I just finished talking with a friend on the phone about global warming and how it has manifest itself. I suppose there are doubters left but their argument has lost its legs. I will not rant here about far reaching, overlapping, incredibly complex effects of rapid climate change. All life is interdependent on a common network, the biosphere with its unique chemical/mineral makeup. Climate change itself is not the issue. Climate is always changing. The problem lies in the rate (speed) of change. In the past 200 years the planet has been warming exponentially, at an unprecedented rate. Not surprising, it corresponds directly with the the industrial revolution (Europe) and its shift away from an agri-based economy to an industrial/factory model; machines, steam engines and excessive burning of fossil fuels.
It is too late to ponder what will happen, it already has. The question now is; who pays for every expensive response, and the next, and the next? Climate driven damage to civil infrastructure, property and crops already has become the new normal. My friend asked jokingly, “Do you think it’s just the planet trying to get rid of us:” I thought it clever but didn’t laugh. I am not an expert but certainly better read than most. I remember in the late 1980’s when experts (Climatologists & Anthropologists) began making noise about spiraling human population and global pollution. The issue was mocked and dismissed as a liberal hoax.
My brother (BS in Biology) told me in 1990 that the sky was just too big for us to (f#@*) it up. He also said that modern agriculture could meet the needs of a 10 billion population (it was 5.3 billion then, 8 billion now) on course to reach 9 billion by 2050. He believed, the more people the better; good for business. That was 30 years ago. I’m still breathing but he is not. He died believing that burning the candle at both ends is good business, good for people. You just need a bigger candle. He’s not here to defend himself and I still love him so I won’t labor that story, just sayin’.
In the 2012 movie, The Bourne Legacy the Director of the CIA is sternly rebuked by a higher ranking official who admonished him, “You were given a Ferrari and you treated it like a lawnmower.” The same could be said of the whole of mankind. Live within your means is a proven axiom, another way to say; Don’t borrow money that you can’t pay back. The human animal doesn’t seem to think that far ahead. Some people can manage their money but collectively we plunder a resilient ecosystem as if it were indestructible, but it is not. Our enviro-debt is approaching its due date, when full payment is required. But I think we will disappear like the Wooly Mammoth and the Passenger Pigeon. After all, they both went extinct due in large part to human activity. It should be no surprise that we have both the means to fashion our own demise and a naive blind spot in that direction.
I’m thankful that I got so lucky. My very best decisions in this life were choosing the right time and place to be born and picking parents who excelled at integrity, love and nurturing. I have enjoyed the benefits from machines, from burning fossil fuels, and modern technology. Beyond that I am deep enough into my lifespan that all of my chemicals, minerals and molecules should have been recycled back into their source (Mother Earth) before I am required to pay my share of the enviro-debt.
Oops, starting to sound like preaching. That would be dangerously close to ranting and I said I wouldn’t do that. I just wanted to document a conversation and the irresistible spin off that it provoked. I really do feel privileged to have lived out eight decades in the donut hole of prosperity, modern gadgetry and health care that borders on magic. My earthly joy ride spans from Hitler and the Holocaust to Donald Trump and his self obsessed assault on human dignity. The Human odyssey is approaching full circle. I don’t fault The Donald. He is just the point of much larger spear. I look to 70 million MAGA disciples who have been so easily seduced by his bold ego and charismatic rhetoric.
It is too late to ponder what will happen, it already has. The question now is; who pays for every expensive response, and the next, and the next? Climate driven damage to civil infrastructure, property and crops already has become the new normal. My friend asked jokingly, “Do you think it’s just the planet trying to get rid of us:” I thought it clever but didn’t laugh. I am not an expert but certainly better read than most. I remember in the late 1980’s when experts (Climatologists & Anthropologists) began making noise about spiraling human population and global pollution. The issue was mocked and dismissed as a liberal hoax.
My brother (BS in Biology) told me in 1990 that the sky was just too big for us to (f#@*) it up. He also said that modern agriculture could meet the needs of a 10 billion population (it was 5.3 billion then, 8 billion now) on course to reach 9 billion by 2050. He believed, the more people the better; good for business. That was 30 years ago. I’m still breathing but he is not. He died believing that burning the candle at both ends is good business, good for people. You just need a bigger candle. He’s not here to defend himself and I still love him so I won’t labor that story, just sayin’.
In the 2012 movie, The Bourne Legacy the Director of the CIA is sternly rebuked by a higher ranking official who admonished him, “You were given a Ferrari and you treated it like a lawnmower.” The same could be said of the whole of mankind. Live within your means is a proven axiom, another way to say; Don’t borrow money that you can’t pay back. The human animal doesn’t seem to think that far ahead. Some people can manage their money but collectively we plunder a resilient ecosystem as if it were indestructible, but it is not. Our enviro-debt is approaching its due date, when full payment is required. But I think we will disappear like the Wooly Mammoth and the Passenger Pigeon. After all, they both went extinct due in large part to human activity. It should be no surprise that we have both the means to fashion our own demise and a naive blind spot in that direction.
I’m thankful that I got so lucky. My very best decisions in this life were choosing the right time and place to be born and picking parents who excelled at integrity, love and nurturing. I have enjoyed the benefits from machines, from burning fossil fuels, and modern technology. Beyond that I am deep enough into my lifespan that all of my chemicals, minerals and molecules should have been recycled back into their source (Mother Earth) before I am required to pay my share of the enviro-debt.
Oops, starting to sound like preaching. That would be dangerously close to ranting and I said I wouldn’t do that. I just wanted to document a conversation and the irresistible spin off that it provoked. I really do feel privileged to have lived out eight decades in the donut hole of prosperity, modern gadgetry and health care that borders on magic. My earthly joy ride spans from Hitler and the Holocaust to Donald Trump and his self obsessed assault on human dignity. The Human odyssey is approaching full circle. I don’t fault The Donald. He is just the point of much larger spear. I look to 70 million MAGA disciples who have been so easily seduced by his bold ego and charismatic rhetoric.
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