With so much political upheaval lately, not just in America but world wide, I feel that I sometimes lose track of the really important things. Economies boom and bust, jobs come and go, social progress inches forward, back a step, then forward again.
But we only have this world. The idea of terraforming Mars seems ludicrous, when we cannot even save our own life giving environment.
I saw Bill Nye, who is stepping more and more out of his role as childrens educator and trying to bring climate change deniers around, on an interview recently. It was horrid to watch. The interviewer stampeded over Bill, asked rapid questions, then ignored the straight forward answers Bill gave and accused him of givong none.
One exchange stuck out. The interviewer asked " What percentage of climate change is caused by humans?", and Bill matter of factly said. "100%". He then went on to try and explain that the rapidity of modern climate change is entirely our fault. It really struck me. He's right.
Modern scientists have now pinned down some numbers. Yes, the climate always changes, but it is now changing at 170 times the normal rate. 170 times! Species are dying off at a rate last seen when the dinosaurs died out, estimated at 140,000 species per year. Look at that number, it's way past alarming! We are killing everything! And a huge percentage of people will simply outright deny it!
My daughter loves nature documentaries, but lately she's been very against them, because almost all are about how this animal or that habitat are threatened, or even those that are already gone. It stresses her out. Hell, it stresses me out, too. Sometimes we'll be talking and something will come up, and she'll ask, does that still exist? Have humans destroyed it yet? It absolutely breaks my heart. What are we leaving to our children, and theirs?
I can get obsessed with trying to do things to be more green. Less driving, very little meat and dairy, buy local, buy seasonal, recycle, turn off electronics, turn down the heat, make my own clothes, can my own fruit, buy in bulk, no plastic containers, etc. I start to feel both overwhelmed and helpless. I'm not stupid. I realize that my impact isn't worth a single grain of sand on a beach. If we all lived 90% greener starting tomorrow, I'm not sure it would be reversible, what we've already done. There are, simply put, too many of us.
Sometimes it all feels futile. Why not just eat whayever I want, drive a monster truck, and comfortably heat my house like the ignorant sods around me? Ill be dead before the shit really hits the fan. But i cant. I cant make myself turn a blind eye, i cant ignore my responsibility as an individual, even if my impact is miniscule.
Can we fix it? I didn't want children, mostly for this reason. When we got pregnant despite precautions, we thought just this one. I was overwhelmed by hormones. And I love her more than my own life! Yet, I still think people having children, particularly more than one or two, is wrong. I cannot help but feel a certain disgust when I see large families. Their selfishness and blatant self inflicted blindness infuriates me. Knowing their children and granchildren will suffer through massive food and water shortages, they don't know, don't care, or don't believe in.
Is there any actual hope? I've yet to see any. Our new EPA guy is all set to rollback pretty much all environmental protections, screw the Paris Accords, and drive us even faster off that looming cliff. Are we inclicting some sort of distopian reality on future generations, but for real?
environment/2017/feb/12/humans-causing-climate-to-change-170-times-faster-than-natural-forces
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
There is a lot more to this topic I'd like to discuss, but this seems enough to be getting on with for this post.
But we only have this world. The idea of terraforming Mars seems ludicrous, when we cannot even save our own life giving environment.
I saw Bill Nye, who is stepping more and more out of his role as childrens educator and trying to bring climate change deniers around, on an interview recently. It was horrid to watch. The interviewer stampeded over Bill, asked rapid questions, then ignored the straight forward answers Bill gave and accused him of givong none.
One exchange stuck out. The interviewer asked " What percentage of climate change is caused by humans?", and Bill matter of factly said. "100%". He then went on to try and explain that the rapidity of modern climate change is entirely our fault. It really struck me. He's right.
Modern scientists have now pinned down some numbers. Yes, the climate always changes, but it is now changing at 170 times the normal rate. 170 times! Species are dying off at a rate last seen when the dinosaurs died out, estimated at 140,000 species per year. Look at that number, it's way past alarming! We are killing everything! And a huge percentage of people will simply outright deny it!
My daughter loves nature documentaries, but lately she's been very against them, because almost all are about how this animal or that habitat are threatened, or even those that are already gone. It stresses her out. Hell, it stresses me out, too. Sometimes we'll be talking and something will come up, and she'll ask, does that still exist? Have humans destroyed it yet? It absolutely breaks my heart. What are we leaving to our children, and theirs?
I can get obsessed with trying to do things to be more green. Less driving, very little meat and dairy, buy local, buy seasonal, recycle, turn off electronics, turn down the heat, make my own clothes, can my own fruit, buy in bulk, no plastic containers, etc. I start to feel both overwhelmed and helpless. I'm not stupid. I realize that my impact isn't worth a single grain of sand on a beach. If we all lived 90% greener starting tomorrow, I'm not sure it would be reversible, what we've already done. There are, simply put, too many of us.
Sometimes it all feels futile. Why not just eat whayever I want, drive a monster truck, and comfortably heat my house like the ignorant sods around me? Ill be dead before the shit really hits the fan. But i cant. I cant make myself turn a blind eye, i cant ignore my responsibility as an individual, even if my impact is miniscule.
Can we fix it? I didn't want children, mostly for this reason. When we got pregnant despite precautions, we thought just this one. I was overwhelmed by hormones. And I love her more than my own life! Yet, I still think people having children, particularly more than one or two, is wrong. I cannot help but feel a certain disgust when I see large families. Their selfishness and blatant self inflicted blindness infuriates me. Knowing their children and granchildren will suffer through massive food and water shortages, they don't know, don't care, or don't believe in.
Is there any actual hope? I've yet to see any. Our new EPA guy is all set to rollback pretty much all environmental protections, screw the Paris Accords, and drive us even faster off that looming cliff. Are we inclicting some sort of distopian reality on future generations, but for real?
environment/2017/feb/12/humans-causing-climate-to-change-170-times-faster-than-natural-forces
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
There is a lot more to this topic I'd like to discuss, but this seems enough to be getting on with for this post.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
