And you know what all these people have in common? They can legally vote, and they don’t give a hoot about how their actions affect anyone else.
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That is seriously concerning, both immediately and for the future.
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Your planet seen from within
Create your own earth view –
Your unique planet,
Your afterimage,
Your artwork.
This blurry earth is your home,
An image of what you are sitting on,
Standing on,
Walking on,
Right now
And all the time.
While everyone’s relationship with the planet is unique,
It is home to us all.
Look around.
Look down,
Down to earth.
Not long ago, philosopher Bruno Latour wrote:
‘The ground is giving way beneath everyone’s feet at once, as if we all felt attacked everywhere, in our habits and in our possessions’.
He continued:
‘There is no planet . . . that can shelter the utopia of modernization’.
Today we know –
We would need several earths to sustain that utopia.
Who, ‘we’?
Those of us who take more from the planet than we give,
Who borrow from the future to spend now,
Who have colonized,
Industrialized,
Modernized,
Who have forgotten to respect earth
And listen to its ecosystems,
We have taken from the future,
Leaving our kids to pay the debt.
Fifty years ago, a famous photo of the planet
– The Blue Marble –
Was taken from Apollo 17
(A ‘Man’-goes-to-the-moon mission).
It presented a view from outer space,
Earth from outside earth,
At a distance,
For the very first time.
People were moved by the image.
Your planet seen from within
Moves you to shape your own earth,
Still a ‘blue marble’,
Fragile and home
To all of us – to the more-than-human.
Mindful of this,
Make the artwork again.
Create your earth anew
And be present to the feelings that arise.
The earth in your afterimage is also under your feet.
We are learning
That we can only see earth
While part of it.
We are nature.
Look down.
Look around.
Let us re-world.
In memory of Bruno Latour (1947–2022)
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Mouthpieces for an investment fund co-founded by Bill Gates say their teams have decided to refocus strategy on adapting to climate change.
Speaking at the Breakthrough Energy Summit in Seattle last week, Eric Toone, of the Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures investing committee, said it would take too long to shift the global economy away from carbon-based energy. Instead of moving that stubborn needle, the focus will be on mitigating climate change, which they see as the only sensible investment strategy.
“While BEV’s principal focus will continue to be mitigation, we will now work on adaptation as part of our portfolio – adaptation to some of the most severe consequences of elevated levels of greenhouse gases and global warming,” he told attendees.
[…]
BEV, which includes Jeff Bezos among its founders, offers venture capital to green tech startups. It runs a Catalyst fund that aims to invest $15bn in clean tech.
To put this in context, the largest single petroleum project in 2021 was a $15 billion power plant and liquefied petroleum gas facility. The second largest is the $13.6 billion second-phase refinery and petrochemicals complex in China.
In 2022, the global upstream oil industry is projected to generate its highest ever free cash flow of $1.4 trillion, based on an oil price of $106 per barrel.
At the same time, fossil fuel industries are massively subsidized by taxpayers around the world. Estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggest global public subsidies for fossil fuels almost doubled to $700 billion in 2021.
Public funding represents a “roadblock” to tackling the climate crisis, the OECD said.
While BEV might be right in its assessment that a certain amount of climate change cannot be avoided, and that adaption is a sensible strategy, it might also be helpful to point out some of the reasons why we’re “not going to be able to do this fast enough.”
If humans are typical for emerging technical civilisations there is a very easy answer to the Fermi paradox.
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I don’t know that this is a dick move, honestly. IMHO, the tipping point is already past. Probably way past. We absolutely need to work like hell to minimize the onrushing disaster, but mitigation strategies are gonna be necessary as well. Lives will depend on it.
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A “why not both” if ever there was one. Thing is, we’re still in a “too little, too late” situation.
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All the people moving there now because they approve of the Libertarian aspects of the state are going to be desperate to move away again in 10-20 years (max), and at that point, will they be climate refugees anyone else would want to welcome?
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Oh my Lord, this. I live in the Shenandoah Valley, which is projected to be one of the last places to be rendered uninhabitable. I know my neighbors. This is a Trumpistan-kinda place. Ferners of any stripe will be unlikely to find a welcome if the things get bad. Just sayin’. If you are gonna move here, do it early.
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/us/california-water-cost-profiteering-climate/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/us/california-water-cost-profiteering-climate/index.html
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