Image above: Cartoon of flooded buildings with caption, "Ah Hell... C'mon! We had tumble dryers; air conditioning; cheap flights; big cars; free plastic toys with our breakfast cerial... I say it was worth it!" By (www.polyp.org.uk) from (http://peterlachnewinsky.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/climate-chaos-arctic-warming-positive-feedback-tipping-points/).
As Roger Waters expressed in the song "Not Now John" on the dark 1981 Pink Floyd album "The Final Cut",
There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees So fuck all that we've got to get on with these cant stop lose job mind gone silicon.In other words, too many people consuming. It's all becoming obvious. The heat wave called "March summer" registers, to those noticing, like a sentence to be marched off to the ovens. Ecocide = genocide. But many people still do have minds of their own. So it is good news we are all hit with the ultimate wake-up call. Adhering to the status quo, trying to ignore our environment, will give way to taking action and treating the climate carefully. One might even go off in search of water instead of looking at Facebook.
Or one might try to stock up on food, only to find that thousands of other people in the locale had the same idea, stripping the shelves in the markets. An exodus from a large city, on four wheels bearing carbon-emitting fumes to warm the globe further, may be the ironic result of a nasty heat wave and drought. But apart from that scenario, we can confidently expect changed behavior, some of it even pertaining to protecting the climate.
We have been saying for years that massive social upheaval will happen from petrocollapse, brought on by peak oil and a crippling geopolitical event impacting supplies of crude. But we've also noted there is a race between climate change and petrocollapse. Despite the high oil and gasoline prices, it seems the winner is now known: climate change wins; it topples the whole house of cards.
Guy McPherson, former professor turned peak oil blogger, observed on Sunday on Facebook "A two-season climate coming soon to a state near one [you]: nine months of summer and three months of hell," in connection with the shocking news on the unbelievable weather. In case you missed it:
U.S. heat 'unprecedented,' 7,000 records set or tied From India's Yahoo.com edition -- [ article not in the U.S. edition of Yahoo.] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An "unprecedented" March heat wave in much of the continental United States has set or tied more than 7,000 high temperature records, and signals a warming climate, health and weather experts said on Friday. While natural climate variability plays a major role, it is the addition of human-spurred climate change that makes this particular hot spell extraordinary, the scientists said in a telephone and web briefing.So you thought the economy was bad"This heat wave is essentially unprecedented," said Heidi Cullen of the nonprofit science and communication organization Climate Central. "It's hard to grasp how massive and significant this is."
Since March 12, more than 7,000 high temperature records have been equaled or exceeded, Cullen said, citing figures from the U.S. National Climatic Data Center...
Turns out it's bad because we separated it from the ecosystem, in our foolish minds and on corporate balance sheets. And in 5-year Communist state plans. Philosophizing, however, is just about over with. Let us simply recognize that climate disaster has arrived, and a response to it that can be either enlightened or not. Putting a happy face on it is like trying to make one's 24-hour day only a time of mid-morning; no, we cannot deny the overwhelmingly negative status quo that is failing the world so miserably.
The way people really get riled up and rebel is "hunger in the belly." Because of the way climate change is getting out of control, we will be lucky to count on food continuity at all. It's all getting more doubtful. But individual and collective action for the climate is going to come into its own fast.
Walking away abruptly from the global warming treadmill
As I said on Facebook late Sunday night,
Perhaps you'd agree that this [March heat wave] development signals us it's time to walk away from business as usual. I'm glad I've done some permaculture volunteering and wrote a little music the last few days. My point is that whatever one really wants to do that's healthy and liberating from the System, there's no more time to put it off. Clearly. Pass the word if you care. "Breaking daily temperature records..." from Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog: Summer in March, 2012 draws to a close (Weather Underground website)Most of us would rather concentrate on anything but noticing the climate's going awry. The Occupy movement is a fine example of people finding reason and acting reasonably for the most part. But why the repression and police brutality that has become policy? Is it that the elite and its armed minions want people to keep their nose to the grindstone to continue supporting war? In part, sure. But maybe the repression of Occupy is part of the state's attempt to keep people silent about climate damage and the need to basically shut down the fires of industry. "Oh no, that's non-negotiable," say the powers that be. So, they keep the Occupiers off balance, and do whatever possible to distract the general population from the profitable war on nature.This is the time. It is here and now. Maybe not quite yet, but there is less and less uncertainty of the shocking upward trajectory of climate disruption and temperature rise. This tragic development may actually translate into mass action. Too late for most people to survive, perhaps, given the wacky weather ahead and the effects on agriculture. But the action that people will be soon be taking, individually and together, could be surprising compared to norms and conventions up to now. Such as, when someone is about to start up a car to take a trip possible by bicycling instead, he or she is now asked by a concerned citizen or neighborhood committee, "Is that really necessary, in light of what the climate is doing spasmodically?"
Higher prices for commodities will run the show to a degree, yes, but that may cease to mean anything if there's no food or water. My main point is that people may see such mind blowing climate change that they will step out of their obedient roles and abandon procrastination on doing natural or creative, imaginative things that were suppressed by $ociety's regimentation.
An example is the crackdown through un-Constitutional legislation at the local level: in Redwood Country, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is to challenge the First Amendment. An activist alert hit Facebook Sunday: "Emergency Community Response Necessary!!"
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors plans to vote away people's constitutional right to expression and assembly at the courthouse. The so-called "emergency ordinance" is on their agenda for Tuesday March 27th and if voted for, would immediately go into effect.Depaver Jan Lundberg's Facebook response was, "Supervisors need to be able to stifle those saying 'the Emperor's wearing no clothes,' i.e., the climate is far gone so we're here to figure out a new way collectively!"Join a determined movement in opposition to this attack on free speech starting Monday with a breakfast followed by music, and then a dinner at 5PM. Afterwards, feel welcome to attend the Occupy Eureka General Assembly at 6 PM. Later in the night there will be a candlelight vigil for the right to use the traditional space in front of the courthouse. If you can, stay overnight for Tuesday's action. If not, come back Tuesday morning, March 27th: Gather BIG at 8am before the Board of Supervisors meeting, and fill that meeting at 9:00am.
The Tuesday Board of Supervisors' meeting must be greeted by a presence of community opposition. Be there to declare that such attacks on civil liberties will not be tolerated. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Now is the time to stand up, before standing up is outlawed.
According to this proposed ordinance, no group (Women in Black, Labor Unions, Vets for Peace, CopWatch, Church Groups, Political Parties, etc.) would be allowed to hang their banners, flags or signs. No one would be allowed to put up a temporary wind or rain break. No one would be allowed to put up a temporary stage ("self-standing structure"). No candlelight vigils past 9:30pm. No sharing food. No one could stake a sign or flag in the grass or planter. Would large groups gathered at the courthouse be considered "interfering with the flow of pedestrians"? What if a group wanted to protest on the grass? Would that be considered "damaging the vegetation"? Would putting your purse or backpack or literature down on the bench or ground be considered "illegally storing personal property"?
Link to proposed Emergency Ordinance
Will people follow reason and put the climate second to none in their priorities? At some point they will be forced to do so, but it might be like some futuristic short story of a revival of simple, tribal living. The question is, is it this year, or in 2017, or...? My hunch is that the tipping point for absolute awareness and sudden action may have arrived.
On the other hand, people may basically want instant gratification, happy to go about consuming, screwing, smoking, whatever, until those options dry up in their face once and for all. All of a sudden, the party's over. Will we discuss what comes next or just find ourselves doing it?
See the 10-point program Culture Change developed in 2000, Pledge for Climate Protection.
"Let the beautiful Earth provide." Here are vital steps to slow global warming and climate destabilization. The pledge, if followed, slashes energy use now instead of relying on a techno-topia of renewable energy for a consumer society. And, the 10 points address petroleum dependence to cope with petrocollapse. Two-for-one, how can you lose?! Gotcha covered in the race to pull the plug on business as usual -- "climate extinction" or petrocollapse. We seem to have both underway. True, but looking up tonight at the planets, moon and stars was at least part of something, for me, that's infinitely larger than all that can be destroyed by stupid men..
1 comment :
Thanks for all your writing, it livens up the day. You need to get onto other people's blogrolls, as it was only by accident I came across your blog. And finally, cheer up, things will get better but it takes time.
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