Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/22/scares-me-says-bill-mckibben-arctic-hits-1004degf-hottest-temperature-record
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When I was in Alaska in 2005 I was amazed at how elongated the ecotones were where the glaciers were retreating, indicating that they were really receding in haste. With foreknowledge our species, at least key elements of it, has continued to shit in our only pond. Many had this perverse faith that there would always arise a new technology to correct any problem that might come to be. Turns out that technology is likely to be mass extinction. Oops.
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The realist in me sees positive feedback loops activating in earnest, loops that will cause an even more rapid accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere and even more temperature extremes.
The pessimist tells me this is the beginning of the end. There’s no turning back now, and most certainly no longer a chance to mitigate the worst of global warming.
The optimist in me knows that the earth is very old, and has faced down catastrophic climactic shifts before. In a few million years, the earth will be in balance again. We humans however will not be a part of the renewed earth. Maybe thats for the best.
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Bet the Buck Turgidsons in the Pentagon are drooling at the prospect of turning the Arctic Ocean into a war zone with the Russians since there’s soon gonna be no ice in the way…
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“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here, this is the war room!”
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Indeed, the one of many beginnings of the end. Actually, I would call it the mid-point. Nature has been severely degraded by human activity once the Industrial Age and the Enlightenment arrived. The first focused on one thing-profits above all. The second broke the connection between humans and Gaia, allowing us to think we would find the solutions for all problems.
Where we go from here. A reconnection with Gaia. We won’t eliminate the damage of increased CO2 levels, but we can mitigate it. ONLY if we work together as a species. And ONLY if we give up all the “goodies” that Western culture has invented. Things like private cars. Things like urban sprawl. Things like mass consumption as a way of both therapy and social status. And, most of all, get rid of the concept of “rich”. No more billionaires, millionaires, whatever. We will concentrate on the quality of life, not work. The arts. The Commons in regard to places to live and to grow food.
Now, I’m wondering how those folks in Siberia must feel. Their bodies and ecosystems aren’t adapted to such heat.
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My partner and I are both believers in exponential climate change and stories like this seem to back that up. One story we read about this 100.4 record in the Arctic says it is about 80 years early according to some climate models. If this bears out, whoever is “Captain of the USA Titanic” will not matter much. We are trying to live every day as if it is our last, which one should do regardless. Try to be kind to each other as it all comes crashing down. That said, I have little compassion for Trump and his cult members who will continue to deny this is happening at all. And I know when they finally cannot wish it away, they will be the ones to scream the loudest about how nobody warned them. And a part of me will be laughing at them as I watch in horror as I am still working on being kind to everyone.
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“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”
― Cree Indian Prophecy
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And it means we do not have a second to waste. All sentient beings need to harness our collected anger and use it as fuel for change.
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We are all in Hospice now.
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Forget it, Jake, it’s Anthropecenetown.
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The only problem with that scenario is that those living underground will be the rich oligarch class who will not be able to survive on their own. They are dependent on worker slaves to keep them alive. They have no survival skills. And also they will end up fighting each other as that is all they know how to do. It’s born and bred into them. And then there is the aspect of inbreeding to contend with. No humans are going to survive the coming climate apocalypse.
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Very well said! Many people still think the Enlightenment was a good thing. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to be “enlightened”?
What a misleading name. It should be called the Great Darkening.
I won’t even get started on the Industrial Age.
Have you ever read articles by Umair Haque?
Here is his latest----if you read it, let me know what you think.
I agree with most of what he writes in his latest piece but I don’t think we have 3 decades.
h-ttps://eand.co/three-decades-three-revolutions-or-our-civilization-will-collapse-de2758d94f63
What needs to go hand in hand with this article about arctic high temperatures is a summary of the consequences of permafrost melt and methane release.
We need to be prepared for this, whatever that entails. I’m not sure yet —hospice comes to mind.
I follow the twitter feed of Christopher Cartwright (even though I’m not a twitter member). He summarizes the daily data related to climate science, co2, methane and more.
When I feel/see/smell/hear all that is going on around me, ecosystems dying, freak storms/climate chaos it helps me to connect that with the rest of the planet.
What is happening in the arctic is related to, for example the violent storm we experienced yesterday in the upper midwest. It is all interconnected. And sadly most people do not get that . . or care to know the truth.
h-ttps://twitter.com/chriscartw83
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We are clutching at straws now:
~https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/21/italian-team-covers-glacier-with-giant-white-sheets-to-slow-melting
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We are now literally trying to cover up the mistakes “we” have made.
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Instead of taking radical and sweeping moves to resolve this, America is actually eliminating environmental regulations, dramatically increasing carbon emissions, and decreasing emission standards. Politically America is exponentially moving toward the right wing in both party’s.
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It’s pathetic really. And as for living underground - what kind of existence would that be? Where is the sun, sea, rivers, forests, wildlife etc. Man’s EGO knows no bounds.
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Surely you could have found someone less captured by the corporations than Bill McKibben to talk about this important subject.
While he may never have taken any salary for his misleadership as 350 Co-Founder/Board Chair, McKibben has made huge money selling books based off Climate. I’ll go so far as to say that Bill McKibben has done nothing that has had any real impact at all on stopping Carbon Pollution. His vaunted Divestment claptrap also achieved nothing as far as less fossil fuel use. All that did was change who a fraction of the fossil fuel companies’ shareholders are.
His silence on the pro-fossil fuel Democrats (especially Obama’s pimping fracking, making the US the top fossil fuel producer in the world!). His silence on all the other problematic issues with “renewables” that the documentary raise is also very telling.
The Meltdown of the Careerist Greens, Counterpunch, 27 April 2020
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I agree with all your posts TTofB. When I was immersed in “restoration ecology” back in the early 2000’s it felt more like hospice care of ecosystems to me.
Many people felt that we were restoring woodlands, prairies, wetlands etc. and yes, there were many positive outcomes of our actions on behalf of these ecosystems but ultimately I felt they were dying.
Of course, I had to stay mum on my feelings about this otherwise I would lose friends/colleagues. So I kept planting, burning (prescribed), clearing invasive species and encouraging people to protect habitats.
As far as all of us being in hospice now, first consider what hospice means:
The definition of hospice is:
A shelter or lodging for travelers, pilgrims, foundlings, or the destitute, especially one maintained by a monastic order.
and:
A program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient’s home.
That second definition is where we need to go but it seems----for the 99%---- we, as a society are moving in the opposite direction. We do not offer palliative care emotionally and spiritually. We can’t even offer basic health care!
The systems in the u.s. are ruthless and cruel.
Somehow, in some way, perhaps smaller communities can offer hospice care for all including nonhuman life that still exists.
We will not get it from the larger murderous capitalist structure----there, as things collapse we will be left to fend for ourselves which is the opposite of palliative hospice.
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Oh dear, you sound like a socialist. And that won’t do in the Corporate Green backslapping, money-making, ego-boosting world of pro-capitalist climate NGOs and professional activists - you know, the world of Bill McKibben, Al Gore et al.
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