tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5939915290794973654.post1841022154501444525..comments2024-03-08T14:23:31.503-05:00Comments on A Puff of Absurdity: Michael Mann's New Climate WarMarie Snyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13872774009526266579noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5939915290794973654.post-10496080586326530372021-05-17T11:54:16.446-04:002021-05-17T11:54:16.446-04:00Thanks, Anon! There's always one in every post...Thanks, Anon! There's always one in every post!Marie Snyderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13872774009526266579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5939915290794973654.post-80512952215930239152021-05-17T10:03:54.150-04:002021-05-17T10:03:54.150-04:00"...so it would be hard to find a completely ..."...so it would be hard to find a completely new <b>angel.</b>" I think there is a typo, I think it should be "...so it would be hard to find a completely new <b>angle.</b>"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5939915290794973654.post-59531730390170598302021-05-12T19:56:38.056-04:002021-05-12T19:56:38.056-04:00I agree with everything except that sharing isn...I agree with everything except that sharing isn't in our DNA. I think it is, but has been teased out of us with lots of challenges to be the best and rise to the top and cautions that people who don't get ahead are lazy. A mindset was invented that knowingly destroyed solidarity. So it's <i>possible</i> to go there again, to re-establish our compassion and recognize our interdependence, but it's a long shot. I do think it has to happen at once, the shift in the public and the elites, and there are signs of cracks in the current edifice, but things could go in a variety of directions from here. And we can't broach that stance of solidarity if we're kowtowing to Republicans for scraps. Marie Snyderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13872774009526266579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5939915290794973654.post-44855381321189489532021-05-12T13:46:11.086-04:002021-05-12T13:46:11.086-04:00Mann posits this as a fight we're going to win...Mann posits this as a fight we're going to win. I think he raises expectations that can't be met and will leave his followers disillusioned and cynical.<br /><br />He shares a fundamental flaw with many other climate types. They set up climate change as a standalone existential threat. It's not, far from it. The climate emergency is one part of a greater problem that are all linked to one failure - mankind's inability or unwillingness to live in harmony with nature, our one and only biosphere, Earth.<br /><br />We either have to find ways and the will to transform humanity's relationship with our all too finite planet or nature will see to that for us. There are too many of us. We live too long. We have learned to consume far more than our planet can sustainably provide. In the result we create too much pollution and degradation, not just in terms of greenhouse gases but soils degradation, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, depletion of essential wilderness, on and on and, yes, on.<br /><br />We could go carbon neutral tomorrow and these other existential threats would still take us down. We refuse to look at the predicament holistically. <br /><br />Alternative clean energy is an engineering challenge. Overpopulation and overconsumption are of a more complex dimension. There are solutions but they raise a variety of issues that our global governments are not constituted to tackle. We have to grow smaller in our numbers and our ecological footprint. There are reproductive solutions but they won't be popular especially when the people of the overpopulated nations see those of the affluent nations unwilling to bend to equitable measures addressing consumption. Sharing is not in our DNA. It is not how the G7 was forged. Try telling the average Canadian they'll have to live "smaller," reduce their consumption by 15 to 25 per cent - for starters - so that little brown people on the far side of the planet can have at least something. There's your problem.<br /><br />The climate problem is Michael Mann's life work. I get that. However it isn't a standalone threat. The climate fix will not avert a mass extinction. We either respect the finite limits of our ecology or we don't live. <br /><br />We may be heading for our Fermi's Paradox moment.<br /><br />The Disaffected Libhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13135599782685108764noreply@blogger.com