It's Depressing. I Get It.


The clans are on the move. They're heading for Glasgow.  Brace yourselves. You're about to be COPped.

Ordinarily I'd be posting a lot about the upcoming COP26 climate summit that opens in early November, this year in Glasgow. It's not like there's any shortage of materials, new reports, dire warnings, etc. It's just that  this year the tone is discernably different, with a more urgent and apocalyptic sense that's, frankly, depressing. They're not pulling punches.

I watched a guy, Rupert Read, some variety of environmental philosopher, addressing an assembly of Cambridge university students.  He described the climate crisis as a "here & now" emergency. Then he said that a good many of them could not expect to enjoy old age. "I fear for you. I fear some of you are unlikely to grow old."  Dr. Read conveniently sums up his dire prescription in the first few minutes of this address. 


YouTube is flooded with interviews of various wonks posted by outfits such as Britain's Extinction Rebellion that continue with this theme. Then there's Canada's homegrown Cassandra and climate geek, Paul Beckwith of Ottawa  University.

There was a time, just a few years ago, when the doom merchants, guys like Guy McPhereson (Nature Bats Last), could be considered a fringe element. Well, he's got a lot of company now.

Increasingly they're calling these annual COP climate summits a scam, pointing out that, after 26 of them, more than a quarter century, of earnest thoughts and promises, emissions are still going up. It's been a load of hot air, empty promises, meaningless commitments far into the future.  Some come right out and accuse the developed nations of using COPs to thwart action on the climate crisis.

What bothers me most is that I can't say these people are wrong. I  can't say they're right but it sure feels like it.


 

Comments

  1. Northern PoVSeptember 30, 2021 at 12:12 PM

    from another no-holes-barred source:

    "There is a heavy price to pay for communicating distressing evidence, Cassandra-like, including psychological factors and/or social and professional isolation. Personal optimism may overcome realism. Some scientists are either self-censored or have their work suppressed or dismissed within institutions or by the media, including in government and academia. Some scientists have lost their position."
    http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

    Over to you, Greta
    Thunberg, youth climate activists call out leaders for delivering 'blah, blah, blah'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibSeptember 30, 2021 at 4:27 PM

      True enough, NPoV. Camilo Mora broke the taboo when he gave an interview to Yale360 in which he drew attention to the link between climate change, overpopulation and overconsumption triggering resource shortages. Before that, climate science types followed an unwritten law to confine their views to their immediate area.

      Mora, who was born into poverty in Colombia, spoke of what happened even to good people when food shortages left them unable to feed their kids.

      He later said he received plenty of praise from his colleagues for breaking the taboo but none would follow out of fear of retribution.

      Delete
  2. Owen GraySeptember 30, 2021 at 2:13 PM

    We're re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibSeptember 30, 2021 at 4:29 PM

      It does seem that way, Owen. 26 years worth of earnest promises and emissions are still going up. 26 years.

      Delete
  3. Northern PoVOctober 1, 2021 at 7:22 AM

    Bad News or Good News?

    "China’s population could halve within the next 45 years, new study warns
    Researchers say previous estimates may have severely underestimated the pace of demographic decline
    Census data says the birth rate was 1.3 children for each woman last year – well below the level needed to stop the population from falling"
    per SCMP

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibOctober 1, 2021 at 9:08 AM

      "Bad News or Good News?"

      The only earlier example of that sort of thing that comes to mind is the Black Death that swept Europe cutting populations in many places by half. Histories tell us that it was a good time for the survivors. There was plenty of housing, loads of stuff needing owners, etc. It also rejigged the bargaining power between serfs and lords. Peasants were able to command a better deal for their labour at least for a generation or two.

      There's a massive difference between medieval and modern realities. A smaller population may be in store for many countries. Reproductive rates will be just one factor.

      The future seems very, very cloudy.

      Delete
  4. famous AnimationNovember 19, 2021 at 1:22 PM

    Before people said there is no cure for herpes virus but today many people have now believe that there is a cure,herpes virus can be cured through Africans roots and herbs, dr.ubarlo he is the one of the great herbal doctor in Africa and he has the cure on this virus last month he share his herbal medicine in some medical hospital and now he is well recognize as one of the best in Africa, you don’t have to be sad any more or share your tears any more on this virus when the cure have already be find by dr.ubarlo email him on drubarlohome@gmail.com or Whatsapp number +2348119508814

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Up in Smoke. 300 Sq. Mi. of Amazon Rainforest Lost Every Day.

Image
  The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at what should be an alarming rate. 312 sq. mi. or 808 sq. kms. every day. Over the past 30 years humans have destroyed a patch of the Amazon equal in area to the states of Texas and New Mexico . The Amazon – historically a great carbon absorber, since trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen – now releases more carbon than it stores, which adds to, rather helps to reduce, our global climate crisis. Deforestation rates decreased slightly from 2004 to 2012. But since then, they’re back on the rise, especially in the past couple of years, since Jair Bolsonaro became president of Brazil. In 2018, as Bolsonaro campaigned as a patriotic man of the people, scientists predicted that once the Amazon lost more than 25% of its tree cover, it would become a drier ecosystem, all because deforestation changes weather patterns (due to how trees respire), which in turn reduces rainfall. Furthermore, as the forest becomes fragmented, areas surrounded by
Read more

The Cognoscenti Syndrome

  There is a group of people I think of as the Cognoscenti, people who are well educated, very informed and of rapidly diminishing relevance. Their ranks include writers such as Chris Hedges and Glen Greenwald. These are people who have honed an almost Puritanical value system, readily finding fault in any direction. They are scathing in their attacks on Republicans and Democrats alike to the point where they become nihilists. They don't endorse. They prescribe. This is where they fail. They're unable to advocate for anything that might resonate with the public whose interests they argue are being trammeled. Donald Trump was bad but Joe Biden is scarcely better. This is where their elitism comes in.  74 million may have voted for Trump but, hey, they didn't know any better. The mob that stormed the Capitol. They were just victims of the system venting their frustrations. All the racism, bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, white nationalism - inevitable side effects of their oppr
Read more

"Creeping Normalcy" in the Plague Age

Image
  Britain is experiencing a new wave of Covid cases, 40,000 per day .  Yet it hasn't caused much reaction from the public. It sounds like the legendary stiff upper lip, the "Keep Calm and Carry On" resolve. Health officials think it's something much more troubling. “We’re in a phase where we still have large numbers of people dying from this disease,” said Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh. “But it has gone into the background. We’ve become used to something that has not gone away. I think there’s been a desensitisation to the mortality.” On Thursday, the UK reported more than 45,000 new coronavirus cases – the most since mid-July – and more than 800 deaths were reported in the past seven days. Hospitalisations are rising, with one-fifth of ICU beds occupied by Covid patients, and the latest figures showed an estimated 200,000 pupils absent from school. The UK is faring far worse than its European neighbours, with a rate of death
Read more