A friend who lives in the affected area (and we have mutual friends also living there) sent me the following article. What I wrote back to him (minus some personal stuff at the beginning) is underneath:
…by the end, what really jumped out at me was how completely this supposedly objective piece of journalism was, in fact, hiding the truth in plain sight.
The section that brought it into sharp focus was:
In issuing her emergency declaration Friday, in effect for a week, Portage Mayor Sue Lynch called on state and federal authorities to do more. The declaration states the city “has been impacted by or is immediately threatened by a natural and manmade disaster,” with natural erosion exacerbated by manmade structures and high water levels.
You’ll notice that the writer of the article immediately ‘explained’ the term “manmade” by referencing manmade structures along with a natural effect (high water levels). I couldn’t find the original statement anywhere, so I have no idea what Mayor Lynch said in total. Still, she’s a Hoosier too, so it’s likely she didn’t make any connection between the erosion and climate change due to manmade activities.
The title and ending quote – “Lesson learned is the lake is boss.” – from the superintendent of the National Park, no less, are more of the same: it’s just Mother Nature being cruel, nothing to do with us.
It’s like the pre-Copernicus world trying to explain the measurements in the sky while stuck in the belief that of course the sun and moon revolve around the Earth.
He does not give a damn whether he leaves a world for the next generation or not, not if there is money to be had.
“One of relatively few long-term studies on the issue is under way at the California National Primate Research Center. Fifty rhesus monkeys living in outdoor pens year-round were exposed to a prolonged period of wildfire smoke as infants in 2008. They’ve developed lungs 20% smaller than another group of monkeys born a year later, researchers found.
“It’s the closest animal model to replicate what happens with kids,” said Lisa Miller, the center’s associate director of research.”
So I think we can say the crisis is here, not “coming” but actively here.
If he ever bothered to paraphrase anyone, he might do so with a comment by GWB, and say something like, “Yeah, it’ll make things worse, but I won’t even be here, so why should I care?”
Some good information to counter the stupid theory that the fires are caused by arsonists rather than climate change:
“We found many accounts using #ArsonEmergency were behaving ‘suspiciously,’ compared to those using #AustraliaFire and #BushfireAustralia,” they said. “Accounts peddling #ArsonEmergency carried out activity similar to what we’ve witnessed in past disinformation campaigns, such as the coordinated behavior of Russian trolls during the 2016 US presidential election.”
Arsonists of a different kind really, spreading incendiary bullshit. Sick bastards.
Thread:
Big Oil’s “we’re part of the solution” shtick, know the industry’s been using it since you were blaring Savage Garden on your Walkman.
I’d have gone with Midnight Oil, if we’re sticking with Oz bands. Earlier, even, because that’s what they were calling out.
Well, that’s nice, I guess.
“Mistakes were made”
You know that substance we’re all afraid would be liberated from the sea bed by passing a global warming tipping point? Some people are working on the ability to go get them, ship them and burn them for energy.
Ugh. We so fukked.
But but, hey, that would turn the methane clathrates into regular old CO2! Practically harmless, relatively speaking! And surely the recovery operation would not leak or anything…
Yup, we are so, so boned. And again, our children and grandchildren will curse us.
