"Postcards from a World on Fire"

  


The New York Times has a new project that tracks climate change impacts that are already manifesting in 193 nations, every country on Earth. It's called Postcards from a World on Fire and it's an attempt to raise public awareness of the mess we're already in. 

It's a snapshot at what's happening around the world today, not what may happen in decades to come. We slough off that long-range business. We've become hardened to it. Why not show readers this is not theoretical. It's here. It's now. It's scary.

The editors make a special effort for the United States of America. That is searchable county by county. 

The message from the editorial board is succinct, "Open your eyes. We have failed. The climate crisis is now."

The editors also convey a message we don't hear often enough. Even if we simply can't or won't hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius we can still mitigate what's coming. That, however, depends on a lot more than individual action. It requires governments to act forcefully, now.  We don't need pipelines. We don't need to flood world markets with cheap, low-grade, high-carbon bitumen. Someone has to say "stop."

We need leaders that we don't have right now.

Comments

  1. RuralDecember 13, 2021 at 10:53 AM

    I need to thank you for your ongoing efforts to educate us on where our world is headed, I suspect with little restraint. I cant say I LIKE what you bring to our attention almost daily but I must very reluctantly agree with you even whilst feeling that my minuscule efforts to keep my little bit putting in and not taking out. The recent wind storm through SW Ontario brought home the message to many folks around here in the last day or so even if nothing like your situation out west. Doing something about it is not so easy but I am sure your constant reminders are making an impact …. Thanks Eh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibDecember 13, 2021 at 4:17 PM

      It can be a dreary business, Rural. I know that there are some who are put off by these posts. They get to me also but there's a need to keep hammering away at this. It's human nature to ignore the degree and rate of change underway. There's even a term for it, "creeping normalcy." It's a dangerous flaw in our species.

      There are still solutions available to us as imperfect as they may be. At the moment I'm trying to get through some recent papers on decoupling growth from prosperity. It's a matter of living smaller but living better, happier lives.

      Thanks for your encouragement, Rural.

      Delete
  2. TrailblazerDecember 13, 2021 at 5:23 PM

    I think here of the US obsession with every sperm is sacred!
    They do this whilst they condemn future generations to the miseries of climate change..

    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibDecember 13, 2021 at 6:16 PM

      There's plenty of hypocrisy to go around, TB. Only this time the consequences have never been greater.

      Delete
  3. Northern PoVDecember 14, 2021 at 8:35 AM

    Alas, the 'we tried to fight it' might be a fib.

    Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
    South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
    Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
    North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
    Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
    Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"
    Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
    Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
    Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
    Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
    Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
    Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
    Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
    Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
    Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
    Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
    Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
    Starkweather homicide, children of thalidomide
    Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia
    Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
    U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy
    Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
    Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
    "Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
    Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
    Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
    JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
    Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
    Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
    Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
    "Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
    Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
    Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
    Rock and roller, cola wars, I can't take it anymore
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    But when we are gone
    It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    We didn't start the fire
    It was always burning, since the world's been turning
    We didn't start the fire
    No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
    Source: Musixmatch
    Songwriters: Joel William M
    We Didn't Start the Fire lyrics © Joelsongs

    ReplyDelete
  4. lungtaDecember 14, 2021 at 12:02 PM

    hey mound
    I'm in
    your on
    i apologize if my frustration seems directed personally
    rather than at the issue
    please don't mistake
    my skepticism and realism
    for pessimism and cynicism
    it is just that it is a long way back
    to higher learning, spiritual awarness,
    bare feet, blankets and dirt floors
    as the "life ideal"
    regardless of how
    zero growth , ecologically balanced it is
    if you have dime to spend you won't go there
    (and there are lots of dimes)

    i found this
    https://theconversation.com/how-the-holiday-buying-season-adds-fuel-to-a-rapidly-warming-planet-172854
    it isn't just the rich
    it is the multitude of poor
    merry christmas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibDecember 14, 2021 at 12:55 PM

      I'm embarrassed to admit this, Lungta, but I don't celebrate Christmas anymore beyond sending gifts to four people. No tree, no lights, no grand dinner. I've gone from 100 mph to zero. As BB King would say, "the thrill is gone."

      And, please, don't be worried about offending me. Very rarely do I take anything personally. That's too much like work.

      And a festive pagan holiday to you too.

      Delete

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