tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post6881576310491825446..comments2024-03-26T12:44:30.308-07:00Comments on Blue Heron Blast: People GlutBlue Heronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13516946085702606491noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-40926850458412174172009-12-17T11:26:43.794-08:002009-12-17T11:26:43.794-08:00love the photo, makes you look like Jerry Lewis so...love the photo, makes you look like Jerry Lewis somehow; i've already made it my desktop background.grumpyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07620337750803837746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-5468099484558633722009-12-16T19:35:33.226-08:002009-12-16T19:35:33.226-08:00...Climate change had already become an urgent mat......Climate change had already become an urgent matter before the current <br />convulsion of economic growth in China and other developing nations. <br />To continue to seek across-the-board economic growth for all of <br />humanity is catastrophic folly. To insert the adjective “sustainable” <br />is to place a green band-aid over the fatally flawed, misbegotten <br />doctrine of economic growth. The shining truth is that the rich <br />nations must descend toward the per capita living standards of the <br />less-environmentally corrosive poor nations. <br /><br />Happily, this is not the same as a lower quality of life. <br />Civilization advanced to a very high level before the age of fossil <br />fuels. If we didn’t need this lifestyle two hundred or two thousand <br />years ago, why do we now? <br /><br />Where is the Churchill to succeed these Neville Chamberlains? Did <br />Thoreau live in vain? Who will fill this vacuum of vision? <br /><br />There are vastly more options than have been proposed. The Economy, <br />after all, is only an abstract construct which society, or rather a <br />powerful fragment of society, invented to control allocation of <br />resources and wealth. To attempt to solve climate change constrained <br />by this bad invention is an effort doomed to catastrophic failure. <br /><br />I wish that I could make my case satisfactorily in this letter; I take <br />heart when I remember that the IPCC report “Climate Change 2007” had <br />several hundred authors and encompassed almost 3,000 pages. I have <br />written a 115-page essay which provides a more solid foundation for my <br />views, with supporting references. I’ll send it to you if you’re <br />interested. <br /><br />I will argue that the key to effectively combating climate change lies <br />in moving from a state of higher complexity to one of lower <br />complexity, or to use terminology borrowed from physics, from a lower <br />to a higher entropy state. Analogously, it is far easier to let air <br />out of a balloon than to blow air into it. An epic shift to a non- <br />growth-driven society, a virtual powering down, is more feasible than <br />the methods thus far officially proposed, which involve piling <br />technology upon technology, ratcheting the level of complexity ever <br />higher. <br /><br />When you consider that we will run out of oil before most of our lives <br />are over, a pro-active powering down is an infinitely preferable <br />alternative to the grim struggle for survival which will then face <br />mankind, even without climate change. Mere survival doesn’t interest <br />me that much. A proactive, immediate powering down will allow us to <br />save Earth’s beauty and bounty, not merely survive.<br /><br />I urge you and your colleagues to expand your frame of reference to <br />address the disease and not merely the symptom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-16281708465511849652009-12-16T19:34:48.755-08:002009-12-16T19:34:48.755-08:00"I suspect that you are one of the few people..."I suspect that you are one of the few people with some influence on <br />the course of the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen who will not <br />scoff at what I have to say. <br /><br />I have a neocon website to thank for bringing a rather brave quote <br />that you co-authored to my attention. – the one calling for a massive <br />campaign to de-develop the U.S. and other Western nations. In 2009, I <br />would go further to declare that essentially civilization needs to <br />power down. I’m here to encourage you to be more radical. <br /><br />Telling someone with your credentials about the ominous effects of <br />climate change is a bit like hauling coals to Newcastle, though with <br />less adverse impact on the environment. Please restrain the “I <br />already know that” impulse for these few paragraphs. I am hoping that <br />if you and a few other participants take note of my ideas, somehow <br />they will find their way into the discussions. <br /><br />The situation is more grave than is realized by all but a tiny fraction of <br />humanity. Previous episodes of rapid climate change were set in motion <br />by lesser increases in CO2 than we have already produced. It was <br />positive feedback effects which then effected most of the subsequent rapid <br />climate change. In my review of the literature I have noted twelve <br />different positive feedbacks in progress; among these is rampant <br />deforestation by humans, not even a factor in earlier eras. <br /><br />The changes which have enveloped Earth over a few years and continue <br />to accelerate are unprecedented in terms of hundreds of thousands of <br />years if not in all of Earth’s history. To rectify this, we need to <br />expand our frame of reference beyond the form which civilization has <br />taken in the last few moments of humanity’s history. <br /><br />I submit that climate change is a symptom of two fundamental factors <br />which are incompatible with the continuation of a robust biosphere <br />beyond the global limits that we have over-reached. These two factors <br />are overpopulation and the growth-driven economic paradigm. <br /><br />Although it is precipitously overdue that society address <br />overpopulation, to do so will require a larger timeframe than we are <br />afforded by the onrushing effects of climate change. On the other <br />hand, a fundamental change in our economic behavior can be quickly <br />achieved. <br /><br />Virtually all of the participating organizations to the Copenhagen <br />talks are deeply entrenched in the dominant economic and cultural <br />paradigm. Although the sense of urgency and commitment to corrective <br />change is genuine, the range of possible solutions is circumscribed to <br />encompass only those which perpetuate the existing paradigm. <br /><br />This mentality is so entrenched that officials routinely place the <br />global catastrophe of climate change subordinate in priority to <br />economic considerations, even when they are supporting action on <br />climate change. Consider this quote from the State Department web <br />site: “The world community must work collaboratively to slow, stop, <br />and reverse greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a way that promotes <br />sustainable economic growth, increases energy security, and helps <br />nations deliver greater prosperity for their people.” Probably not <br />even realizing it, they have once more subordinated climate change to <br />economic considerations....<br /><br />(to be continued)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-711743994078638872009-12-16T15:08:44.697-08:002009-12-16T15:08:44.697-08:00Yes, MMWB, you do indeed have a staggering, bewild...Yes, MMWB, you do indeed have a staggering, bewildering, myopic understanding of the issues surrounding climate change. Your comments are too devoid of facts and full of unfounded assumptions to bother refuting. I suggest you check out the summary of the 3000-page IPCC report "Climate Change 2007" as a starting point to rectify your cluelessness. And/or check out the webcasts from the Copenhagen climate talks.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591674900060962765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-83379254062554974182009-12-13T21:52:49.530-08:002009-12-13T21:52:49.530-08:00So, what we need to do is:
1. Implement a sterili...So, what we need to do is:<br /><br />1. Implement a sterilization plan so that we don't produce too many people.<br />2. Go back to a time that was less productive so we can save energy.<br />2A. Give up the big energy users: medical, information, commmunication, transportation, etc.<br />3. Stop using the resources available to us so we can help the planet from getting too warm (or at least that's what we were being told until it was discovered that the planet was getting cooler).<br />4. Stop using the resources available to us so we can help the planet from experiencing climate change (although the history of the world is a history of climate change).<br />5. Pretend that we are so powerful and impactful that we are the cause of climate change; Greenland used to be green with trees before it became covered with ice. (see the viking communities discovered under the ice.)<br />6. Blame the poverty and starvation on the number of people instead of those who deny the shipment of food to the hungy (Somalia, North Korea, etc.) and because you don't understand that faith = a belief strong enought to act, add a misguided blame of believers in deity instead of researching far enough to see that orgainzed religion provides food & relief to millions of people each year<br />7. Make policy that will maintain the poverty of third world countries,(energy is what fuels the creation of wealth), and commit to cover the expenses of other countries while limiting our own economic growth, thus making it impossible to make the payments for said commitments.<br />8. Make policy about energy use while sitting in a heated building, using a computer and without asking the opinion of those who live without energy.<br />9. Pretend that there aren't sufficient energy sources avilable even though the United States has enough resources (oil, coal, shale, wind, sun, nuclear) to last for hundreds & hundreds of years, within our borders.<br />10. Whenever anyone questions our misguided green beliefs, attack, attack, attack. Call them names, question their spiritual beliefs, suggest that they are vapid and incapable of understanding the greater good & wisdom you posess. All this and more, because nothing covers up the truth better than vitriol & violence.<br /><br />What a staggering, bewildering, myopic understanding of the earth's resources and of the worth of man.MMWBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-82151223850562786572009-12-13T15:45:06.161-08:002009-12-13T15:45:06.161-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.grumpyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07620337750803837746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-77826231934831242262009-12-13T15:43:21.341-08:002009-12-13T15:43:21.341-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.grumpyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07620337750803837746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-29037246213703331792009-12-13T14:34:01.815-08:002009-12-13T14:34:01.815-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Blue Heronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13516946085702606491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-33790326269048532472009-12-13T14:33:50.137-08:002009-12-13T14:33:50.137-08:00Hi Daisy! People of the Blast, Daisy Deadhead is t...Hi Daisy! People of the Blast, Daisy Deadhead is the only blog I read on a daily basis. Very smart lady with a vigorously contentious audience. Check it out.<br /><br />I got off of Facebook for the following: Although I miss a few of my friends like Roy Cohen, there are too many vacuous hourly reports that are just plain stupid or the people who are bragging about their latest real estate deal or conquest. It was a good way to link to my blog but I don't think facebookers tend to want to parse at our level of nitpick.<br /><br />Some very square people friended me and I always wondered if I offended them? <br /><br />Bye Bye - oh and did you know of the Greenville gospel singer I youtubed Hovie Lister?Blue Heronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13516946085702606491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8786764158320829279.post-71633178959954030122009-12-13T12:03:28.384-08:002009-12-13T12:03:28.384-08:00Bob! Are you on Facebook? There are only 20,000 ...Bob! Are you on Facebook? There are only 20,000 people with your name on there!<br /><br />I'm under "Daisy Deadhead"--easy to remember, if you wanna 'friend' me. I'd love it!Daisy Deadheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17993200276152025235noreply@blogger.com