancy climate models; it’s a matter of seeing how the fresh water and fresh water ice now ringing the Antarctic has shut down the convection current (involving salty water) all around that continent.
This is not an inconvenience. This is death of mammalian life on the planet. We need to take aggressive action to thwart Mr. Trump’s anti-science anti-climate agenda.
Without this input of highly oxygenated water, the deep ocean would become anoxic. A weak thermohaline circulation results in ocean stratification and deep water anoxia.
Anoxia and the increased acidification of the ocean create conditions for a vast growth of H2S-producing archaea. H2S emissions from the ocean have reached levels high enough to kill every human on earth about 5-10 times in past history.
NOAA data show how the thickness of the oxygenated bottom layer of water near the Antarctic, the source of the Great Ocean Conveyor, which brings oxygen to the bulk of the world’s oceans, seems to be just 40 years away from zero on the Pacific side. This is not a matter of fancy climate models; it’s a matter of seeing how the fresh water and fresh water ice now ringing the Antarctic has shut down the convection current (involving salty water) all around that continent.
This is not an inconvenience. This is death of mammalian life on the planet. We need to take aggressive action to thwart Mr. Trump’s anti-science anti-climate agenda.
11
Who will take up this fight? the dems?
The little understood fact is that climate change could soon end all human life .
Should the extensive data at Arctic News prove correct – due to an exponential increase in Global Warming - humanity can be extinct within a decade or two without an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use on an emergency basis.
We are facing total extinction of the human species, the greatest emergency humanity has ever confronted.
We must urgently attack this virtually unrecognized reality without delay.
Bombers rolled off an assembly line every hour during WWII. Astonishing new energy systems are being born. They are much less complicated. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole, only recently recognized by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and elsewhere, in the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Engines can run 24/7 on atmospheric ambient energy, without fuel! They can scale and provide a cheap, fast alternative to solar panels, wind farms and solar farms!
Such breakthroughs usually require a generation to gain acceptance. We do not have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at severely underfunded small firms. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. Survival requires a few unusually bold individuals speed the process on an emergency basis.
A laser like focus to slow climate change is urgently needed. The lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
Should the extensive data at Arctic News prove correct – due to an exponential increase in Global Warming - humanity can be extinct within a decade or two without an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use on an emergency basis.
We are facing total extinction of the human species, the greatest emergency humanity has ever confronted.
We must urgently attack this virtually unrecognized reality without delay.
Bombers rolled off an assembly line every hour during WWII. Astonishing new energy systems are being born. They are much less complicated. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole, only recently recognized by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and elsewhere, in the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Engines can run 24/7 on atmospheric ambient energy, without fuel! They can scale and provide a cheap, fast alternative to solar panels, wind farms and solar farms!
Such breakthroughs usually require a generation to gain acceptance. We do not have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at severely underfunded small firms. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. Survival requires a few unusually bold individuals speed the process on an emergency basis.
A laser like focus to slow climate change is urgently needed. The lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
6
"Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole, only recently recognized by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and elsewhere, in the Second Law of Thermodynamics."
No. Never. Not going to happen. Next time, cite a link from Argonne...I am sure they would like to know when they are being cited on a violation of a law of physics.
No. Never. Not going to happen. Next time, cite a link from Argonne...I am sure they would like to know when they are being cited on a violation of a law of physics.
3
Einstein once boldly claimed that the Laws of Thermodynamics were the only physical theory of the universe that will 'never be overthrown'.
That all changed when scientists from the Argonne National Laboratory at the University of Chicago found a loophole in the system - one that allows them to break the second law of thermodynamics.
The finding has huge implications for our understanding of the universe, not least because it presents us with a chance to one day create perpetual motion machines.
...This allowed us to formulate the quantum H-theorem as it related to things that could be physically observed,' said Dr Ivan Sadovskyy, one of the APL team.
'It establishes a connection between well-documented quantum physics processes and the theoretical quantum channels that make up quantum information theory.'
In this new quantum H-theorem model, some molecules were seen to temporarily decrease in entropy, shattering the Second Rule of Thermodynamics.
The Argonne Lab team has now taken things a step further by brewing up a mathematical model to show how a quantum system could be created where there is a temporary 'negative entropy gain' - in other words, a decrease in entropy.
'Although the violation is only on the local scale, the implications are far-reaching,' said Dr Valerii Vinokur, another member of the APL team.
Dr Vinokur added that the finding eventually 'Could make possible a local quantum perpetual motion machine.'
See SECOND LAW SURPRISES at aesopinstitute.org
That all changed when scientists from the Argonne National Laboratory at the University of Chicago found a loophole in the system - one that allows them to break the second law of thermodynamics.
The finding has huge implications for our understanding of the universe, not least because it presents us with a chance to one day create perpetual motion machines.
...This allowed us to formulate the quantum H-theorem as it related to things that could be physically observed,' said Dr Ivan Sadovskyy, one of the APL team.
'It establishes a connection between well-documented quantum physics processes and the theoretical quantum channels that make up quantum information theory.'
In this new quantum H-theorem model, some molecules were seen to temporarily decrease in entropy, shattering the Second Rule of Thermodynamics.
The Argonne Lab team has now taken things a step further by brewing up a mathematical model to show how a quantum system could be created where there is a temporary 'negative entropy gain' - in other words, a decrease in entropy.
'Although the violation is only on the local scale, the implications are far-reaching,' said Dr Valerii Vinokur, another member of the APL team.
Dr Vinokur added that the finding eventually 'Could make possible a local quantum perpetual motion machine.'
See SECOND LAW SURPRISES at aesopinstitute.org
This is a country in which 50% believe the earth is 6000 yrs old and 86% believe in angels. We're too stupid to work toward our own survival.
Maybe the magic sky daddy will save us.
Maybe the magic sky daddy will save us.
2
Bill actually has more in common with DT than he realizes. Both share an unwillingness to discuss the impact of human population growth, which is not only a primary contributor to global climate change, but also impacts habitat loss and species extinction, air and water pollution, food and water scarcity, massive migration, intensified religious and ethnic conflicts; harsher treatment of animals in ever worsening factory farms to supply food; more bush hunting as populations surge and look for food and spread out seeking land to cultivate.
Both view the earth primarily in terms of human needs. DT essentially says things will work themselves back to a balance through historic Darwinian survival of the fittest. Bill says we can through technology and harnessing and harvesting of what remains wild, go about our business without impacting climate.
And in the end, they may both be may right. What is certain is, if the current human population growth continues; we will see the merciless treatment and loss of those other living things with which we share the planet. But in the end, we are all intertwined and their loss is our loss.
Not everything is simply a natural resource. If we treat all life with some reverence, we can perhaps gain a little humility and communicate with each other better.
There is a group in the Dem. party in MA pushing for a plank on Human Population Growth. If Bill is serious, he will join the cause. Let’s tackle this taboo subject.
Both view the earth primarily in terms of human needs. DT essentially says things will work themselves back to a balance through historic Darwinian survival of the fittest. Bill says we can through technology and harnessing and harvesting of what remains wild, go about our business without impacting climate.
And in the end, they may both be may right. What is certain is, if the current human population growth continues; we will see the merciless treatment and loss of those other living things with which we share the planet. But in the end, we are all intertwined and their loss is our loss.
Not everything is simply a natural resource. If we treat all life with some reverence, we can perhaps gain a little humility and communicate with each other better.
There is a group in the Dem. party in MA pushing for a plank on Human Population Growth. If Bill is serious, he will join the cause. Let’s tackle this taboo subject.
10
After reading this article and many of the comments, four things come to mind:
1) I cannot think of anything less scientific than a march for science. A march for science is part of a political movement.
2) If our species doesn’t survive, big deal. It just means it wasn’t the fittest (by definition).
3) At the end of the Origin of the Species, Darwin said that his most important discovery was that there are no such things as species. There are only individual organisms, each unique and with variations separating it from other organisms. Species was a name only (nominalism) that allowed natural philosophers to groups similar organisms together.
4) If you are going to appeal to science as a polemic against groups you despise (Evangelicals) you should at least know what you’re talking about.
1) I cannot think of anything less scientific than a march for science. A march for science is part of a political movement.
2) If our species doesn’t survive, big deal. It just means it wasn’t the fittest (by definition).
3) At the end of the Origin of the Species, Darwin said that his most important discovery was that there are no such things as species. There are only individual organisms, each unique and with variations separating it from other organisms. Species was a name only (nominalism) that allowed natural philosophers to groups similar organisms together.
4) If you are going to appeal to science as a polemic against groups you despise (Evangelicals) you should at least know what you’re talking about.
4
Individual organisms can only exist in the context of the greater system, the ecosystem. Destroy the ecosystems and you will destroy the individuals.
In acquiescing to the likelihood that Trump will remain in office for four years we have tacitly embraced his position that global warming is either a hoax or, real but to an extent that warrants no sense of urgency.
Bill McKibbon’s position is right on. The abandonment of massive efforts to halt/reverse global warming for four years in the face of melting glaciers, dying reefs, species realignment, rising carbon dioxide levels and the emergence of redistribution of human pathogens, is an absurdity. We cannot, we must not forfeit four years of intense effort to reverse global warming to humor one ignorant man in the misguided belief that we are bound to accept the results of an invalid election. Based on acceptance of the flawed belief that we will still have time to squeak by and save ourselves after another 4 years of self-destruction. There is no guarantee
Bill McKibbon’s position is right on. The abandonment of massive efforts to halt/reverse global warming for four years in the face of melting glaciers, dying reefs, species realignment, rising carbon dioxide levels and the emergence of redistribution of human pathogens, is an absurdity. We cannot, we must not forfeit four years of intense effort to reverse global warming to humor one ignorant man in the misguided belief that we are bound to accept the results of an invalid election. Based on acceptance of the flawed belief that we will still have time to squeak by and save ourselves after another 4 years of self-destruction. There is no guarantee
4
Trump certainly is ignorant about the effects of climate change. However, bottom line is he simply does not care as he expects he and "his people" - that is, the ultra rich and powerful - will be able to escape it.
2
i understand why the fossil fuel industry would be climate change deniers and I understand why many politicians who are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry as well as the auto industry would be climate change deniers. What mystifies me is why ordinary people who do not directly depend on the fossil fuel industry would also be climate change deniers. I have thought about it and the only reason I can think of is because most (all?) of the politicians who are climate change deniers are republican and most of the folks who believe that climate change is real and is a threat to the well being of life on earth are democrats.
2
The nature of denial is that it is 100% effective until events prove it to be wrong. When a bridge collapses, as if by magic, money is found to repair it. But tell someone the bridge is about to collapse, and you're a tax and spend liberal.
People who voted for Trump didn't want to pay for health insurance unless they're already sick. Why would it be any different with gradual changes to our climate?
People who voted for Trump didn't want to pay for health insurance unless they're already sick. Why would it be any different with gradual changes to our climate?
6
No, more like the quintessential malfeasance of government and labor in California.
Mr. McKibben zeroes in on the most important reason to drive Mr. Trump, from power now. The man is violating the constitution daily, and breaking numerous laws. The 50% of Americans who have not essentially become authoritarians (termed royalists, loyalists, or tories in the American Revolution) have to drive him from office now. Lawsuits, aggressive investigative journalism, and street demonstrations are the strategies to focus on now .
There is a glaring error in his piece: "The effects will be felt not immediately but over decades . . . and milleniums". In fact the unpredictable relationship between climate change and weather change has turned out to be much tighter, dramatic, and immediately disastrous around the world than was anticipated. This fact may important in the big climate change picture, but people respond to emotions, especially fear. TV news is a great medium to (and actively works to) make people afraid. Rather than hope that people will become rational (they won't), the scientific community needs to work very hard to elucidate the relationship between weather change and climate change, and the news media needs to present in a dramatic (and preferably grisly) manner the climate change caused weather disasters that are occurring around the world now.
There is a glaring error in his piece: "The effects will be felt not immediately but over decades . . . and milleniums". In fact the unpredictable relationship between climate change and weather change has turned out to be much tighter, dramatic, and immediately disastrous around the world than was anticipated. This fact may important in the big climate change picture, but people respond to emotions, especially fear. TV news is a great medium to (and actively works to) make people afraid. Rather than hope that people will become rational (they won't), the scientific community needs to work very hard to elucidate the relationship between weather change and climate change, and the news media needs to present in a dramatic (and preferably grisly) manner the climate change caused weather disasters that are occurring around the world now.
4
Investigative journalism? Can you even imagine Watergate getting coverage from our right wing owned 'press' these days? I wager not
1
How many people here voted for the Green Party last November? You're the reason Donald Trump won the election, so I hope you're enjoying the results of your decision.
Probably the worst political problem for the progressive movement in the United States is that, when all is said and done, conservatives are willing to hold their nose and vote for the candidate of their party. Many leftists are not, because they want to be "pure," so we keep shooting ourselves in the foot, over and over.
Probably the worst political problem for the progressive movement in the United States is that, when all is said and done, conservatives are willing to hold their nose and vote for the candidate of their party. Many leftists are not, because they want to be "pure," so we keep shooting ourselves in the foot, over and over.
3
Here we go again, the democratic party and Hillary's friends are STILL in a state of denial about the election and that Clinton lost. The fact remains that because the party chose corporate donations at the expense of their long-time base of supporters, in the last 10 years, democrats LOST over 900 seats at the local, state and federal levels, including for the first time in over 60 yrs, congress, senate and now the presidency is in the hands of the Republicans and you Chris are blaming Stein's 3% voter turnout as the reason for Trump becoming President?
The DNC ran only what was probably the worst possible identity politics campaign and could not have chosen(or should I say "annointed") the worst possible establishment/corporate candidate who could not even beat an opponent who had the worst approval ratings in history!
Look in the mirror!
The DNC ran only what was probably the worst possible identity politics campaign and could not have chosen(or should I say "annointed") the worst possible establishment/corporate candidate who could not even beat an opponent who had the worst approval ratings in history!
Look in the mirror!
2
So Bill McKibben doe not like fossil fuels. The history of the rise of civilization outside of the tropics is tied to the development of and use of fossil fuels. 8 more years of their current use will not make one iota of difference to the earth. Does Bill McKibben live and work without the use of or benefit of fossil fuel? The fact that he is published in this news media makes that not so! The prognosis and predictions of Bill McKibben and the climate scaremongers to date have not happened.
3
Wes ... so let me get this straight: you are predicting that all fossil fuel use will stop in 8 years -- how is that going to happen?
1
It is not going to happen in 8 years or 100 years unless nuclear war takes us back to t he stone age.
"Critical moment"? Absolutely, however, Trump and his cronies don't care anything about that. If he did care, he would have never chosen the despotic counter-revolutionaries he did for his cabinet positions.
Take any important issue, including this one, and it is very clear that Trump filters everything through the idea of maximizing dollars for him and his wealthy friends. Nothing else nor no one else matters, bottom line!
Take any important issue, including this one, and it is very clear that Trump filters everything through the idea of maximizing dollars for him and his wealthy friends. Nothing else nor no one else matters, bottom line!
4
Every ounce of effort should be on containing this right now. We should have our top scientists working on converting all of the things that are contributing to Global Warming right now.
5
Simple solution, build a coal fired plant along the intercoastal waterway near Mara Lago.
5
Build windmills in the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard.
Make it a Kickstarter project, I throw in $50.
1
Imagine -- every advocate of "CO2 is a nutrient, not a pollutant" should be asked to breathe one deep breath of pure CO2. This is commonly lethal, and if not horribly painful and damaging. (Those of you who are of a certain age remember when "dry ice" was casually available? Now it is not, this is why. Liquid nitrogen is colder and far safer, and has replaced dry ice for almost all its old uses.)
More prosaically Phosphorus is a plant nutrient too, but in overabundance produces choking algal blooms and kills fish in waterways -- nobody questions that Phosphorus in overabundance is a pollutant.
More prosaically Phosphorus is a plant nutrient too, but in overabundance produces choking algal blooms and kills fish in waterways -- nobody questions that Phosphorus in overabundance is a pollutant.
President Trump can make all the pronouncements and sign all the executive orders he wants, but they will have zero effect if the people holds to account any Legislator, any multi national or any individual who wilfully seeks to further destroy our common environment in pursuit of base political motives or profit.
Climate change does not occur in isolation. What injures ones health injures all. It is up to us all to resist the climate change deniers, the political opportunists and the profit chasers who would do us ill.
Let the President rant and rave but every US citizen must be prepared to stand their collective ground. You will find that there are like minded people all over the world who will be standing right beside you.
Climate change does not occur in isolation. What injures ones health injures all. It is up to us all to resist the climate change deniers, the political opportunists and the profit chasers who would do us ill.
Let the President rant and rave but every US citizen must be prepared to stand their collective ground. You will find that there are like minded people all over the world who will be standing right beside you.
I'm all in with the planet. In a little less than 100 days measures to roll-back climate change have been reversed including emissions from coal-fired plants, dumping mining waste, the Keystone XL pipeline has been approved as has the Dakota Access pipeline, and the real threat that the U.S. will back out of the Paris climate accord. The planet is under assault while the the Climate Denier-in-Chief and the "dishonest media" are obsessed with whether or not he will have a big "win" legislative achievement that will deny millions health care as they choke on polluted air. The astonishing ability of a minority, and potentially illegitimate, President to endanger the entire planet in less than 100 days is enough to take one's now carbon-filled breath away.
7
There is nothing more timely on this, Earth Day, than Mr. McKibben's thoughts about conserving our planet, and transitioning as expeditiously as practicable away from the burning of fossil fuels.
I remember years ago, a large wildlife fire had broken out in the West. A friend sent me a satellite picture which showed the entire U.S., and that one large fire had spread its smoke, through wind and air circulation and currents, across the center of America and all the way to the East coast. Simply because we cannot 'see' CO2, the carbon dioxide which comes from the burning of fossil fuels is still there, producing the greenhouse effect which climate scientists understand so well. What is burned on one part of the planet eventually makes its way and produces its effects all over the world.
The twin elephants of continuing human population growth and the moving of many societies away from simpler, more agrarian societies to a more 'developed' way of living, means the burning of ever greater quantities of fossil fuels, if and until we wean ourselves from our over-dependency on them.
Let us hope that human greed, lack of foresight and poor planning do not lead to even higher levels of greenhouse gases, endangering far into the future, not only the human species but all other species who also inhabit planet Earth.
I remember years ago, a large wildlife fire had broken out in the West. A friend sent me a satellite picture which showed the entire U.S., and that one large fire had spread its smoke, through wind and air circulation and currents, across the center of America and all the way to the East coast. Simply because we cannot 'see' CO2, the carbon dioxide which comes from the burning of fossil fuels is still there, producing the greenhouse effect which climate scientists understand so well. What is burned on one part of the planet eventually makes its way and produces its effects all over the world.
The twin elephants of continuing human population growth and the moving of many societies away from simpler, more agrarian societies to a more 'developed' way of living, means the burning of ever greater quantities of fossil fuels, if and until we wean ourselves from our over-dependency on them.
Let us hope that human greed, lack of foresight and poor planning do not lead to even higher levels of greenhouse gases, endangering far into the future, not only the human species but all other species who also inhabit planet Earth.
5
This is a tremendous long article with tons of useful information and expertise. Please read it all!
Facts galore.
By the way, the alternative to facts and truth is lies, fictions, and "untruths". There is not such thing as an "alternative" fact.
Facts galore.
By the way, the alternative to facts and truth is lies, fictions, and "untruths". There is not such thing as an "alternative" fact.
9
You speak for the planet?
4
We all, as in all biological life on earth, should speak for the planet because we are the planet; we are essentially the components that make the planet what it is today. As the most dominating force on the planet today, humans need to be advocates for the earth. Because if we don't, who will?
5
Yes R.R., talk to Native Americans. They speak to the planet. Heard of tree whisperers? Well, we are finely tuned to Nature, without our knowing it. For instance, you do not own the air you breathe. The air is composed of other human beings and living things' breath plus all the material dust particles. You contribute to this pool of air when you breathe out CO2. Same way the water you drink is not something you own, you might pay taxes for it, but its not something you can truly "purchase" because it belongs to the planet.
No... Scientific evidence speaks for the planet... Who do you speak for? The Kochs?
1
Mitigating climate change by replacing carbon combustion with renewable energy is actually beneficial to the economy. Meaning fighting climate change creates jobs and creates real wealth.
("Errors and Emissions Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?"
Paul Krugman SEPT. 18, 2014)
It's as if we as a species have collectively decided to take the dumbest possible course of action in the dumbest possible way.
("Errors and Emissions Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?"
Paul Krugman SEPT. 18, 2014)
It's as if we as a species have collectively decided to take the dumbest possible course of action in the dumbest possible way.
14
As a species we have decided to take the dumbest action. The climate and sea level have always changed. 20 thousand years you could walk to North America and England. A thousand years ago you could farm in Greenland.
What's different today is there are far too many of us with more arriving each day. Anything that fails to address the "too many of us for the planet" problem is just putting lipstick on a pig!
What's different today is there are far too many of us with more arriving each day. Anything that fails to address the "too many of us for the planet" problem is just putting lipstick on a pig!
The article is written as if the whole world is watching Trump with his hand on THE ONE TRUE CLIMATE CHANGE DIAL, which he alone controls.
The US should have considered the long term impact of exporting jobs offshore as in addition to economic and political consequences it has also had a dramatic impact on climate change. China emits about twice as much greenhouse gases as the US, and US companies washed their hands of the problem by moving jobs offshore. US consumers have voted with their pocketbooks, in effect driving the need to burn a massive amount of coal around the world.
Estimates by Scientific American are that the current targets are insufficient, and current progress suggests that we will blow past the targets. Some countries like Japan and Germany are shutting down nuclear power plants and are increasing their reliance on coal, Australia and Canada are backtracking too. China appears to be having second thoughts about bringing a large number of coal fired plants on line due to severe air pollution, but depending upon which report is referenced an estimated 1500 to 2000 coal fired power plants are still planned worldwide.
The trend indicates that countries around the world aren't taking the problem seriously and aren't willing to commit to meeting targets, and the US has been one of them. The world has already taken the plunge, now it is just a matter of how deep it will get.
The US should have considered the long term impact of exporting jobs offshore as in addition to economic and political consequences it has also had a dramatic impact on climate change. China emits about twice as much greenhouse gases as the US, and US companies washed their hands of the problem by moving jobs offshore. US consumers have voted with their pocketbooks, in effect driving the need to burn a massive amount of coal around the world.
Estimates by Scientific American are that the current targets are insufficient, and current progress suggests that we will blow past the targets. Some countries like Japan and Germany are shutting down nuclear power plants and are increasing their reliance on coal, Australia and Canada are backtracking too. China appears to be having second thoughts about bringing a large number of coal fired plants on line due to severe air pollution, but depending upon which report is referenced an estimated 1500 to 2000 coal fired power plants are still planned worldwide.
The trend indicates that countries around the world aren't taking the problem seriously and aren't willing to commit to meeting targets, and the US has been one of them. The world has already taken the plunge, now it is just a matter of how deep it will get.
28
>Scientific American
Scientific Political American.
Scientific Political American.
There are too many people and no one is taking it seriously!
1
The US has done better than the countries that accepted Kyoto.
Trump is old but the man has grand children but he is not worried for their survival.
The damage is already done and there is no way of coming around.
The damage is already done and there is no way of coming around.
5
If the damage is "already done", then it was done under Obama and his predecessors, not Trump in his less than 100 days in office.
1
Most of these people would give their lives for a buck.
1
The writer makes the usual rhetorical errors which belie their "environment as religion" outlook on the world.
Firstly, "the planet" can stand anything. Through the roughly 3 billion yeas of it's existence it dealt with w whole lot more extremes than we can unleash. This "save the planet" rhetoric is damaging to the real cause of evolving a sane and reasonable policy for human environment.
The whole discussion about "dying species" is also less than enlightened. As part of this planet's evolution overwhelming majority of species which used to exist in the past no longer exist. Without any human influence. Just ask the dinosaurs.
What we SHOULD be asking is how to we create a sustainable environment for human existence. That conversation desperately need to be had, but ideology from one side and ignorance from the other get in the way. If we had a sane conversation, we would be talking about climate control technology, nuclear energy evolution, leveraging of the aquaculture, industrial agriculture evolution, and other economically sensible and technologically viable measures.
Instead we are stuck with religious proclamations like this article and blind opposition by those who simply don't know any better.
Firstly, "the planet" can stand anything. Through the roughly 3 billion yeas of it's existence it dealt with w whole lot more extremes than we can unleash. This "save the planet" rhetoric is damaging to the real cause of evolving a sane and reasonable policy for human environment.
The whole discussion about "dying species" is also less than enlightened. As part of this planet's evolution overwhelming majority of species which used to exist in the past no longer exist. Without any human influence. Just ask the dinosaurs.
What we SHOULD be asking is how to we create a sustainable environment for human existence. That conversation desperately need to be had, but ideology from one side and ignorance from the other get in the way. If we had a sane conversation, we would be talking about climate control technology, nuclear energy evolution, leveraging of the aquaculture, industrial agriculture evolution, and other economically sensible and technologically viable measures.
Instead we are stuck with religious proclamations like this article and blind opposition by those who simply don't know any better.
7
Your point is largely valid but rather pedantic. By focusing on the literal semantic meaning "save the planet" while simultaneously attacking the author, you are alienating potential allies in the cause of reducing man's impact on the planet and its species.
I totally agree though that when dogmatic environmentalists attack practical solutions like Nuclear power, that sets us all back.
I totally agree though that when dogmatic environmentalists attack practical solutions like Nuclear power, that sets us all back.
Nuke power is only a solution if you solve the waste problem. Otherwise it's just another boondoggle
As usual the blue state regions that embrace science are the same regions that drive our economy.
And the red state regions that mock science are the same ones who bilk their red state tax dollars from our blue state economic powerhouses.
Pathetic...
And the red state regions that mock science are the same ones who bilk their red state tax dollars from our blue state economic powerhouses.
Pathetic...
8
Nixon's revenge
Water. Do you know where yours comes from and if it will continue to be drinkable and available? Water is the first principle for humans and for critters. Water is not just an issue in California or Detroit. Wells and aquifers are showing existing or first signs of distress. And this is without regulations on hormone disrupting chemicals and a legion of others in runoff or human waste.
Thinking of buying a house? Do some homework beyond what the real estate crowd portrays. Ask to have the tap water tested and consult town info on local wells. And remember Trump came from that real estate industry with its affection for over fertilized, Roundup treated lawns and expansive golf courses. Now, go find ways to support regulation, the EPA, and every earth friendly org you can.
Thinking of buying a house? Do some homework beyond what the real estate crowd portrays. Ask to have the tap water tested and consult town info on local wells. And remember Trump came from that real estate industry with its affection for over fertilized, Roundup treated lawns and expansive golf courses. Now, go find ways to support regulation, the EPA, and every earth friendly org you can.
4
Enemies of America are cheering Trump on as he guarantees the US remains relegated to second-class status in terms of global technology and environmental leadership.
Planet's gone already anyway.
Planet's gone already anyway.
2
Many people insist there are just 2 categories of people: those who believe man-made global warming is occurring, and those who don't.
Not so.
There are many of us who DO believe global warming is occurring -- because we read measurements (for example, the average temperature in San Francisco has risen 6 degrees in the 40+ years I've lived here, which I consider significant) -- but DON'T necessarily believe the "inevitable" consequences of that fact, especially rising sea levels.
For example, predictions of sea level rise in SF this century range from 36 inches (never less) to 96 inches. We're now 1/6 of the way through the century, and sea level has risen about 1 inch -- 1/3 of an inch just across the Bay Bridge in Alameda. Nor has the rate of rise increased. I've lived here 40+ years and walk often near the shore, and I can't detect even those rises.
Sea levels are rising faster on the East Coast, and even faster on the Gulf Coast, than on the West Coast. Indeed, at some coastal spots just north of here, and in most of the southern Alaska coast, sea level is falling, often precipitously. Sea level is a "net" measurement of land level and water level, which explains why sea level can rise some areas while falling in others.
Bottom line: Don't leap from a "fact-based" conclusion -- that global warming is occurring -- to one that isn't supported by the facts -- that sea levels will rise, "submerging" whole nations. You weaken valid arguments when you do that.
Not so.
There are many of us who DO believe global warming is occurring -- because we read measurements (for example, the average temperature in San Francisco has risen 6 degrees in the 40+ years I've lived here, which I consider significant) -- but DON'T necessarily believe the "inevitable" consequences of that fact, especially rising sea levels.
For example, predictions of sea level rise in SF this century range from 36 inches (never less) to 96 inches. We're now 1/6 of the way through the century, and sea level has risen about 1 inch -- 1/3 of an inch just across the Bay Bridge in Alameda. Nor has the rate of rise increased. I've lived here 40+ years and walk often near the shore, and I can't detect even those rises.
Sea levels are rising faster on the East Coast, and even faster on the Gulf Coast, than on the West Coast. Indeed, at some coastal spots just north of here, and in most of the southern Alaska coast, sea level is falling, often precipitously. Sea level is a "net" measurement of land level and water level, which explains why sea level can rise some areas while falling in others.
Bottom line: Don't leap from a "fact-based" conclusion -- that global warming is occurring -- to one that isn't supported by the facts -- that sea levels will rise, "submerging" whole nations. You weaken valid arguments when you do that.
3
Bangladesh?
1
If you have some time, you might want to watch this You Tube video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. If you can give it 12 minutes, you'll understand why sea levels haven't risen much in CA the last twenty years and why the sea level rise in the Pacific has gone into the Western Pacific.
Rising sea levels are supported by the satellite data from Jason 3, the kind of research Trump wants to pull the budget plug on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHbkkt_iL8
Rising sea levels are supported by the satellite data from Jason 3, the kind of research Trump wants to pull the budget plug on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHbkkt_iL8
1
Greed is destroying our civilization and planet.
9
The article should be retitled, "Trump is Setting Us Back 100 Years" but then you'd have to include all the other ways this ignorant, incompetent and dishonest president and his administration are setting the country back with the environment, immigration, foreign relations and racism just the tip of the iceberg. We should all pause and think what this country (and the planet) will be like with four years of Trump in the White House. It's time to stop complaining about this presidency; it's time to act to thwart the damage that this administration will do to our future generations.
5
so if the point of no return is tomorrow, is it too late or can Nancy save us all
Trump is the most horrific yet but let's not forget that the Bush 2 administration denied climate change, and the congressional Republicans fought Obama on it for eight years. We think of them as motivated solely by greed, but their war on the planet goes further - Repubs show an active hatred for nature akin to jihadis' hatred of the west.
7
While I believe that Trump is a full-fledged nightmare for environmentalists, the human race has already done immeasurable harm to the planet and all manner of life forms. Humans are the invasive species on Earth and the worst of all living creatures because we heedlessly destroy forests, pollute the air and water and take any and all resources we deem to be our right to use. Those of us with a conscience want to change our ways and try to preserve what is left to preserve for all life on Earth. Trump and his ilk only care about themselves; they will never change how they think. We must use our power when we vote locally as well as at the national level and make it clear to all politicians that we will not vote for climate change deniers and anyone who
sides with Trump and Big Business.
sides with Trump and Big Business.
12
> Humans are the invasive species on Earth and the worst of all living creatures
The Leftist call to mass murder is noted.
The Leftist call to mass murder is noted.
Desperate times require desperate measures - Hippocrates
1
If trump's climate policies - or lack thereof - are not global terrorism I don't know what is. If there is a history past this President he should go down as worse than many of the historical figures we consider monsters.
7
I will agree with Bill that our beautiful Planet Earth is at risk. It out to be conceived as a living and breathing entity that demands the the moral standing we give to any single life form. I have read some comments where readers just don't get this concept of the Planet being at risk, arguing that instead it is the single individual humans and biological life that are threatened. The word "Planet" does not have it's own intrinsic value as an existing thing independent of the lifeforms — humans, frogs, birds, macro invertebrates, bacteria, viruses — that inhabit it. A working definition of Planet, as Bill so aptly exemplifies here, that advocates for protecting its lifeforms ought be conceived of as this collective system of living things, which is at risk. The Planet is, well, the Planet because of all these beautiful creatures that coexist together are interconnected in the marvelously complex web of life. And we stand to lose this Planet, as we affectionately know, if we don't act now!
8
> our beautiful Planet Earth....conceived as a living and breathing entity that demands the the moral standing we give to any single life form.
This is the "scientific" Leftist mind, confusing imagination and conceiving.
This is the "scientific" Leftist mind, confusing imagination and conceiving.
"China and India are still adding new coal plants today."
Indeed they are. As has been widely reported, one of the best-known American environmentalists used to run a hedge fund known in Asia and the Pacific as the "go to" source of financing for leveraged buy outs (LBO) of coal mines and coal plants. That environmentalist is bright and sincere, but... Former smokers are often the most zealous and effective opponents of cigarettes.
For those who don't understand LBOs, the lender usually takes a security interest in some unleveraged asset -- coal deposits, for example. Also usually, to generate cash to repay the loan, the borrower needs to dig up that asset and either use it or sell it. (If the borrower doesn't, the lender will -- that's why it takes a security interest in those coal deposits.)
LBOs have led to massive increases in the use of coal-powered electricity plants. Most are in faraway places that many Americans don't know about, but they contribute to global warming just the same.
Indeed they are. As has been widely reported, one of the best-known American environmentalists used to run a hedge fund known in Asia and the Pacific as the "go to" source of financing for leveraged buy outs (LBO) of coal mines and coal plants. That environmentalist is bright and sincere, but... Former smokers are often the most zealous and effective opponents of cigarettes.
For those who don't understand LBOs, the lender usually takes a security interest in some unleveraged asset -- coal deposits, for example. Also usually, to generate cash to repay the loan, the borrower needs to dig up that asset and either use it or sell it. (If the borrower doesn't, the lender will -- that's why it takes a security interest in those coal deposits.)
LBOs have led to massive increases in the use of coal-powered electricity plants. Most are in faraway places that many Americans don't know about, but they contribute to global warming just the same.
3
I agree we have a long way to go, but improvements are being made.
For example, many more rental units now bill tenants separately for utilities. That gives the tenant a financial incentive to use less energy. Gone (one hopes) are the days when my aunt, growing up in Manhattan in the late 40s and 50s, would leave the kitchen tap running to ensure that cold water was available if she happened to want a drink sometime during the day. She said that the city did not charge for water back then, and so leaving the tap on was common practice.
If someone leaves the tap on, or uses more energy, he or she should pay more than someone who doesn't. Seems obvious, and simple.
For example, many more rental units now bill tenants separately for utilities. That gives the tenant a financial incentive to use less energy. Gone (one hopes) are the days when my aunt, growing up in Manhattan in the late 40s and 50s, would leave the kitchen tap running to ensure that cold water was available if she happened to want a drink sometime during the day. She said that the city did not charge for water back then, and so leaving the tap on was common practice.
If someone leaves the tap on, or uses more energy, he or she should pay more than someone who doesn't. Seems obvious, and simple.
3
Unpopular opinion alert: I agree with most of those here who say the plant itself will be fine long-term, it's the life on the planet that will be altered. However, part of me feels what's the big cause for concern? Humans are proving incapable of living harmoniously with the planet, among other species, and even among themselves. See: nuclear weapons. What's so great about us, and what's wrong with letting us die out? This is a sad way to do it, but did we really think we'd reign forever? Mother Nature usually has a way of balancing everything out.
2
Really there is little the extinction of humans would not fix. Too bad that in spite of all the suffering we are to fecund a species. Luckily with Trump in office my goal ( human extinction) is in reach!
1
Nuclear destruction of the world has absolutely nothing to do with NATURE--it is a result of dictators, demagogues, and politics--period.
The Trump presidency, greed is our god.
5
And humans are very susceptible to the lure.
It may destroy us.
It may destroy us.
1
The nature of this existential threat -- unfolding in super slo mo, invisibly and inscrutable in its complexity -- is too subtle for the Philistine currently in charge. If he can't bomb it, it isn't there.
4
> this existential threat -- unfolding in super slo mo,
Very, very, very slo mo, in another eon.
> invisibly and inscrutable in its complexity
Thus unknowable. No existential threat
Very, very, very slo mo, in another eon.
> invisibly and inscrutable in its complexity
Thus unknowable. No existential threat
SG - inscrutable to those with ADD is his point. But understanding that presumes not sharing in the president's defiency.
The planet has stood up to far worse such as the nuclear bombs on two populated areas of the world, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombardment that took place in the 100s of wars, the chemical warfare, the automobile and industrial pollution of the past 200 years and will stand up to and outlive Trump presidency. We the people should oppose any force or nation that is determined not to keep our air, water and land free of toxic pollution. Too much importance is being given to what the country and its president can do or not do for our environment. Each one of us should do our part as private citizens and industrialists to keep our planet free of toxic pollutants, carcinogens including cigarette smoke, pathogens, crop destroying fungi and parasites. Nonsmokers like Trump set an example to the rest to not pollute our microenvironment all over the world. What I don't think our planet can stand is the population explosion in countries that cannot optimally feed and nurture their people. China's one child policy was the biggest and most noble contributor to stemming excessive population growth in our planet. Enforcing the laws on environmental protection and maintaining clean air standards will further enhance our planet. Countries all over the world including the USA have realized that sustainable clean alternative sources of energy are not just good for their economies but for the planet and the thrust for preserving our planet is already set in motion. Do we need more policing?
3
Good points. We don't need medicine men and snake oil salesmen telling us that birth control is a sin. Religion poisons everything. They were wrong about Galileo and holy wars and pedophile priests.
Trump has cut the EPA budget that protects land, air, and water by 35 percent, is opting out of the Paris climate accord, has cut the budget for foreign aid that aids third world countries devastated by climate change--that the US mostly contributed to--not the third world--and is in fact himself a climate change denier--Are you happy now that you voted him in???
1
Environmentalist nihilism pollutes man.
Until Science (it's settled right" ) can tell us exactly what percentage of any "global warming" is the direct result of human activity (and not sun spots, water vapor, or other normal occurrence outside human control) than we have no business passing laws, treaties and regulations that costs and will cost the American worker and millions of jobs and trillions of dollars.
The fact that no scientist can provide this percentage of human activity, coupled with numerous cases of misleading, flawed or fake data is proof that "Climate change" is nothing but the biggest boondoggle and power grab ever inflicted on the world by elite globalist socialist factions and governments. Obama's America included.
And Had Hillary won. The US would have continued to be complicit in this globalist rape of America and the world done in the Orwellian catchphrase of "saving the planet. Give me a break.
Thank God we elected Trump to end this insanity.
The fact that no scientist can provide this percentage of human activity, coupled with numerous cases of misleading, flawed or fake data is proof that "Climate change" is nothing but the biggest boondoggle and power grab ever inflicted on the world by elite globalist socialist factions and governments. Obama's America included.
And Had Hillary won. The US would have continued to be complicit in this globalist rape of America and the world done in the Orwellian catchphrase of "saving the planet. Give me a break.
Thank God we elected Trump to end this insanity.
6
Scientists do know with confidence how much each contributes. Sunspots? Nil. Water vapor? The most effective greenhouse gas. The warmer the atmosphere, the more water vapor it can hold. Meteorologists study the impact of every phenomenon known, including solar variation, and orbital effects. The only thing that fits the facts are the increased burning of fossil fuels since the beginning of the Industrial Age some 250 years ago. I have degrees from NYU and MIT in Meteorology paid for by Uncle Sam to make me an Air Force weather officer, which I was for 22 years, specializing in weather satellites. After MIT, I was assigned to NASA's Goddard Space Fight Center for 2 years to evaluate data from the TIROS and Nimbus weather satellites. Then followed a year in Vietnam managing a then classified Air Force weather satellite ground station.
Meteorologists are serious scientists and we know that thunder is not caused by heavenly spirits at a bowling tournament, but we appreciate sensible input when available.
Meteorologists are serious scientists and we know that thunder is not caused by heavenly spirits at a bowling tournament, but we appreciate sensible input when available.
3
Shouldn't common sense tell us that action on CO2 might be prudent? We've known since Fourier nearly 200 years ago that but for the trace greenhouse gases in the atmosphere Earth would be an icy uninhabitable rock.
If zero CO2 equals ice, doubling CO2 almost certainly means added warmth. We'll be lucky if we only reach a doubling, and no mistake, it's our doing. The isotopes have our fingerprints on them.
But fear not, the political system in which a Trump is possible isn't equipped to act on this problem. Even if it was, there is no guarantee we'll actually get the policy right to solve it.
If we're to leave the path we're currently on, it will be because clean energy becomes the cheapest energy. The world will have to adapt to the hand we've dealt ourselves by then.
I
If zero CO2 equals ice, doubling CO2 almost certainly means added warmth. We'll be lucky if we only reach a doubling, and no mistake, it's our doing. The isotopes have our fingerprints on them.
But fear not, the political system in which a Trump is possible isn't equipped to act on this problem. Even if it was, there is no guarantee we'll actually get the policy right to solve it.
If we're to leave the path we're currently on, it will be because clean energy becomes the cheapest energy. The world will have to adapt to the hand we've dealt ourselves by then.
I
1
The planet should not be warming at all based on natural forcings. Sun spots hit a modern max around 1950 and have been decreasing since. The Milankovitch cycles are cooling and operate over thousands of years. There have been no large albedo changes from any natural cycles. So, the sun has been on a cooling cycle while the planet has been warming with the most intense warming since 1980. CO2 and CH4 concentration increases due to fossil fuel burning are the only significant forcing changes that have occurred over the past century.
The planet warming is essentially all us.
The planet warming is essentially all us.
Time to invest in research about ocean wave-powered desalination as well.
Air polution gives some people life shorting dease but most live. Water polution causes cholera, dyesentery, heavy metals cause other problems that don't kill everyone and when they do it's slowly. FLooding of NY, Cape Cod and Miami not the end of the world. Warming of Canada, Siberia, Northern China and Europe, and Greenland more people will want live and farm there. So not everyone is going to die of heat stroke or starvation from dried up crops.
Then there's civil engineering and GMO's which the wealthy are against but civilization can't live without.
Could war solve some population problems. A government with Stalin like powers to eliminate excess population. Horrible, only really angry people want that but still humans will survive.
So why is the human race will becoming extinct? I need a scientific break down. Saying we are hopeless isn't true is it?
Then there's civil engineering and GMO's which the wealthy are against but civilization can't live without.
Could war solve some population problems. A government with Stalin like powers to eliminate excess population. Horrible, only really angry people want that but still humans will survive.
So why is the human race will becoming extinct? I need a scientific break down. Saying we are hopeless isn't true is it?
2
One commenter notes that many people write about what "we" (or Trump) should do, but don't mention what they themselves are doing. Fair point.
Another commenter complains that we shouldn't have to live in "caves." I agree, but that's not necessary.
Here in San Francisco, we're required to separate trash into at least 3 separate categories. I still haven't figured out where you put a piece of trash that contains metal, plastic and leftover food, and I'm certain I could spend many years in prison if some city official looked closely at our trash disposal practices.
But we are generating a lot less trash -- without feeling inconvenienced, much less feeling like we're living in a "cave." It's not all that hard, and often fun, just to walk somewhere rather than drive. I recognize that's easier for people who live in cities (as I do) than for people who live farther out, but there are other ways to save energy too.
Maybe it will become inconvenient down the road, but it's really not inconvenient now.
Another commenter complains that we shouldn't have to live in "caves." I agree, but that's not necessary.
Here in San Francisco, we're required to separate trash into at least 3 separate categories. I still haven't figured out where you put a piece of trash that contains metal, plastic and leftover food, and I'm certain I could spend many years in prison if some city official looked closely at our trash disposal practices.
But we are generating a lot less trash -- without feeling inconvenienced, much less feeling like we're living in a "cave." It's not all that hard, and often fun, just to walk somewhere rather than drive. I recognize that's easier for people who live in cities (as I do) than for people who live farther out, but there are other ways to save energy too.
Maybe it will become inconvenient down the road, but it's really not inconvenient now.
5
Climate change means more snow in the Northeast. I live in the Northeast and I like snow, so I like climate change.
In the Boston area, 135 years of record keeping shows that 6 of the 8 heaviest snowfall seasons have occurred in the past 25 years.
1. 2014-2015: 110.6 inches
2. 1995-1996: 107.6 inches
3. 1993-1994: 96.3 inches
4. 1947-1948: 89.2 inches
5. 2004-2005: 86.6 inches
6. 1977-1978: 85.1 inches
7. 1992-1993: 83.9 inches
8. 2010-2011: 81.0 inches
Please leave climate change alone. The snow is lots of fun. Defenders of science should read the 2006 report "Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Snowstorms in the Contiguous United States".
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JAM2395.1
In the Boston area, 135 years of record keeping shows that 6 of the 8 heaviest snowfall seasons have occurred in the past 25 years.
1. 2014-2015: 110.6 inches
2. 1995-1996: 107.6 inches
3. 1993-1994: 96.3 inches
4. 1947-1948: 89.2 inches
5. 2004-2005: 86.6 inches
6. 1977-1978: 85.1 inches
7. 1992-1993: 83.9 inches
8. 2010-2011: 81.0 inches
Please leave climate change alone. The snow is lots of fun. Defenders of science should read the 2006 report "Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Snowstorms in the Contiguous United States".
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JAM2395.1
2
If only Hillary had been elected, carbon emissions would be dropping, because Times readers would stop using heat, airplanes and computers. And the entire developing world would return to hunter-gatherer lifestyles.
What kind of fantasy world do you people live in, anyway? The US President does not control the environment like some sort of benevolent dictator. Climate change is unstoppable and irreversible: get used to it.
What kind of fantasy world do you people live in, anyway? The US President does not control the environment like some sort of benevolent dictator. Climate change is unstoppable and irreversible: get used to it.
6
Oh, I am totally used to the idea that we are going to face a nasty brutish and hot future of more wars, more refugees, more misery. And I know exactly who to blame it on. YOU. You seem like the kind that stalled and blocked the solutions we have had since 1980. I truly believe, since we cannot do anything to stop GW, we must punish those whose actions led us this point. Will it help? No. Will is be justice, YesYes Yes.
4
We had all the technology to ameliorate our carbon emmissions since before we understood how carbon is heating our planet, since the 1970's. The crucial, fatal act was the USA electing Reagan. Face it, the Gloom and Doom Democrats were right and if you were there and voted fro Reagan, it is your fault. period, end of story. The Right, owns this one. For all its corruption the Democrats are more willing to face environmental problems
2
How about street battles between Marxists and nationalists in the Weimar Republic?
Thanks.
At every OpEd such as this dealing with what we, the people, might need to do to deal with climate change/global warming, we get one or more comments telling readers or the OpEd writer that they are all hypocritical because they are not doing anything themselves to decrease greenhouse-gas emissions.
But there is almost always something missing in the commen, a simple statement by the commenter concerning what he or she is doing. Today's example is provided by Mike A. Fairfax VA to whom I have replied by asking "Mike, how do you heat and cool your living space?"
I never get answers to my replies so I post the question to all, looking eagerly forward to your answers, even from author McKibben. If comments close you can send to my Gmail, which you can find at my blog. Here is the URL that will take you to my reply to Mike A. and to his comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/opinion/the-planet-cant-stand-this-pre...
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
But there is almost always something missing in the commen, a simple statement by the commenter concerning what he or she is doing. Today's example is provided by Mike A. Fairfax VA to whom I have replied by asking "Mike, how do you heat and cool your living space?"
I never get answers to my replies so I post the question to all, looking eagerly forward to your answers, even from author McKibben. If comments close you can send to my Gmail, which you can find at my blog. Here is the URL that will take you to my reply to Mike A. and to his comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/opinion/the-planet-cant-stand-this-pre...
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
I must say, every time astronomers find a new "earth like" planet nearby, my "conspiracy theory" gland goes into overtime. Basically, since this planet is, more or less, "screwed", just who gets to blast off to these "brave, new worlds"?
I'm guessing it ain't the janitor.
I'm guessing it ain't the janitor.
2
these planets are lightyears away. nobody is blasting off to them any time soon.
1
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
Wordsworth
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
Wordsworth
5
The year is 2017 and today, Earth Day we need a march for science?
How pathetic.
How pathetic.
7
If enough people march for science, environmentalist quackery will end.
Donald Trump continually stubbornly expresses the scream-out idea that in no way is anyone going to take his gold away from him, no matter what happens to anyone else.
1
In the neo-savage, Leftist mind, man is a mindless destroyer. They speak of themselves, not rational man.
1
To the people who care about saving lifeforms,atmosphere, and bodies of water on this planet. Support and contribute to organizations that are bringing suit to stop/delay the orders of the present administration. Get involved in contributing and electing politicians most likely Democrats or Independents. Mid terms 2018 is a great place to start. VOTE, every time!
4
Perhaps every one of us, rushing to Walmart for cheap goods made in China's coal fired factories, deserve a bit of the blame along with Trump? That mobile phone you bought to replace a perfectly good phone, but didn't have the latest gimmicks, was made with a lot of complex metals that polluted the environment digging up. That trip to Hawaii you had to take required a jet that used a lot of carbon fuel. Of course that kitchen remodel had no effect on the planet either.
Yes, Trump is ignorant and will help speed up the destructive process. But deep down the root cause is that we all desire a better life, 'progress', and just plain 'more'. I have reached the conclusion that it is our innate genetic programming as a species that makes us just like any other- consume and grow until nature stops us when we reach its limits.
Yes, Trump is ignorant and will help speed up the destructive process. But deep down the root cause is that we all desire a better life, 'progress', and just plain 'more'. I have reached the conclusion that it is our innate genetic programming as a species that makes us just like any other- consume and grow until nature stops us when we reach its limits.
8
> our innate genetic programming as a species that makes us just like any other- consume and grow until nature stops us when we reach its limits.
So Leftist lies are not their fault. Genetics made them do it.
So Leftist lies are not their fault. Genetics made them do it.
Evangelicals, like those "in charge of Science" in the Trump administration, do not believe the science they are in charge of. They "believe" that God gave humans the planet to do as they see fit. They believe God is a capitalist and Christ was his CEO. They believe that if they can make the rich richer by throwing CO2 and sulfur to become acid rain into the atmosphere, by adding mercury and PCB's into our drinking water, by fracking the ground indiscriminately while causing earthquakes in Oklahoma and polluting the groundwater, by allowing ExxonMobil to pollute parts of New Jersey with no financial consequences, and by increasing the mining of the most polluting hydrocarbon source of energy there is, that they are doing God's work.
Science means nothing to these people. God help us all.
Science means nothing to these people. God help us all.
9
Leftists use corrupt science for their reactionary lust for primitivism.
2
So reducing mercury and lead in drinking water is based on corrupt science? Earthquakes in otherwise geologically stable Oklahoma is nothing but corrupt science? Breathing in Beijing is not caused by the large-scale burning of coal but by corrupt science? You seem to think that anyone who wants to try to improve the situations above wants to live in wooden huts and wash their hand-made clothing on rocks by a stream.
I didn't know righties "believed" in polluting the air, land, and water. My mistake, I guess.
Congratulations, BTW, for getting leftists, corrupt science, and reactionary into a single sentence.
I didn't know righties "believed" in polluting the air, land, and water. My mistake, I guess.
Congratulations, BTW, for getting leftists, corrupt science, and reactionary into a single sentence.
1
Well said.
When I lived in the old country (NJ), I installed 30 solar panels on my roof, 2010.
After installation, I watched the solar energy meter read out 7000 watts.
Driving to work, I looked at all the houses with just shingles. What a waste, but I was happy things would change.
Then a terrible thing happened. The new Republican Gov. Chris Christie immediately cut, then Ended, the clean energy rebates. Suddenly PSE&G (Public Service Electric & Gas) got into the act to also short circuit home solar by spending money to put "One" panel on every electric pole in sight, (How inefficient can you get?) thus totally undermining the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC's) that made going solar affordable for homeowners. Those who relied on the SREC's to help pay the loan for their solar were forced to sell their house. This is what a republican will do to undercut the solar industry in America.
Within months, the solar company that installed my panels went out of business.
I "Google Earth" my old neighborhood. My previous house is still the only one with solar panels. My neighbors, who were excited and were also planning to install solar? This Never happened.
After installation, I watched the solar energy meter read out 7000 watts.
Driving to work, I looked at all the houses with just shingles. What a waste, but I was happy things would change.
Then a terrible thing happened. The new Republican Gov. Chris Christie immediately cut, then Ended, the clean energy rebates. Suddenly PSE&G (Public Service Electric & Gas) got into the act to also short circuit home solar by spending money to put "One" panel on every electric pole in sight, (How inefficient can you get?) thus totally undermining the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC's) that made going solar affordable for homeowners. Those who relied on the SREC's to help pay the loan for their solar were forced to sell their house. This is what a republican will do to undercut the solar industry in America.
Within months, the solar company that installed my panels went out of business.
I "Google Earth" my old neighborhood. My previous house is still the only one with solar panels. My neighbors, who were excited and were also planning to install solar? This Never happened.
5
Our Canadian friends are way way way ahead of us. They are making full use of ample sun and wind. http://canwea.ca/
We are tragically behind times. Only Bernie had the vision and he stood alongside Native Americans.
We are tragically behind times. Only Bernie had the vision and he stood alongside Native Americans.
5
When you wonder who's ruining America, there are oh so many rocks to turn-over. The Military-Industrial Complex runs Foreign Policy, the Health Insurers run Health Care, the conservative religious groups fight birth control so hey can complain about gang violence, and the list goes on and on!
But, when it come to importance, the Care and Treatment of Planet Earth come first! Unfortunately, many in Congress are intrigued by that old slogan: Money Talks! Big Energy--Oil, Gas and Coal--have deep pockets, and their lobbyists seem to be imbedded in the Halls of Congress.
But, National Defense, Health, Women's Rights, etc...none of that will matter when our Planet gets just a little sicker. We have: the Defense against our Environment getting even worse; we have the Financial Means to, st least, try to reverse ther process, we have the Right to Choose between pulling the plug, or not.
Unfortunately, two questions remain: is it too late to reverse the Death Spiral of our Earth; and do we Have the Will. For our children, and grandchildren, and so on: Let's Give the Gift of a Living Planet!
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
But, when it come to importance, the Care and Treatment of Planet Earth come first! Unfortunately, many in Congress are intrigued by that old slogan: Money Talks! Big Energy--Oil, Gas and Coal--have deep pockets, and their lobbyists seem to be imbedded in the Halls of Congress.
But, National Defense, Health, Women's Rights, etc...none of that will matter when our Planet gets just a little sicker. We have: the Defense against our Environment getting even worse; we have the Financial Means to, st least, try to reverse ther process, we have the Right to Choose between pulling the plug, or not.
Unfortunately, two questions remain: is it too late to reverse the Death Spiral of our Earth; and do we Have the Will. For our children, and grandchildren, and so on: Let's Give the Gift of a Living Planet!
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
6
What was it that Pogo said?
Guido nails it:
"Americans have always used more energy than anyone else ... Trump must face his responsibilities, but ... who could [require Americans] to use more energy? In other words, please start using less energy!"
Most Americans use gobs of energy because it's convenient, period. I don't inconvenience myself in the moment, but I do structure my life in ways that require less energy, and so I use much less than average.
For example, if you live in a large house and feel chilly one spring evening, should you turn on the furnace, thereby heating corners of the house where no one ever goes, or should you follow my mother's advice and "Put on a sweater?"
Guido nails it:
"Americans have always used more energy than anyone else ... Trump must face his responsibilities, but ... who could [require Americans] to use more energy? In other words, please start using less energy!"
Most Americans use gobs of energy because it's convenient, period. I don't inconvenience myself in the moment, but I do structure my life in ways that require less energy, and so I use much less than average.
For example, if you live in a large house and feel chilly one spring evening, should you turn on the furnace, thereby heating corners of the house where no one ever goes, or should you follow my mother's advice and "Put on a sweater?"
3
You could dig a hole in the ground, jump in and hand the shovel to a compassionate Leftist.
President Carter was jeered in the 1970's by many Americans because he had the unmitigated gaul to speak to the Nation in front of a fireplace wearing a sweater to ask us to turn down our thermostats a couple degrees and yes…wear a sweater.
In California I worked with a horse rancher. We built a simple solar system in a week that heated a horse barn and a swimming pool. That Rancher got a Tax Credit. Thanks in no small part to forward thinking, science believing President Carter.
I can't believe we're still fighting off ignoramuses after all these years!
In California I worked with a horse rancher. We built a simple solar system in a week that heated a horse barn and a swimming pool. That Rancher got a Tax Credit. Thanks in no small part to forward thinking, science believing President Carter.
I can't believe we're still fighting off ignoramuses after all these years!
2
Science properly conducted is not swayed by politics. A good example of improper science is "Intelligent Design" which jumps through hoops and cherry picks in order to justify religious fairy tales.
Trump is only the most recent link in the chain that has led to global warming and climate change. No government since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s has been farsighted enough to forestall the climate change. Short-term convenience and benefits always take priority over long-term view that is advocated by science. You harvest what you plant ...
The only long-term view of anti-ideological Leftists is how to commit suicide.
1
The only view of ideological Rightists is--I will never admit I am wrong, even as the US is hit with the A-bomb--because they will blame it on Obama and Hillary.
2
Correct, Will...Hillary's email "scandal" is the cause of all evil. Well, I say, Lock him (trump) up! Lock him up!
1
Exploit nature or die. More energy, more human life, more health. Nature is a tool for man. Leftists are hysterical, virtually psychotic, anti-humanists and pseudo-rational, nature-worshipping, nature-fearing neo-savages. Their anti-DDT campaign murdered 30 million people. Read The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein. Visit his Center For Industrial Progress.
1
Has anyone at the Times ever had a conversation with any ordinary AGW climate change deniers? I have. It's impossible. They'll toss around facts, statistics and first-hand observations as if they're experts, move from one stupid example to another that putatively "proves" their skepticism is warranted, offer up a few examples of scientists who doubt AGW, and conclude, triumphantly, that even if the planet is warming, there's nothing that can be done about it. If you use reason to refute anything they say, they'll argue back that they don't really care what you say because science has often been wrong and you're a hysteric for believing the whole world is endangered.
Trump is merely the tip of an iceberg of American-style ignoramuses who loathe all things intellectual, and are incapable of distinguishing between genuine knowledge and Internet-gleaned information. Worse, they harbor a keen distrust of science that probably comes from the way science shakes up their hardened and complacent worldview.
It sounds elitist to say this, but this is what happens in an age of egalitarianism, where each man and woman thinks he or she is the equal, in absolutely all things, of everybody else.
Trump is merely the tip of an iceberg of American-style ignoramuses who loathe all things intellectual, and are incapable of distinguishing between genuine knowledge and Internet-gleaned information. Worse, they harbor a keen distrust of science that probably comes from the way science shakes up their hardened and complacent worldview.
It sounds elitist to say this, but this is what happens in an age of egalitarianism, where each man and woman thinks he or she is the equal, in absolutely all things, of everybody else.
7
> It sounds elitist to say this, but this is what happens in an age of egalitarianism, where each man and woman thinks he or she is the equal, in absolutely all things, of everybody else.
As Plato and Aristotle predicted, democracy morphs into tyranny. Call for Cass Sunstein!
As Plato and Aristotle predicted, democracy morphs into tyranny. Call for Cass Sunstein!
1
There are indeed accomplished scientist that claim to doubt AGW. Most of them get consultant fees from Big Energy.
We went through this before with the tobacco industry. If the price is right, we will sell our souls to the highest bidder.
We went through this before with the tobacco industry. If the price is right, we will sell our souls to the highest bidder.
3
I recalled this last fall as I watched the Presidential debates that in the first debate there wasn't a single question about climate change. Then came the second debate and again, not one question about where the candidates stood on climate change.
So I figured that during the third debate there would be questions about this topic, hopefully bringing out the stark differences between the positions of the two candidates on this timely issue. Again, there were none.
And then I waited for some sort of, if not outcry, at least 'those in the know' raising this lack of any inquiry about an issue the next president could have a profound influence shaping as the leader of the United States. Again, barely a whimper.
Was it Pogo who back in the 70's when the environmental movement got started and Earth Day would be a newsworthy item that said "We have met the problem, and it is us."?
So I figured that during the third debate there would be questions about this topic, hopefully bringing out the stark differences between the positions of the two candidates on this timely issue. Again, there were none.
And then I waited for some sort of, if not outcry, at least 'those in the know' raising this lack of any inquiry about an issue the next president could have a profound influence shaping as the leader of the United States. Again, barely a whimper.
Was it Pogo who back in the 70's when the environmental movement got started and Earth Day would be a newsworthy item that said "We have met the problem, and it is us."?
7
What we (developed nations) do is of little consequence. The Washington Post had a wonderful analysis last year about the impact of developing nations to climate change. Just a little thing like the amount of pollution caused by window air conditioners in a country such as India as they grow richer will dwarf any marginal reductions the US has. The problem is too many people and growing and they want creature polluting comforts and meat too.
China and India are still adding new coal plants today. Stop kidding yourselves. We have passed the point of no return. Mother nature will deal with us since we haven't done so ourselves.
China and India are still adding new coal plants today. Stop kidding yourselves. We have passed the point of no return. Mother nature will deal with us since we haven't done so ourselves.
5
We use 25% of consumed resources. We are less than 5% of earths population
1
Stop looking in the review mirror. It has nothing to do with what happened but what will happen. I am talking about future usage, consumption and pollution from growing emerging populations that outnumber us by a factor of 10 and are growing and consuming far faster.
The year is 2016 and after all we have learned we still need a march for science.
That fact is simply pathetic.
That fact is simply pathetic.
2
shouldn't this be considered a criminal act? what is more basic to human life than a healthy planet? if for none of trump's other illegal deeds this one should not only impeach him but send him to prison. at what point willwe label him a mass murderer?
3
Fossil fuels aided 300 yrs of population and prosperity and health increase. Ending fossil fuels will kill billions. Didnt Stalin mention breaking eggs and omelets?
2
Fossil fuels were convenient in their day, but enough is enough. The question is whether we are mature enough to survive. I am not confident we are.
3
Not clear why oceanfront real estate prices have been rising faster:
"Trump will only acknowledge the reality of climate change when Mar-a-Lago is flooded by rising ocean waters."
One would think that buyers would pay less, not more, for oceanfront property that is likely to be flooded by rising ocean waters. Buyers of oceanfront property must be very stupid, I guess.
"Trump will only acknowledge the reality of climate change when Mar-a-Lago is flooded by rising ocean waters."
One would think that buyers would pay less, not more, for oceanfront property that is likely to be flooded by rising ocean waters. Buyers of oceanfront property must be very stupid, I guess.
1
What do you expect from a president whose idea of nature is a golf course? Trump has been coddled in a gilded interior world of penthouses, hotel rooms, and country clubs. Nature is something to be tolerated and modified, not celebrated and protected. As with everything else, this president is regressive in just about all of his decisions, attitudes, and approaches to serious global issues, and the health of the planet is one of many that eludes any real concern from this self-absorbed man.
4
I can only imagine that a lot of people on the Titanic chose to point at the Captain too as it was going down. Maybe they'd have survived if they'd used their arms and hands for swimming instead. People have to decide for themselves what's important.
UM, the water temperature killed people in minutes. No swimming. People refuse to look at reality, like temperature. Bad analogy
Incorrect:
"The carbon tax is a means of re-distributing income."
Someone argued that a carbon tax would cause US residents to use less energy and Asia/Africa residents to use more.
Wrong: A carbon tax would cause every group who pays that tax to use less of what the tax applies to. Possibly OTHER taxes would be imposed, or increased, to lessen the burden of that carbon tax on poor people. But the carbon tax itself would cause EVERY group that pays it to use less carbon. Some group members wouldn't change their behavior, but most would.
"The carbon tax is a means of re-distributing income."
Someone argued that a carbon tax would cause US residents to use less energy and Asia/Africa residents to use more.
Wrong: A carbon tax would cause every group who pays that tax to use less of what the tax applies to. Possibly OTHER taxes would be imposed, or increased, to lessen the burden of that carbon tax on poor people. But the carbon tax itself would cause EVERY group that pays it to use less carbon. Some group members wouldn't change their behavior, but most would.
1
Carbon tax.
Someone else made the near-obvious point that people will use less of something if it costs more. A carbon tax would accomplish that. It should be phased in over a very long period, to fairly spread its consequences over all of us. It's not fair to tell Jones that what she paid, say, $1,000 for is now worth $0, because society will receive a $1,000 benefit and has decided that Jones should bear the entire cost. It is fair, however, to tell Jones that her $1,000 asset will gradually become less valuable until it's worth $0 in, say, 25 years.
Granted, 25 years is a long time. But if we'd imposed carbon taxes 25 years ago, energy production and consumption would be much lower now.
Someone else made the near-obvious point that people will use less of something if it costs more. A carbon tax would accomplish that. It should be phased in over a very long period, to fairly spread its consequences over all of us. It's not fair to tell Jones that what she paid, say, $1,000 for is now worth $0, because society will receive a $1,000 benefit and has decided that Jones should bear the entire cost. It is fair, however, to tell Jones that her $1,000 asset will gradually become less valuable until it's worth $0 in, say, 25 years.
Granted, 25 years is a long time. But if we'd imposed carbon taxes 25 years ago, energy production and consumption would be much lower now.
Carbon taxes and other cost-boosting measures hit poor people harder. But offsets can be made.
They already are. For example, my utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, charges tiered rates. If someone uses very little, the unit rate is very low. The unit rate jumps up above that minimal usage, and jumps again at very high usage levels. As a result, someone who uses, say, twice as much energy as his neighbor doesn't pay twice as much -- he may pay, for example, four or five times as much.
Some will insist that wealthy people don't mind paying whatever PG&E wants to charge them. Undoubtedly there are wealthy people like that, but I haven't met many of them. I know many wealthy people, and I can't think of many of them that don't mind a $700 monthly bill from PG&E.
They already are. For example, my utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, charges tiered rates. If someone uses very little, the unit rate is very low. The unit rate jumps up above that minimal usage, and jumps again at very high usage levels. As a result, someone who uses, say, twice as much energy as his neighbor doesn't pay twice as much -- he may pay, for example, four or five times as much.
Some will insist that wealthy people don't mind paying whatever PG&E wants to charge them. Undoubtedly there are wealthy people like that, but I haven't met many of them. I know many wealthy people, and I can't think of many of them that don't mind a $700 monthly bill from PG&E.
23
> Carbon taxes and other cost-boosting measures hit poor people harder.
For Leftists, sacrifice is mentally healthy. Help the poor. Raise their taxes.
For Leftists, sacrifice is mentally healthy. Help the poor. Raise their taxes.
1
The solution is not tiered rates, it is smart meters that charge more during peak consumption, when utilities are cranking up inefficient sources to meet demand. Don't operate your oven and dryer from 4-6 pm, which heat up your house and increase electricity drawn from your air conditioner. Pay ten times as much during peak consumption, and 50% during the night.
Personal responsibility helps. Most folk have things they can do.
I worked for PG&E, and now have solar power for the house and car, too. We get essentially free house-and-horsepower. The payback is four years, so it is not only practical, but profitable!
I worked for PG&E, and now have solar power for the house and car, too. We get essentially free house-and-horsepower. The payback is four years, so it is not only practical, but profitable!
Other countries are rapidly leaving us behind in terms of alternative energy sources. Scotland generates half its electricity from wind turbines, and is moving to have 100% of its energy come from renewable energy sources by 2020. Instead of progressive research into alternative energy sources, Trump wants to turn back the clock to the use of coal to supply electricity, with no regulations to impede the bottom line. This isn't just about U.S., it's about the whole world. We do not have the right to impose the consequences from the use of climate warming, unhealthy coal as a source of energy on the rest of the world, when there are alternatives.
One other thing, as the air becomes polluted, the consequences to health will start taking its toll on medical resources, but then again the Republicans don't want people to have government sponsored health care, so not a problem, people will just die.
One other thing, as the air becomes polluted, the consequences to health will start taking its toll on medical resources, but then again the Republicans don't want people to have government sponsored health care, so not a problem, people will just die.
2
He has grandchildren - why is he hurting them? Cannot believe that he would hurt his family
2
He is addicted to greed.
2
It's only a canary, for goodness' sakes. Why are you getting so upset about a canary? Now go on, get back to mining, your shift's not over.
7
Yes and to save the canary from the very natural ice age to warming cycles that have repeated itself for millions of years, 8 billion people must live in caves. Nice try!
1
@William Rodham: The warming and climate changes that have occurred in the last 100 years are unprecedented and completely beyond the scope of the natural cycling that has been going on for millennia. As geochemist James Lawrence Powell continues to prove, the only people still debating whether or not climate change is “real,” and caused by human activity, are the ones who aren’t doing the actual research. In an update to his ongoing project of reviewing the literature on global warming, Powell went through every scientific study published in a peer-review journal during the calendar year 2013, finding 10,885 in total. Of those, a mere two rejected anthropogenic global warming.
Very few of the most vocal global warming deniers, those who write op-eds and blogs and testify to congressional committees, have ever written a peer-reviewed article in which they say explicitly that anthropogenic global warming is false. Why? Because then they would have to provide the evidence and, evidently, they don’t have it.
Nice try!
Very few of the most vocal global warming deniers, those who write op-eds and blogs and testify to congressional committees, have ever written a peer-reviewed article in which they say explicitly that anthropogenic global warming is false. Why? Because then they would have to provide the evidence and, evidently, they don’t have it.
Nice try!
7
> The warming and climate changes that have occurred in the last 100 years are unprecedented and completely beyond the scope of the natural cycling that has been going on for millennia.
When can we expect vinyards and Vikingsd to return to Greenland?
When can we expect vinyards and Vikingsd to return to Greenland?
1
Every time I find myself visiting the NY Times, get a popup promising "more debate, less division." Then I get nothing but this. Every op-ed, every editorial, every news item attacks Trump. Now the planet hates Trump. Where is the debate? I don't mean about climate change, or indeed this issue. But when the NY Times et al. ONLY focuses on attacking Trump or using its medium to promote its agenda rather than report the news in an unbiased way, don't be surprised when the country doesn't get excited about the latest Chelsea Clinton photo-op.
6
Excellent article! Trump is a disaster all round---except for his job as maître d’ at golf clubs. New ideas have always met opposition. Galileo was persecuted by Italian academics with the help of the Pope. The Scopes Monkey Trial remains a stain on America's notions of progress, and remains emblematic of the Neolithic mentality of the Deep South, a mentality demonstrated by the vindictive AG Sessions. Now, when the Pope says he accepts evolution and Exxon say they accept human-generated climate change, Trump and his band of clowns say "not so fast." Someone should tell them about Stalin and Lysenko and the perversion of science to form and promote Marxist genetics. While millions starved in the USSR, Stalin assigned vast tracts of land to Lysenko for plant-breeding experiments—all failed. Not only that, but in Lysenko’s time, not one textbook on modern (corrupt Western!) genetics was published in the USSR. What a farce that America, home to the NIH, to NASA, and to star-studded research institutes should be dragged down this road.
6
America Deserves Trump.
Mediocrity deserves a Fascist leader - and they got one.
Mediocrity deserves a Fascist leader - and they got one.
3
I believe it should be: " This Planet Cannot Endure This Presidency"
1
Pollution means profit. Get it? On that planet, the climate does not change.
3
Life requires profit. Leftists hate profit.
It's profit in service of suicidal greed.
3
Small scale waterwheel hydro would help solve the problem
2
This is just evolution playing out. The higher intelligent species will survive. Long live the cockroach.
4
Sadly, we were turning the corner on convincing nations that CO 2 emissions was dangerous---and even getting publics to go along with smaller and less powerful automobiles. In my very Republican neighborhood, actually have neighbors putting solar panels on their roofs---and now, we have Trump, a man could can't even spell science.
1
Trump will only acknowledge the reality of climate change when Mar-a-Lago is flooded by rising ocean waters. By then of course the Republican Party will be history -- permanently out of office at both the federal and state level, forever stained by its support of a presidential buffoon who was totally unfit for the job, let alone his Russian connections, conflicts of interest and merchandising of the White House for personal gain. Is it any coincidence that Exxon Mobil is now seeking a sanctions waiver for the multi-billion oil exploration deal that Tillerson negotiated with Russia before he became secretary of state? Or Kushner's $400 million deal with the Chinese? Or Ivanka's sudden trademark approvals in Beijing?
4
> Trump will only acknowledge the reality of climate change when Mar-a-Lago is flooded by rising ocean waters.
All environmentalist predictions have failed.
All environmentalist predictions have failed.
Why are polar ice caps and glaciers disappearing?
2
The planet is going to be just fine; it's the vertebrates and large flora that are in trouble.
3
Yes, we have been warned and the Paris Agreement is a link to helping save the planet as a happy place for our grandchildren. We need to protest today and beyond Earth Day. Let 45 hear all of our voices since he likes high ratings maybe it will make a positive impression---what do you think?
2
Yawn. Since hating the human species is part of this author's bedfellows' catechism, why all the worry? When the planet revolts and the sixth extinction is complete the goal of a planet without humanoid life will be achieved. Hooray for Bill and his fellow luddites.
2
So Trump is 70 years old and based on statistics won't be around in about ten or so years, so obviously climate change issues don't bother him. But doesn't he have a ten year-old son and grandchildren that will be adversely affected by the predictions in this article? Doesn't he care about his own children and grandchildren?
2
Trump's denial of climate change is confirmation of his psychosis.
To put it bluntly : he is old, his past his prime physically and mentally speaking, and he really feels he has nothing left to live for in such a state.
He has already expressed on many an occasion his crude sexual yearnings which are undoubtedly frustrated by the merciless passage of time which affects us all.
The end result : a petty-minded bully who doesn't care about the future because it won't be a nice place for him to frolic like some sort of Anglo answer to Silvio Berlusconi. 'Après moi, le Déluge', as Louis XIV liked to say....
To put it bluntly : he is old, his past his prime physically and mentally speaking, and he really feels he has nothing left to live for in such a state.
He has already expressed on many an occasion his crude sexual yearnings which are undoubtedly frustrated by the merciless passage of time which affects us all.
The end result : a petty-minded bully who doesn't care about the future because it won't be a nice place for him to frolic like some sort of Anglo answer to Silvio Berlusconi. 'Après moi, le Déluge', as Louis XIV liked to say....
4
"Tax cuts and executive orders can easily be reversed. The effects of climate change policy cannot." - McKibben
So according to Professor McKibben, the effects of climate policy for the past 75 years cannot be changed. Who knew?
And according to McKibben one man is to blame. Even though that man has been in office for less than 100 days?
Professor, it's mud season in VT, get some fresh air.
So according to Professor McKibben, the effects of climate policy for the past 75 years cannot be changed. Who knew?
And according to McKibben one man is to blame. Even though that man has been in office for less than 100 days?
Professor, it's mud season in VT, get some fresh air.
2
Climate change denial is dangerous, unlike "flat worlder" stupidity. Trump and Republicans are stupid on many levels: racism, Islamophobia, disenfranchising women, protecting election integrity by making voting impossible, cutting millions from food stamps while increasing military spending, interfering with science, preventing "regulation" of gun control, establishing religious restrictions in law are all anti-American and stupid. Republicans are the Party of entropy.
7
That Trump's environmental catastrophe could leave a lasting geological footprint probably makes him proud.
4
As with just about everything, it's all about the money. If there is a dollar to be made forget about the consequences to the environment and let someone else in the future deal with it. Additionally, you have a 70+ year old duffer as President who lives for today and is not concerned about what is going to happen a few years from now, as he won't be around to see and live it. He is just like the majority of old rich guys who live in the here and now and want to maintain their life style. They have theirs and so what about humanity and the environment 10 years, 50 years or a 100 years from now.
5
I'm imagining a picture of the world, like the one in this article, with a little dot added to represent all of humanity. Then, with a magnifying glass or maybe a microscope, there would be a smaller dot representing the amount of people who read this article. It's kind of like one little cell in our body that, upon examination, is a cancer cell. Who would ever think that a tiny little cell could mean the eventual end of the whole body?
1
We can only hope that the next species to emerge on our polluted Earth will be infinitely more intelligent, and much better stewards this planet. Or perhaps a different one.
1
Trump's disregard for global warming does indeed forebode the end of human life on the planet, but several of his advisors should bear the blame. When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO of Exxon Mobile, he funded far-right think tanks that attempted to refute the then scientific consensus that fossil fuels were the cause of global warming, and when E.P.A. Administrator Scott Pruitt was Attorney General of Oklahoma, he dissolved the state's environmental protection unit.
7
> scientific consensus that fossil fuels were the cause of global warming
We are The Consensus.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
We are The Consensus.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
Rainbow people and people of color otherwise are swamping folks like you, thank the lord. They - we - are the future (if we survive trumpy).
1
Congress needs to keep in mind that there are no do-overs in global warming. The consequences will devastate most of the planets great cities and result in a longer, lingering and slow death for all of our progeny -- including those of Congressmen!
6
My faith tells me that each of us has an obligation to respect and protect God's creation. I believe that the deliberate destruction of the environment for political gain is a crime against humanity in much the same way that Hitler's murder of the Jews for personal political gain was a crime against humanity. Our behavior must include, as well as we can, the principals of loving one's neighbor as oneself and protecting God's creation. For those who do not have a religious faith the protection of the environment is simply good practical sense.
6
>destruction of the environment
To create a human environment.
To create a human environment.
Mr. Trump and his Party are not interested in "the human environment"except as it might increase economic activity and profit.
1
Americans have always used more energy than anyone else. President Trump must face his responsibilities, but if the American public decided to reduce its energy consumption, who could oblige them to use more energy? In other words, please start using less energy!
2
Elections have consequences. America's failure to recognize its has a problem, namely, racism has given rise to 45. What country in the history of mankind has allowed an army to fly their flag after they have lost the war besides America? This solitary act of allowing the Confederate flag to still fly over government institutions and be displayed on state license plates gives power and hope to the Confederates who lost the Civil War. This has resulted in the Confederates continuing their fight to gain control over all branches of government on the federal, state and local level. If you have any doubt, then compare the Civil War map to today's electoral map. The Confederate Southern strategy has worked to bring their slave culture of how they treat African Americans, Latinos, other people of color and women to fascist rule. Can America finally see that racism affects us all, before its too late?
4
and what does that have to do with Climate Change?
1
The racist voters that support the Confederate agenda of spreading and supporting racism and sexism in America found a mouthpiece in DJT. We are all suffering the reign of 45. DJT does not believe the overwhelming science, nor acknowledge the physical manifestations of climate change. DJT is promoting fossil fuel policies that will further exacerbate the effects of climate change.
1
Trump and the Republicans and their big business supporters oppose environmental regulations for two reasons both of which have to do exclusively with greed. The first is that regulations to enhance climate control cost businesses money in their immediate, short term profits, which no one denies. Second, and more insidious, is that the regulations can force current big business to have to do things differently. These different things will give rise to new innovative businesses that can provide many of the goods and services that big business now provide but in a more environmentally friendly way. The result would be market share being drawn away from current big businesses to these newer, innovative businesses.
Trump and Republicans want to institutionalize today's big businesses even more than they already are. He wants to protect their interests and their dominance in their industries. They are prepared to sacrifice everything to protect these entrenched forces. The environment is just one example. Health care, labor laws, voting rights etc. are all up against this singular goal to create an indomitable government/industrial oligarchical complex.
I have a four-year old grandson. What's his environment going to look like in sixty years? After the Hawaiian Honeycreepers, the keel-billed toucan, the Joshua trees, the Horseshoe Crabs etc. are gone, and the food chain is entirely disrupted by our greed spawned destruction of our climate, humans will become extinct.
Trump and Republicans want to institutionalize today's big businesses even more than they already are. He wants to protect their interests and their dominance in their industries. They are prepared to sacrifice everything to protect these entrenched forces. The environment is just one example. Health care, labor laws, voting rights etc. are all up against this singular goal to create an indomitable government/industrial oligarchical complex.
I have a four-year old grandson. What's his environment going to look like in sixty years? After the Hawaiian Honeycreepers, the keel-billed toucan, the Joshua trees, the Horseshoe Crabs etc. are gone, and the food chain is entirely disrupted by our greed spawned destruction of our climate, humans will become extinct.
4
Who cares about the planet being able to stand this President?
America first!
America first!
1
There is still MUCH that EACH of us can - and should - do. (1) Drive less (batch up your trips); buy an electric car. (Sticker minus $7,500 tax credit -- and minus a state tax credit, $2,500 here in CA - = a reasonably priced car. $26K for a Chevy Bolt, gets 240 miles on a charge, midsize interior). (2) Eat less beef (yes really. Cow farts are driving up methane like you can't believe, it's fertilizer to climate change). (3) Make your home or apt. as energy efficient as possible - every light bulb an LED, every window has storms in the winter/doublepaned, every appliance an Energy Star (4) Break your freaking Uber habit. Ride transit or walk or bike or insist on an electric Uber, don't be such a princess.
4
If that new solid glass lithium ion electrolyte is as good as this newspaper reported, with the potential to triple the storage capacity of lithium ion batteries, the Bolt might attain a 600 mile range, which should be enough to make "range anxiety" a non-issue with electric cars.
4
The irony is that we humans, who could join together cooperatively to fight both against our worst impulses and for a healthy world, instead seem to revel in fighting each other. If and when, by our own clear actions, a warming climate is killing us all, we will still be killing each other to justify ourselves and to secure the last vestiges of a dying world for our last stand among those chosen few, be they Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or any of the derivative cults that claim to be so absolutely right about what we have made so terribly wrong.
4
Do you drive a car? Thought so.
1
Electric car, powered by non destructive solar power.
1
The planet will survive. Humanity won't. At least the fast majority of humanity will succumb to the miscalculations of a few ignorant homo sapiens who hoarded the wealth that they were entrusted with. The Easter Island effect writ world wide.
4
The last *5* presidents have been in charge at a critical moment for keeping climate change in check. Only one of them gave a rat's patootie about it.
7
The planet will be okay, even if an asteroid of large size hits it. And if none hits it, but things go on like this for the next several years, there will be no place on it for much, if any, mammalians, us least of all. A couple of centuries for the living to envy the dead?
2
We won't recover.
It was almost too late before Obama took office, and his tentative steps were scarcely adequate to meet the approaching crisis, forget turning it back. Now, it's too late. Billions of humans will die because of Ignoramus Trump and his deranged reactionary minions.
It was almost too late before Obama took office, and his tentative steps were scarcely adequate to meet the approaching crisis, forget turning it back. Now, it's too late. Billions of humans will die because of Ignoramus Trump and his deranged reactionary minions.
5
Our So Called Fake President is, of course, nothing more than a lying idiot who ran as the anti-Obama, just as GW Bush ran as the anti-Bill Clinton. Now he is in helplessly over his head and the mainstream media has decided that, ever since he used about 30 million dollars worth of cruise missiles to in effect, shut down a Syrian air base for 36 hours, that, he is becoming more Presidential. This is not the case, he is, in fact, a clear and present threat to the country and the planet.
10
I'm not listening to this "the sky is falling" nonsense. I'm well aware of the dangers of climate change but blaming Trump for destroying the planet is ridiculous. If people are really concerned then they need to take the bus, have fewer kids, buy smaller TV's, and buy less stuff. Almost all of the teachers and college professors who think the planet is toast are in their own denial about another issue--the public pension crisis. All I hear from them is "we faithfully contributed seven and a half percent of our salaries." All they are going to hear from me is: "don't buy a house next to the beach."
4
Wow! This is certainly a creative way to blame teachers! They certainly must be an evil lot.
6
The planet is not the only target of Trump in charge...whether by design or his intellectual clumsiness brought on by a supersized ego. It looks as though his actions will poison the water we drink, the air we breathe, increase intolerance of "others", possibly provoke radiation poisoning of our atmosphere, etc., etc., etc. He is the REAL "disaster". I won't even grace the Congress that stands meekly by with their own nefarious and questionable motives without reigning him in. Our elections have turned into a disgrace...remember 2016: it is the year when we lost our minds, our country and perhaps, the world.
7
Yes Dragonfly, Just as if Putin has taken over our country, and is doing everything he can to destroy it from within and without. Installing who "We The People" didn't vote for into the oval office, and who is now doing the dirty work for him.
2
Just some food for thought: One of the biggest winners from a fossil-fuel friendly USA is Russia, both in short term as a petrostate and possibly in the long-term when global warming unfreezes the permafrost and creates for Russia more arable land.
Coincidence? Maybe.
Coincidence? Maybe.
4
What fun! First climate "scientists" have never been correct. Never. There is no climate model that has been proven correct.
Second liberals refuse to state exactly how much society must reduce carbon emissions to reverse " global warming". Why not? Just tell everyone how we all must live in caves to theoretically achieve their goal. Liberal never will- they are not honest.
And last, the earth and nature is not static, its dynamic and earths temperatures have varied from ice age to warming to ice age to warming for millions of years. This warming is nothing new.
Second liberals refuse to state exactly how much society must reduce carbon emissions to reverse " global warming". Why not? Just tell everyone how we all must live in caves to theoretically achieve their goal. Liberal never will- they are not honest.
And last, the earth and nature is not static, its dynamic and earths temperatures have varied from ice age to warming to ice age to warming for millions of years. This warming is nothing new.
3
Congratulations on contributing this baseless propaganda to the discussion, William.
4
Trump will be dead by the time many of these disastrous environmental changes take place. His interests are more personal and short term in nature, such as how do I gain political advantage or what best to enhance my financial empire and fortune. The days of the responsible leadership of a man like Obama are over, at least for the short term. Clocks are ticking. But to a large extent America has turned inward and the health of our planet is one of their least concerns.
7
Over 15 years ago, top climate scientists warned that we would be at a "tipping point" in about 10 years if immediate action wasn't taken to stop global warming. Needless to say, little or nothing was done.
So, we are probably already locked into an irreversible global warming that will eventually make life on the Earth's surface impossible.
What will happen to humanity?
Who knows.
Have a nice day.
So, we are probably already locked into an irreversible global warming that will eventually make life on the Earth's surface impossible.
What will happen to humanity?
Who knows.
Have a nice day.
5
There is no 97% of scientists who claim catastrophic warming. We may get mild warming that will benefit man.
One benefit will be that Dixie will become a physical desert to match its status as an intellectual desert.
2
Each of the short essays by men and women who have studied the environment for years give an insightful glimpse into the global warming and attendant changes which threaten our planet.
Taken as a group, the message of an existential crossroads for humankind is so clear and convincing that only someone greedily exploiting natural resources to enhance short-term profits would argue otherwise. It requires a very cold, selfish heart to adopt the attitude that “I’ll grab and enjoy what I can, because by the time the crisis comes I’ll be dead and gone.”
Of course, there is another type of person who also irresponsibly brings the planet to the brink.
The willfully ignorant citizens who do not grasp that the point of no return is at hand are more dangerous, because there are many more of them than the greedy captains of industry whom they enable.
When one of those ignorant citizens, bored by the subject of the environment, reaches a lofty position of power, we are in extreme peril.
President Donald Trump is such a person. Right now, he is the single greatest threat to men, women and children in America and around the world by foolishly lending his high office to the destruction of an environment which sustains all life.
Taken as a group, the message of an existential crossroads for humankind is so clear and convincing that only someone greedily exploiting natural resources to enhance short-term profits would argue otherwise. It requires a very cold, selfish heart to adopt the attitude that “I’ll grab and enjoy what I can, because by the time the crisis comes I’ll be dead and gone.”
Of course, there is another type of person who also irresponsibly brings the planet to the brink.
The willfully ignorant citizens who do not grasp that the point of no return is at hand are more dangerous, because there are many more of them than the greedy captains of industry whom they enable.
When one of those ignorant citizens, bored by the subject of the environment, reaches a lofty position of power, we are in extreme peril.
President Donald Trump is such a person. Right now, he is the single greatest threat to men, women and children in America and around the world by foolishly lending his high office to the destruction of an environment which sustains all life.
11
There are so many theists that are so not as a matter of conviction but owing to Pascal's Wager: that it is rational to believe in God because the promise of great rewards and the threat of unimaginable torment make "picking God's side" a safe bet. How is it that educated men could choose to be deniers regarding the Climate Wager when it is also buttressed by the emotional testimony of nature unbalanced? How much does it hurt us to adopt green policies in the face of devastating human holocaust? What kind of person doesn't see that? What is in his soul?
8
Terra-Deformer-in-Chief Trump - it is NOT HIS PLANET, or his ilk's, to degrade and destroy as he pleases! To intentionally degrade and destroy the environment we all need and depend on is a criminal. He wants to do to the environment what wants to do to our health care. CRIMINAL!
In a world where there is a single beautiful elephant left, does anyone doubt either of the Trump Jr. would claim the "privilege" of shooting the last one dead?
At least Trump will become the greatest most infamous human ever.
In a world where there is a single beautiful elephant left, does anyone doubt either of the Trump Jr. would claim the "privilege" of shooting the last one dead?
At least Trump will become the greatest most infamous human ever.
6
About half the American electorate is as ignorant as it is possible to be. They voted for someone as insipid and bellicose as themselves who made clear his intention to defile the environment. These folks apparently want dirty air, poisoned water, and flooding caused by global warming. This is the real threat to this country, not Trump.
8
Great Trump, a millionaire businessman, is going to end the planet for money and ego. So sad but somehow not surprising that these things are so central to the disintegration of the planet,
8
Thank you NYT, this opinion piece is so necessary.
We resist, in small and large ways. "Chance favors the prepared mind". When we prepare ourselves and educate ourselves - we can more effectively resist the climate change deniers. Small and larger elections. And all the rest.
Earth Day. Small gestures and larger efforts - all matter.
We resist, in small and large ways. "Chance favors the prepared mind". When we prepare ourselves and educate ourselves - we can more effectively resist the climate change deniers. Small and larger elections. And all the rest.
Earth Day. Small gestures and larger efforts - all matter.
5
"Make something expensive, and it will be used less. A carbon tax on fossil fuels would do that."
100% agreed. A carbon tax -- phased in over a long period of time so that we don't make carbon deposit owners pay for benefits that we all receive -- probably would be widely accepted. We have many "environmentalists" here in San Francisco who don't think twice about driving 400 miles for a weekend of skiing. If gasoline prices rose to $6 a gallon because of a carbon tax, at least some of them would consider taking a bus to the ski resort.
100% agreed. A carbon tax -- phased in over a long period of time so that we don't make carbon deposit owners pay for benefits that we all receive -- probably would be widely accepted. We have many "environmentalists" here in San Francisco who don't think twice about driving 400 miles for a weekend of skiing. If gasoline prices rose to $6 a gallon because of a carbon tax, at least some of them would consider taking a bus to the ski resort.
3
The carbon tax is a means of re-distributing income. We would use less oil and coal, while Asia and Africa would use much more. The net savings in damage to the planet would be zero. Our standard of living would drop, while Third World Countries' standard of living would rise.
Don't believe me, but do Google for yourself and read the words of former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:
"One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole," said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal of environmental policy?
"We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy," said Edenhofer.
Don't believe me, but do Google for yourself and read the words of former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:
"One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole," said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal of environmental policy?
"We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy," said Edenhofer.
1
Azalea Lover,
Your logic is a bit hard to follow: If heating oil and gasoline, for example, doubled in price because of a carbon tax, people in Africa and Asia would use more of it but we would use less? Why wouldn't everyone use less?
Your logic is a bit hard to follow: If heating oil and gasoline, for example, doubled in price because of a carbon tax, people in Africa and Asia would use more of it but we would use less? Why wouldn't everyone use less?
All I know is that no matter what this President does, come Monday morning I'll still get in my car and drive to work, inhale and exhale, turn the light off and on and continue to produce the same amount of CO2 as I did before Trump even got into office. . . Me and along with 15 billion people, or however many there are of us now. Let's keep this in perspective. Not to excuse him, but at least to be mature adults about this. Feigning naive innocence in all of this only makes all of us all the more complicit with Trump.
3
Even if Trump's terrible damage could be reversed, we may already be too late to save the planet from disastrous climate change. It astonishes me that Republicans, who were once serious environmentalists, have succumbed to the Kochs and other short-term thugs who want to despoil the planet for profit and immediate gain. It is sickening, irresponsible and astonishingly short-sighted. We may all be dead when the planet collapses, but future generations will curse us--and with excellent reason.
But they will curse Trump even more.
But they will curse Trump even more.
8
William O. Zeeman – you're right, of course.
Here's the question that begs to be answered: just how much money do the Koch Bros, the Scaife family, the Mercer family need? What's the point?
Do they not understand that they'll all be dead soon too, just like the poorest among us?
Here's the question that begs to be answered: just how much money do the Koch Bros, the Scaife family, the Mercer family need? What's the point?
Do they not understand that they'll all be dead soon too, just like the poorest among us?
2
They welcome the billions of poor who will die from climate change; they have their cryonics tubes.
1
After surviving countless centuries of wars (many waged over differing beliefs based on religious dogma), we are now facing a cataclysm that could well spell the end of our very existence.
Anthropogenic global climate disruption (which includes not only sharply rising temperatures and sea levels, but also ocean acidification, that of other surface waters and therefore the Earth's soil) now constitutes THE greatest threat facing not only civilization, but most higher life on Earth — including humanity; indeed, we are on the brink of the sixth global mass extinction in Earth's history (and the first since we homo sapiens came into being about 200,000 years ago).
Anyone who denies this reality is either ignorant of the facts, incapable of understanding them, blinded by ideology, has vested financial interests or is starkly mentally ill — none of which are mutually exclusive.
The science is clear and unambiguous: if we are to have any hope of mitigating this rapidly growing global calamity, then we must keep at least eighty percent of the remaining carbonaceous energy sources undisturbed where they lie — which is precisely the opposite of what we are now doing under the "leadership" of Trump and the GOP.
With off-the-shelf technology, we can harness energy that is abundant and inexhaustible, as well as widely distributed, safe, clean, environmentally friendly — and which source cost is identically zero (the basis of the objections by the Carbon Cartel and their sycophants).
Anthropogenic global climate disruption (which includes not only sharply rising temperatures and sea levels, but also ocean acidification, that of other surface waters and therefore the Earth's soil) now constitutes THE greatest threat facing not only civilization, but most higher life on Earth — including humanity; indeed, we are on the brink of the sixth global mass extinction in Earth's history (and the first since we homo sapiens came into being about 200,000 years ago).
Anyone who denies this reality is either ignorant of the facts, incapable of understanding them, blinded by ideology, has vested financial interests or is starkly mentally ill — none of which are mutually exclusive.
The science is clear and unambiguous: if we are to have any hope of mitigating this rapidly growing global calamity, then we must keep at least eighty percent of the remaining carbonaceous energy sources undisturbed where they lie — which is precisely the opposite of what we are now doing under the "leadership" of Trump and the GOP.
With off-the-shelf technology, we can harness energy that is abundant and inexhaustible, as well as widely distributed, safe, clean, environmentally friendly — and which source cost is identically zero (the basis of the objections by the Carbon Cartel and their sycophants).
6
> With off-the-shelf technology, we can harness energy that is abundant and inexhaustible
And socialism produces wealth.
And socialism produces wealth.
1
It does, actually. Capitalism kills the planet we want to live on - that's poverty writ enormous.
2
The questoin is how can the rest of us get Trump and his followers to care about the facts?
Donald Trump will never care about Hawaiian Honeycreepers, Cloud Forests, or Joshua Trees. He probably wouldn't care even if every NYTimes.com reader cared. But what does he care about? If only the rest of us were as good at manipulation as he is. Whatever his #1 motivator, it's time to use it to sell him on this issue.
If it's money, how aware is he that our planet's degradation has been very expensive, is costing us huge amounts of money now, and will be exponentially more expensive in the future? How aware are his followers?Trump's Mar-a-Lago is most likely at sea level, and probably not his only property that will be uninsurable in the not-to-distant future; what is the projected cost of sea level rise on him personally?
If those answers can't break through his denial, why not an appeal to his vanity? I can't think of a better way to be a true superhero than literally, saving humanity's home.
And his followers? Where do they get their information/disinformation? What propels these media sources of destructive mass denial? Again, the smartest thing for those who are in a position to do so could do on everyone's behalf is to find out what makes the deniers tick and to "sell them" them on enlightening and motivating their listeners on the subject.
There needs to be a strategy. Isn't that what Trump himself would do?
Donald Trump will never care about Hawaiian Honeycreepers, Cloud Forests, or Joshua Trees. He probably wouldn't care even if every NYTimes.com reader cared. But what does he care about? If only the rest of us were as good at manipulation as he is. Whatever his #1 motivator, it's time to use it to sell him on this issue.
If it's money, how aware is he that our planet's degradation has been very expensive, is costing us huge amounts of money now, and will be exponentially more expensive in the future? How aware are his followers?Trump's Mar-a-Lago is most likely at sea level, and probably not his only property that will be uninsurable in the not-to-distant future; what is the projected cost of sea level rise on him personally?
If those answers can't break through his denial, why not an appeal to his vanity? I can't think of a better way to be a true superhero than literally, saving humanity's home.
And his followers? Where do they get their information/disinformation? What propels these media sources of destructive mass denial? Again, the smartest thing for those who are in a position to do so could do on everyone's behalf is to find out what makes the deniers tick and to "sell them" them on enlightening and motivating their listeners on the subject.
There needs to be a strategy. Isn't that what Trump himself would do?
3
Sachi, you might be surprised how many Trump supporters read the NYTimes, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, the Atlanta Journal, and many other major newspapers.
You might also be surprised how many Trump supporters are doctors (real doctors - MDs), nurses, dentists, teachers in primary, secondary, and advanced education, truck drivers, railroad workers, small business owners, manufacturing plant managers and production workers, union members, and so on. They are white, black, ivory, yellow and brown.
Don't make the mistake of viewing any group as monolithic. In my own family, we are a computer whiz who works at UC Berkeley (half Caucasian, half Oriental), a nurse, a college professor, a primary school teacher, an admin assistant, a rocket scientist (actually she is an aerospace engineer), a small business owner, a fast-food franchise owner/operator, a railroad worker, a truck driver, etc. We are part Native American (Cherokee) - and unlike Elizabeth Warren, we can prove it. We are mostly conservative but liberal as well. The conservatives are liberal on some issues, and the liberals are conservatives on some issues.
To sum it up, don't believe everything you read, and question everything.
You might also be surprised how many Trump supporters are doctors (real doctors - MDs), nurses, dentists, teachers in primary, secondary, and advanced education, truck drivers, railroad workers, small business owners, manufacturing plant managers and production workers, union members, and so on. They are white, black, ivory, yellow and brown.
Don't make the mistake of viewing any group as monolithic. In my own family, we are a computer whiz who works at UC Berkeley (half Caucasian, half Oriental), a nurse, a college professor, a primary school teacher, an admin assistant, a rocket scientist (actually she is an aerospace engineer), a small business owner, a fast-food franchise owner/operator, a railroad worker, a truck driver, etc. We are part Native American (Cherokee) - and unlike Elizabeth Warren, we can prove it. We are mostly conservative but liberal as well. The conservatives are liberal on some issues, and the liberals are conservatives on some issues.
To sum it up, don't believe everything you read, and question everything.
3
> our planet's degradation has been very expensive, is costing us huge amounts of money now,
Thats very tragic for the folk on your planet. Here on Terra, however, man is living better than ever because of fossil fuels.
Thats very tragic for the folk on your planet. Here on Terra, however, man is living better than ever because of fossil fuels.
1
Most Republican politicians, right wing 'think tanks', fossil fuel interests, and assorted wealthy oligarchs deny the reality of global warming and actively campaign against measures to mitigate or reverse the worst potential effects.
Fine. But since they oppose the overwhelming scientific consensus, the burden should be on the deniers to put their money where their mouths and propaganda are. Each person and company should be required to buy an annual bond equal to their share (based on wealth or company value) of total predicted mitigation costs for that year's contribution to the next 50 years of greenhouse gas warming. Each year a new bond would be required with rates adjusted as needed. If the deniers are right, they and their families get to keep the money and accumulated interest. But if the scientists are correct, there will be a ready source of funds to offset the damage from climate change.
There's no reason for the general public to foot any of this bill.
Fine. But since they oppose the overwhelming scientific consensus, the burden should be on the deniers to put their money where their mouths and propaganda are. Each person and company should be required to buy an annual bond equal to their share (based on wealth or company value) of total predicted mitigation costs for that year's contribution to the next 50 years of greenhouse gas warming. Each year a new bond would be required with rates adjusted as needed. If the deniers are right, they and their families get to keep the money and accumulated interest. But if the scientists are correct, there will be a ready source of funds to offset the damage from climate change.
There's no reason for the general public to foot any of this bill.
1
Many days, I am just overwhelmed. I receive numerous emails per day informing me of some endangered, threatened, and dying species; some imperiled habitat; the latest cruelty and outrage; the deeper hole we dig to prop up our chemically-dependent and unsustainable agriculture system; the rapidly diminishing pollinators; the dying or mutilated forests; the ever-increasing income disparity across the globe; the burgeoning human population and mindless consumption; more corruption and unfettered capitalist greed from our politicians; the melting glaciers and sea ice; the deeply entrenched "endless growth" capitalist paradigm in world economies and universities; the valiant yet outnumbered and outgunned activists; the progressive countries succumbing to far right, fear- and tribal-based politics. It's an onslaught, torrential in these days of Trump. I read the Mexican government corruption scandals/impunity, the deadly nightmare of Syria, the wild little boy playing with his nuclear toys in North Korea. And I wonder, Are we next? How will it all end? Tribal wars over resources, nuclear war, climate crash...? How long before the sci-fi climate dystopia "fiction" books become reality? How long will humans survive their forces of destruction? Will a small band escape to Mars or another one of the "earth-like" planets? If so, will they know enough history to realize that the greatest gift we ever had we willfully destroyed? Are they doomed to repeat? I am sad in my bones.
10
> Many days, I am just overwhelmed. I receive numerous emails per day informing me of some endangered, threatened, and dying species; some imperiled habitat; the latest cruelty and outrage;
Try a university safe room with Al Gore speeches looped on computers.
Try a university safe room with Al Gore speeches looped on computers.
1
A new book titled: Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can
Save the Planet by former N.Y. City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former
Exec. Director of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope shares encouraging words of what many cities and states are doing to improve the environment despite a Federal government that remains incapable of supporting important and positive changes to improve our environment. They note as we care for the earth we can reduce asthma attacks suffered by children, we can save our families and friends from respiratory diseases, extend life expectancy, cut energy bills, and generally improve the quality of life. Presenting a positive perspective on how we can help each other is more likely to be supported than telling us how the earth is about to crash.
The deniers of the Federal GOP are an anathema to our society and planet. Sadly they have denied universal health care for Americans; denied women a right to their bodies; denied the impact of too many guns; etc. They support legislation against humanity. But, with or without them, there are many leaders in towns, cities and states who do recognize the importance of saving the planet. We have got to!
Save the Planet by former N.Y. City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former
Exec. Director of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope shares encouraging words of what many cities and states are doing to improve the environment despite a Federal government that remains incapable of supporting important and positive changes to improve our environment. They note as we care for the earth we can reduce asthma attacks suffered by children, we can save our families and friends from respiratory diseases, extend life expectancy, cut energy bills, and generally improve the quality of life. Presenting a positive perspective on how we can help each other is more likely to be supported than telling us how the earth is about to crash.
The deniers of the Federal GOP are an anathema to our society and planet. Sadly they have denied universal health care for Americans; denied women a right to their bodies; denied the impact of too many guns; etc. They support legislation against humanity. But, with or without them, there are many leaders in towns, cities and states who do recognize the importance of saving the planet. We have got to!
5
This is hyperbole, we can reverse the buildup of greenhouse gases over time there is a need for action but no tipping point.
what is needed is a way to lower the cost of going solar by crowdspurcing it.
Have you ever asked why you cannot go solar one panel at a time at a cost of mayve three hundred instead of 20k or so?
Lack of imagination, there are millions without roofs to put panels on who want to contribute and millions with roof space who would welcome the chance to rent that space for a percentage of the power generated.
a website putting the solar haves, those who pwn a house or barn or business with good sun, and the have nots, the rest of us, together will have a billion dollar business.
Because of people's blinkered stupidity the barrier to going solar is high-needlessly.
what is needed is a way to lower the cost of going solar by crowdspurcing it.
Have you ever asked why you cannot go solar one panel at a time at a cost of mayve three hundred instead of 20k or so?
Lack of imagination, there are millions without roofs to put panels on who want to contribute and millions with roof space who would welcome the chance to rent that space for a percentage of the power generated.
a website putting the solar haves, those who pwn a house or barn or business with good sun, and the have nots, the rest of us, together will have a billion dollar business.
Because of people's blinkered stupidity the barrier to going solar is high-needlessly.
4
The planet has 5 billion years to go.
The human species is toast.
I write one of these dark comment roughly once per quarter, which that the human has increased by roughly 20 plus million since the last comment. Each I provide a small list of in-your-face undeniable items supporting the looming disaster. I'm not going to that any more. I'm a very information person and will always support and vote for the right even though I know it is an utter exercise in futility.
The human species is toast.
I write one of these dark comment roughly once per quarter, which that the human has increased by roughly 20 plus million since the last comment. Each I provide a small list of in-your-face undeniable items supporting the looming disaster. I'm not going to that any more. I'm a very information person and will always support and vote for the right even though I know it is an utter exercise in futility.
3
@ oldBassGuy mass - I am from mass also and, like you, have tried to decide that presenting information here is an exercise in futility. I tried over and over again to get at least on MA person to reply to my comments that the Somerset coal fired monster could have been replaced long ago by replacing it with one or more installations based on the state-of-the-art incineration and waste conversion plant that is heating my house and fueling some buses here right now.
Nobody, yes nobody is interested. And now I see, you too close with exercise in futility. I see you are with the 26 minutes ago crowd, I was out midnight my time.
This is the age of impossibility.
Larry L.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Nobody, yes nobody is interested. And now I see, you too close with exercise in futility. I see you are with the 26 minutes ago crowd, I was out midnight my time.
This is the age of impossibility.
Larry L.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
2
I'm interested in any move in the right direction.
In my twenties I watched Carl Saga's series Cosmos in 1981. Sagan's take on what humans are doing to the planet was rather stark (nearly 40 years ago!).
We have done far too little in the decades that followed. Now we have a buffoon for a president, and virtually half the population that is math and science illiterate (really it is more correctly stated as ignorant and incurious).
The population explosion continues to gain steam, and we have passed numerous tipping points. We have now been reduced to only at best delay the looming disaster.
In my twenties I watched Carl Saga's series Cosmos in 1981. Sagan's take on what humans are doing to the planet was rather stark (nearly 40 years ago!).
We have done far too little in the decades that followed. Now we have a buffoon for a president, and virtually half the population that is math and science illiterate (really it is more correctly stated as ignorant and incurious).
The population explosion continues to gain steam, and we have passed numerous tipping points. We have now been reduced to only at best delay the looming disaster.
3
The problem of climate change and environmental problems in general in the U.S.? Specifically, is there a particular political trend which can obviously be declared more concerned with the climate/environment than others, or more simply is the left wing party over the right in the U.S. obviously the party of climate change/environmentalism while the right is harmful in this regard?
I certainly place no faith in the right wing with respect to the environment. It appears to me a religious, business, militaristic, nationalistic force little concerned with the environment and climate change. This said, I am uncomfortable with the left wing claiming the environment and climate change for itself based essentially on its support of science. There is much about the left wing which is as harmful to the environment and climate as the right wing.
The left in its constant rejection of religious, nationalistic, ethnic, economic, cultural differences in favor of a projected secular/socialistic world seems to bear at least some responsibility for billions of people having little coordination today. How exactly is an uncoordinated, multicultural hash society where every group being in suddenly minority status with respect to all the others and grappling for advantage to point of constantly playing the victim card, good for the environment and a design to stop climate change?
The right is harmful but the left seems to have various interests in at least difficult tension to each other...
I certainly place no faith in the right wing with respect to the environment. It appears to me a religious, business, militaristic, nationalistic force little concerned with the environment and climate change. This said, I am uncomfortable with the left wing claiming the environment and climate change for itself based essentially on its support of science. There is much about the left wing which is as harmful to the environment and climate as the right wing.
The left in its constant rejection of religious, nationalistic, ethnic, economic, cultural differences in favor of a projected secular/socialistic world seems to bear at least some responsibility for billions of people having little coordination today. How exactly is an uncoordinated, multicultural hash society where every group being in suddenly minority status with respect to all the others and grappling for advantage to point of constantly playing the victim card, good for the environment and a design to stop climate change?
The right is harmful but the left seems to have various interests in at least difficult tension to each other...
3
I agree that we have to figure out how to communicate in present tense the risk to Earth systems and life forms from climate change. You can see in these comments how we are trying to distance ourselves, in serious and important ways, from the stark reality of the harm that is already well underway. We have to also figure out how to reach audiences who are neither frequent readers of national news, opinion, and scientific periodicals nor able to bring a lot of basic geography or scientific literacy to the conversation. Unfortunately, these people with limited awareness of the range of systems that affect our earth and the damage that is underway include members of the Trump regime. If there is any benefit to having Trump in office, it has been to alter my understanding that no amount of rational discourse is going to matter to his low information regime; he and the people in his "leadership" circle are so ignorant and illiterate about basic geography, basic science, basic benefits of international cooperation for things like the Paris Accord, that no amount of learned, thoughtful dialogue leading to effective advocacy for environmental protection is going to matter. In the meantime, we are kind of on our own to figure out how to make a difference.
2
In order to “close the gap between what physics demands and what our political systems have so far allowed in terms of action is” we should focus on having a diversity of pathways to the future rather than having our main focus on small-bore proposals in sustainability.
One of the possible pathways is the Tierra Pathway the conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of which are presented in Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation". The Tierra Pathway is based on the transformation of the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system by pursuing the monetary standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person as updated at www.timun.net. Bill made the following comment on May 17, 2012 on the Tierra Pathway: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.”
One of the possible pathways is the Tierra Pathway the conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of which are presented in Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation". The Tierra Pathway is based on the transformation of the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system by pursuing the monetary standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person as updated at www.timun.net. Bill made the following comment on May 17, 2012 on the Tierra Pathway: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.”
5
A reminder that there will be many science supporters marching to protest the Trump science denier today.
Then call your representatives to use their influence and their votes to stop the mad "make America great again" hatter.
Then call your representatives to use their influence and their votes to stop the mad "make America great again" hatter.
5
There will always be people who act like Trump but don't legitimize it by calling it "Trumpism." It was here before 45 and will outlast him.
For goodness sakes, don't give this guy any more publicity!
For goodness sakes, don't give this guy any more publicity!
3
The scale seems big but what are we each doing individually to make a difference? Do we car pool, use less energy, avoid polluting the water and our bodies, recycle all we can, reuse, renew what we have and consume less, stop buying toxic products, foods, clothes, toys, etc.? Do we pay attention to our individual and collective impact and make changes as a result? This is going to take all of our efforts, folks. All of us need to pull together on this one.
7
@ Ann California - Ann that is what I ask in my comment 3 h before yours but have asked in more detail in many earlier comments. I became so exasperated with the Times' failure to even mention important actions that individuals can take - in the US first and foremost heat-pump technologies - that I ended replies by asking the commenter, here you, how do you heat and cool your living space?
The problem with a Swede or Finn or Dane asking this question is that we were given long ago a means of heating our homes and buildings that my 21 years in Sweden tells me is far better than any fossil-fuel approach. My two cities, Linköping and Göteborg, both have "fjärrvärme" systems in which solid waste is incinerated to heat water that travels all over - heat delivered at a distance from the incinerator - so there it was, renewable energy easily added.
But for people outside these systems there are heat pumps and in Sweden there are more than 400,000 individual Ground-source geothermal heat pump systems, the best of all in the view of many, myself included. In response to my question one reader in Oregon wrote that he and his wife had installed such a system and that led him to believe such should be MANDATORY in the US. Well the Times never even has used the words heat-pump since a brief fling in 1955 when a Times writer thought heat-pumps would sweep New England where I come from.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
The problem with a Swede or Finn or Dane asking this question is that we were given long ago a means of heating our homes and buildings that my 21 years in Sweden tells me is far better than any fossil-fuel approach. My two cities, Linköping and Göteborg, both have "fjärrvärme" systems in which solid waste is incinerated to heat water that travels all over - heat delivered at a distance from the incinerator - so there it was, renewable energy easily added.
But for people outside these systems there are heat pumps and in Sweden there are more than 400,000 individual Ground-source geothermal heat pump systems, the best of all in the view of many, myself included. In response to my question one reader in Oregon wrote that he and his wife had installed such a system and that led him to believe such should be MANDATORY in the US. Well the Times never even has used the words heat-pump since a brief fling in 1955 when a Times writer thought heat-pumps would sweep New England where I come from.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
4
The political aim of UN Climate Change groups is to bring down the standard of living of Western nations while bringing up the standard of living of Third World countries. Don’t believe it? Doubt this will be printed but it's worth a try:
Read the words of former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:
"One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole," said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal?
"We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy," said Edenhofer.
For those who want to believe that maybe Edenhofer doesn't really mean that, consider that a little more than five years ago he also said that "the next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated."
" Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, said, "This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history."
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-climate-alarmist-ad...
Read the words of former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:
"One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole," said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal?
"We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy," said Edenhofer.
For those who want to believe that maybe Edenhofer doesn't really mean that, consider that a little more than five years ago he also said that "the next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated."
" Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, said, "This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history."
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-climate-alarmist-ad...
5
Dixie will be the first region of the US to suffer the effects of climate change.
Seems appropriate.
Seems appropriate.
5
Who cares what some UN politician said or did not say? Do people like you even understand the difference between fact and opinion? Climate change is a scientific fact (note the word "scientific"). What you do about it belongs to the realm of opinion. And honestly, if your idea of "standard of living" consists of driving an SUV with a brood of accidentally conceived children in the back, while eating your fifth burger of the day, I pity you. We can have a decent life while minimizing the effects of climate change. Or rather, we could if we had an educated and rational population instead of a bunch of science deniers, conspiracy theorists and religious nuts.
4
China is in the game with wind and solar to the tune of close to a trillion dollars through 2030:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-energy-renewables-idUSKBN17D0QV
Maybe North Korea could serve at least one beneficial purpose: over ever more cake, Xi could try to knock some sense into Trump's thick skull -- at least for China's sake. China must be getting pretty sick of watching so many of its people get sick and die as a result of urban pollution from coal-fired power plants.
We also really need to stop Keystone XL (Phase IV). With oil currently under $50/barrel, it remains essential not to enable cheap transport of this filthy fossil fuel. Preventing new Canadian extraction facilities from going online will keep more of the tar sands oil in the ground, where it should remain buried.
Thank you, Bill McKibben, for devoting your life to saving what we still have left in this world.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-energy-renewables-idUSKBN17D0QV
Maybe North Korea could serve at least one beneficial purpose: over ever more cake, Xi could try to knock some sense into Trump's thick skull -- at least for China's sake. China must be getting pretty sick of watching so many of its people get sick and die as a result of urban pollution from coal-fired power plants.
We also really need to stop Keystone XL (Phase IV). With oil currently under $50/barrel, it remains essential not to enable cheap transport of this filthy fossil fuel. Preventing new Canadian extraction facilities from going online will keep more of the tar sands oil in the ground, where it should remain buried.
Thank you, Bill McKibben, for devoting your life to saving what we still have left in this world.
14
> China must be getting pretty sick of watching so many of its people get sick and die as a result of urban pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Many more have been born and live longer ,healthier and more prosperously because of fossil fuels. The pollution will be cleaned, as in early industrial England, which celebrated pollution as a sign of increasing prosperity.
Many more have been born and live longer ,healthier and more prosperously because of fossil fuels. The pollution will be cleaned, as in early industrial England, which celebrated pollution as a sign of increasing prosperity.
The Planet Can’t Stand this President
And neither should we. McKibben is right. This is an existential crisis, to which we have mounted an inadequate response. Let it not be said by our descendants when all life has been condemned, the destruction irreversible that we “…could have, should have ..” and inexplicably didn’t. And, ask, what kind of people were we? As we should now ask, what kind of people are we?
Where are the voices of those of us held in high esteem? Decent men and women with courage and deep love of country to act as our conscience and speak loud and clear.
I propose that men and women of good will and sound minds step across party lines, united to save life on our planet. This a moment for resolve, not reliance on Marches and “talking heads.” We do not have the luxury of biding our time for four more years. when icebergs are melting & reefs are dying.
We must say “no more” to Donald Trump. He violates our values, undermines our institutions and dismisses our principles of self-governance. He is a far greater threat to our nation than immigrants or worldwide terrorists groups. If we are to be saved, it must be by decent, honorable, rational elected officials who love their country and will place its welfare above partisanship and personal gain by rising-up against the monstrosity of Trumpism and saying” “..enough is enough –no more.
And neither should we. McKibben is right. This is an existential crisis, to which we have mounted an inadequate response. Let it not be said by our descendants when all life has been condemned, the destruction irreversible that we “…could have, should have ..” and inexplicably didn’t. And, ask, what kind of people were we? As we should now ask, what kind of people are we?
Where are the voices of those of us held in high esteem? Decent men and women with courage and deep love of country to act as our conscience and speak loud and clear.
I propose that men and women of good will and sound minds step across party lines, united to save life on our planet. This a moment for resolve, not reliance on Marches and “talking heads.” We do not have the luxury of biding our time for four more years. when icebergs are melting & reefs are dying.
We must say “no more” to Donald Trump. He violates our values, undermines our institutions and dismisses our principles of self-governance. He is a far greater threat to our nation than immigrants or worldwide terrorists groups. If we are to be saved, it must be by decent, honorable, rational elected officials who love their country and will place its welfare above partisanship and personal gain by rising-up against the monstrosity of Trumpism and saying” “..enough is enough –no more.
10
Maybe we deserve annihilation.
7
By the time public awareness of environmental problems became widespread (arguably starting with Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", but definitely during the late Sixties) it was already too late to save our high-tech civilization from itself. The web of interconnected technologies rapidly destroying Gaea (fossil fuel a good example) were too deeply entrenched and intertwined to be successfully challenged. Too much economic mass and momentum translates into too much raw political power to be effectively regulated, forget reigned-in, let alone stopped and jettisoned. No politician alive could have successfully confronted Big Oil or Big Agra over their environmental destructiveness in 1965. No one would have taken such Jeremiads seriously, especially our scientifically illiterate and environmentally oblivious electorate.
And now it's too late. The social and political chaos now engulfing much of the Third World (Brazil, Venezuela, Syria-Iraq, North and Central Africa but a few examples) should be seen as symptoms of an incurable disease. Environmental degradation (in which AGW-Climate Change is but a part) will force ever-larger waves of human migration to less degraded areas -- from the Syrian failed state through the Balkans into Western Europe for example. Only, imagine a string of interconnected environmental catastrophes so enormous and widespread that there's no place to hide, no place of refuge, no place to go.
That's coming sooner or later, and probably sooner.
And now it's too late. The social and political chaos now engulfing much of the Third World (Brazil, Venezuela, Syria-Iraq, North and Central Africa but a few examples) should be seen as symptoms of an incurable disease. Environmental degradation (in which AGW-Climate Change is but a part) will force ever-larger waves of human migration to less degraded areas -- from the Syrian failed state through the Balkans into Western Europe for example. Only, imagine a string of interconnected environmental catastrophes so enormous and widespread that there's no place to hide, no place of refuge, no place to go.
That's coming sooner or later, and probably sooner.
6
> no place to hide, no place of refuge, no place to go.
This is the hysteria of the haters of man's independent mind. Environmentalism is mere ratonalization.
This is the hysteria of the haters of man's independent mind. Environmentalism is mere ratonalization.
Religion's ugly soul, in enviromentalist guise.
1
An appropriation of F. Scott Fitzgerald applies:
"They were careless people, Donald Trump, Scott Pruitt, and the Cabinet of Billionaires -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made"
There is only one Earth. Don't allow the soulless, careless billionaires to pillage, plunder and suffocate all life.
"They were careless people, Donald Trump, Scott Pruitt, and the Cabinet of Billionaires -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made"
There is only one Earth. Don't allow the soulless, careless billionaires to pillage, plunder and suffocate all life.
21
You are forgetting about China and India. China talks a good talk, but gets 72% of its energy from coal. Here is a recent headline from Bloomberg: China Says It's Going to Use More Coal, With Capacity Set to Grow 19%.
India gets 75% of its energy from coal.
India gets 75% of its energy from coal.
4
An acquaintance on the Channel Island of Guernsey between England and France, wrote in 1976 that everything was changing so fast, even the weather was not the same. A British friend, a great animal lover and a professor of sociology, always mentions weather conditions. She has been carrying the banner for the world to wake up to Climate Change.
If you listen to a farmer, he might tell you that this summer last was the driest he remembers in decades, while another elder might mention in passing that rabbits are rare because of some ailment. There have been no hurricanes these last seven years in this region, a building constructor told me recently on a visit.
But if you were to mention the words 'Climate Change', they would think it was propaganda.
Trump is never going to be able to make the connection between stormy weather and accelerating environmental global changes. It is not in his nature, and nobody is going to stand up to the President and say 'You Lie'. It would be unprecedented and the tweeting would be sweltering and heated.
If you listen to a farmer, he might tell you that this summer last was the driest he remembers in decades, while another elder might mention in passing that rabbits are rare because of some ailment. There have been no hurricanes these last seven years in this region, a building constructor told me recently on a visit.
But if you were to mention the words 'Climate Change', they would think it was propaganda.
Trump is never going to be able to make the connection between stormy weather and accelerating environmental global changes. It is not in his nature, and nobody is going to stand up to the President and say 'You Lie'. It would be unprecedented and the tweeting would be sweltering and heated.
5
Is it time for aliens to drag us into an intervention to protect our planet from ourselves?
4
The willful ignorance of adults who grew up knowing this planet is being destroyed by us, this generation, following a template we knew was destructive, is bizarre.
How do we have a robust debate over the obvious correlation, empirical science, of CO2 ppms rise with the rise of deforestation and fossil fuel consumption? That bridge has been crossed decades ago. The debate is what are we going to do to motivate our leaders to lead.
How do we have a robust debate over the obvious correlation, empirical science, of CO2 ppms rise with the rise of deforestation and fossil fuel consumption? That bridge has been crossed decades ago. The debate is what are we going to do to motivate our leaders to lead.
94
If only we had stayed on the plains and not discovered fire, farming, tool making and founded cities then we would not have so many of these problems.
The first humans to leave Africa to populate Europe, Asia, Australia and the America's carry the nearly incestuous genetic DNA bottleneck that almost wiped out their tiny population. There is much more genetic diversity in one Sub-Saharan African village or ethnic group than in all of the rest of the human race combined. As the heirs of the first modern humans who appeared 250,000 years ago in South East Africa these humans are most critical to our survival.
The first humans to leave Africa to populate Europe, Asia, Australia and the America's carry the nearly incestuous genetic DNA bottleneck that almost wiped out their tiny population. There is much more genetic diversity in one Sub-Saharan African village or ethnic group than in all of the rest of the human race combined. As the heirs of the first modern humans who appeared 250,000 years ago in South East Africa these humans are most critical to our survival.
1
We are, alas, already doomed along with our poor grandchildren because the damage done to the planet is the consequence of capitalism run amok, separated from morality, and embraced by global capitalists like our Prez and his SoS.
1
Classic Seattle liberal. And I'm sure you don't own a car or take airplane vacations. The hard work is for someone else.
2
Oh please. No one is doing anything about the planet. Not anything meaningful read: *hard* at least. If the holier than thou NYT opeders want to lead the way be my guest. you can start by swearing off the electrical grid, selling your car and vowing to never fly on airplanes. Until then spare us your hypocritical gransdstanding.
7
@ Mike A. Fairfax - OK Mike, I ask this in today's comment - same time as yours - but then more directly in reply to Ann 3 h after yours and in countless comments over the past year.
So now I ask you - How do you heat and cool your living space?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
So now I ask you - How do you heat and cool your living space?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
Best comment on here.
1
Actually, If the people of the USA had elected Carter in 1980 and we had kept our solar panels we would be in much better shape today. The rejection of the truth telling 'gloom and doom' democrats was the jumping off the cliff. We have been watching the ground get closer ever since. Gonna go 'splat' soon. I hope all you snarky climate deniers are really, really happy. Have a nice day,
2
I cannot wait for Trump to be impeached.....!!! most likely for treason.
15
CBR,
Whether or not you can or can't wait for impeachment, you will have to wait. You don't have the votes for a political trial. You might want to pack a large lunch it's going to be awhile!
Whether or not you can or can't wait for impeachment, you will have to wait. You don't have the votes for a political trial. You might want to pack a large lunch it's going to be awhile!
1
The extreme number and degree of slander and lies against President Trump in these essays is breath taking and absurd. Another new low for the Grey Lady.
6
Just be happy you won't be here in 50 years to see the outcome of djt's anti-science lies. You want to believe in djt's statements, a person who can't string together two meaningful sentences, go ahead, not your worry about the future.
20
Trump does bring out what wishful thinking juveniles far too many Americans are.
3
I guess you forgot that truth is the absolute defense to defamation. There's a reason that trump doesn't bring any actions. The truth will stand.
The hyperbole that emanates from this publication's opinion pieces is infuriating and hilarious at the same time...give it a rest guys...your guy lost!
7
Your ignorance and sublime selfishness are astounding. This is not about which "guy" won or lost--it's about OUR shared planet winning or losing--and whether YOUR grandchildren will have to take up the slack that this generation abandoned. It's not partisan: it's about our collective HUMAN future.
4
No, the planet Earth lost.
2
"...we have only a short window to deal with the climate crisis or else we forever lose the chance to thwart truly catastrophic heating." Everything we need for a postmodern religion: a sin, an eternal punishment, and a means of repentance. Oh yes, and a devil, too. Quite a treat from the NYT which on these same pages has an editorial decrying fear-mongering at the Department of Homeland Security.
3
"The time has come to execute boycotts against ... the Times ... if they keep taking Exxon ads..."
I didn't know the Times accepts ads from oil companies. Is that true? If it is, should the Times stop?
I didn't know the Times accepts ads from oil companies. Is that true? If it is, should the Times stop?
2
Hey -- they accept adds from high rises, from jet companies -- you name it, they accept ads. But I like the idea of boycotting NYT's advertisers.
3
Almost half the nation voted democratically for Trump.
We are very happy with this president who has done more things in a few months than Barack Hussein Obama did in eight years.
What Obama accomplished was this:
Obama had not only separated the White House.
He separated the nation like no other president in history.
He separated police from citizens.
He separated rich from poor.
Black from white and Hispanic.
Healthy from the sick.
Young from the old.
If not for the the similar anti-Semitic, Arab shill, Jimmy Carter he would be the worst president we ever had.
He promised he would create a rainbow coalition of citizens who would work together building this nation.
This incompetent divider of our country had eight years.
He is a complete failure.
That is his "legacy."
5
The bad faith is all your's. You people take responsibility for nothing you do.
3
One fifth of the US population are wishful thinkers who believe responsibility will discipline a monster.
1
Wow. This comment is off topic. And your math is wrong. Many many more Americans voted for Obama (in 2014) than voted for trump. But go ahead and use low voter turnout as an excuse.
5
While I agree that Trump is a terrible president for dealing with climate change, Hillary Clinton would not have been any better.
Her advocacy for natural gas as a "bridge fuel" until renewables are in place distracted from meaningfully dealing with climate change. Natural gas is a carbon based fuel whose burning produces CO2. Worse yet, the extraction storage and distribution of natural gas release methane, a gas 84 times as harmful as CO2 for global warming. Some reputable scientists view natural gas use as harmful as coal use.
Hillary, like Obama before her, was pretending to deal with climate change with incremental and ineffectual changes, all the while lulling us into thinking we were doing something.
We have a world wide economy based on price. Make something expensive, and it will be used less. A carbon tax on fossil fuels would do that. Jill Stein, Bernie Sanders, and some thoughtful Republican elders such as James Baker have proposed such a tax. Democrats need to embrace that idea if they want to be the party that deals with climate change.
Unfortunately for the planet, Democrats, like Republicans currently in power, won't come near the idea of a carbon tax. Democrats prefer to offer a meaningless show of doing something. But whether you poison the earth quickly, like Republicans want, or slowly, like status quo, "centrist" Democrats want, the end result is a poisoned planet.
Her advocacy for natural gas as a "bridge fuel" until renewables are in place distracted from meaningfully dealing with climate change. Natural gas is a carbon based fuel whose burning produces CO2. Worse yet, the extraction storage and distribution of natural gas release methane, a gas 84 times as harmful as CO2 for global warming. Some reputable scientists view natural gas use as harmful as coal use.
Hillary, like Obama before her, was pretending to deal with climate change with incremental and ineffectual changes, all the while lulling us into thinking we were doing something.
We have a world wide economy based on price. Make something expensive, and it will be used less. A carbon tax on fossil fuels would do that. Jill Stein, Bernie Sanders, and some thoughtful Republican elders such as James Baker have proposed such a tax. Democrats need to embrace that idea if they want to be the party that deals with climate change.
Unfortunately for the planet, Democrats, like Republicans currently in power, won't come near the idea of a carbon tax. Democrats prefer to offer a meaningless show of doing something. But whether you poison the earth quickly, like Republicans want, or slowly, like status quo, "centrist" Democrats want, the end result is a poisoned planet.
1
Blaming Trump again, after decades during which Americans built larger and larger houses with floor plans that lack the potential for conversion to multifamily dwellings or for heating/cooling of only a portion of their total space, in communities with no efficient way to be served by mass transit, or bought ever larger vehicles that consumed all technological advances by larger size and weight rather than greater efficiency, a condition exacerbated in this decade as more and more huge vehicles are launched with gas guzzling to be amortized over at least 15 years. For the environment, Donald Trump is just piling onto an established American tradition that may have passed its environmental tipping point prior to his presidency.
6
Of course Trump can't be held accountable for all of the damage to the planet.
But he is putting things in reverse so that we may never recover.
There is only a few years' window of opportunity to turn things around, and Trump and Company is blowing our last chance to rectify things.
But he is putting things in reverse so that we may never recover.
There is only a few years' window of opportunity to turn things around, and Trump and Company is blowing our last chance to rectify things.
3
@ Gary Nelsestuen MN - Gary, a perfect complement to my comment here, accepted at same time as yours. So today I am following up in replies by asking those to whom I reply, "How do you heat and cool your living space?"
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
You will never find the NYT in finer, hypocritical form than when it is pontificating on the topic of climate change. Last week the NYT ran an op-ed following the United Air Line fiasco, complaining that flights are becoming more cramped. What they were pining for are roomier cabins, which can happen only if there are fewer passengers per flight, which means more flights, which means more carbon in the atmosphere from a main contributor to atmospheric carbon.
1
The problem is, this is not just Trump. A lot of our people do not believe that the problem is as significant as it is.
It is clear that whatever tactics have been used to date have not gotten the message through in a way that convinces these people. I find myself shocked at the generally well-educated people who will twist their logic into pretzels to deny the clear fact that human activity is affecting the environment. They seize on small issues to deny the larger - take the normal give and take of science, much less of human nature as proof that the undeniable changes visible to any individual who looks around are just not happening.
I do not understand what has happened to the modern, intelligent, proud country in which I grew up. I do not understand how a country with so much to live for and strive for has chosen willingly to turn away from intelligence and enlightenment. I fear for its future.
It is clear that whatever tactics have been used to date have not gotten the message through in a way that convinces these people. I find myself shocked at the generally well-educated people who will twist their logic into pretzels to deny the clear fact that human activity is affecting the environment. They seize on small issues to deny the larger - take the normal give and take of science, much less of human nature as proof that the undeniable changes visible to any individual who looks around are just not happening.
I do not understand what has happened to the modern, intelligent, proud country in which I grew up. I do not understand how a country with so much to live for and strive for has chosen willingly to turn away from intelligence and enlightenment. I fear for its future.
21
The world is an octopus in a fistfight with itself, each tentacle more furious than the next. How can we save the planet when, clearly, we are not saving ourselves? I understand the two are inextricably bound, but my point is made.
We are the beta version of a future with far fewer people; billions of us will be allowed to die. "Technology" is furiously working us into a functioning matrix now. They who are not highly educated, cooperative, contributing, "leaning in," will be weeded out. To attach resources to "thickness" will not be allowed.
The current upheaval is the sound of the dumb screaming as they incredulously watch themselves dematerialized by obsolescence. Like educated dinosaurs, they refuse to accept climate change or any change that causes them to have to change.
The overwhelming majority of us will not adapt in time or have access to the resources necessary to live. Black Waters will surround every well, everywhere.
Market forces cannot save us. No man, woman, policy, or combination thereof, is intelligent, intuitive, prescient, or all-powerful enough to "steer the earth." It will always boil down to the elected and the Elector. It is foolish to talk about Trump being able to do anything: One boat, one planet: Us. All of us. No one man or woman. That's the problem: That's the thinking ever sinking us! It's us! Not him!
One man is not stronger than an entire planet of people. If he is, then those people belong on their knees. Life is not for the weak.
We are the beta version of a future with far fewer people; billions of us will be allowed to die. "Technology" is furiously working us into a functioning matrix now. They who are not highly educated, cooperative, contributing, "leaning in," will be weeded out. To attach resources to "thickness" will not be allowed.
The current upheaval is the sound of the dumb screaming as they incredulously watch themselves dematerialized by obsolescence. Like educated dinosaurs, they refuse to accept climate change or any change that causes them to have to change.
The overwhelming majority of us will not adapt in time or have access to the resources necessary to live. Black Waters will surround every well, everywhere.
Market forces cannot save us. No man, woman, policy, or combination thereof, is intelligent, intuitive, prescient, or all-powerful enough to "steer the earth." It will always boil down to the elected and the Elector. It is foolish to talk about Trump being able to do anything: One boat, one planet: Us. All of us. No one man or woman. That's the problem: That's the thinking ever sinking us! It's us! Not him!
One man is not stronger than an entire planet of people. If he is, then those people belong on their knees. Life is not for the weak.
3
It would make no difference who is President. The choice of energy generating technology will be determined by economics. Even if it were possible to shut down every coal burning plant in the U.S. by legal means (and that is doubtful), the coal burners in China and India will pump CO2 into the atmosphere for at least the next 20 years. And even if, by some miracle, the entire planet switched to solar and wind generators, it would take a hundred years to lower the CO2 concentration to the 1950 level.
5
Darwinism at work in these United States?
Are we, as a nation/species, ready for prime time. We desperately need that impeachment to overcome the self-destruction brought by the Electoral College and the blind eyes of its members.
Dear God, please help us rid the nation of Donald Trump and his people and lift us from unhealthy, noisome slough to into which he has led the nation.
Are we, as a nation/species, ready for prime time. We desperately need that impeachment to overcome the self-destruction brought by the Electoral College and the blind eyes of its members.
Dear God, please help us rid the nation of Donald Trump and his people and lift us from unhealthy, noisome slough to into which he has led the nation.
12
One what grounds? He was legally elected and he has done nothing unconstitutional so far. In addition a Republican House is not going to vote a Bill of Impeachment. Nor will a Republican Senate vote to convict. Grit your teeth until 2020.
3
Robert, That isn't a rhetorical question is it?
Ok....you seem sincere enough.
To answer your question, Robert, the most obvious grounds would be treason. I feel very confident that when the full truth is known, Donald will be waving from the door of Marine One ala Richard Nixon as they prepare to ferry him to Mar-a-Lago to live in shame.
Another strong possibility is simple incapacity.
Do we really want a President that loses track of an entire fleet? That left our Pacific allies shaking their heads with the rest of us as our enemies laughed for days.
Remember that Donald is a serial bankrupt. Do you think he is any different now? Not I.
Those are just starters, Robert.
Good luck trying to defend a President that has been nicknamed the Liar-in-Chief, the Groper-in-Chief, etc.
Ok....you seem sincere enough.
To answer your question, Robert, the most obvious grounds would be treason. I feel very confident that when the full truth is known, Donald will be waving from the door of Marine One ala Richard Nixon as they prepare to ferry him to Mar-a-Lago to live in shame.
Another strong possibility is simple incapacity.
Do we really want a President that loses track of an entire fleet? That left our Pacific allies shaking their heads with the rest of us as our enemies laughed for days.
Remember that Donald is a serial bankrupt. Do you think he is any different now? Not I.
Those are just starters, Robert.
Good luck trying to defend a President that has been nicknamed the Liar-in-Chief, the Groper-in-Chief, etc.
1
Trump was Putin's choice.
1
The atmosphere and seas are warming faster than at anytime when man was not busy converting natural resources into money making processes, and we could be past the point of preventing a lot of wealth destroying consequences due to these changes. The many Republican politicians and their core constituents continue to insist that scientists are wrong even as evidence continues to accumulate which confirms their conclusions, and they are going to see a lot of wealth destroyed or redirected to cope with the bad outcomes from climate change. Then they will agree with the scientists and try to figure out how to make society help them restore their lost wealth.
2
I think we as humans are doomed, not the earth. We are the parasite that will be contained or destroyed because our habits are destroying our habitat.
I find it funny that indigenous cultures are called "primitive" or "3rd world" by Western societies despite living in harmony with the earth for centuries. Yet, "civilized" or "1st world" societies are the ones destroying the planet. Primitive describes a society that doesn't have sense enough to protect its' home.
I find it funny that indigenous cultures are called "primitive" or "3rd world" by Western societies despite living in harmony with the earth for centuries. Yet, "civilized" or "1st world" societies are the ones destroying the planet. Primitive describes a society that doesn't have sense enough to protect its' home.
17
That the advanced 1st world societies have taxed our world's ecosystem to the brink of no return in two short centuries is a tragedy beyond words.
Unlike the Cherokee, who combined the best of modernity and timeless sustainability, our ethos encouraged pillaging the lesser primitives, as they were thought to be, while, ironically, coveting their Cherokee homelands and communities because they were more 'advanced' than most of the settlers of the time could construct in those wild lands. The Cherokee were ultimately forced to walk the "Trail of Tears". It just may be our 'karma" to walk our own "Trail of Tears" if we don't clean up our act here on planet earth.
Unlike the Cherokee, who combined the best of modernity and timeless sustainability, our ethos encouraged pillaging the lesser primitives, as they were thought to be, while, ironically, coveting their Cherokee homelands and communities because they were more 'advanced' than most of the settlers of the time could construct in those wild lands. The Cherokee were ultimately forced to walk the "Trail of Tears". It just may be our 'karma" to walk our own "Trail of Tears" if we don't clean up our act here on planet earth.
4
I'm sorry, it is already too late. The process is now past the point of no return. With over 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, human life as we know it will no longer be sustainable on earth within 100 years.
It has not been a matter of slowing carbon emissions for quite some time. Emissions must be reversed. There is no officially known technology that can accomplish this. There is uncorroborated testimonial evidence that the government has achieved zero-point energy, which theoretically could put an end to fossil fuels forever, but the agencies which have apparently developed it are unlikely to make it known, and probably for good reason.
Therefore, life will be extremely difficult for our grandchildren, and probably impossible for our great grandchildren, unless a technology to reverse climate change is found. The main problem is potable water. There simply won't be enough.
It has not been a matter of slowing carbon emissions for quite some time. Emissions must be reversed. There is no officially known technology that can accomplish this. There is uncorroborated testimonial evidence that the government has achieved zero-point energy, which theoretically could put an end to fossil fuels forever, but the agencies which have apparently developed it are unlikely to make it known, and probably for good reason.
Therefore, life will be extremely difficult for our grandchildren, and probably impossible for our great grandchildren, unless a technology to reverse climate change is found. The main problem is potable water. There simply won't be enough.
3
Don't make it all about 45. This horrible congress is equally if not more responsible.
10
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. We did not have a framework before Trump that made much actual progress. Most programs were so full of perverse incentives that they were more of a guarantee for little or no progress being made. One example is the promotion of Solar PV in NYS or in the Northeast, which, in most cases, is a negative NPV decision for the home owner, since there are many other retrofits that would offer far superior results in terrms of value added to the property. This administration may indeed do a lot of damage, and we could see some brain drain, but history does not suggest that our system is conducive to any economically rational solution of these issues. So, this Trumpian interlude may make little difference in the end. Perhaps it will subsequently produce the urgency to start getting serious. Sofar we've mostly produced make-believe and little actual progress.
2
Somewhere is everyone's heart we know Bill McKibben is correct..The fossil fuels giants and there bankers are in control..Our Sec of State,Mr Exxon ,just gave a warning to Iran that he wants control of their oil..All these oil wars are causing the refugee crisis ..Syria is all about pipelines per Bobby Kennedy and Eco Watch...How about Bobby for President?? NOT PENCE and the religious Right
2
I've been hearing this same thing for 15 - 20 years. We must act now or we miss our last chance to save the planet. Guess what? We blew it. Mankind is incapable of cooperating to do something unpleasant. In total, the species is greedy and wants all it can have now. There is little that will be done until the crisis hits and hundreds of millions of people start dying and migrating and waging war against those countries have have water and crops.
5
Apparently, our president only believes what he can see (on television). Grass doesn't grow because he can't see it grow. Here's my solution: The countries where d. trump has property or branded property should seize those assets, liquidated them and spend the proceeds on combating climate change in that country. What's not to like? It's consistent with the Code of Hammurabi, Colin Powell's Pottery Barn Rule and a universal desire for morality in human affairs.
3
Meanwhile China, India and others start up several new coal fired power plants each week. We are not suppose to notice. The constant linking of climate issues to left wing politics and the dubious use of junk science and statistics have doomed the cause. How many chicken little moments can we take? Few care anymore or are listening. We should all simply focus on clean air and health not dire predictions of planetary doom and the apocalypse. Schemes to save the planet that include loss of freedoms, massive transfers of wealth and faceless, unelected socialist bureaucrats are not an option. We should also realize that the future is not the responsibility of just one man and that this nation has made greater strides in fighting pollution then any other major industrial nation. Of course that reality doesn't fit the left wing political script.
Everything is politics. - Thomas Mann
Everything is politics. - Thomas Mann
2
"...The nations that will be submerged..."
Bill McKibben is a "facts" kind of guy but, like many others, he makes a leap from a fact-based conclusion to another conclusion that's not.
I moved to San Francisco in the mid-70s. Recently I looked up the temperature change since then, and it's gone up six degrees, which I consider significant. In other words, global warming indeed has occurred here.
That's the "fact-based conclusion." The "conclusion that's not," however, is the assertion that global warming is causing dramatic sea level rises that soon will "submerge" our coastlines.
That's not happening. I've read numerous predictions of how much sea level will rise in SF during this century -- from 3 feet (never less) to 8 feet. But according to actual measurements, sea level has risen only about an inch so far this century, and we're about 1/6 done. Just across SF Bay, in the city of Alameda, the rise is about 1/3 of an inch. In both places, the rate of sea level rise hasn't increased in recent years. In some coastal spots just north of here, and on most of the Alaska coast, sea level is actually falling. (As you've probably figured out, or already knew, "sea level" is a "net" measurement that depends on both water level and land level; where sea level is rising and submerging coastlines, the land level nearly always is dropping.)
One can measure "global warming" -- no question that it's occurring. But its most-often-cited consequence -- sea level rise -- is not.
Bill McKibben is a "facts" kind of guy but, like many others, he makes a leap from a fact-based conclusion to another conclusion that's not.
I moved to San Francisco in the mid-70s. Recently I looked up the temperature change since then, and it's gone up six degrees, which I consider significant. In other words, global warming indeed has occurred here.
That's the "fact-based conclusion." The "conclusion that's not," however, is the assertion that global warming is causing dramatic sea level rises that soon will "submerge" our coastlines.
That's not happening. I've read numerous predictions of how much sea level will rise in SF during this century -- from 3 feet (never less) to 8 feet. But according to actual measurements, sea level has risen only about an inch so far this century, and we're about 1/6 done. Just across SF Bay, in the city of Alameda, the rise is about 1/3 of an inch. In both places, the rate of sea level rise hasn't increased in recent years. In some coastal spots just north of here, and on most of the Alaska coast, sea level is actually falling. (As you've probably figured out, or already knew, "sea level" is a "net" measurement that depends on both water level and land level; where sea level is rising and submerging coastlines, the land level nearly always is dropping.)
One can measure "global warming" -- no question that it's occurring. But its most-often-cited consequence -- sea level rise -- is not.
2
Can you please explain to me what's going on? I'm so confused: Climate Change is catastrophic, but where are the massive street protests in support of the Paris Accords and against trump's greed-driven denial?
I'm all for women's and LGBT's rights and equality. I'm against against war, poverty and police brutality. However, where, for God's and Humanity's sake, is the sense of urgency and priority to stop the destruction of the planet?
Hasn't climate change already started destroying and creating misery for *all* forms life on earth? Aren't we at or sliding-past the point of no return for the health of the planet? Where are the unprecedented street protests?
Are we too in denial, paralyzed, resigned or just insane? Is it happening too slowly for people to get sufficiently freaked-out about it?
We either save the planet, or we don't. Just words and sadness about it are obviously not enough. Forgive the brutal honesty, but wars, justice, elections, oppression...they come and go, but we only have one earth. Why are the streets empty?
I'm all for women's and LGBT's rights and equality. I'm against against war, poverty and police brutality. However, where, for God's and Humanity's sake, is the sense of urgency and priority to stop the destruction of the planet?
Hasn't climate change already started destroying and creating misery for *all* forms life on earth? Aren't we at or sliding-past the point of no return for the health of the planet? Where are the unprecedented street protests?
Are we too in denial, paralyzed, resigned or just insane? Is it happening too slowly for people to get sufficiently freaked-out about it?
We either save the planet, or we don't. Just words and sadness about it are obviously not enough. Forgive the brutal honesty, but wars, justice, elections, oppression...they come and go, but we only have one earth. Why are the streets empty?
3
Climate change causing misery for *all* life on Earth?? Heck with all the extra CO2, the trees and grass are growing tall and stronger then ever, and can't believe their good luck !
1
The northward migration of pine beetles will make the trees regret the change.
2
Republican politicians have fought every effort to address climate change for three decades. President Obama addressed it in his pragmatic way. Now Trump continues the head in the sand policies of the Republicans and tries to undo Obama's modest accomplishments in addressing the issue. Do we blame Trump because he hasn't the brains to see what is obvious to anyone who can understand what scientists are discussing? Trump does not represent the sum of American thinking nor insights, intelligent corporate executives and intelligent citizens can easily work around the bozo in the White House but they need to enlighten all those clueless folks who buy into fantastic conspiracy theories about why scientists are lying but refuse to consider the evidence upon which the scientist have drawn their conclusions and risk assessments.
1
The cost of converting all of the energy needs of our planet is about $21 Trillion for solar and $60 Trillion for wind. The GDP of the planet is about $80 Trillion with W. Europe, China, and the US each having about 20%.
There are economic benefits to switching to solar given the reasonableness of the cost Vs. oil and gas, this is likely to occur because of simple economics.
Natural Gas is rapidly overtaking Coal as the source of choice for electrical generation. It is cheaper, easier, cleaner, releases half of the CO2 and plentiful and when used in fuel cells it is about 2 to three times more efficient than burning.
Plant productivity is up with enhanced CO2 and C4 plants that spare water are more efficient producers and will be able to thrive in an environment that is both hotter and drier (and it's not at all clear if global warming will lead to less rain).
The increase in sea-level will flood some cities, but if warming continues, both Greenland and the Antarctic are likely to be exposed from under glaciation.
I can fathom a guess that we will avoid global warming because of normal economics (solar will win) which will stall the growth of CO2. I am not convinced we need to take drastic action because the steps we've already taken will be enough (Elon Musks solar roof tiles will transform the US, as will electric cars).
Indeed, people may be chagrined that we didn't release enough to fully melt the ice from Greenland and Antarctica
There are economic benefits to switching to solar given the reasonableness of the cost Vs. oil and gas, this is likely to occur because of simple economics.
Natural Gas is rapidly overtaking Coal as the source of choice for electrical generation. It is cheaper, easier, cleaner, releases half of the CO2 and plentiful and when used in fuel cells it is about 2 to three times more efficient than burning.
Plant productivity is up with enhanced CO2 and C4 plants that spare water are more efficient producers and will be able to thrive in an environment that is both hotter and drier (and it's not at all clear if global warming will lead to less rain).
The increase in sea-level will flood some cities, but if warming continues, both Greenland and the Antarctic are likely to be exposed from under glaciation.
I can fathom a guess that we will avoid global warming because of normal economics (solar will win) which will stall the growth of CO2. I am not convinced we need to take drastic action because the steps we've already taken will be enough (Elon Musks solar roof tiles will transform the US, as will electric cars).
Indeed, people may be chagrined that we didn't release enough to fully melt the ice from Greenland and Antarctica
1
The humans that understood their relationship with the Earth were the original inhabitants of this land that we now call "America". The Europeans arrived and began ripping the place apart, killing animals almost to extinction and farming the land in ways that prevented the land from recovering. The west was said to be "won", when in fact it was raped. We call expansion "progress" and "development" when it is really destruction.
We are doomed - as we should be. Any animal that ruins its habitat is doomed to eventual extinction. Other plants and animals will survive. We have trashed this beautiful place. As far as the Earth is concerned, when we are finally all gone we will not, and should not be missed.
We are doomed - as we should be. Any animal that ruins its habitat is doomed to eventual extinction. Other plants and animals will survive. We have trashed this beautiful place. As far as the Earth is concerned, when we are finally all gone we will not, and should not be missed.
4
Two things.
First, the rapid expansion of the human population is as much if not more to blame than our burning of fossil fuels. Habitat is vanishing because the world is being transformed into farms producing food for humans. Rare and not so rare species are also vanishing because humans are eating them to extinction. The NYT seems to always avoid mentioning overpopulation as a factor in climate change--why is that?
Second, the move to solar and wind is now unstoppable. Natural gas has essentially made coal uneconomic, but the rapid evolution of solar, wind, and battery technology will make natural gas too expensive as well.
The Auto Club just surveyed American car shoppers--thirty million of them say they are willing to give serious consideration to purchasing an electric vehicle. I hope the Kochs and the Saudis shuddered when they heard that number.
China is planning to spend 100 billion dollars a year over the next few years to develop new solar, wind, and battery technologies, while we focus on blowing 16 million dollar holes in the ground on the other side of the world.
First, the rapid expansion of the human population is as much if not more to blame than our burning of fossil fuels. Habitat is vanishing because the world is being transformed into farms producing food for humans. Rare and not so rare species are also vanishing because humans are eating them to extinction. The NYT seems to always avoid mentioning overpopulation as a factor in climate change--why is that?
Second, the move to solar and wind is now unstoppable. Natural gas has essentially made coal uneconomic, but the rapid evolution of solar, wind, and battery technology will make natural gas too expensive as well.
The Auto Club just surveyed American car shoppers--thirty million of them say they are willing to give serious consideration to purchasing an electric vehicle. I hope the Kochs and the Saudis shuddered when they heard that number.
China is planning to spend 100 billion dollars a year over the next few years to develop new solar, wind, and battery technologies, while we focus on blowing 16 million dollar holes in the ground on the other side of the world.
4
"...Middlebury -- the home of the anti-science anti-free speech movement..."
Not so -- that honor belongs to UC Berkeley, which now has canceled scheduled appearances of two speakers -- in each case because the university had reason to anticipate violence from those who oppose the scheduled speaker's views. (And the university may be right to worry about violence -- after all, the Middlebury protesters physically attacked the speaker's supporters.)
Bottom line: When it comes to the suppression of First Amendment rights, the West Coast holds the bragging rights.
Not so -- that honor belongs to UC Berkeley, which now has canceled scheduled appearances of two speakers -- in each case because the university had reason to anticipate violence from those who oppose the scheduled speaker's views. (And the university may be right to worry about violence -- after all, the Middlebury protesters physically attacked the speaker's supporters.)
Bottom line: When it comes to the suppression of First Amendment rights, the West Coast holds the bragging rights.
1
Does anyone seriously believe that the 45th president cares one bit about the future of the earth? His megalomaniacal mind thinks only about money and greed and self aggrandizement. He has no decency, no empathy and no common sense.
6
The mainstream media (see the NYTimes today) seem completely on board with regard to the urgency of the crisis. What is truly awful is that it is a distinct minority in the country that deny human-caused climate change and it is a moronic egomaniac in the White House, elected by that minority, determining policy. What is yet more appalling is that trump, and pruitt, and the republicans in Congress, so-called "leaders," along with the fossil fuel corporations and the US Chamber of Commerce - motivated entirely by short-sighted greed for profit, profit, profit, above all and everything else, are actively worsening the crisis by spinning, and lying, to their constituencies, the fundamentalist so-called Christians, and the deplorable know-nothings in the dying industrial towns, and the trailerparks, and the crowds at the NASCAR races and the gun shows. And, if it weren't so terrible for its consequences, this great lie ends up, of course, hurting these same poor people around the world first and most - and the fat cats in the gated communities last.
3
"But even when we vote him out of office, Trumpism will persist, a dark stratum in the planet’s geological history. In some awful sense, his term could last forever."
What's being ignored is Trump's apparent affection for the Prosperity Evangelical messaging represented by his spiritual advisor, Paula White. The wealthy, and therefore anointed, are best placed to guide the journey of each converted soul to its eternal glory.
Don't dismiss the (creepy) symmetry of game show ethics with game show ontologies. When Cosmic Donald invokes the calculus, "Just Win, Baby," neither he, nor his true believers are talking about football. This is the long game. Worldwide ecological collapse? What. Ever...
What's being ignored is Trump's apparent affection for the Prosperity Evangelical messaging represented by his spiritual advisor, Paula White. The wealthy, and therefore anointed, are best placed to guide the journey of each converted soul to its eternal glory.
Don't dismiss the (creepy) symmetry of game show ethics with game show ontologies. When Cosmic Donald invokes the calculus, "Just Win, Baby," neither he, nor his true believers are talking about football. This is the long game. Worldwide ecological collapse? What. Ever...
1
You are 100% right but I wonder if you'd have had too write this op-ed if you'd have spent less time taking swings at Hillary Clinton during the primary season.
There's one species conspicuously missing form this list of the endangered. Us. While some humans will doubtless survive somewhere, the complex webs of interaction across continents and oceans will not. Consider the global supply, manufacturing and distribution chain for such a ho-hum article as a pair of men's black socks. Have you the faintest idea how to make your own - grow/synthesize the threads, weave into fabric ... and so on to your local WalMart? I don't. Somehow, graduate training in math and physics didn't cover that. Change is inevitable. 'Progress' isn't. And the bigger they are, the harder ...
2
Not to worry. 45 is busy starting a nuclear war so climate change will be the least of our problems.
1
The author neglects to include data to support his positions. The U.S. produces only 15% of global GHG emissions and it isn't Trump's policies (or Obama's) that drive that 15%. How many readers of the NYT are willing to reduce their personal emissions (cut back on air travel, eat less beef, stop buying so much "stuff", etc.)? My hunch, less than 10% based on marketing surveys. Stop blaming politicians for GHG emissions. Just look in the mirror.
2
thought about sending this article to lots of folks..... but then realized that those who need to be converted most likely will greet it with a 'who cares' shrug....
so it comes down to this.... there is a war going on between those who care and those who don't.... and those who DO must win....
Carry on, brothers and sisters... it's on us....
so it comes down to this.... there is a war going on between those who care and those who don't.... and those who DO must win....
Carry on, brothers and sisters... it's on us....
3
We live on a beautiful planet that's being abused to death by profiteers and
narcissistic ego-tripper politicians. All are TOO RICH TO CARE!
narcissistic ego-tripper politicians. All are TOO RICH TO CARE!
4
Well Bill, as you know, I am concerned with climate change and global warming but I have two reservations about your column, one putting all the blame on Trump and the other seeing climate change as the absolute worst threat to human civilization.
First Trump is not alone. Neither the US government - Energy agencies and the like - nor the NYT has shown the slightest interest in learning from the Nordic countries and the same seems perhaps to be true for many in your state of residence.
I just read that a new 40 mile long natural gas pipeline was completed or is being built in Vermont. And my daughter in Vermont reports that wherever she has tried to rent a room the owner says, oh yes I heat with oil. And we could read last week in the Times of an extraordinarily expensive effort to capture C from burning coal.
Burning solid waste, converting bio waste - including human - to bio gas, and using every form of heat-pump technology is better. Ignorance of that is pre-Trump.
As for the greatest threaqt to civilization. Read the not so funny but brilliant Roger Cohen column. Read the Fearmonger Editorial. Consider nuclear USA, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea. All offer reasons for believing that climate change may never get the chance to finish us off.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual lcitizen US SE
First Trump is not alone. Neither the US government - Energy agencies and the like - nor the NYT has shown the slightest interest in learning from the Nordic countries and the same seems perhaps to be true for many in your state of residence.
I just read that a new 40 mile long natural gas pipeline was completed or is being built in Vermont. And my daughter in Vermont reports that wherever she has tried to rent a room the owner says, oh yes I heat with oil. And we could read last week in the Times of an extraordinarily expensive effort to capture C from burning coal.
Burning solid waste, converting bio waste - including human - to bio gas, and using every form of heat-pump technology is better. Ignorance of that is pre-Trump.
As for the greatest threaqt to civilization. Read the not so funny but brilliant Roger Cohen column. Read the Fearmonger Editorial. Consider nuclear USA, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea. All offer reasons for believing that climate change may never get the chance to finish us off.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual lcitizen US SE
2
The Planet Can't Stand This Presidency. Strong title, at least we who live on it can feel we're not alone. It's like two lovers going down together wrapped in each other's arms. How sweet.
1
As if I needed any more reasons to crawl into bed and stay there. What are we supposed to do if we DID'T WANT HIM AS PRESIDENT.....???? I never liked him and his gaudy nouveau riche tacky ways. He doesn't care about anyone but himself and his brand. He has children and grandchildren and doesn't care about the legacy he will leave on this planet in terms of the environment. It is a shocking and sickening situation and it's hard to feel anything but hopeless. So be it.
2
Reading this made me cry. I had to stop after two or three of the pieces. Then I read more and got sick to my stomach. I'm ashamed to be a human.
143
There may be hope. A documentary has been released this weekend and you will find the review in the Times, "Tomorrow", and it shows how humans can unite to make this a more beautiful World and save our Planet.
2
I admit I sometimes scan or skip articles about the impact of climate change like the ones in this article because I end up feeling such shame and sadness.
1
Well, as we can choose our own gender identity now, I don't see why we can't choose our own species. Become a trans-species. Maybe you'd like to be a trans-dolphin. Or trans-elephant. Personally, I'd really like to have a trunk.
1
I agree with the many people who have said "The planet doesn't need saving. It's humans and other forms of life that need saving".
We use the wrong kind of rhetoric when we talk about this. The planet is not a living entity. It's not suffering. It's the life forms on the planet that are suffering, and it's because of us. If we annihilate every form of life here (which is now a distinct possibility, given recent talk in different countries on the use of nuclear weapons), new forms will emerge over the next 4.5 billion years. So, it's not about the planet, it's about us.
Another thing we do wrong is that we say sentences like "more warming will cause more permafrost to melt, and that will push more methane into the atmosphere". We talk in the future tense, when we should really be talking in the present continuous, present simple and imperative: "Our carbon emissions are causing the permafrost to melt, and this is releasing more and more methane into the air. Methane has a greenhouse effect 20 times greater than carbon dioxide. So, let's all drastically cut our carbon footprint starting right now! If we don't, we are doomed, our children are doomed, and our grandchildren don't even stand a chance."
We use the wrong kind of rhetoric when we talk about this. The planet is not a living entity. It's not suffering. It's the life forms on the planet that are suffering, and it's because of us. If we annihilate every form of life here (which is now a distinct possibility, given recent talk in different countries on the use of nuclear weapons), new forms will emerge over the next 4.5 billion years. So, it's not about the planet, it's about us.
Another thing we do wrong is that we say sentences like "more warming will cause more permafrost to melt, and that will push more methane into the atmosphere". We talk in the future tense, when we should really be talking in the present continuous, present simple and imperative: "Our carbon emissions are causing the permafrost to melt, and this is releasing more and more methane into the air. Methane has a greenhouse effect 20 times greater than carbon dioxide. So, let's all drastically cut our carbon footprint starting right now! If we don't, we are doomed, our children are doomed, and our grandchildren don't even stand a chance."
159
How do you know that the planet is nor a living entity that is suffering?
Except for that, great post.
Except for that, great post.
2
I suppose one can concede that the planet will survive. However, the life forms in the coming billions of years will probably be nothing that we would like to see visit us from another failed planet.
Um, what do you mean the planet is not a living organism? Of course it is and its name is Gaia. She acts like a single organism; is a complex organism. Otherwise you comment ain't bad but the idea that the Earth is a hunk of dirt is the root of too many of our problems
2
We, the earth's apex predator, need to get a grip.
We live on a beautiful hospitable planet, which was not put there by god (or reality) to trash, burn, poison, waste, exploit and loot. We were lucky to grow and thrive in a period of moderate climate, between the extremes of glaciers that covered half the globe and heat that made the poles tropical. We formed communities in the rich lowlands and thrived without heed to the consequences of making ourselves comfortable by taking and mining, subjugating and dumping, waste, wars, and burning up fuels that are toxic from beginning to end.
Those toxic ash ponds and ruined watersheds in coal country are doing harm, unlike the clever people who are trying to develop clean energy, a great jobs program.
Now our activities are becoming ever more frenzied, our entertainment more passive and mechanized, and our screens addict us and direct us that we have to have more, waste more, never be silent, stop for reflection, consider what we are doing in the absence of marketing-induced mania for more. We poison our children with chemicals that are meant to protect them: how stupid is that?
If you value the wholeness of a human life, more than the frenzied battle over the fetus that stops caring at birth, then it is time to put that life in the context of real value, spiritual value, if you will.
Use less, think more, be still and listen. Respect the earth your home and succor. At our best we are capable of working together for good.
We live on a beautiful hospitable planet, which was not put there by god (or reality) to trash, burn, poison, waste, exploit and loot. We were lucky to grow and thrive in a period of moderate climate, between the extremes of glaciers that covered half the globe and heat that made the poles tropical. We formed communities in the rich lowlands and thrived without heed to the consequences of making ourselves comfortable by taking and mining, subjugating and dumping, waste, wars, and burning up fuels that are toxic from beginning to end.
Those toxic ash ponds and ruined watersheds in coal country are doing harm, unlike the clever people who are trying to develop clean energy, a great jobs program.
Now our activities are becoming ever more frenzied, our entertainment more passive and mechanized, and our screens addict us and direct us that we have to have more, waste more, never be silent, stop for reflection, consider what we are doing in the absence of marketing-induced mania for more. We poison our children with chemicals that are meant to protect them: how stupid is that?
If you value the wholeness of a human life, more than the frenzied battle over the fetus that stops caring at birth, then it is time to put that life in the context of real value, spiritual value, if you will.
Use less, think more, be still and listen. Respect the earth your home and succor. At our best we are capable of working together for good.
33
Save the earth?
Even if the writer were 100% accurate in his predictions it is not that the earth would die ie implode or cease to exist. If the writer is right, then he really means mankind would die. If this were to happen the earth or at leaset many of the earth's species currently under threat would thrive. There would probably be the development of new species. As man's pernicious assault on the rest of the earth since Neolithic time of exterminating mastadons to current farming of prairies and build over islands like Manhattan to the point that they are only usable and livable for men and rats.
Perhaps Donald Trump is saving the earth.
Even if the writer were 100% accurate in his predictions it is not that the earth would die ie implode or cease to exist. If the writer is right, then he really means mankind would die. If this were to happen the earth or at leaset many of the earth's species currently under threat would thrive. There would probably be the development of new species. As man's pernicious assault on the rest of the earth since Neolithic time of exterminating mastadons to current farming of prairies and build over islands like Manhattan to the point that they are only usable and livable for men and rats.
Perhaps Donald Trump is saving the earth.
12
The essence of a paralytic cynicism: save the world by destroying humanity.
1
Very cogent post.
In short, the most invasive and destructive species all around the world is us, Homo sapiens.
In short, the most invasive and destructive species all around the world is us, Homo sapiens.
1
Good point, James. We should not be saying that we are trying to save the earth. We are trying to save ourselves.
1
The urgency of this moment, the need for real and substantial action on climate change, is undeniable. The science is terribly clear (i'm a biochemist, so I know) and the consequences are disasterous. It is our greatest misfortune that at precisely this point in time we have a president and majority party in Congress who deliberately embrace ignorance and fail to address the problem. Professor McKibben and other activists continue to hope for policies to deal with the issue because, well, without hope, we will then be accepting our dark and dangerous future. I wish I could sincerely join in that hope, but humans have proven to me, time and time again, that they lack the character to confront long term problems that require commitment and sacrifice to solve. I look at my children with sadness. What have we done to them?
18
I just read a small article about where the current level of C02 is heading. Around 200 years ago, CO2 was about 280 parts per million. It's now about 400 ppm. Researchers predict that without CO2 emission reduction, by 2100 it will be 900 ppm, and this will mean a very different planet. Does that sound a long way off? Got any grandchildren? A baby born this year will only be 83 in 2100. Many commenters are saying that Trump doesn't matter, that it's too late, we needed to act years ago. That's ridiculous. We did need to act years ago, but what we don't need now is to reverse any progress that has been made so far. We need to be acting more aggressively and instead we get this dangerous reversal. Yes, he and his cohorts can do immense damage.
16
It's bigger than that. Our planet cannot stand the Republican Party. The Party is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to the destruction of organized human life. The Republican Party has become the most dangerous organization in world history. All members of the Republican Party in Congress need to show up for a unique photo-op -- to have criminal mug shots taken for future generations. That is how they should be remembered. Let's start with one of my senators, James Lankford, who sat next to the new EPA leader, Scott Pruitt, during his confirmation hearing. Then we'll move on to Jim Inhofe, who once brought a snowball onto the Senate floor to "disprove" climate change.
30
and what are the democrats doing? They set aside millions of acres of land and neglect it. Instead of logging the land it becomes a fire trap. It's the democratic party doing stupid stuff like that. The earth does not need liberals to save it.
1
The destructive policies of the GOP are historic and incomprehensible. Ideology is a form of insanity when it refuses to incorporate reality.
4
While I despise Trump, I think it's wrong to blame him for "breaking the back of the climate system." Humanity has been hurtling towards this moment -- despite ample warnings -- for well over a century. Blaming Trump, while making us feel good in some ways, could allow too many people to look elsewhere for responsibility. We are all guilty.
15
No one is blaming Trump for climate change. The charge here is that he is undoing the forward momentum that the US had finally encouraged by virtue of his deregulation and declaration that this critical crisis is a hoax.
3
You commit the cardinal sin of the environmental class. You tie your environmental beliefs to an anti-Trump message. Choose your fight. It can't be both. By conflating the two you become a political partisan and the environmental message simply rises and falls with the partisan tides. And tone down the rhetoric. Only the choir actually accepts that what Trump does, or more importantly fails to do, over the next four or eight years is going to have an impact for "millenniums."
6
Trump is the champion of the reality deniers. The politics are incidental. His leadership has unleashed incivility, violence, pride in being ignorant.
241
It is not choir who sees dire consequences of Trump's actions and inactions -- it's scientists and science. Being a political partisan means refusing to point fingers at the responsible party despite scientific evidence. Being non-partisan means stating scientific conclusions and clearly identifying parties and people which lead to further damage. If Trump administration represents the danger to humanity due to its actions on climate change -- and it does -- than it has to be both, we have to tie our environmental beliefs (actually, knowledge) to anti-Trump message.
13
During the election cycle, we did not see Trump supporters inciting violence on the under-attended Clinton events. We did see anti-Trump thugs paid by the DNC beating up little old ladies at Trump events. The Trump supporters who claim to be deplorables are not bragging that they are racist, misogynist, anti-gay or anything else that Hillary falsely accused them of; they are laughing at the clear message of division that cost Hillary the election.
When Obama was elected, the Republicans in the Senate did not filibuster his cabinet appointees, nor did they claim their right to blather to an empty Senate for 30 hours after the cloture vote. They approved six of Obama's cabinet appointees on inauguration day and another seven within a week.
In comparison, the Democrats, no longer able to filibuster, did avail themselves of their ability to slow walk the confirmation of Trump's appointees. It took six weeks for 13 members of Trump's cabinet to be confirmed.
The editors of the NYT harp on how slowly it is taking Trump to hire his leadership team without even mentioning that the Democrats are being intransigent. It took two full years of autocratic single party rule by the Democrats before the Republicans implemented their resistance to Democrats. The Democrats started their resistance the day after the election.
The Democrats prefer the autocratic rule of their know-nothing elite leadership left over from the 1960's, who are fighting the wars of the last century.
When Obama was elected, the Republicans in the Senate did not filibuster his cabinet appointees, nor did they claim their right to blather to an empty Senate for 30 hours after the cloture vote. They approved six of Obama's cabinet appointees on inauguration day and another seven within a week.
In comparison, the Democrats, no longer able to filibuster, did avail themselves of their ability to slow walk the confirmation of Trump's appointees. It took six weeks for 13 members of Trump's cabinet to be confirmed.
The editors of the NYT harp on how slowly it is taking Trump to hire his leadership team without even mentioning that the Democrats are being intransigent. It took two full years of autocratic single party rule by the Democrats before the Republicans implemented their resistance to Democrats. The Democrats started their resistance the day after the election.
The Democrats prefer the autocratic rule of their know-nothing elite leadership left over from the 1960's, who are fighting the wars of the last century.
Why not rename planet EARTH, planet TRUMP?
====================================
Perhaps if we could honor Donald Trump, in this way, he would back off on his campaign to destroy the future of the planet.
It seems to me that the narcissist-in-chief, might go for this honor. Maybe we could bring it up at the United Nations, while there is still time to save us!
====================================
Perhaps if we could honor Donald Trump, in this way, he would back off on his campaign to destroy the future of the planet.
It seems to me that the narcissist-in-chief, might go for this honor. Maybe we could bring it up at the United Nations, while there is still time to save us!
2
Hard to believe careless hubris with a private email server would lead to incalculable damage to the planet earth.
7
No, control of the reins of government by someone who cannot see to drive.
1
No as in the days of Noah and the great flood, we have to start over. Planet earth realizes that overgrowth of humans has become a toxin which threatens all forms of life. Planet earth will spit us out, we will be reduced to a tiny remnant, hopefully to begin again with lessons learned. Cliche: one can't fool with Mother Nature.
8
The hot air coming out of the twisted mouth of Donald Trump has increased global temperatures by at least two degrees. So the rest of us are left with the need to fight for our wonderful earth all the harder.
President Obama and the other nations of the world gave us hope with the Paris Accords. the backlash is Donald Trump who leaves us only with a bitter taste of greed and arrogance.
President Obama and the other nations of the world gave us hope with the Paris Accords. the backlash is Donald Trump who leaves us only with a bitter taste of greed and arrogance.
9
Mr. McKibben:
With all due respect, why did you so aggressively undermine the candidacy of Hillary Clinton in 2016? Why did you not push the hapless so called "Green Party" to support Mrs. Clinton rather than attack her? Why did you put up with the biggest demagogue in the 2016 race, Jill Stein? (That self righteous loon told her followers that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the same!)
You knew what Donald Trump would be and NOW, after it is too late, you call to arms? Really? Don't you wish we could redo the fall of 2016 and be a little more sensible?
As an ardent environmentalist, I LOATH the "Green Party". The damage that hapless organization has done to this planet by directly giving us George W. Bush in 2000 and undermining Mrs. Clinton in 2016 is beyond comprehension. They are willful tools of the Republican Party and the Earth may not survive their goofy electoral antics. They deserve nothing but contempt and condemnation. They are ideologues who just want to bicker but solve nothing.
Shame on the so called "Green Party". Shame. Shame. Shame. And shame on those who accommodated them. This disaster is THEIR fault. Period.
With all due respect, why did you so aggressively undermine the candidacy of Hillary Clinton in 2016? Why did you not push the hapless so called "Green Party" to support Mrs. Clinton rather than attack her? Why did you put up with the biggest demagogue in the 2016 race, Jill Stein? (That self righteous loon told her followers that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the same!)
You knew what Donald Trump would be and NOW, after it is too late, you call to arms? Really? Don't you wish we could redo the fall of 2016 and be a little more sensible?
As an ardent environmentalist, I LOATH the "Green Party". The damage that hapless organization has done to this planet by directly giving us George W. Bush in 2000 and undermining Mrs. Clinton in 2016 is beyond comprehension. They are willful tools of the Republican Party and the Earth may not survive their goofy electoral antics. They deserve nothing but contempt and condemnation. They are ideologues who just want to bicker but solve nothing.
Shame on the so called "Green Party". Shame. Shame. Shame. And shame on those who accommodated them. This disaster is THEIR fault. Period.
19
Hold it right there. Though I know the Times will not publish this, if you are still pushing Hillary Clinton, the woman who called pipeline protesters and water defenders "Russian agents and spoiled basement dwellers" you are unable learn a thing and need to look in the mirror to see the problem clearly. Corporate politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, put fossil fuel industry profits before public safety. The Greens are far superior on ecological sanity than DLC Clintonite, Reagan democrats. Until the Dems learn that (and I'm no optimist) they will continue to lose and ultimately disappear like the Whigs of old.
1
There's always good news, Mr. McKibben. The earth will survive, just not with humans. Which means, mirabile dictu, all Donald Trump's progeny will vanish from the earth. If Douglas Adams was right, maybe the dolphins will do a better job in the earth's next iteration.
4
In a way I find such comments most foul that deny species losses because of human activity as worth consideration. "Who cares? The planet will grow more if/when we are gone." Persons with such opinions should be banned from the beauty and services other life forms provide,as they are the coldest, most irresponsible of ingrates.
3
I am sorry you missed the point of my comment. When we can appreciate there is a direct link between injury to our planet and ultimate injury to ourselves, we may be able to act sooner in the interests of birds and 'bergs. I was just trying to shake the death grip some deniers have on their fixed delusions.
Ironic that this runs in the newspaper who breathlessly reported the non-story of Hillary's emails for months.
7
how small are the minds of those that can't fathom that climate change cannot
be caused by both nature AND. man? Surely, if it's natural man should. not add to the destruction and if it's man he should be intelligent enough to stop it. The rain is a natural phenomena ..that is, caused by nature...yet when it is raining we open an umbrella....man......If it is natural we should be even more relentless in our goal to stop it from speeding up and not add to it. Anyone who thinks it is environmental and not political is thinking on too small a scale. It is both and we need to stop adding to it.
be caused by both nature AND. man? Surely, if it's natural man should. not add to the destruction and if it's man he should be intelligent enough to stop it. The rain is a natural phenomena ..that is, caused by nature...yet when it is raining we open an umbrella....man......If it is natural we should be even more relentless in our goal to stop it from speeding up and not add to it. Anyone who thinks it is environmental and not political is thinking on too small a scale. It is both and we need to stop adding to it.
1
It's amazing the Earth isn't a smoldering ruin based on the all the doom and gloom Trump is supposed to have brought down on us in his first 100 days.
The problem the world has is there are too many of us. Not too worry about the Earth though, it will heal itself after human kind is gone.
The problem the world has is there are too many of us. Not too worry about the Earth though, it will heal itself after human kind is gone.
6
Look around you. It is springtime. Those birds singing, those trees flowering, here on the one planet known to support life. If you feel no obligation to preserve and protect the beauty and benefits of other species that currently share this planet with us, your ingratitude is Exhibit A for why our species does not deserve to continue.
3
Bill McKibben's cri de coeur will fall on deaf ears as long as the religious right and their puppet masters in Washington stay in power. The religious right's world view is spiritual and real death for the planet, but Republicans have to play their song to keep power, no matter what the costs. Until a majority of us (and we really are the majority) can take back power from the insane minority, we are doomed to live in their upside down universe.
13
Well, I guess the planet and I have something in common. I can't stand this president, either.
14
never say never. people will stop taking you seriously
1
Watching this absurd, self-serving, attention craving, womanizing buffoon over the years, who would have believed that Donald Trump might actually become the undoing of Planet Earth? He is a blight on humanity.
10
The planet will survive; people won't. And there is no plan(et) B because the administration and GOP congress is defunding science so we won't be able to figure out how to travel elsewhere.
Bill McKibben is nothing less than a cult leader. He is deeply anti-scientific, and appeals to all of the irrational impluses that any other cult does. It speaks volumes about the decline of the New York Times, and "progressivism" in general, that this publication gives him and his cult so much exposure.
6
Wilson C ~
I've belonged to the "Sierra Club" since I was seven. I suppose in your book that makes me a member of a "cult" and "John Muir" a "cult" leader.
I've belonged to the "Sierra Club" since I was seven. I suppose in your book that makes me a member of a "cult" and "John Muir" a "cult" leader.
1
Most Trump voters are way too ignorant or uninterested in big picture consequences of their actions to care about any of this. I bet none of them will even bother to read these articles.
Until the electoral college system continues to give a Wyoming redneck three times more voting power than a Californian, and as long as gerrymandered congressional districts ensure that even the most asinine, incompetent Republican corporate shill can keep his seat no matter how corrupt he is, we don't stand a chance to change things.
At least I hope that the climatic upheaval will hurt Trump voters particularly hard. Maybe they will learn.
Until the electoral college system continues to give a Wyoming redneck three times more voting power than a Californian, and as long as gerrymandered congressional districts ensure that even the most asinine, incompetent Republican corporate shill can keep his seat no matter how corrupt he is, we don't stand a chance to change things.
At least I hope that the climatic upheaval will hurt Trump voters particularly hard. Maybe they will learn.
2
The headline is misleading: the "planet" is not at risk - just us (and other species that we will obliterate along with ourselves). In a few hundred million years we will be just a stripe in the geologic record. If an intelligent species arises from our ashes in the future, I hope they have a bit more ecological common sense... oh wait - they were here in North America until the European invaders killed them off.
180
So it is okay if humans wipe out other species if we exterminate ourselves at the same time? That's as unethical and illogical as saying murder is mitigated by being a murder-suicide. You have no right to make such decisions for future inhabitants of this planet.
3
So vast species extinctions mean nothing to you, they are replaceable, mere collateral damage? So then why did the Holocaust matter? After all, there were more people. Do you understand the nihilism of your opinion? Trump is ignorant, but supposedly intelligent people who are nihilistic strike me as something even ethically worse.
1
What is left of the "planet" if/when the biosphere is inhabited only by ants and roaches?
2
Absolutely the best and most terrifying indicator is this graphic in the Guardian that shows temperature rise in relation to the 2 c limit since the 19th century. Every time I hear Scott Pruitt's glib, practiced evasions on this subject, I want to scream.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/10/see-earths-temperatu...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/10/see-earths-temperatu...
5
Once again, our devout environmental political advocates leave out ALL mention of the top two polluters on the planet. THAT is how you know this is more indoctrination than information.
It is the Times and WaPo that is throwing the Obama administration days into the garbage pile, not those wascally wepublicans.
Barack poured every dime into saving the planet from white people that he could scrape up, and the progressive media acts as if he did nothing to help the blue-green algae and all their friends.
It is the Times and WaPo that is throwing the Obama administration days into the garbage pile, not those wascally wepublicans.
Barack poured every dime into saving the planet from white people that he could scrape up, and the progressive media acts as if he did nothing to help the blue-green algae and all their friends.
2
60 million voters have given Trump the right to grab the planet by its you-know-what.
He has no respect for women or planets or anybody but the people who can afford Mar-a-Lago to get his ear.
He has no respect for women or planets or anybody but the people who can afford Mar-a-Lago to get his ear.
6
Heads Up! The sky is falling!! Trump is to blame!!!
Here's a thought for all you hand-wringing progressives. Quit jetting around the world for your cushy conventions in exotic environs. How do you justify annual migrations to Bali, Cancun, Marrakesh? Got Skype?
Stop driving any type of automobile. Where do you think the electricity comes from to power your Prius? Yeah, that dirty coal plant on the Kaiwaropits Plateau. Where do you think the asphalt comes from for the roads you drive on? Yeah, the dirty Bakken oil that Buffett delivers...Got Bikes?
You folks, and all of the signers to the Paris Accord, have the critical mass to make a significant impact on carbon emissions. Reduce your carbon footprint by half and stop belly aching. If you won't, don't blame Trump.
Here's a thought for all you hand-wringing progressives. Quit jetting around the world for your cushy conventions in exotic environs. How do you justify annual migrations to Bali, Cancun, Marrakesh? Got Skype?
Stop driving any type of automobile. Where do you think the electricity comes from to power your Prius? Yeah, that dirty coal plant on the Kaiwaropits Plateau. Where do you think the asphalt comes from for the roads you drive on? Yeah, the dirty Bakken oil that Buffett delivers...Got Bikes?
You folks, and all of the signers to the Paris Accord, have the critical mass to make a significant impact on carbon emissions. Reduce your carbon footprint by half and stop belly aching. If you won't, don't blame Trump.
7
I am very disappointed that the New York Times continues to publish articles (and opinions) that inflame the distrust between Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives and Republicans.
This article, which is disguised as an opinion, is nothing more than a hate based commentary from a person who cannot demonstrate leadership in the Climate Change debate.
The sad reality is that the President of the United States, whoever she or he might be at the time, has no real influence on the subject of Climate Change. Our nation is divided and until all of us, including the rest of the world, start working together, then the future looks, at best, bleak!
So long as Democrats and Liberals point fingers at Conservatives and Republicans and call them stupid, uneducated, ignorant, uniformed, pathetic, morons, and "insert your favorite derogatory adjective here'... then the nation will continue down its destructive societal collapse!
This article, which is disguised as an opinion, is nothing more than a hate based commentary from a person who cannot demonstrate leadership in the Climate Change debate.
The sad reality is that the President of the United States, whoever she or he might be at the time, has no real influence on the subject of Climate Change. Our nation is divided and until all of us, including the rest of the world, start working together, then the future looks, at best, bleak!
So long as Democrats and Liberals point fingers at Conservatives and Republicans and call them stupid, uneducated, ignorant, uniformed, pathetic, morons, and "insert your favorite derogatory adjective here'... then the nation will continue down its destructive societal collapse!
4
But they continue to demonstrate that all the derogatory descriptions are in fact spot on.
1
"The effects will be felt not immediately but over decades and centuries and millenniums."
--------------------------
That's quite the prospective hypothesis, Mr. McKibben. Is it subject to falsifiability in any realistic way? If not, my rejoinder is simply, "Nuh-uh!"
At any rate, it is my understanding that both human and geological records inform us that the earth has experienced a number of significant, even cataclysmic, climatic changes that had nothing to do with human activity. McKibben and others, however, say that the perceived changes occurring today are, like, really, really bad. Like, so bad you can't even imagine how bad things will be in the year 4,076. True, I can't imagine that, and neither can they.
Moreover, if by "bad" these doomsayers intend to convey some sort of normative feeling, they need to clarify their position against the background of the planet's preceding upheavals. In the light of that vast and overwhelming history, what is the pressing moral case for more solar panels and wind turbines? Is this an egoistic, anthropocentric argument? Or am I to believe that those in favor of stemming the rise in global temperatures are acting altruistically for the sake of several animal species that may go extinct? Whatever the angle, I suspect, like George Carlin, that both the planet and some semblance of biodiversity will manage not only to eke out an existence, but to flourish despite the changing conditions.
--------------------------
That's quite the prospective hypothesis, Mr. McKibben. Is it subject to falsifiability in any realistic way? If not, my rejoinder is simply, "Nuh-uh!"
At any rate, it is my understanding that both human and geological records inform us that the earth has experienced a number of significant, even cataclysmic, climatic changes that had nothing to do with human activity. McKibben and others, however, say that the perceived changes occurring today are, like, really, really bad. Like, so bad you can't even imagine how bad things will be in the year 4,076. True, I can't imagine that, and neither can they.
Moreover, if by "bad" these doomsayers intend to convey some sort of normative feeling, they need to clarify their position against the background of the planet's preceding upheavals. In the light of that vast and overwhelming history, what is the pressing moral case for more solar panels and wind turbines? Is this an egoistic, anthropocentric argument? Or am I to believe that those in favor of stemming the rise in global temperatures are acting altruistically for the sake of several animal species that may go extinct? Whatever the angle, I suspect, like George Carlin, that both the planet and some semblance of biodiversity will manage not only to eke out an existence, but to flourish despite the changing conditions.
2
Check the data and you will find that there has indeed been temperature fluctuation over millennia but those fluctuations have been within a range. That is no longer the case. The trend line now goes straight up. Conservative denial of actual facts and science is truly amazing. There will indeed continue to be life on the planet but unfortunately humans will not be one of the life forms. Hopefully, over time a more intelligent life form will evolve.
1
Yeah, right. All Trump has to do is tell China and Russia and Germany and England and France and Italy and Spain and Australia and Japan and, oh, I don't know, let's just say every country in the world, that they better listen to him and his message about climate change. Like you say, he's "in charge".
Good God people the poor creature isn't even in charge of his inability to control his own childish behavior borne of his fear of his own inadequacies.
The human race will destroy the planet. It's who we are. In that regard we're not even as smart as a dog, who as you know, at least has enough sense not to defecate where he eats.
Good God people the poor creature isn't even in charge of his inability to control his own childish behavior borne of his fear of his own inadequacies.
The human race will destroy the planet. It's who we are. In that regard we're not even as smart as a dog, who as you know, at least has enough sense not to defecate where he eats.
3
As an AMC member and avid nature lover, I always give these sorts of stories a quick & dirty "reality test" before reading them. I use "cntrl/f" (in Windows, the OS 95% of people use) to search for terms like, "population" & "limits" or "control." This full page failed miserably. What is it about the elephant in the room of climate change that keep it invisible to so many authors?
No "environmentalist," no matter what sort of tragic stories of natural wonder they can produce, is going to get my ear unless they hit the nail that is the real resource-use problem for Earth, on the head with their policy hammer: population growth.
It seems to be a telling bit of socio-political psychology that activists who claim disaster is forthcoming go about the problem in reverse: they propose endless difficult mechanisms as solutions while consistently avoiding mentioning the simple one that is in fact the most important. It is after all people whose aspirations include desiring to use resources that cause every sort of environmental problem. It's as obvious as the nose on your face that job #1 should be stopping population growth. Ironically that project can be done almost without force of law, via incentives for having no more than some number of children. Conversely controlling consumption behaviors via law (which should be some part of the game plan) is by nature difficult and slow. In Democracies people have the right to fight behavioral change, and they will.
No "environmentalist," no matter what sort of tragic stories of natural wonder they can produce, is going to get my ear unless they hit the nail that is the real resource-use problem for Earth, on the head with their policy hammer: population growth.
It seems to be a telling bit of socio-political psychology that activists who claim disaster is forthcoming go about the problem in reverse: they propose endless difficult mechanisms as solutions while consistently avoiding mentioning the simple one that is in fact the most important. It is after all people whose aspirations include desiring to use resources that cause every sort of environmental problem. It's as obvious as the nose on your face that job #1 should be stopping population growth. Ironically that project can be done almost without force of law, via incentives for having no more than some number of children. Conversely controlling consumption behaviors via law (which should be some part of the game plan) is by nature difficult and slow. In Democracies people have the right to fight behavioral change, and they will.
6
You must be about my age....I remember very distinctly the movement, Zero Population Growth. The "stable" population would have to be 2.5 children. That was during the era when "the pill" first came out. I also remember the resistance that claimed the pharmaceutical industry was trying to create a hybrid population. I don't often run into couples these days who are of childbearing age who don't plan to add to the population. Our selfishness often is preserved because we are closer to ourselves than the rest of the world.
3
Its never too late to do something, although in my opinion,the USA has been marking time on the same spot since WW2.........we here in Sweden saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and in 1958 we built our first CHP plant in Malmo, CHP plants burn forest waste etc etc,to produce energy and super heated water, and as of todaywe have score of these plants across the nation, even small villages like my own 1500 people, all our homes are heated by hot water. and when demand is low they can and do produce electricity......30% of our energy comes from these plants, and everyone now burns all of our household rubbish..........not one landfill is open for household trash..........and we do not use any fossil fuels for energy production.....
3
RICHARD CONNIFF should know that Teddy Rosevelt and his equally despicable son Kermit were among the most prolific butcherers of wildlife to walk the earth. Please don't EVER characterize them as environmental heroes. They were abominable sadists and destroyers.
1
As long as environmentalism is just Leftist economics justified by catastrophic-doom-predictions, no one will take environmentalists seriously.
"Action" on climate change will happen when luddites get out of the way and stop insisting on 'solutions' that have more to do with political extortion and wealth-redistribution than the do future energy-source development.
"Action" on climate change will happen when luddites get out of the way and stop insisting on 'solutions' that have more to do with political extortion and wealth-redistribution than the do future energy-source development.
4
It is articles like this which cause people not to take climate alarmists seriously.
Until a few months back, California was supposed to be in 'permanent' drought due to climate change. Now reservoirs are full, and the Sierra ice pack is twice the normal level. If people can build enough dams and canals to store and distribute water (pretty old technology) there need not be any more droughts.
Until a few months back, California was supposed to be in 'permanent' drought due to climate change. Now reservoirs are full, and the Sierra ice pack is twice the normal level. If people can build enough dams and canals to store and distribute water (pretty old technology) there need not be any more droughts.
3
This article describes the point that I made to a relative who voted for Trump on November 9. If you have followed the evolution of climate science over the last few decades, you have realized that we have reached a crucial window of time that may determine whether the worst consequences of climate change can be avoided or even reversed. This window could be as brief as a decade in which the choice to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible will determine the conditions in which our grandchildren live with their own families. The decade when the poor and uneducated gave us Donald Trump to lead the free world. But we can not be disheartened. We must now fight for the lives of our grandchildren.
3
The planet will be fine -- it's just the current top of its food chain that is on the verge of being done. So much for being an intelligent, conscious life form.
5
While the environmental damage of Trump's policies over the next four years are incalculable, the carnage over eight years will indisputably be catastrophic. To contrast America's present path denying climate change to China's path of acknowledging it and rapidly transforming its country into one that will run primarily on renewable energy begs a larger question. Is American democracy, as it is presently designed and practiced, a disaster for humanity at large? I believe the answer is unquestionably that it is. Our system is so antiquated, distorted by the corruption of wealth and power and twice in the last sixteen years has not allowed the majority's choice for President to prevail in leading the country, with disastrous consequences. We need nothing short of a revolution in this country to completely reform our democracy to allow it to function as it was intended - the majority rules and the wisest leaders rise to the top and are elected to lead the nation. What we have now is grossly distorted and completely broken and the result is not only injurious to our own citizens, but every human and living thing on the planet. It is stunning and heartbreaking to be alive to have witnessed and participated in the last century, aptly named the American Century because of our country's historically positive contributions to humanity, and this new century where we have become such a force for evil under Bush and now Trump.
5
Coal burning does not hurt people if there are scrubbers on the smokestacks to remove particulates, sulfur oxides, and toxic heavy metals. In the U. S., coal burning power plants have scrubbers.
The natural gas revolution has made the construction of new coal burning power plants uneconomic. If the older ones (whose construction costs are sunk) continue to operate for their design lifetimes, no harm will be done and electricity will be cheaper. Apparently Mr. McKibben is not concerned with poor people who won't be able to pay their electric bills if these plants are shut down. They don't count in his universe.
The natural gas revolution has made the construction of new coal burning power plants uneconomic. If the older ones (whose construction costs are sunk) continue to operate for their design lifetimes, no harm will be done and electricity will be cheaper. Apparently Mr. McKibben is not concerned with poor people who won't be able to pay their electric bills if these plants are shut down. They don't count in his universe.
2
Drop the hyperbole, the "Planet" will go along just fine, with or without humans. The changes to the climate will cause mass migrations, wars, the spread of tropical diseases to formerly temperate areas, famines, et cetera. It is humans and humanity that is at risk. We can either work together to have our species survive or simply end our presence on the planet - the choice is ours. That is what is at stake.
Earth will continue till the sun becomes a red giant and engulfs it and there is nothing we can do about that. In the meantime though...
Earth will continue till the sun becomes a red giant and engulfs it and there is nothing we can do about that. In the meantime though...
217
This is a strange direction I'm noticing in these comments--the planet will be fine, just not the humans. Many species are suffering and will suffer from climate change, humans among them, and since I happen to be of the human species, I care what happens to them, even if they are the cause of the disaster.
90
It's this Homo-centric opinion that strikes me as the real problem with the public understanding of climate change, or global warming, or most accurately, global heating, as Mr McKibbon suggests here. It is purely narcissistic to suppose that only the human race will suffer in the course of the mass extinction that we are manufacturing, when in fact all major mammalian species will likely perish when we push the numbers too high, not long from now.
The idea that only we will suffer and perish is akin to the belief that this is only suicide we pursue, and not the greatest genocidal crime in the history of life on earth. There is no redemption for this sin. Nihilism wins.
The idea that only we will suffer and perish is akin to the belief that this is only suicide we pursue, and not the greatest genocidal crime in the history of life on earth. There is no redemption for this sin. Nihilism wins.
2
No. My grandchildren are at stake. And diversity that has taken 65 million years to recover is at stake.
6
"But there’s an extra dimension to the environmental damage. What Mr. Trump is trying to do to the planet’s climate will play out over geologic time as well. In fact, it’s time itself that he’s stealing from us."
A bit dramatic, but NYT propaganda is what it is. Four years of Trump and the life of the planet will "play out" for hundreds of millions of years, i.e., "geologic time"?
Snowball earth "an extra dimension to the environmental damage"? Or perhaps, asteroid slam-dancing, sudden volcanic action, world-wide earthquakes, Governor Moonbeam's draught examples of possible "environmental damage" government edicts can control?
Another English major, or worse, a Columbia J school grad?
A bit dramatic, but NYT propaganda is what it is. Four years of Trump and the life of the planet will "play out" for hundreds of millions of years, i.e., "geologic time"?
Snowball earth "an extra dimension to the environmental damage"? Or perhaps, asteroid slam-dancing, sudden volcanic action, world-wide earthquakes, Governor Moonbeam's draught examples of possible "environmental damage" government edicts can control?
Another English major, or worse, a Columbia J school grad?
3
For a new (at least to me) envrironmental horror, read the Washington Post's article on space debris and watch the brief accompanying video from the European Space Agency, both of which can be found at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/04/21/th... . That article and the Times' recent article on the trillions of plastic pieces now floating in Arctic waters (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/climate/arctic-plastics-pollution), make the prognosis for a healthy world look pretty dim. Why anyone persists in denying climate change and the associated threats to life on earth is simply incomprehensible.
3
Republicans, Christians and Conservatives elected in Donald Trump a person who is the embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. No one, to my mind, is a stronger advocate for greed, gluttony, wrath, envy, pride, lust and sloth than the current leader of the most powerful country in the world. No one should be surprised at the evil that this man is inflicting on this country and every living thing on the planet. And the saddest thing is that a significant majority of Americans voted for someone else to lead the nation. We need a revolution in this country to repair our system of democracy to ensure that the majority of our citizens' voices are respected so that Presidents like Donald J. Trump and George W. Bush cannot destroy our country and the world. If the electoral college is not eliminated in favor of the popular vote, America's decline will only continue.
3
The planet can stand climate change, but it could be a challenge for humanity. Some regions may treat it as a blessing, I.e., Canada and Siberia. Species will evolve to cope, especially bacteria. I am pretty much giving up of humanity. We seem to obsessed with the three Gs, Greed, Guns, and God, which doesn't bode well for the future. The Trump administration will give short shrift to science, our primary savior.
7
My word for 2016 was "Unnecessary". This sprang from work (I work in DC) but outside of work I began to see the Unnecessary everywhere. As a gardener and someone actively trying to live sustainably I would find myself in conversations with climate deniers and skeptics and my defense is almost always something like, 'we don't need coal anymore simply because it's Unnecessary now'. Or 'we don't need roundup because it's Unnecessary'. It is simply Unnecessary to pollute. We have better ways of - generating electricity, growing food, and traveling! It's only because of politics and short term profits that government ignores common sense and keeps wasting money on the Unnecessary. What really makes me angry is how many people continue to defend everything that's Unnecessary. They didn't seem to understand that they are defending, pollution, waste, and now political corruption.
4
Nice words, but you don't know what you're talking about. Hydrocarbons are necessary, and will be for the foreseeable future.
3
Did I say hydrocarbons are unnecessary? Nope. "Hydrocarbons" by definition are elemental, it would be simplistic to say hydrocarbons are unnecessary. Try reading.
1
So now you're going to play semantic games. Typical ideologue, evading ideas.
The problem is not Trump. The problem is the large percentage of people in the US who voted for him. And an equally important problem is the large percentage of US citizens who did not vote. The combined effects of ignorance and apathy are what will doom the planet.
3
I think Trump may be the best thing that has happened to the planet in a long time. Lousy for the human race, but awesome for the planet.
Most of the environment degradation is due to one species. Humanity. Once we destroy ourselves, the planet can get back on a sustainable path. It may take it a million or so years to clean up after us, but a million years is nothing to the planet.
Most of the environment degradation is due to one species. Humanity. Once we destroy ourselves, the planet can get back on a sustainable path. It may take it a million or so years to clean up after us, but a million years is nothing to the planet.
2
Certain climate change advocates are out of touch with reality. We have been pouring carbon into the atmosphere for hundreds of years. That has us headed toward disaster. It is unrealistic to pretend that, if we correct our course tomorrow, all will be well. Being a cheerleader is unrealistic. It's time that the inevitable consequences of change be acknowledged and that we talk more about dealing with the consequences.
1
The Industrial Age, starting about 250 years ago, lead to a steep increase in the exploitation of fossil fuels to produce energy. We did it to ourselves. Of course, our understanding of quantum physics, essential to the understanding of radiative processes, only started 125 years ago.
4
Thinking expansively about the fact the whole earth can’t stand Trump, considered in light of the discovery that alien life may be present on Saturn's moon Enceladus, means it may only await verification (if enough time to do so exists) to prove the man is universally detested.
If we strip away the pandering and/or spinning and white-washing of Trump's actions so far - that is to say, budget proposals, executive orders, erratic comments and behaviors vis-a-vis American citizens and foreign heads of states, and the daily demonstration that he is ignorant of the equal status of the 3 branches of government, a serious case can be made as to his mental capacity.
I don't say this to be mean or disparaging or flippant. I never felt remotely like that about W, and he started 2 unnecessary wars, one of them on false pretenses. With Trump we are dealing with something completely different, and I am deathly afraid that Congress will only act when it's too late, i.e. we'll be embroiled in another war, possibly nuclear.
Much scoffing has been done about the joint letter of 37 mental health professionals who voiced their concern about Trump's mental state. We shouldn't or can't diagnose someone at a distance. In general I agree, but this is so blatant that I think we must.
His disregard for the institutions of this country, his proclivity for inflammatory tweets, his indifference to the suffering he is causing all throughout the land with his draconian budget proposal, his willful disparaging of diplomacy, refusal to appoint diplomats and let bombs and threats do the talking -- all of this and more paint a picture that confirms the concerns laid out in that letter.
His father died of Alzheimer's. Trump is 71. He has not been tested.
I don't say this to be mean or disparaging or flippant. I never felt remotely like that about W, and he started 2 unnecessary wars, one of them on false pretenses. With Trump we are dealing with something completely different, and I am deathly afraid that Congress will only act when it's too late, i.e. we'll be embroiled in another war, possibly nuclear.
Much scoffing has been done about the joint letter of 37 mental health professionals who voiced their concern about Trump's mental state. We shouldn't or can't diagnose someone at a distance. In general I agree, but this is so blatant that I think we must.
His disregard for the institutions of this country, his proclivity for inflammatory tweets, his indifference to the suffering he is causing all throughout the land with his draconian budget proposal, his willful disparaging of diplomacy, refusal to appoint diplomats and let bombs and threats do the talking -- all of this and more paint a picture that confirms the concerns laid out in that letter.
His father died of Alzheimer's. Trump is 71. He has not been tested.
1
As big as climate change is, the entire issue would barely matter if the environmental movement had simply kept its eye on the ball and continued to focus on runaway population growth. If the world were still at 4 or 5 billion people, instead of roughly 8 billion and counting, we would not hear a lot about global warming because there just wouldn't be enough "consumers" and people ravaging the land, cutting trees, burning fossil fuels, etc. to make as much of a difference. Grown by 2 billion in just the last 25 years!
Bill McKibben did his part early in his career by writing "Maybe One," the argument for one child. Then, just like the Sierra Club and around the same time, McKibben dropped the issue like a hot potato. We later learned hedge fund titan David Gelbaum made a $100 million gift to Sierra Club, conditional on their support for unlimited population growth, including via immigration (regardless of impact on North American sustainability). They forced out legends like David Brower (who saved the Grand Canyon) because he spoke against runaway population growth. Now, McKibben is an apologist for dynamiting Vermont's mountains for wind towers and carpet-bombing land zoned for natural resources protection and wildlife corridors with thousands of solar panels so crony capitalist industrial energy campaign donors can profit at the public till. With "Democrats" like these who no longer actually care about the planet, no wonder Donald Trump won.
Bill McKibben did his part early in his career by writing "Maybe One," the argument for one child. Then, just like the Sierra Club and around the same time, McKibben dropped the issue like a hot potato. We later learned hedge fund titan David Gelbaum made a $100 million gift to Sierra Club, conditional on their support for unlimited population growth, including via immigration (regardless of impact on North American sustainability). They forced out legends like David Brower (who saved the Grand Canyon) because he spoke against runaway population growth. Now, McKibben is an apologist for dynamiting Vermont's mountains for wind towers and carpet-bombing land zoned for natural resources protection and wildlife corridors with thousands of solar panels so crony capitalist industrial energy campaign donors can profit at the public till. With "Democrats" like these who no longer actually care about the planet, no wonder Donald Trump won.
9
Population growth is a problem, and I can't understand religious objections to birth control. Especially, since Jesus, as far as I know, never commented on it.
My very Catholic wife's grandmother was the 14th of 15 children. Here on the laid back left coast, Catholics tend not to be lemmings. Our parish priest tells us, "God gave you a brain. Use it." We have two wonderful children.
My very Catholic wife's grandmother was the 14th of 15 children. Here on the laid back left coast, Catholics tend not to be lemmings. Our parish priest tells us, "God gave you a brain. Use it." We have two wonderful children.
6
Mr. Honor Senior, We have already chosen the method to reduce half of the world's population: it is called "Climate Change"
The droughts and mass starvation events have already begun in Africa and they along with other massive climatic disruptions, such as sea level rise and wildfires, are likely to spread around the world. Animals also, have little ability to adapt and their demise will wreak havoc on the food chains and ecosystems that uphold life that we take so for granted
The droughts and mass starvation events have already begun in Africa and they along with other massive climatic disruptions, such as sea level rise and wildfires, are likely to spread around the world. Animals also, have little ability to adapt and their demise will wreak havoc on the food chains and ecosystems that uphold life that we take so for granted
6
I give up. I thought it was too late--that no matter what we do, the planet is doomed to grow hotter with each passing year. That's what the climate change scientists are saying. Now you say that if only Trump weren't president, we might be able to save the day.
Yet the climate change cult sneers at the skeptics who say their cause is more political than environmental.
Read the headline--the one claiming the planet can't stand four years of Trump. Is that a political or an environmental statement?
Yet the climate change cult sneers at the skeptics who say their cause is more political than environmental.
Read the headline--the one claiming the planet can't stand four years of Trump. Is that a political or an environmental statement?
4
It's a scientific one.
You're right. It is too late. We keep discovering positive feedback loops that are accelerating the effects of human contributions to climate change. Unless some natural negative feedback loop of massive proportions is unleashed soon I believe we are in for a nasty surprise. The only good news is that Trump's Florida retreat will be wiped out.
1
let me think, ah, gee, I don't know. I get the feeling it's political. I don't know why. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe a deluded denier. But EVERY thing put out by the CC zealots is POLITICAL.
What I find amusing about the title of this piece is the notion that Trump will be the cause of the end of human civilization as we currently know it to be, along with climate-change deniers. Dear friends, I don't know how to break this to all of you but we went through the dead-end marker a few decades ago. Human-generated pollution warmed up the earth just enough to release only-God-knows how many billions of methane gas (at 27 times the green-house effect than regular carbon dioxide) which had been frozen in the permafrost and the sea beds. Not to mention our world-wide addiction to beef, with methane being produced by larger and larger herds of cattle while we cut down the Amazon forests. The thing is, I don't see those who believe in man-made global warming behaving any differently than those who don't. Belief in man-made global warming is not the remedy, acting on it might--although the science is that it is just too late. All of which makes me recall George Carlin saying that when humans screw up the earth, and then humans die off (unfortunately, with a lot of other species), that the Earth will shrug us off like a bad cold and just start over. A comforting thought, truly.
7
I have a masters degree in Meteorology from MIT And was an Air Force weather officer for 22 years. I don't "believe" in climate change, because belief implies faith. I accept climate change as a scientific fact.
8
We get sick, we die, and they get rich.
Slapping a couple solar panels on the roof and buying an electric car like what Al Gore did... doesn't really do all that much when Bill McKibben's lifestyle consumes 98% more resources than what 80% of the world's population uses!
His article just fans the anger, hate and mistrust that is dividing our nation and does nothing to solve the problem at hand!
His article just fans the anger, hate and mistrust that is dividing our nation and does nothing to solve the problem at hand!
I share your concern. I hope that one of the many pivots that President Trump should make is to stay in the Paris Accords. The campaign rhetoric appears to have been misinformed from years of buying into the fossil fuel PR and lobbying support of the GOP. I am not one of his advisers but if I were I would advise him to get educated on the global warming issue as well as the role of government in protecting our health: disease control, agriculture and fisheries, food processing, food storage and transport.
Government regulation and enforcement is necessary for our form of capitalism. Just think of the number of cardio-pulmonary issues that affect people because of the exhausts from the internal combustion engine and the concentrated toxins in coal ash. Just truck hauling our food to urban markets has its health costs in terms of accidents and exhausts. Just ask anyone who lives major interstate feeder arteries in metropolitan area.
I have been encouraged by reports that the Secretary of State has sided with staying in the Paris Accords and says that Exxon Mobil where he has spent his life recognizes the risk of global warming.
I worry about triggering runnaway permafrost melting. Recent reports have found that the thawing is more advanced than thought. People should understand that this could result in exponential warming.
Dr. James Powell and I are doing everything we can to write solutions like Maglev launched space solar and electric Maglev logistics.
Government regulation and enforcement is necessary for our form of capitalism. Just think of the number of cardio-pulmonary issues that affect people because of the exhausts from the internal combustion engine and the concentrated toxins in coal ash. Just truck hauling our food to urban markets has its health costs in terms of accidents and exhausts. Just ask anyone who lives major interstate feeder arteries in metropolitan area.
I have been encouraged by reports that the Secretary of State has sided with staying in the Paris Accords and says that Exxon Mobil where he has spent his life recognizes the risk of global warming.
I worry about triggering runnaway permafrost melting. Recent reports have found that the thawing is more advanced than thought. People should understand that this could result in exponential warming.
Dr. James Powell and I are doing everything we can to write solutions like Maglev launched space solar and electric Maglev logistics.
2
You don't have to be a climate change denier (I'm not) to be skeptical about whether scientists really know whether anything humans can do now will stop or even slow down the process. The more data that comes out, the more it seems like the planet has been warming for longer that originally thought.
For example, will cutting the use of fossil fuels by a small percentage even offset the ever-increasing human population? Screaming about oil and coal while failing to mention "the third rail of environmental politics" seems pretty short-sighted at best.
And the idea that states like California, where I live, can make even a small dent in climate change by regulating its citizens use of fossil fuels but not their reproduction, is completely absurd.
For example, will cutting the use of fossil fuels by a small percentage even offset the ever-increasing human population? Screaming about oil and coal while failing to mention "the third rail of environmental politics" seems pretty short-sighted at best.
And the idea that states like California, where I live, can make even a small dent in climate change by regulating its citizens use of fossil fuels but not their reproduction, is completely absurd.
7
Our climate could be changed by a comet collision which finished off dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Or it could be changed by massive volcanic eruptions. The foregoing are are not under human control.
For human control, all we need is an all out nuclear conflict which could bring on "nuclear winter". But necessity is the mother of ingenuity, and there well be user friendly geoengineering schemes that could do the trick. I would rather concentrate on renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and tidal power, and decrease our need for fossil fuels.
For human control, all we need is an all out nuclear conflict which could bring on "nuclear winter". But necessity is the mother of ingenuity, and there well be user friendly geoengineering schemes that could do the trick. I would rather concentrate on renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and tidal power, and decrease our need for fossil fuels.
4
It has been critical for decades. All the presidents have done nearly nothing, Obama included. The idea that now comes the tipping point is ludicrous. We all bear resp0nsibility. Trump is just the latest to do nothing, and all that is truly being objected to is his lack of niceties as he justifies his glaring inaction and blatant disregard of the environment from which we all derive.
It's not Trump that is the issue. The The US voters and political system put him into office and have approved his approach. The makeup of the Congress, that, too, was elected will follow suit. New US policies should no surprise to anyone. If blame must be assigned, let's assign it to those responsible: us.
6
I'm not sure we frame what is happening correctly. I was trained as a geologist and I think we may see this a little different. I think if you want to be correct it should be called "atmospheric change" because that's what we are really changing. Besides the air we breath, feel on our skin, and see through, the result is changes to weather, short term and long term. Start with that.
All the machines we use to increase our quality of life is one thing( and are monster polluters), but just the activities of daily living from 7 billion people is huge. Take one thing like Construction, the dirt thrown in the air, the change of the material covering the earth, destruction of vegetation. It's a big list.
The truth is we need to stop using all fossil fuels, they're killers of people and the environment. We need a plan for this, now. We need to do just like what we did with leaded gas, give us 10 years, make the investment. Use solar, wind, hydroelectric, and even nuclear with thorium to produce hydrogen to produce electricity as the alternative when needed. It's doable.
All the machines we use to increase our quality of life is one thing( and are monster polluters), but just the activities of daily living from 7 billion people is huge. Take one thing like Construction, the dirt thrown in the air, the change of the material covering the earth, destruction of vegetation. It's a big list.
The truth is we need to stop using all fossil fuels, they're killers of people and the environment. We need a plan for this, now. We need to do just like what we did with leaded gas, give us 10 years, make the investment. Use solar, wind, hydroelectric, and even nuclear with thorium to produce hydrogen to produce electricity as the alternative when needed. It's doable.
9
We do need to stop using fossil fuels - and we need to make that happen much faster.
Astonishing new technologies are being born that make the possible.
They reflect hard to accept new science. For example, a Ford engine has been converted to run without fuel. This exploits an unrecognized loophole in the sacrosanct Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Argonne National Laboratory scientist recently acknowledged such a loophole exists. See Second Law Surprises at aesopinstitute.org
Fuel-free engines run on atmospheric (ambient) heal. The Ford engine was filled with propane as a refrigerant. It is not consumed but changes from a gas to a liquid and back again.
Ambient heat is solar energy. A huge untapped reservoir larger than all of the fossil fuel reserves.
Fuel-free engines will run 24/7. They can provide an alternative to rooftop panels. They can scale to replace wind and solar farms with clusters of large engines at utility substations.
They open a door to vehicles that never need fuel or external recharge. Cars, trucks and buses can be power plants when suitably parked, selling electricity to utilities. See Moving Beyond Oil on the same website.
No government action is needed to move these remarkable breakthroughs into production. Only a bold Angel or two who can help advance a few prototypes.
Major capital is monitoring progress. Once it is clear this embryonic new industry is being born, it will change the world.
Giving humans a fighting chance to survive.
Astonishing new technologies are being born that make the possible.
They reflect hard to accept new science. For example, a Ford engine has been converted to run without fuel. This exploits an unrecognized loophole in the sacrosanct Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Argonne National Laboratory scientist recently acknowledged such a loophole exists. See Second Law Surprises at aesopinstitute.org
Fuel-free engines run on atmospheric (ambient) heal. The Ford engine was filled with propane as a refrigerant. It is not consumed but changes from a gas to a liquid and back again.
Ambient heat is solar energy. A huge untapped reservoir larger than all of the fossil fuel reserves.
Fuel-free engines will run 24/7. They can provide an alternative to rooftop panels. They can scale to replace wind and solar farms with clusters of large engines at utility substations.
They open a door to vehicles that never need fuel or external recharge. Cars, trucks and buses can be power plants when suitably parked, selling electricity to utilities. See Moving Beyond Oil on the same website.
No government action is needed to move these remarkable breakthroughs into production. Only a bold Angel or two who can help advance a few prototypes.
Major capital is monitoring progress. Once it is clear this embryonic new industry is being born, it will change the world.
Giving humans a fighting chance to survive.
Well... I disagree. The time to act on Climate was probably in the Bush administration or even the Clinton administration. I can remember, looking back, at the politics of the time, the priorities... it has always been kicking the can down the road and not addressing a costly, business un-friendly inconvenient truth.
And then also, this is never discussed by the Times, the amount of money leveraged in fossil fuels. There are trillions of dollars that are invested in fossil fuel exploration. It has been this way for a while and taxpayers and pension funds are intertwined in these investments - and - many economists think this is a bubble. A bubble that could eclipse the housing bubble.
I am not optimistic that the US (and the world) will move trillions worth of investment into renewables or sustainables. Oil is way more profitable. Why cure the disease when you can make a fortune on 'treatments'?
And then also, this is never discussed by the Times, the amount of money leveraged in fossil fuels. There are trillions of dollars that are invested in fossil fuel exploration. It has been this way for a while and taxpayers and pension funds are intertwined in these investments - and - many economists think this is a bubble. A bubble that could eclipse the housing bubble.
I am not optimistic that the US (and the world) will move trillions worth of investment into renewables or sustainables. Oil is way more profitable. Why cure the disease when you can make a fortune on 'treatments'?
6
Studioroom,
I agree with your point that we should have been dealing with climate change back in the Clinton administration. Why weren't we? We had one of the strongest advocates for dealing with climate change in that administration, VP Al Gore. Yet while Gore actively warned about global warming both before and after his time as VP, he made nary a peep about global warming as VP.
I'm convinced that neither the mainstream Democratic Party and certainly not the Republican Party will pursue meaningful climate change.
I agree with your point that we should have been dealing with climate change back in the Clinton administration. Why weren't we? We had one of the strongest advocates for dealing with climate change in that administration, VP Al Gore. Yet while Gore actively warned about global warming both before and after his time as VP, he made nary a peep about global warming as VP.
I'm convinced that neither the mainstream Democratic Party and certainly not the Republican Party will pursue meaningful climate change.
I'm a retired Sociologist so it is social interaction that most fascinates me.
However, it is social inaction that most frightens me!
However, it is social inaction that most frightens me!
3
In order for us to keep warming below 1.5C, we would have to get very close to zero emissions (we are now at approximately 36 billion tons per year) -by the middle of this century. That's soon.
All efforts to gain efficiencies and use greener energy are critical, but the thing we have to remember is that economic growth represents emissions growth. So while we can lower our present emissions, they are only relative. If the rate of efficiency gains are greater than the rate of economic growth, then net material throughput and emissions will decline, otherwise, they won't. No studies have yet indicated that we have a snowball's chance of absolute decoupling - particularly given expected growth. This calls into question the assumption of perpetual economic growth that even progressive economists like Paul Krugman are loathe to question. We need our peers and leaders to start talking about ways to live with way, way less stuff. Until we do - we, and more important - our children - are toast.
All efforts to gain efficiencies and use greener energy are critical, but the thing we have to remember is that economic growth represents emissions growth. So while we can lower our present emissions, they are only relative. If the rate of efficiency gains are greater than the rate of economic growth, then net material throughput and emissions will decline, otherwise, they won't. No studies have yet indicated that we have a snowball's chance of absolute decoupling - particularly given expected growth. This calls into question the assumption of perpetual economic growth that even progressive economists like Paul Krugman are loathe to question. We need our peers and leaders to start talking about ways to live with way, way less stuff. Until we do - we, and more important - our children - are toast.
1
If Professor McKibben would climb out of his Ivory Tower (or maybe if his college would just allow conservative’s to speak on campus), he would realize that this kind of “the sky is falling” hyperbolic doomsday fear-mongering just causes everyone who’s not 100% in his camp to roll their eyes. To paraphrase George Carlin: The planet will be just fine; it has been thorough a lot worse in the last 4 billion years.
Yes some species will go extinct due to global warming but others will adapt, migrate and/or evolve and do just fine. Parts of the planet that are currently inhabited by humans will no longer be inhabited, but other areas that are currently uninhabitable will become habitable. Never mind that we don’t actually know how much of this is being driven by humans pumping CO2 into the atmosphere. The models are flaky at best and as Nature recently reported much of the data has not been reproducible.
He would also to well to remember that “real people” were in fact hurt by the Obama’s administration’s attempt to regulate coal out of existence. Real people were also hurt when Democrats passed environmental regulation that made it prohibitively expensive to manufacture goods in the US while signing trade deals to allow manufacturing to easily move to countries where they cold pollute even more than they were previously without repercussions.
Yes some species will go extinct due to global warming but others will adapt, migrate and/or evolve and do just fine. Parts of the planet that are currently inhabited by humans will no longer be inhabited, but other areas that are currently uninhabitable will become habitable. Never mind that we don’t actually know how much of this is being driven by humans pumping CO2 into the atmosphere. The models are flaky at best and as Nature recently reported much of the data has not been reproducible.
He would also to well to remember that “real people” were in fact hurt by the Obama’s administration’s attempt to regulate coal out of existence. Real people were also hurt when Democrats passed environmental regulation that made it prohibitively expensive to manufacture goods in the US while signing trade deals to allow manufacturing to easily move to countries where they cold pollute even more than they were previously without repercussions.
3
As a member of the American Meteorological Society for 55 years, we really do know how much humans contribute to climate change. As scientists, meteorologists consider everything conceivable, no matter how unlikely. The only thing that fits the facts is our expanded use of fossil fuels since the start of the Industrial Age, about 250 years ago. The old "scientists are uncertain" ploy was used unsuccessfully by the Tobacco industry. Just follow the money.
7
J,
Thanks for speaking up as a scientist. More scientists need to do that publicly so that there is no doubt what the scientific consensus is.
Thanks for speaking up as a scientist. More scientists need to do that publicly so that there is no doubt what the scientific consensus is.
2
George Carlin was a comedienne. Not a scientist. Not a biologist, geologist, oceanographer, forester, botanist, entomologist, etc. THEY know how much your life depends on other species. If you were ill, whose advice would you take? A doctor? Or a comedienne?
3
The planet has been through much worse than Trump. It is our civilization and our species that will suffer.
Trump wants the temperature to rise. He wants the northern ice cap to melt. It will make it easier to drill for oil there without shifting ice.
The superb writers on why "The Planet Can't Stand This Presidency" - Bill McKibben, Richard Conniff, Caitlin Looby, Adam Frank, Ferris Jabr, Sylvia Earle,Richard Alley,Emma Marris - prove that climate-warming is not a joke, that Gore's "inconvenient truth" is the truth, and that extinction of all species and beings inhabiting Earth will happen sooner or later on our planet.
We are all Joshua Trees and horseshoe crabs and our viability depends pretty much on how long this dreadful Presidency of coal-loving, climate-warming denial, colossal unintelligence about our planet lasts under Trump and whomever follows these dinosaurs to the La Brea Tar Pits.
We have been warned. And the goblins will get us if climate change is not reversed. Alas, it's too late for climate change to be reversed. We already feel the effects of despoliation of our seas, of our planet, polluted air, polluted water, fire, flood, drought, and can't turn the clock back. By the time we have all bought the farm due to ignorance of our planet's brief life, we will be buried and our descendants will be flying to liveable planets that have yet to be discovered. Like the old maps of the world minus the entire western hemisphere, we know that "there be dragons!" in our world,in our galaxy and in all the undiscovered galaxies awaiting our kind.
We are all Joshua Trees and horseshoe crabs and our viability depends pretty much on how long this dreadful Presidency of coal-loving, climate-warming denial, colossal unintelligence about our planet lasts under Trump and whomever follows these dinosaurs to the La Brea Tar Pits.
We have been warned. And the goblins will get us if climate change is not reversed. Alas, it's too late for climate change to be reversed. We already feel the effects of despoliation of our seas, of our planet, polluted air, polluted water, fire, flood, drought, and can't turn the clock back. By the time we have all bought the farm due to ignorance of our planet's brief life, we will be buried and our descendants will be flying to liveable planets that have yet to be discovered. Like the old maps of the world minus the entire western hemisphere, we know that "there be dragons!" in our world,in our galaxy and in all the undiscovered galaxies awaiting our kind.
4
If we were a more science minded society, action would begun already, but Trump supporters, large evangelical, consider science to be the work of Satan. Isn't it great to be guided by Bronze Age myths.
If we really wanted to interpret the Constitution as written by our founders, we should bear in mind that our founders created a secular nation. Read up on Jefferson, Madison and Paine to see how they viewed religion.
If we really wanted to interpret the Constitution as written by our founders, we should bear in mind that our founders created a secular nation. Read up on Jefferson, Madison and Paine to see how they viewed religion.
5
The first problem with people like Bill McKibben is that they give a lot of credit to one person while ignoring the core reasons for Climate Change!
The second problem is all the people who will jump on Bill McKibben's bandwagon and, like Bill McKibben, haven't done one practical thing to reduce the effects of Climate Change!
Annual Rain Forest Loss - 5,800 km per year!
Current World Population - 7.4 Billion and growing by almost 2% per year!
Commercial Ocean Fisheries Collapse - Less than 20 years!
33% of arable farmland lost in the past 40 years and the annual rate is accelerating!
More people, less farmland, less ocean fisheries, less rainforest... and Bill McKibben's solution? All fossil fuel use to be stopped!
Bill McKibben's (and people like him) don't offer one single real life workable solution... and the reason why is because there is none!
All Bill McKibben (and people like him) have done is drive a wedge of mistrust with almost 50% of the nation. He and others like him promote an "Us against them" mentality which solves nothing and will contribute more distrust with our divided nation!
Climate Change is real and it is getting worse and people like Bill McKibben are not helping!
The second problem is all the people who will jump on Bill McKibben's bandwagon and, like Bill McKibben, haven't done one practical thing to reduce the effects of Climate Change!
Annual Rain Forest Loss - 5,800 km per year!
Current World Population - 7.4 Billion and growing by almost 2% per year!
Commercial Ocean Fisheries Collapse - Less than 20 years!
33% of arable farmland lost in the past 40 years and the annual rate is accelerating!
More people, less farmland, less ocean fisheries, less rainforest... and Bill McKibben's solution? All fossil fuel use to be stopped!
Bill McKibben's (and people like him) don't offer one single real life workable solution... and the reason why is because there is none!
All Bill McKibben (and people like him) have done is drive a wedge of mistrust with almost 50% of the nation. He and others like him promote an "Us against them" mentality which solves nothing and will contribute more distrust with our divided nation!
Climate Change is real and it is getting worse and people like Bill McKibben are not helping!
"we have only a short window to deal with the climate crisis" It's possible that some of the effects of global warming can be reversed through geoengineering which seeks to shade the planet's surface directly, or draw carbon dioxide back out of the atmosphere. But its important to explain why these future technologies, if they can be developed at all, will be inadequate to prevent many feet of sea level rise. For the last century, excess heat has been driven deep into the interiors of our oceans and ice sheets. It is this deeply-buried excess heat, and not surface heat, that is melting the ice sheets causing future sea level rise. Geoengineering, designed to cool Earth's surface, will not penetrate deeply enough into these bodies to prevent their action for a hundred years or more. Unless we could manufacture refrigeration cooling loops and place them deep within the oceans and ice sheets, once the ice sheets start calving ice in earnest, and the permafrost starts venting in earnest, I'm afraid we'll just be along for the ride. Yet, these events are already starting to happen, which is why immediate action is needed now. We can't afford the Trump years, not if we care about the entire East Coast of the U.S.
The "Earth Summit" climate treaty was negotiated in 1992 when George H.W. Bush was president. Since then three presidents, two of them Democrats, have come and gone. During those 24 years there has been no measurable decline in the rate of increase in global CO2 emissions. It's reasonable to conclude that the political response to climate change has always been pathetically inadequate and that Bill McKibben is delusional in thinking that having an imbecile for a president will make matters worse.
The expectation that politicians can effectively address climate change is misguided and counterproductive. The top-down approach hasn't worked in the past, it isn't working now, and it's only wishful thinking to imagine that it will work in the future. At this point our salvation lies not in the hands of political "leaders" but in the hands of countless scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists and, most importantly, citizens who are willing to make daily choices to preserve, protect and defend our precious environment.
The expectation that politicians can effectively address climate change is misguided and counterproductive. The top-down approach hasn't worked in the past, it isn't working now, and it's only wishful thinking to imagine that it will work in the future. At this point our salvation lies not in the hands of political "leaders" but in the hands of countless scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists and, most importantly, citizens who are willing to make daily choices to preserve, protect and defend our precious environment.
3
Mr. Oxby, I couldn't have expressed it better myself. Expecting "leaders" to do what individual citizens are unwilling to do is folly. Changes must occur at the "grass roots" level. Each individual, family, tribe, social unit has to decide for him/her/ their self to reduce the pollutants and extraneous matter he/she/they produce. Climate change is so grandiose, who can grasp it and know what to do about it...we are all straws of hay in the haystack. Considering and altering one's personal behavior may produce dramatic results. Small changes by many people = significant results. For example: driving a smaller engine car, driving a little slower to gain better gas mileage, or consolidating several around town trips into one trip and following a direct line from one stop to the next is likely to use less gas and, hence, produce fewer effluents existing the exhaust pipe. Turning off the lights when one leaves an empty room; adding insulation to the attic; using a shut off valve on the kitchen sink facet, so the water doesn't run while one soaps and scrubs the pots and pans; recycling plastics, glass, steel, and aluminum, and other materials, so the trash is reduced and resources are more efficiently used in the production of "new" materials from recycled materials; and so on.
Listening to the sage advice of scientists and engineers, so decisions are based upon facts and not opinions and magical thinking.
Listening to the sage advice of scientists and engineers, so decisions are based upon facts and not opinions and magical thinking.
3
We'll be fine. Within 100 years, we'll have figured out nuclear fusion, giving us unlimited energy to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it oxygen and carbon, solving global warming.
Sure, many species will die in the interim, but we've had many mass extinction events before, and the Earth will recover as it always has. If not for the mass extinction of dinosaurs, mammals such as ourselves would never have had the opportunity to dominate the planet.
Sure, many species will die in the interim, but we've had many mass extinction events before, and the Earth will recover as it always has. If not for the mass extinction of dinosaurs, mammals such as ourselves would never have had the opportunity to dominate the planet.
1
We have figured out nuclear fusion already. It is what powers stars including our sun, and H-bombs. There is no certainty that it can ever be scaled down to be useful. Same as our belief that someday humans will migrate beyond our solar system.
There is this problem with the speed of light, the fastest speed possible. 186,000 miles a second. It's not only a good idea, ITS THE LAW.
There is this problem with the speed of light, the fastest speed possible. 186,000 miles a second. It's not only a good idea, ITS THE LAW.
3
There's no law that says faster than light travel is impossible. There's the general theory of relativity, but that's a theory, not a law. Also, according to other theories, distorted regions of spacetime might permit matter to reach distant locations in less time than light could in normal or undistorted spacetime.
Look how many things have been said are impossible over the eons, only for us to make it not only possible, but normal. It's rather presumptuous for you to say future generations will never solve faster than light travel.
Look how many things have been said are impossible over the eons, only for us to make it not only possible, but normal. It's rather presumptuous for you to say future generations will never solve faster than light travel.
The speed of light as the ultimate speed limit was established by Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. The General Theory addresses gravity.
In the world of science, a theory is the gold standard of scientific knowledge and remains so unless disproven by empiracle evidence or a revised interpretation of the data. Einstein's special and general theories of evolution are more accurate versions of Newton's laws of motion and gravity. Newton's laws are easier to apply and are satisfactory except for extreme conditions where speeds approach the speed of light.
If somehow we are able to exceed the speed of light, it will need a new Einstein, not a mere extrapolation of current theories. But I do enjoy science fiction. I was an MIT classmate of 3 of the 12 humans who walked on the earth. My experience was with unmanned spacecraft, primarily with weather and photo recce satellites.
www.nro.gov may tickle your fancy.
In the world of science, a theory is the gold standard of scientific knowledge and remains so unless disproven by empiracle evidence or a revised interpretation of the data. Einstein's special and general theories of evolution are more accurate versions of Newton's laws of motion and gravity. Newton's laws are easier to apply and are satisfactory except for extreme conditions where speeds approach the speed of light.
If somehow we are able to exceed the speed of light, it will need a new Einstein, not a mere extrapolation of current theories. But I do enjoy science fiction. I was an MIT classmate of 3 of the 12 humans who walked on the earth. My experience was with unmanned spacecraft, primarily with weather and photo recce satellites.
www.nro.gov may tickle your fancy.
2
Trump's pick for head of the EPA was one of the most disastrous acts of his presidency. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt's assaults on the EPA and his coddling of the energy industry made that state the most polluted and earthquake-wracked in the union, and now he's doing it to the rest of the country.
17
It is telling that Trump's choice to lead the EPA comes from Oklahoma, a state with almost no decent environment. Congress in the mid 1850s viewed Oklahoma with so much disdain that they cheerfully bequeathed to our Native Americans.
3
Trump's lifelong obsession with making lots of money above all else is a disaster for all else -- the environment, wildlife, public health, worker safety (and public accountability, government transparency, healthcare, consumer protection, the arts, science, education, human rights, you name it).
Last month Trump visited a school in Florida and spoke to some fourth-grade students. One said she hoped to open her own business. He told her, “That’s a good idea. Make a lot of money right? But don’t run for politics after.”
Why, oh why, couldn't he have taken his own advice and stayed out of politics?
Last month Trump visited a school in Florida and spoke to some fourth-grade students. One said she hoped to open her own business. He told her, “That’s a good idea. Make a lot of money right? But don’t run for politics after.”
Why, oh why, couldn't he have taken his own advice and stayed out of politics?
8
Trump really is a disgrace. He makes no effort to understand anything which does not give him the pleasure of being at the center of attention. But global warming and the catastrophic possibilities which it poses were recognized decades ago and vigorously rejected and the problem trivialized by business interests and extreme conservative groups long before Trump showed any interest in the subject. Trump is just a reminder of how many people continue to behave ignorantly, not the great facilitator of disaster.
5
"We may never recover".
I happen to believe in this dire warning. The data supports the rather alarming statement. I am also a political conservative who did not vote for Trump.
I just wish that the NYT and the liberal media establishment had not gone off the rocker when Trump was elected. The outrage meter has been at 11 since his victory. Everything he does is either nation-destroying incompetence or evil-genius 4D-chess.
Remember Chicken Little? The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
Apparently not.
I happen to believe in this dire warning. The data supports the rather alarming statement. I am also a political conservative who did not vote for Trump.
I just wish that the NYT and the liberal media establishment had not gone off the rocker when Trump was elected. The outrage meter has been at 11 since his victory. Everything he does is either nation-destroying incompetence or evil-genius 4D-chess.
Remember Chicken Little? The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
Apparently not.
2
Trump voters: I've been trying to see things through your eyes to understand why you voted for him, beyond hating Hillary, and somewhat understand better, such as economic destitution the numbers didn't show, and feeling you're looked down on. But on this one I'm still perplexed.
I can't believe you don't care about the environment and want dirty water any more than anyone else. For the most part, I doubt you want the wholesale deregulation that's going on.
On climate change, which we're told is a total non-starter to you, I'm really confused, and we're really going to need you.
What seems to be holding you back is the (partially accurate) perception this issue is coming from liberals. It would just hurt too much to admit they are right. You just can't reverse course.
But is it really worth it? We're all been wrong at times. It's not a disgrace to admit it.
There are many conservative reasons to do so. Increasing numbers of business want to address climate change. The military calls it a "threat multiplier." Churches are speaking about it. Some of your houses are more subject to flooding or wildfires. Your kids will be at more risk of diseases from mosquitoes.
Denial is not a virtue.
It hasn't been put this way yet, but how does it "Make America Great Again" for the U.S. to be largely responsible for sea level rise that will destroy countries like The Maldives--who have never hurt us?
Please tell the President that you voted for him, but to reverse course on the environment.
I can't believe you don't care about the environment and want dirty water any more than anyone else. For the most part, I doubt you want the wholesale deregulation that's going on.
On climate change, which we're told is a total non-starter to you, I'm really confused, and we're really going to need you.
What seems to be holding you back is the (partially accurate) perception this issue is coming from liberals. It would just hurt too much to admit they are right. You just can't reverse course.
But is it really worth it? We're all been wrong at times. It's not a disgrace to admit it.
There are many conservative reasons to do so. Increasing numbers of business want to address climate change. The military calls it a "threat multiplier." Churches are speaking about it. Some of your houses are more subject to flooding or wildfires. Your kids will be at more risk of diseases from mosquitoes.
Denial is not a virtue.
It hasn't been put this way yet, but how does it "Make America Great Again" for the U.S. to be largely responsible for sea level rise that will destroy countries like The Maldives--who have never hurt us?
Please tell the President that you voted for him, but to reverse course on the environment.
5
I just read an article entitled CALIFORNIA IS ONCE AGAIN HAS THE DIRTIEST AIR That despite the fact that it is run by the most severe global warming nut jobs in the country. Don't lecture Trump supporters when you put Jerry Brown in office
1
@Brent in Florida, I did not see that article but I would not be surprised. It is no coincidence that California has the highest population in the nation, by at least 10 million plus over Texas. Although one would expect worse air quality in the oil refining areas like Houston and parts of Louisiana. And some of the smaller Eastern states like New Jersey or Delaware must have higher population density than CA, so I suspect part of it has to do simply with the geologic features of Southern California. The Los Angeles basin is famous for poor air quality and they just keep packing more people and cars in. Governor Pete Wilson tried to stop the inflow of illegal immigration back in the 1990's but eventually the Democrats took over the state & decided endless population growth was better for their politics regardless of increasing negative impact on the environment and air quality.
2
Hopefully this disaster of a president (to use his own much cherished) will be done in 4 years (if less means impeachment with Pence as a substitute, I am not sure that this would be better). However 4 years of this attack on the environment would hardly be reversed. The sad irony in all this is that the same coal miners who are now dying with black lungs have been sponsoring this president. But yes, this is the protracted irony of a society in which those who struggle at the end of their pay keep voting against their own interest, supporting the very economic exploitation and profiteers that keep them down
1
Just when I was becoming accustomed to liberal hand wringing, weeping, ashes and sackcloth along comes this polemic. Trump as an global extinction-level event? Oh please. What other foolishness is on the curriculum at Middlebury College? They should be paying the students to attend school there, not the other way around.
2
more propaganda, not science. And by the way, a planet doesn't have hopes. Perhaps the people who live there do, who knows? All I hope for as an occupant of this planet is the climate zealots, who for the most part don't know or understand science in general but advocate for those scientific positions that fit with their progressive agenda, would just shut up. Or at least show some intellectual honesty and admit there's some room for discussion.
3
Ralphie, I am a physicist but not a climate expert. And probably neither are you or the vast majority of policy makers (I believe that there is only one person in the whole US congress with a PhD in Science). But there are experts and as it happens in all fields of science (including mine) there are also disagreements, which is a vital thing. So, scientists do not have to follow the opinion of their colleagues. But in any healthy society, the decision makers i.e. the politicians, should accept the majority opinions of the experts. This applies to a variety of cases. For example vaccines and autism, where the large majority of experts has stated that there is no causal link between the two. Again, it is fine if an epidemiologist decides to challenge this majority opinion and investigate possible links. But not if a policy maker decides to go with the minority of the experts and suggest abandoning vaccination, speculating on irrational fears. As for climate change, the thing we all know is that the great majority of climatologists agree that there is an increase of global temperature and that this is associated with human activities. Some of them disagree and must be respected. But until the prevalent position among scientists changes, the politicians should not embrace the minority view for their propaganda. Science has no absolute indisputable truths. But it has a far more solid process than politics for invalidating or validating hypotheses based on data and solid logic.
4
SM -- a reasoned reply. Now, I'm not a climatologist, but do hold a Ph.D. and have a strong if painful background in statistics and computer modeling. Also having spent time in academentia I am well aware of the zeitgeist and how important grants, book deals, etc. are.
I suggest you or anyone else who has an interest look at the NOAA site Climate at a Glance. You'll see that for the contiguous US, the case that warming has occurred is tepid. Many areas haven't warmed at all and ones that have are predominantly ones that have experienced high urban growth (all that concrete and steel) over the period of measurement -- the last 120 years.
You will also find the US and global records, while correlated, are different. The global avg temp shoots almost straight up -- while the graph of US temps looks like normal variation around a mean, albeit one with an upward trend -- but again that trend is driven by higher temps in more urban areas.
And if you dig, you'll find most of the globe didn't have any temp record until 1950 (unlike the US) and even today many countries are sparsely covered and data gathering rules aren't consistent. Lots of estimates and extrapolations to get the global temp record back to the 19th century.
And, everyone should recognize that if science is going to drive policy and the cost is huge, which it is if we were to do anything about CC, then the evidence & projections must be virtually unassailable -- and I don't believe they are.
I suggest you or anyone else who has an interest look at the NOAA site Climate at a Glance. You'll see that for the contiguous US, the case that warming has occurred is tepid. Many areas haven't warmed at all and ones that have are predominantly ones that have experienced high urban growth (all that concrete and steel) over the period of measurement -- the last 120 years.
You will also find the US and global records, while correlated, are different. The global avg temp shoots almost straight up -- while the graph of US temps looks like normal variation around a mean, albeit one with an upward trend -- but again that trend is driven by higher temps in more urban areas.
And if you dig, you'll find most of the globe didn't have any temp record until 1950 (unlike the US) and even today many countries are sparsely covered and data gathering rules aren't consistent. Lots of estimates and extrapolations to get the global temp record back to the 19th century.
And, everyone should recognize that if science is going to drive policy and the cost is huge, which it is if we were to do anything about CC, then the evidence & projections must be virtually unassailable -- and I don't believe they are.
We can derive ancient climates via ice cores.
2
The sad reality we face in our lower 48 states is that, for the most part, climate change has had little effect on us except to lower our winter heating bills and reduce snow shovel induced back aches.
While we're sort of enjoying the short term benefits of climate change, glaciers are melting, deserts spreading, ice caps shrinking, sea levels rising, desperate migrants are on the move, mass extinctions of flora and fauna are decimating forests, coral reefs, insect, fish and animal populations.
Liked spoiled, thoughtless children we have taken for granted the incredible beauty and complexity of the earthly paradise we have been given. Our leaders have chosen to squander this gift in exchange for short term material gain. It's a shame most of them won't be around to see the palaces of Palm Beach awash in the rising seas.
While we're sort of enjoying the short term benefits of climate change, glaciers are melting, deserts spreading, ice caps shrinking, sea levels rising, desperate migrants are on the move, mass extinctions of flora and fauna are decimating forests, coral reefs, insect, fish and animal populations.
Liked spoiled, thoughtless children we have taken for granted the incredible beauty and complexity of the earthly paradise we have been given. Our leaders have chosen to squander this gift in exchange for short term material gain. It's a shame most of them won't be around to see the palaces of Palm Beach awash in the rising seas.
9
Ask not what slowing global warming and protecting endangered species can do for you, ask what you can do to remove Donald Trump from office.
13
Reading articles like this forever reminds of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary on climate change in 2006. And that one chart showing the CO2 levels skyrocketing in our time and then a 50 year projection that took it almost off the chart. Since that time decent progress has been made with the Paris Climate Agreement and programs like the Clean Power Plan.
Trump and his EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt though are making attempts at tearing apart the agreements and destroying any hope for future generations. I have to believe though that the vast majority of the human race see the folly in what he and a handful of others are doing. And hope he will be stopped. For the sake of our future and the next generation, and next, and ……........, I pray they do.
Thank you Bill McKibben and 350.org.
Trump and his EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt though are making attempts at tearing apart the agreements and destroying any hope for future generations. I have to believe though that the vast majority of the human race see the folly in what he and a handful of others are doing. And hope he will be stopped. For the sake of our future and the next generation, and next, and ……........, I pray they do.
Thank you Bill McKibben and 350.org.
7
Did a weather forecast help you any time in the last year? That's science. It is not based on some clerk's opioion, but on extensive data and modeling, hence all those neat radar maps and stuff you see on the Weather Channel. Weather forecasts save lives!!! Climate forecasts will likewise save lives, if only we will listen.
When someone begins a statement with "Now I'm not a scientist, but ..." They might as well be saying "Now I'm not qualified to pontificate on this, but ...". (BTW, scientists can tell just by listening to you if you are a scientist or not.)
When someone begins a statement with "Now I'm not a scientist, but ..." They might as well be saying "Now I'm not qualified to pontificate on this, but ...". (BTW, scientists can tell just by listening to you if you are a scientist or not.)
6
As a PhD level scientist, it amazes me that people think that climate change can be discerned by simply one's own experience or "common sense." I wouldn't begin to think I'm competent to fix my own car, I leave that to a mechanic with training and expertise. Yet somehow spending a decade in education and training to obtain expertise in science, and engaging in actual scientific research, is discounted and waived away by those science-deniers who are somehow able to deny all the scientific evidence of man-made climate change.
3
I agree. Common sense, derived from our macro world experiences, is fairly useless when it comes to quantum physics.
A similar situation is relying on "seat of your pants" sensations when flying under instrument conditions.
A similar situation is relying on "seat of your pants" sensations when flying under instrument conditions.
2
What would I try to do if I were POTUS or world dictator or anything in between:
The easiest thing is actually money:
Incentive $.
Offer billions for worthwhile ideas, inventions, supplements, "bribes."
Plants/ vegetation: carbon absorbing kudzu effect, but sorta like wildflowers, not so boring & ugly, everywhere,
Gigantic "Vacuum Cleaners" of dirty CO2 air
Everybody has constructive ideas, and it's one cause that the entirety of humanity should be able to unify as the most important cause is explained in every language.
And from where does this money derive?
Philanthropy, internet go-funds, donations, taxes, bake sales.
The easiest thing is actually money:
Incentive $.
Offer billions for worthwhile ideas, inventions, supplements, "bribes."
Plants/ vegetation: carbon absorbing kudzu effect, but sorta like wildflowers, not so boring & ugly, everywhere,
Gigantic "Vacuum Cleaners" of dirty CO2 air
Everybody has constructive ideas, and it's one cause that the entirety of humanity should be able to unify as the most important cause is explained in every language.
And from where does this money derive?
Philanthropy, internet go-funds, donations, taxes, bake sales.
Oh My God, the sky is falling, we are all doomed (any day now, in fact), and the next few years will determine the outcome of the planet "for a millennium". This same Bill McKibben who yesterday likened my green, feminist and ultra-left liberal PM Trudeau to Trump! This dude is a die-hard lifelong environmentalist and activist who believes that all carbon should stay in the ground. And "green jobs" should solve everything. How the world would operate tomorrow without gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, natural gas, coal, and asphalt is never explained, however. Oh yes, he believes that much more nuclear energy is needed, but he's afraid to mention that, because it would split his movement in two.
Of course we need to balance environmental concerns with economic ones, and this Administration is no great friend of Mother Nature. But worshiping at the feet of this self-promoting so-called guru, and accepting his every word as the Gospel, is incredibly naive, narrow-minded, and unhelpful. Like most other environmentalists, McKibben is big on dire warnings, threats and end-of-world scenarios. But very short on solutions. Oh yah----Cap and Trade. Tax carbon (that means you and me paying much for fuel and heat and plastic goods and food and housing). Think about it.
Of course we need to balance environmental concerns with economic ones, and this Administration is no great friend of Mother Nature. But worshiping at the feet of this self-promoting so-called guru, and accepting his every word as the Gospel, is incredibly naive, narrow-minded, and unhelpful. Like most other environmentalists, McKibben is big on dire warnings, threats and end-of-world scenarios. But very short on solutions. Oh yah----Cap and Trade. Tax carbon (that means you and me paying much for fuel and heat and plastic goods and food and housing). Think about it.
1
As pointed out in the documentary "Cowspiracy", (recommended) the greatest driver of greenhouse gas production is not fossil fuels or permafrost release, but our global system of food production. Particularly our inefficient and wasteful consumption of animal flesh.
While Mr. McKibben has been an important voice, the fact that he can produce an article like this--with others--that fails to mention the single most important cause of global warming is at the very least, extremely disappointing. If he, and the Sierra Club, and Greenpeace et al won't touch this issue who will? The Club for Growth?
Full disclosure--I am not a vegetarian--yet.
But I'm getting there.
While Mr. McKibben has been an important voice, the fact that he can produce an article like this--with others--that fails to mention the single most important cause of global warming is at the very least, extremely disappointing. If he, and the Sierra Club, and Greenpeace et al won't touch this issue who will? The Club for Growth?
Full disclosure--I am not a vegetarian--yet.
But I'm getting there.
4
I took the time to look up his qualifications and, in my opinion, the one of two things he wants to promote is hate.
For example, remove Trumps name and insert a minority and see how his article comes across... Use a derogatory term or ethnic slur in place of Trump and see if that opinion is nothing more than pure, unadulterated hate!
The second thing he wants to promote is himself!
Again, in my opinion, his second goal is nothing more than self-promotion and the sad part is that he is just adding to our nation's divide!
If he, and other environmentalists, really care about this planet... then stop having children. Stop living in homes that are larger than 900 square feet. Stop driving. Stop buying food shipped from 1000 miles away. Stop heating and cooling with electricity. Stop buying soda. Stop buying beef, pork and chicken. Stop buying clothes, TV's, cell phones or computers that are made in China. Start growing your own food. Start hunting, killing and slaughtering your own meat. Start living off the grid!
If he is so concerned about the planets future... why isn't he living in a micro house that is under 300 square feet?
It's easy to point fingers and blame others... he needs to first - look in a mirror!
For example, remove Trumps name and insert a minority and see how his article comes across... Use a derogatory term or ethnic slur in place of Trump and see if that opinion is nothing more than pure, unadulterated hate!
The second thing he wants to promote is himself!
Again, in my opinion, his second goal is nothing more than self-promotion and the sad part is that he is just adding to our nation's divide!
If he, and other environmentalists, really care about this planet... then stop having children. Stop living in homes that are larger than 900 square feet. Stop driving. Stop buying food shipped from 1000 miles away. Stop heating and cooling with electricity. Stop buying soda. Stop buying beef, pork and chicken. Stop buying clothes, TV's, cell phones or computers that are made in China. Start growing your own food. Start hunting, killing and slaughtering your own meat. Start living off the grid!
If he is so concerned about the planets future... why isn't he living in a micro house that is under 300 square feet?
It's easy to point fingers and blame others... he needs to first - look in a mirror!
1
To be fair (and I agree Bill McKibben long ago took his eye off the ball), I believe he and his spouse only had 1 child. So while he long ago abandoned a public focus on population growth in favor of a complete obsession on the red herring of global warming, he is indeed "walking the walk" privately in some ways.
2
What Trump is doing does not make any sense. Why would he endorse a policy that promotes global warming ? There are two answers: (1) he is stupid and (2) he is evil. Actually, I think he is both.
3
Well Ms. Planet..can't stand this so-called Presidency? Get in line
6
Ever notice how its *always* a critical moment, and that certain-doom is always just around the corner, unless everyone drop their capacity for reason and grant immediate authority to a cabal of Malthusian catastrophe-mongers?
A reminder =
""Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” — Harvard biologist George Wald
"“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” — New York Times editorial
“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
“It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.” — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
..... All of these predictions were made in 1970. "Experts"
A reminder =
""Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” — Harvard biologist George Wald
"“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” — New York Times editorial
“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
“It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.” — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
..... All of these predictions were made in 1970. "Experts"
1
100% understand what you are saying. Keep in mind, however, a lot of changes were made in response to the original environmental movement which helped remedy some of the trends identified in the late 1960's, including passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource and Recovery Conservation Act (landfills), etc. And there was a temporarily greater focus on the negative ramifications of unlimited population growth. There have been abuses and vast overreach beyond the original intent of these laws (including the idea of regulating carbon as so-called "pollution" instead of real toxins). But there have been improvements and it helped model for other nations to some extent. While simultaneously eviscerating US manufacturing by creating off-shoring to countries without such environmental laws, since some manufacturing processes that provide quality of life improvements simultaneously require environmental destruction. Anyway, time will tell as to these predictions.
2
Master ~
There are severe droughts plaguing the African continent right now… a major reason for the the waves of immigrants pouring into Europe.
There is mass starvation in Yemen, to name just one of the countries affected by extreme drought brought on by Climate Change.
To bury our heads in the sand because Scientists can't give us the exact date and time for their predictions doesn't make the phenomena they predict any less of a threat.
If anything the Experts have understated the threats to the planet that Climate change will bring and has already brought to the planet.
California and the West now have fire seasons that are many months longer than they were four decades ago.
There are severe droughts plaguing the African continent right now… a major reason for the the waves of immigrants pouring into Europe.
There is mass starvation in Yemen, to name just one of the countries affected by extreme drought brought on by Climate Change.
To bury our heads in the sand because Scientists can't give us the exact date and time for their predictions doesn't make the phenomena they predict any less of a threat.
If anything the Experts have understated the threats to the planet that Climate change will bring and has already brought to the planet.
California and the West now have fire seasons that are many months longer than they were four decades ago.
3
Half the 1970 Earth Day predictions of doom were based on predictions of overpopulation stripping the planet of resources.
None of of this hand-waving about how the Clean Air Act somehow averted certain catastrophe (dirtier air?) accounts for the rhetoric of the doom-mongers.
McKibben and the people like him who claim "the planet" is in jeopardy because of a single change in administration are charlatans and fools and destroy the credibility of legitimate scientists and environmentalists, and anyone desiring to advance better environmental regulation would be better served by abandoning these pretend-seers of certain doom.
None of of this hand-waving about how the Clean Air Act somehow averted certain catastrophe (dirtier air?) accounts for the rhetoric of the doom-mongers.
McKibben and the people like him who claim "the planet" is in jeopardy because of a single change in administration are charlatans and fools and destroy the credibility of legitimate scientists and environmentalists, and anyone desiring to advance better environmental regulation would be better served by abandoning these pretend-seers of certain doom.
1
"The Planet Can't Stand This Presidency"
I didn't know the planet could talk.
I didn't know the planet could talk.
2
Mother Nature, the only true God, has many ways to express her feelings.
This planet complains soooo much about everything we do on it, I'm sorry we got involved in the first place.
3
Perhaps our 'religious' Republican 'pro-life' friends could take their heads out of other people's uteruses for a few thoughtful minutes and consider these questions:
Is abortion of the climate 'God's' will ?
Is abortion of thousands of species okay ?
Is abortion of the world's coastlines a fair exchange for better gas mileage ?
Does abortion of the world's ecosystems coincide nicely with the biblical directive to 'steward the Earth' ?
Does the right-wing, religious abortion of thought and incontrovertible science
seem like a good idea ?
Isn't the manmade desertification of vast areas of the Earth and acidification of the ocean its own type of manmade abortion ?
Isn't the manmade collapse of your children's and grandchildren's future environment through fossil fuel foolery its own cruel form of abortion ?
When you really stop and think about it, doesn't almost every major political tenet of Grand Old Pollution and Greed Over Planet favor the long-term manmade abortion of habitable life on Earth ?
Join the pro-life, pro-Earth, pro-'God', pro-fact, progressive party and shed the incredibly destructive and abortive instincts of the Republican Party that has played you for fools.
Stop flushing our only home down a right-wing toilet.
Your children and grandchildren will forgive you and thank you.
Is abortion of the climate 'God's' will ?
Is abortion of thousands of species okay ?
Is abortion of the world's coastlines a fair exchange for better gas mileage ?
Does abortion of the world's ecosystems coincide nicely with the biblical directive to 'steward the Earth' ?
Does the right-wing, religious abortion of thought and incontrovertible science
seem like a good idea ?
Isn't the manmade desertification of vast areas of the Earth and acidification of the ocean its own type of manmade abortion ?
Isn't the manmade collapse of your children's and grandchildren's future environment through fossil fuel foolery its own cruel form of abortion ?
When you really stop and think about it, doesn't almost every major political tenet of Grand Old Pollution and Greed Over Planet favor the long-term manmade abortion of habitable life on Earth ?
Join the pro-life, pro-Earth, pro-'God', pro-fact, progressive party and shed the incredibly destructive and abortive instincts of the Republican Party that has played you for fools.
Stop flushing our only home down a right-wing toilet.
Your children and grandchildren will forgive you and thank you.
297
Glenn - the glaring flaw with your high flung rhetoric is that; abortion is in fact ok.
In general it's rarely effective to try to use the fatally flawed arguments of your opposition to beat them down with.
In general it's rarely effective to try to use the fatally flawed arguments of your opposition to beat them down with.
1
Too bad not one person for whom this was intended will read it!
They're all watching Faux News!
They're all watching Faux News!
5
I am your sycophant, Socrates- if you need one?
All of us who love democracy need you
All of us who love democracy need you
3
Thanks to Bill for another great essay, and the dark tone is accurate.
In 1995, I attended a Sierra Club gathering in Pasadena, where the speaker was Martin Litton, one of the Club's original lions. We later became friends. Martin was a rare person- Colorado River boatman- using dories, no less, for his company- former LA Times reporter, and leading warrior against mining and damming intrusions in the Grand Canyon. Here's the part I remember, like it was yesterday:
"When we sat down to negotiate with the bastards, we would get screwed every time. The compromises they offered were later reneged on anyway. Only when we fought did we win".
Bill McKibben is a worthy successor to Martin, John Muir, and David Brower. Economic warfare might now be our only weapon, since our media is corrupt and cowardly, and most politicians are worse. The time has come to execute boycotts against all products made by Koch Industries' Georgia Pacific. The target rich field could also include dastardly corporations like Exxon, Monsanto, and Weyerhauser, for starters. And the Times, for that matter, if they keep taking Exxon ads and hiring denier columnists.
It's too late to be screwing around. Time to fight, because the stakes are only... everything.
In 1995, I attended a Sierra Club gathering in Pasadena, where the speaker was Martin Litton, one of the Club's original lions. We later became friends. Martin was a rare person- Colorado River boatman- using dories, no less, for his company- former LA Times reporter, and leading warrior against mining and damming intrusions in the Grand Canyon. Here's the part I remember, like it was yesterday:
"When we sat down to negotiate with the bastards, we would get screwed every time. The compromises they offered were later reneged on anyway. Only when we fought did we win".
Bill McKibben is a worthy successor to Martin, John Muir, and David Brower. Economic warfare might now be our only weapon, since our media is corrupt and cowardly, and most politicians are worse. The time has come to execute boycotts against all products made by Koch Industries' Georgia Pacific. The target rich field could also include dastardly corporations like Exxon, Monsanto, and Weyerhauser, for starters. And the Times, for that matter, if they keep taking Exxon ads and hiring denier columnists.
It's too late to be screwing around. Time to fight, because the stakes are only... everything.
85
David Brower resigned from the Sierra Club because of their total abandonment of the issue of population growth and Brower would not at all support Bill McKibben's similar retreat from this issue. As you are no doubt aware, McKibben joined Sierra Club president Carl Pope in dropping this issue like a hot potato (around the same time hedge fund titan David Gelbaum made his $100 million gift to Sierra Club conditional on pretending that population growth does not matter). And John Muir would not be happy with a doubling of California's population in the last 40 years to roughly 40 million, mostly from immigration. We can stick our heads in the sand on this issue because the Democrats now pretend that North American sustainability has nothing to do with population growth but nature does not care and the evidence is everywhere.
5
GRH,
Actually, David Gelbaum is not the angel that he is portrayed as. He stopped solar projects in the Mojave Desert for years on bogus environmental grounds (google my own Solar Sabotage in the Mojave Desert), for his own personal reasons. And yeah, we need to do something about population, but nobody has figured out how to do it. Gelbaum has good motivations for the most part but, like many quants, there are major holes in his knowledge base, and he won't admit them.
Actually, David Gelbaum is not the angel that he is portrayed as. He stopped solar projects in the Mojave Desert for years on bogus environmental grounds (google my own Solar Sabotage in the Mojave Desert), for his own personal reasons. And yeah, we need to do something about population, but nobody has figured out how to do it. Gelbaum has good motivations for the most part but, like many quants, there are major holes in his knowledge base, and he won't admit them.
1
Uh-huh. The fate of the world hangs on a four-year term. Obama, with his excess, couldn't turn back the clouds of carbon belching forth from emerging economies, despite serious attempts to do so with his pen and at the cost of jobs lost and the creation of new ones forsaken. Yet Trump now is charged with doing what he couldn't -- with the fate of the world in the balance.
You guys ever wonder WHY Democrats are in the wilderness?
You guys ever wonder WHY Democrats are in the wilderness?
5
What on Earth are you talking about? Under the environmental neglect of George W. Bush, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. Under the much brighter and responsible Obama, millions of jobs were added while environmental protections were stiffened.
8
You do realize that the United States alone has contributed ~30% of cumulative CO2 emissions from 1850 to the present?
Yet, despite that fact, you suggest that more short term thinking and shorter term economics will get us through the climate crisis now unfolding. Why do you abjure responsibility and leadership for slightly better stock price or a slightly cheaper energy bill (for the moment). Both are meaningless measurements of success given the planetary and human damage required to sustain it.
And on the topic of jobs, had fossil fuel ideologues not been in charge, there's good reason to think that the U.S. and not China would be leading in the clean energy sector, but, no, thanks to the efforts of the Kochs and their ilk, this country is mired in dirty, outdated fuels that harm people, animals, and the biosphere. China leads and we seem content to follow. Sad.
Arguments like yours are essentially asking the nation to walk into the future backwards. I prefer a more forward looking approach.
Yet, despite that fact, you suggest that more short term thinking and shorter term economics will get us through the climate crisis now unfolding. Why do you abjure responsibility and leadership for slightly better stock price or a slightly cheaper energy bill (for the moment). Both are meaningless measurements of success given the planetary and human damage required to sustain it.
And on the topic of jobs, had fossil fuel ideologues not been in charge, there's good reason to think that the U.S. and not China would be leading in the clean energy sector, but, no, thanks to the efforts of the Kochs and their ilk, this country is mired in dirty, outdated fuels that harm people, animals, and the biosphere. China leads and we seem content to follow. Sad.
Arguments like yours are essentially asking the nation to walk into the future backwards. I prefer a more forward looking approach.
8
You sir are a fool. The democrats you speak of are actually moderate republicans dressed up as democrats, read a little Noam Chomsky. The nail in the coffin was little George Bush, and yes, Obama accomplished little and Hillary would have been the same. But the fact is; we could not afford the level of regression of Trump and republicans at this point. So, you are probably aware of tipping points and feed back loops. This is the last tipping point and all bets are off.
7
Super Trump. He defeats Democrats with a single blow, brings on nuclear armageddon and destroys the planet in a flash. Setting your hair on fire because of Trump is getting old - give it a break.
3
Please substantively engage the arguments put forward by the author.
4
Our planet actually has a life all its own and when something is endangering its life, it usually sheds whatever that something is, as it has done in the past. If we don't stop destroying the planet, it will take care of it for us.
53
At the heart of the climate-change deniers' creed is the jeopardy to the profits of fossil fuel industry and other polluting enterprises. Threats to exotic species and ecosystems mean nothing to them.
Let's put this in terms they might understand. Suppose that rainfall patterns were to shift ever-so-slightly, an inevitable result of global temperature rise and glacier destruction. Suppose of that shift resulted in a decrease in productivity in American agriculture (the grain belt - breadbasket of the world) of 15, 20 or 25%. I suspect that the impact would ripple through the world economy with devastating consequences. Suppose further that the shift lasts not one or two growing season, but begins to look like a permanent feature of the global weather system. The economic and political impact would be incalculable.
Something like this could happen, not in the far-distant future, but anytime and without warning. Those who think that climate change will impact only
the underdeveloped and disadvantaged parts of the world might be surprised to find that their culture and their wealth that depends on it will not survive.
We are the horseshoe crabs. Does that make it any clearer?
Let's put this in terms they might understand. Suppose that rainfall patterns were to shift ever-so-slightly, an inevitable result of global temperature rise and glacier destruction. Suppose of that shift resulted in a decrease in productivity in American agriculture (the grain belt - breadbasket of the world) of 15, 20 or 25%. I suspect that the impact would ripple through the world economy with devastating consequences. Suppose further that the shift lasts not one or two growing season, but begins to look like a permanent feature of the global weather system. The economic and political impact would be incalculable.
Something like this could happen, not in the far-distant future, but anytime and without warning. Those who think that climate change will impact only
the underdeveloped and disadvantaged parts of the world might be surprised to find that their culture and their wealth that depends on it will not survive.
We are the horseshoe crabs. Does that make it any clearer?
92
The biggest threat to other species and ecosystems is the continuing rapid propagation of the human species.
6
That's right! God bless Planned Parenthood!
4
At this moment, methane is pouring out of a pipe in the Alaskan sound. Methane is spewing out of newly forming craters in Siberia. Fracked methane is billowing into our atmosphere. We are recreating the Permian Extinction in record time. Our oceans are dying as are many species - we won't be the last to go -- and our corporate government exacerbates the process for the wealth of a gluttonous few.
What bothers me
is not so much that we
clever apes are driving ourselves
to extinction.
There is at least some humor and
irony in that
and a lesson to be learned
by someone --
What really bothers me
is that we are taking
the rest of the living world with us
plants and animals of all kinds
life can never be the same --
is already changed
irreparably
What drives me to distraction
is that we know better
that a very few of us
who know better
are destroying life on earth
for the most selfish shortsighted and venal
of reasons
What bothers and puzzles me most
is why we let them.
What bothers me
is not so much that we
clever apes are driving ourselves
to extinction.
There is at least some humor and
irony in that
and a lesson to be learned
by someone --
What really bothers me
is that we are taking
the rest of the living world with us
plants and animals of all kinds
life can never be the same --
is already changed
irreparably
What drives me to distraction
is that we know better
that a very few of us
who know better
are destroying life on earth
for the most selfish shortsighted and venal
of reasons
What bothers and puzzles me most
is why we let them.
105
What bothers and puzzles you the most is why we let them?
What have you done to reduce your impact on the environment?
What have you done to reduce your impact on the environment?
1
Take heart: at least Daddy Long Legs will probably still be around. They have found fossils dating them back to roughly 465 million years ago, well before the dinosaurs. Something new will then evolve.
2
roaches and some birds too but it's all but over for me and for you.
Welcome to the fossil record.
Welcome to the fossil record.
2
We can never recover, Trump makes no noticable difference. Over-population will continue to grow until we choose a method deleting half and staying at that level. We won't, so we all better man-up and ready ourselves for the consequences of our stupidity.
17
More partisan drivel. The primary villains in climate change are Canada, China, Australia and India and their coal based economies... add tar sands oil to Canada's indictment. Brazil is burning down its forests to clear land to grow soybeans, merrily trying to overtake China as the climate destroying leader. In the US Trump is free to posture all he wants on behalf of coal... since market forces here are rapidly causing coal to replaced by natural gas.
The key is not Trump but economics. People require power to live, for food, shelter and comfort, and overall will select the most affordable. The one action that would rapidly shift the world to a sustainable economy would be a fair global carbon tax that captures the externalities from burning carbon. This would use the free market to efficiently favor alternatives and innovation.
However a carbon tax was explicitly put off the table at the Paris meeting by the Obama administration, because they felt it was politically impossible in the US. The Paris agreement was a show, not a solution.
Looking at the projections for coal, natural gas and oil production from the USEIA, global production increases steadily past 2040. EIA's projections are historically accurate, therefore, absent a major technological innovation (we cannot count on such a deus ex machina to save us) such as the invention of a much better battery that makes solar and wind power cheaper and more reliable, or the invention of a practical fusion power system.
Human nature plus resistance from those whose wealth and power derive from oil and gas, (Putin and the Koch brothers spring to mind) the inertia of past investments, are driving humanity towards a rapid fundamental climate shift to a different stable state, like what existed thousands of millennia ago, a HOT EARTH,. Humanity has committed to a future of rapid sea level rise, climate disruption, turbulent mass migrations and wars and painful adaptation.
However a carbon tax was explicitly put off the table at the Paris meeting by the Obama administration, because they felt it was politically impossible in the US. The Paris agreement was a show, not a solution.
Looking at the projections for coal, natural gas and oil production from the USEIA, global production increases steadily past 2040. EIA's projections are historically accurate, therefore, absent a major technological innovation (we cannot count on such a deus ex machina to save us) such as the invention of a much better battery that makes solar and wind power cheaper and more reliable, or the invention of a practical fusion power system.
Human nature plus resistance from those whose wealth and power derive from oil and gas, (Putin and the Koch brothers spring to mind) the inertia of past investments, are driving humanity towards a rapid fundamental climate shift to a different stable state, like what existed thousands of millennia ago, a HOT EARTH,. Humanity has committed to a future of rapid sea level rise, climate disruption, turbulent mass migrations and wars and painful adaptation.
13
While it is true that "power" has great benefits, we also are gluttons at the table. Show me a middle-class family that doesn't have multiple TV's, computers, drives instead of walks, owns hybrid cars, has installed solar panels, thinks a green lawn is important during a drought, etc., etc., etc. We apparently have very large feet as our footprint is made by our excesses.
2
Thank you for alerting us to the tipping points that are coming and those who would ignore them. The question I have is, don't Republicans and billionaires need to breath as well? They have children and families that will need sustenance as well as money to survive, right? They know that history books are the true gauge between the fame and infamy of a life well led, correct? Why would someone go to the trouble of working to make a name for him or herself if that name will be forever linked to disastrous decisions, venal pursuits or immoral legacies? What good is power if you have to feign ignorance in order to stay in power? I would rather live a life of quiet desperation then be remembered as poorly as the historic dictators are, or as O'Reilly, Cosby, Ailes, McConnell, Ryan, Tillerson, the Kochs and, especially, the Trumps will be.
17
You failed to mention the problems Democrats are causing with their plane trips to Hawaii, their cruise ship vacations, their gas guzzling SUV's, their 1500' plus homes.
You see slapping a couple solar panels on the roof and buying an electric car like what Al Gore did... doesn't really do all that much when your lifestyle consumes 98% more resources than what 80% of the worlds population uses!
You see slapping a couple solar panels on the roof and buying an electric car like what Al Gore did... doesn't really do all that much when your lifestyle consumes 98% more resources than what 80% of the worlds population uses!
This is just the kind of fake news that we are desperately trying to avoid. "Trump Is President Now. His Impact on the Planet Will Last Forever."
No, it will not.
It can be reversed in 4-8 years, if not sooner. His "impact on the planet" is negligible. Making an elephant out of a moth does not help the argument. Climate change is a real challenge & taking a melodramatic stance does not further the argument one iota.
No, it will not.
It can be reversed in 4-8 years, if not sooner. His "impact on the planet" is negligible. Making an elephant out of a moth does not help the argument. Climate change is a real challenge & taking a melodramatic stance does not further the argument one iota.
5
*Citations needed.
1
sbmd
just how is this going to be reversed? What magic wand will you wave to halt the destruction of our planet by greedy trump and friends? Please let me know as I would love to reverse all of the climate damage that greedy people like trump and the republicans running this country are doing.
just how is this going to be reversed? What magic wand will you wave to halt the destruction of our planet by greedy trump and friends? Please let me know as I would love to reverse all of the climate damage that greedy people like trump and the republicans running this country are doing.
4
Okay, you do realize that your comment implies that Trump will definitely make impact that will need to be reversed in 4-8 years?? We are almost at the point of no return. Any negative impact, small or big, might be enough to push us all into extinction.
4
With all the hate and mistrust between countries these days the one common enemy we all have and should be trying to defeat is climate change. And the country that should be in the forefront of this effort is the US. Yet it's the supposed leader of the world that is doing it's best to thwart these efforts. Why?
26
RNS: you ask why. money is why.
What will also happen is drought and famine. The loss of clean and available drinking water and water for crops i.e. food will cause even greater mass population migration. If people are complaining about immigration now, imagine when the dire need to move en masse for mere existence becomes real. Will America turn people looking for water and food away? They will not be looking to 'take away our jobs' but 'take away our water'?
Temporary greed, the lure of lucre is greater than reasonable thought. Trump's ego for a Win at all costs will propel American gas guzzlers down our potholed highways despite the know how of Detroit to produce energy efficient cars.
The era of strategic thought and science is over. Greed in the name of Trump is overwhelming us.
Temporary greed, the lure of lucre is greater than reasonable thought. Trump's ego for a Win at all costs will propel American gas guzzlers down our potholed highways despite the know how of Detroit to produce energy efficient cars.
The era of strategic thought and science is over. Greed in the name of Trump is overwhelming us.
Ivanka and Jared need to step up and remind him he has grandchildren. I worry about the mess we are leaving (including space junk!) every day. President Trump has the power to do something. He should, he must!
8
This package's alleged alarm is an irresponsible trivializing of the problem. It reads like that of a roomful of children joined in throwing a tantrum.
The danger is that we are starting processes of change of Earth that can continue, too powerful for humankind to stop, that will devastate our human civilization and species.
McKibben throws his tantrum whilst failing to mention that.
Other writers trivialize the danger by focusing on tiny effects such as extinction of the akikiki and the akekee.
The danger, you irresponsible writers, is extinction of future generations of us.
The danger is that we are starting processes of change of Earth that can continue, too powerful for humankind to stop, that will devastate our human civilization and species.
McKibben throws his tantrum whilst failing to mention that.
Other writers trivialize the danger by focusing on tiny effects such as extinction of the akikiki and the akekee.
The danger, you irresponsible writers, is extinction of future generations of us.
6
I for one, care about the species of this planet that will/are facing the real possibility of extinction due to human activities. Seems to me that writing about the plight of these species is a scientific duty and their messages should not be ignored.
12
Ken, you and your three recommenders appear so oblivious of the death struggle we are in that, like McKibben et al and the NYT on this one, you're effectively agents of Trump and the Brothers Koch.
Care about whatever species you want -- but for your communication to the public, focus on what will win public support. For that, this thing from McKibben et al is so bad that if I were a Koch, I'd reprint a million, airdrop them over competitive elections, work to make it go viral on the Web.
"The Global Warming Elitists are starving children in North Dakota right now, by denying their fathers work on the Keystone pipeline -- to pamper some distant future generation of a bird called the akikiki. Who do you favor? -- our children now, or the Elitists' favor in the future, the akikiki?"
Care about whatever species you want -- but for your communication to the public, focus on what will win public support. For that, this thing from McKibben et al is so bad that if I were a Koch, I'd reprint a million, airdrop them over competitive elections, work to make it go viral on the Web.
"The Global Warming Elitists are starving children in North Dakota right now, by denying their fathers work on the Keystone pipeline -- to pamper some distant future generation of a bird called the akikiki. Who do you favor? -- our children now, or the Elitists' favor in the future, the akikiki?"
1
No DIck, I'm not oblivious to the consequences of AGW.
I've been following this problem since I first read of it in 1992. I'm well aware of the dire outcomes that could result. ALL living things on this planet - from the coral reefs that are dying right now, to our children's children and beyond face a very real and very profound danger of inheriting a planet that becomes more and more difficult to thrive on as time progresses and insufficient action is taken.
Still, that does not preclude me from being concerned for any species that will struggle and perish or the irreversible changes to our environment due to our inability to come together and deal with the damage we humans are inflicting on this planet and consequently ALL of it's inhabitants.
I've been following this problem since I first read of it in 1992. I'm well aware of the dire outcomes that could result. ALL living things on this planet - from the coral reefs that are dying right now, to our children's children and beyond face a very real and very profound danger of inheriting a planet that becomes more and more difficult to thrive on as time progresses and insufficient action is taken.
Still, that does not preclude me from being concerned for any species that will struggle and perish or the irreversible changes to our environment due to our inability to come together and deal with the damage we humans are inflicting on this planet and consequently ALL of it's inhabitants.
7
US is a small part of GloWar and Trump's reversals are even smaller.
Who knew that US leadership would save or doom earth, I guess we ARE the indispensable nation
Thing is, what scare tactics will our left trot out in year when these have exhausted their power
Who knew that US leadership would save or doom earth, I guess we ARE the indispensable nation
Thing is, what scare tactics will our left trot out in year when these have exhausted their power
2
Not to worry.....Just as the 'Earth is the center of the Universe' and the 'Flat World' cu of their productltists eventually adjusted to the undeniable realities of theit time, so too will the 'Climate change' fanatics also previously known as 'Man-made Global Warming' fanatics until undeniable evidence forced a rebranding of their product, so too will they adjust to the new realities which those of a more sober and informed intellect have long understood.
1
There is a nation and world-wide March for Science tomorrow with sister marches across the land. Let's march like our lives depend on it. They do.
https://www.marchforscience.com/
https://www.marchforscience.com/
46
Indeed, I have an article on this issue and an interview with a local Sierra Club activist here --
http://veermag.com/2017/04/a-climate-of-resistance/
http://veermag.com/2017/04/a-climate-of-resistance/
njglea -- what you're marching for is politicization of science. If you and your fellow travelers had one iota of scientific knowledge you wouldn't use the term "settled" science nor would you refer to skeptics as deniers.
And are you planning to March in favor of allowing all science to be heard, including the main stream science that Charles Murray references in the book The Bell Curve? Or for science that refutes/disputes many of the cherished progressive beliefs?
I doubt it. You people will never convince skeptics because your arguments are weak and your spokes people can't do much more than call people names etc. The science on CC is weak. The temp record doesn't support it if you take the time to study it.
And are you planning to March in favor of allowing all science to be heard, including the main stream science that Charles Murray references in the book The Bell Curve? Or for science that refutes/disputes many of the cherished progressive beliefs?
I doubt it. You people will never convince skeptics because your arguments are weak and your spokes people can't do much more than call people names etc. The science on CC is weak. The temp record doesn't support it if you take the time to study it.
2
this kind of melodramatic, hyper-ventilating type of Opinion does nothing to help us adapt and prosper with changing climate conditions....
As another point of reference, allow me to describe my childhood......growing up in heavy duty Rust Belt America.....steel mills spewed smoke and chemicals into the valley, everything really was grey(just as in that Paul Simon song), the sun little more than an orange ball seen thru the haze.....and winters were severely cold! The River routinely froze over..
Now, thirty-forty years later, the steel mills are all closed, the sky is blue, the river is clear and cool...but now never freezes and winters are mild, except for the errant blizzard or two that blows thru and then quickly melts.........
Maybe we just need MORE pollution to counter act so-called "global warming"?
Remember the previous environmental nightmare du jour called "nuclear winter"???
...the other thought that occurs to me....
Maybe Climate Change is NORMAL....and we are attempting to control the climate with as much success as marching down to the ocean and commanding the tides to stop.........
As another point of reference, allow me to describe my childhood......growing up in heavy duty Rust Belt America.....steel mills spewed smoke and chemicals into the valley, everything really was grey(just as in that Paul Simon song), the sun little more than an orange ball seen thru the haze.....and winters were severely cold! The River routinely froze over..
Now, thirty-forty years later, the steel mills are all closed, the sky is blue, the river is clear and cool...but now never freezes and winters are mild, except for the errant blizzard or two that blows thru and then quickly melts.........
Maybe we just need MORE pollution to counter act so-called "global warming"?
Remember the previous environmental nightmare du jour called "nuclear winter"???
...the other thought that occurs to me....
Maybe Climate Change is NORMAL....and we are attempting to control the climate with as much success as marching down to the ocean and commanding the tides to stop.........
2
short end
just in case you can't figure it out more pollution is bad not good.
Should someone who has been poisoned drink more toxins to get better?
It should not be that hard to figure out but i guess i overestimate human intelligence as the last election clearly demonstrated.
just in case you can't figure it out more pollution is bad not good.
Should someone who has been poisoned drink more toxins to get better?
It should not be that hard to figure out but i guess i overestimate human intelligence as the last election clearly demonstrated.
8
Or maybe you are ignorant about science. Just saying...
7
The new administration is a threat to humanity. They are hell-bent on destroying life as we know it, either with the coal plants or the mass extinctions or God forbid, a thermonuclear war with NK. Peace and co-existence are words that are not found in their dictionary. Brace yourselves as this a start of the end of our world.
61
What a shame that the people who can correct this charge to disaster most likely do not read the New York Times editorial page.
11
Well Bill, nobody will be able to say that you and the New York Times didn't warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us. And warn us.
390
very intelligent. You almost convinced me to change my climate change denying ways. Nothing like repeating a meaningless phrase over and over and over and over and over and over and over .... you get the point.
4
Oops, sorry, I didn't catch that, could you repeat it? I was watching The Price is Right. You see, there was this woman who......wait......what were we talking about?
2
What's your point? You don't like being warned about preventable disasters but prefer to keep your head in the sand until the earth is uninhabitable?
It's necessary to keep sounding an alarm when people don't hear it or refuse to hear it.
It's necessary to keep sounding an alarm when people don't hear it or refuse to hear it.
5
The USA Bank Account, Can't Withstand This Presidency.
8
No worries. He'll blow up the planet long before the species die-off can take place! Trump's billionaire grandchildren will get a chance to see what their money is worth in post-apocalyptic America.
49
Global warming: The most important challenge we face. The most consequential. Hair on fire hardly describes how concerned we should be.
This is not new! I well recall concerns already voiced in the 60's and 70's of the last century. Evidence was already mounting then.
I'm old now. But I care deeply about humanity's fate. I'm worried about floods and famines. And the effect upon people and our planet.
Wars bother me. Greed bothers me. Lack of healthcare or education bothers me. But all of that pales if our species dies out.
My voice is small. But every voice counts. Rise up and be counted, fellow humans! Cry out for an environment that lacks human Speech, but gives us enough information to know that swift action is mandatory.
This is not new! I well recall concerns already voiced in the 60's and 70's of the last century. Evidence was already mounting then.
I'm old now. But I care deeply about humanity's fate. I'm worried about floods and famines. And the effect upon people and our planet.
Wars bother me. Greed bothers me. Lack of healthcare or education bothers me. But all of that pales if our species dies out.
My voice is small. But every voice counts. Rise up and be counted, fellow humans! Cry out for an environment that lacks human Speech, but gives us enough information to know that swift action is mandatory.
309
Your voice is not small, TheraP, and thank you for using it so eloquently here. Yes, EVERY voice and action counts. Please continue to use yours however you can.
2
It's interesting how quickly we settle for less. I had a lot of high hopes for this country before Trump was elected; gun control, universal health care, greater income equality. All of that is gone now, at least temporarily. Now, all I hope for is that my children will be have the opportunity to live safe, happy and productive lives like we did (our family is not among the marginalized in this country). My greatest fear is that they will deal with the repercussions of climate change in their lifetime, and more immediately that they will be exposed to toxic chemicals as safeguards are thrown by the wayside in the name of profit. I worry all the time about their future, because it is true: we only have a short window to act to at least delay catastrophe until our children have lived their lives. I am saddened and anxious that our sweet, innocent kids don't even know the hardships they may face because of the indifference and greed of those in power. And there is plenty of blame to go around the collective as well, for our lack of urgency and outrage allows them to get away with it.
96
Prove that climate change caused by humans is the reason for the changes that have occurred. Hints: Models aren't proof. Movies aren't proof. Activism isn't proof.
Thermodynamics is proof, only the change in CO2 isn't able by itself to deliver the change in temperatures that has been seen. And the so-called "feedbacks" are only guesses that ignore the fact that H2O by itself should have triggered the same feedbacks and should have turned this planet into Venus, yet didn't.
Thermodynamics is proof, only the change in CO2 isn't able by itself to deliver the change in temperatures that has been seen. And the so-called "feedbacks" are only guesses that ignore the fact that H2O by itself should have triggered the same feedbacks and should have turned this planet into Venus, yet didn't.
3
You bring up the same old smoke screen to confuse people. Yes, climate is complicated, but putting more CO2 into the atmosphere will trap more heat. To zeroth order that will heat the planet, just like putting on a sweater warms us, complicating obfuscations notwithstanding.
I'll put your own challenge to you: Prove that CO2 is not causing the warming we see. Models aren't proof? Fair enough, though in your mind they are apparently good enough to conclude that "water vapor should have produced the same feedbacks."
Now consider this: If you are wrong about CO2, the results will be catastrophic for our civilization. Indeed, they might well end our civilization. If I am wrong about CO2, we might spend some extra money building greener, less polluting energy sources. We might design our cities in a way that depends more on public transit, walking and biking to get people around than it does on cars. Doesn't seem like much of a choice, really.
I'll put your own challenge to you: Prove that CO2 is not causing the warming we see. Models aren't proof? Fair enough, though in your mind they are apparently good enough to conclude that "water vapor should have produced the same feedbacks."
Now consider this: If you are wrong about CO2, the results will be catastrophic for our civilization. Indeed, they might well end our civilization. If I am wrong about CO2, we might spend some extra money building greener, less polluting energy sources. We might design our cities in a way that depends more on public transit, walking and biking to get people around than it does on cars. Doesn't seem like much of a choice, really.
54
Pssst. Toss in hydrocarbons like that stuff in your AC unit and methane and you'll begin to get it. CO2 is the trigger we've pulled. The monster we've unleashed will convince you but it won't matter. Our goose (and everything else) is cooked.
24
*Citation needed.
3
According to the NYT, Jared and Ivanka favor staying with the Paris accord. For that reason, I'm withdrawing my fire from their direction and saving my ammo for the climate-deniers.
I know they went skiing in Aspen last month, and I know what conditions they found because I'd just been there. They saw what a warming future was going to be like for the ski industry. Slush and sixty degree temperatures at 11,000 feet in the Rockies in the middle of March.
I'm convinced now that they get it. You can't ski in those warm conditions in mid-March without getting it.
I know they went skiing in Aspen last month, and I know what conditions they found because I'd just been there. They saw what a warming future was going to be like for the ski industry. Slush and sixty degree temperatures at 11,000 feet in the Rockies in the middle of March.
I'm convinced now that they get it. You can't ski in those warm conditions in mid-March without getting it.
15
We'll I skied knee deep fresh powder in the Cascades last Saturday. So as long as we're confusing weather with climate, things appear to be just fine.
3
Mr. NcKibben is ill informed about changes in climate on the geologic time scale.
10 000 years ago Middlebury was buried under a one mile thick sheet of ice. On the geological time scale, we are 3 degree C (7 degree F) above average and the ice due to return to Middlebury in 5 000 years - a blink of an eye on the global time scale.
Kindly see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_Age_Temperature.png
Indeed global warming might save his college should still exist then
10 000 years ago Middlebury was buried under a one mile thick sheet of ice. On the geological time scale, we are 3 degree C (7 degree F) above average and the ice due to return to Middlebury in 5 000 years - a blink of an eye on the global time scale.
Kindly see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_Age_Temperature.png
Indeed global warming might save his college should still exist then
5
Nice try, Gerhard, but as I'm sure you've been told a dozen times by now, the crisis is man-made global warming's rapidity of onset. Natural climate shifts occur over the course of millennia. Species have time to adapt through migration to higher altitudes or latitudes or selection of adaptations. Man-made global warming is more akin to the catastrophic events that have caused mass extinctions. If you cared at all maybe you'd bother to read "The Sixth Extinction" but you'll probably just continue to dangle the same old obfuscations out there and never search your soul for a definition of "evil."
4
GW,
Nice try yourself. The real problem is too many people! Address the real problem please!
Nice try yourself. The real problem is too many people! Address the real problem please!
Humans may not survive, but the planet will likely recover just fine....Nature does really care if the homo sapien experiment succeeds or not.
9
The latest GOP venality is to say okay maybe climate change is real but who cares, the "planet will be fine" once we're gone. Thereby absolving yourself of all responsibility for ecocide and the suffering of future generations even as you enjoy and freely partake in the benefits of your own time. How do you live with yourself?
2
We have our scourge sooner, not later,
The Climate Change Accelerator,
Former TV host
And dumber than most
To profit, pollution, he'll cater.
Our drinking water he'll befoul
The Planet can throw in the towel
Our POTUS will goad us
Surely discommode us,
Dole out CO2 with a trowel.
The Climate Change Accelerator,
Former TV host
And dumber than most
To profit, pollution, he'll cater.
Our drinking water he'll befoul
The Planet can throw in the towel
Our POTUS will goad us
Surely discommode us,
Dole out CO2 with a trowel.
78
Nothing that has been done so far by politicians including Trump will change the climate of the planet. The root cause of all global environmental problems including any effect of humans on the climate is overpopulation, but as this article illustrates there is no leadership to address it. As the population increases from 7.4 to some 10 billion carbon-generating human heaters during this century, who aspire to a carbon-intensive lifestyle, neither incremental increases in per capita energy efficiency nor carbon-related financial schemes will have any significant effect on our ongoing environmental disaster. Humans have chosen quantity over quality; the inevitable results include toxic pollution, genotoxicity and birth defects, disease, warfare, and massive social upheaval
36
How can you say nothing Trump does has to do with overpopulation? Have you not heard his stance on abortion and Planned Parenthood?
82
Nope. The root cause -- based on all the peer reviewed physical evidence, is the burning of fossil fuels, industrialization and the beef industry.
37
overpopulation is a huge problem but not the driving factor in climate pollution. Look at the facts - accumulation is the real driver - Americans have been the leading contributor to climate change and we have a very small amount of people who are fouling the earth for everyone else. Trump and his followers like to foul the only home we have and then cheer to foul it up more so our grand kids will be barely surviving on this planet that wants to abort us all so it can survive.
Go Coal!
Go Coal!
15
There is nothing more destructive to people and the world than unregulated predatory capitalism. The people behind the destruction of the world are the socially unconscious, mindless "international market makers" who now let machines tell them where to put all the wealth they have accumulated.
Since they have no social conscience there are no social consequences "programmed" into their equations.
And WE let them control the world with OUR hard-earned 401K and consumer money. Now they have outsize control of America's government - and OUR hard-earned taxpayer dollars - and highest court in the land. They want the world under their control - to plunder and destroy. Nothing positive for anyone but themselves.
The ONLY answer is to take away the only toys that matters to them. Money and power. WE must all get OUR hard-earned money off of their craps tables - called "markets" - and put it to consumer and business use in OUR local/ state communities. WE must elect only qualified, socially conscious democrat, progressive and independent lawmakers.
Stop buying their "new" phones and shopping online. Stop using social media - all owned by "markets".
WE average Americans have TREMENDOUS consumer and communication power. WE must use it every, single day to cleanse OUR America of the International Mafia who is trying to take it over.
NOW is the time.
Since they have no social conscience there are no social consequences "programmed" into their equations.
And WE let them control the world with OUR hard-earned 401K and consumer money. Now they have outsize control of America's government - and OUR hard-earned taxpayer dollars - and highest court in the land. They want the world under their control - to plunder and destroy. Nothing positive for anyone but themselves.
The ONLY answer is to take away the only toys that matters to them. Money and power. WE must all get OUR hard-earned money off of their craps tables - called "markets" - and put it to consumer and business use in OUR local/ state communities. WE must elect only qualified, socially conscious democrat, progressive and independent lawmakers.
Stop buying their "new" phones and shopping online. Stop using social media - all owned by "markets".
WE average Americans have TREMENDOUS consumer and communication power. WE must use it every, single day to cleanse OUR America of the International Mafia who is trying to take it over.
NOW is the time.
137
I always look for your comments, njglea. It's comforting seeing there is someone out there that feels as I do. This comment is one of your best, If I could recommend it a thousand times, I would. Thank you.
7
Thank you, Moira. You made my day a little brighter and I hope you have a GREAT one.
The worst thing we can do is get complacent or give in to despair.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! To save democracy in America.
The worst thing we can do is get complacent or give in to despair.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! To save democracy in America.
3
njgla,
Unregulated Socialism and Communism have both been more destructive than Capatilism. You just hate Capitalism!
Unregulated Socialism and Communism have both been more destructive than Capatilism. You just hate Capitalism!
The people who should be reading this won't. Many large corporations decided that despoiling the planet wasn't as important as making profits and keeping new ideas away from completion to reality. Automobile companies didn't want to improve gas mileage, install catalytic converters or seatbelts (which keep passengers from being killed). Fossil fuel corporations don't care about the environment because their CEOs and other upper level employees don't live anywhere near the devastation they can cause. Smokestack industries aren't interested in the fall out they create because it lands somewhere else. The people who could and should be doing something are bought and sold and traded by these same industries. If the fox is building the henhouse why would the head hens object if some of the occupants are killed by the foxes as long as they are left alone?
None of our elected officials have to worry about housing, clean water, a clean environment, losing their jobs, living where the air, water, and soil are contaminated. As long as their portion of the planet is clean and unaffected by climate change they have no incentive to legislate into being laws or regulations that curb the abuse or undo the damage. Besides, they don't believe it even though they aren't scientists and don't understand how science works.
None of our elected officials have to worry about housing, clean water, a clean environment, losing their jobs, living where the air, water, and soil are contaminated. As long as their portion of the planet is clean and unaffected by climate change they have no incentive to legislate into being laws or regulations that curb the abuse or undo the damage. Besides, they don't believe it even though they aren't scientists and don't understand how science works.
215
Of all the terrible things about this Trump presidency, the environmental impact is by far the worst. It should be headlines every day in every news outlet there is.
224
Yes, SB, until he and his cronies start WW3.
9
Absolutely. Among those complicit, unknowing or not, are the popular and news media failing to give this story the prominence and repetitiveness required. We see every day far more coverage, even in NYT, of the salacious, the cultural, and the directly political than of the ecological catastrophe now given new life by Trumpism.
8
www.thewaryouknow.com