In other news, although at this time of the year, it's not unusual for me to comment on drought and wildfires Down Under, it is a little unusual to be talking about them in California, which really should be having it's rainy season. This is pretty awful for farmers in that state and homeowners are likely very concerned.
Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderground.com gives us an overview of the very costly past year in climate-related disasters or a billion dollars or more in damages, and Dr. Michael Mann reminds us of the importance of scientists speaking up regarding the seriousness of climate change and the related issues. That job is made harder, by the way, by secretive and well-funded groups that work to sow disinformation about environmental science. Is there any wonder why, despite the evidence and scientific consensus, climate denialism is actually on the rise?
That's a trend that has to end. And even if one has questions about how fossil fuel use ties into mega droughts like we have in California, no one should be comfortable with such lax regulation for energy and other industries that inconvenient and even deadly water pollution threatens one of our basic human needs.
4 comments:
Hi Vixen (do you prefer Vivacious?),
climate change is one of those subjects that has become all too familiar in the post-modern world.
Both sides insist that the other is lying, so who is lying?
Today people often know more about the spin coming out of both sides than they do the reality.
You know, the late Robert Anton Wilson used to get up every morning, look in the mirror, and ask himself several times, "Have I become a useful idiot yet?"
One of the best pieces of advice I have received about propaganda is, "Beware of people who are telling you what you want to hear."
--Formerly Amherst
Vixen's fine by me. Another fan of Wilson! I sometimes do look in the mirror wondering if I'm a useful idiot, but I've had a lot of questions about how useful I ever get, so...
I know the warnings of the climate change side seem baleful and "fnord-laden" but I'm hedging my bets about the side I cape for pragmatically, as follows:
Something like 97% of climate scientists and a respectable quantity of interested environmental folks agree with climate change. I'm a long way from my college chem courses, but I understand the gist of greenhouse gases and how they work , and it makes enough sense. That strikes me as too big and coherent to make sense as conspiracy & propaganda.
On the other hand, the fossil fuel industry has some bad habits with respects to how they treat their employees and the residents of areas where they ply their trade (think of the long-standing fooling with Alaskan native communities over the Exxon-Mobil spill in the 80's, or the BP Gulf spill of just a few years ago. They profit, and taxpayers do a lot of the clean-up. And they reserve a lot of money for propaganda, themselves. )
Deep down, the way I see it is, if they are hurting freshwater, sea and other ecosystems and the livestock and game that people depend on for food and making their living, we need to rely on them less because they are doing more harm than they are worth--to anyone but the folks making the millions.
Vixen! I should have known you would like Wilson.
I have some trivia: should you happen to look at the dedication page of the 'Cosmic Trigger, the Final Secret of the Illuminati' you will find the second dedication to "The Temple of the Hidden God, Houston, Texas."
As it happens, the people in the Temple of the Hidden God were old students of mine. (esoteric)
They were early to appreciate Wilson before his renown and arranged for a series of talks at the old Libran bookstore, long since gone.
In his appreciation he said he would dedicate his next book to them, and he did.
Naturally, the name of their group was taken from Kenneth Grant's book, 'Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God.' (I knew people who knew Grant, and he was an exceedingly strange little man, and no longer with us.)
The Hidden God was, of course, a reference to a view of the kundalini hidden in the human body that Crowley's followers in the OTO attempted to employ in various ways through a sort of Western-Sufi-sexual-tantric practice.
You make very telling points in respect to global warming. Shamefully, I still have reservations. Here are just a couple.
Item: it is virtually proven that the temperature of the earth has been rising as long as we've been recording it, about 139 years.
The temperature of the earth has been rising and falling in cycles for thousands of years, so 139 years seems inconclusive.
Item: I understand that temperatures have gone up about a degree in 100 years. They're not exactly ready for beachfront property in the Yukon though. I think we'll have to wait and see.
Should ubiquitous agreement be reached about global warming, what is the United States supposed to do about it? Over the last 30 years we have done more than most countries to put in new air and water standards to attack pollution and to be more sensitive to the environment. Naturally more needs to be done, but still our record is not bad.
When we bring this to the attention of 3rd world countries trying to move into an industrial era, they more or less say, "The hell with you guys. You have a standard of living we want, and now you want to thwart our forward progress. Go suck on a grape."
Right now China's pollution is horrible, and they do not seem interested in cooperating with the West or anyone else.
This all seems very ambiguous to me, and so in my uncertainty I will simply have to wait for further developments.
--Formerly Amherst
I don't think it's a shame to have a critical intelligence, but I think you've given me some ideas for my next Climate Sunday installment.
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