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By Chris Hedges
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
(The music above is good background for the read.)
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THE SKY REALLY IS FALLING By Chris Hedges
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
Originally posted on truthdig.com May 30, 2011
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The rapid and terrifying acceleration of global warming,
which is disfiguring the ecosystem at a swifter pace than even
the gloomiest scientific studies predicted a few years ago,
the gloomiest scientific studies predicted a few years ago,
has been confronted by the power elite with two kinds of
self-delusion. There are those, many of whom hold elected
office, who dismiss the science and empirical evidence as false.
There are others who accept the science surrounding global
warming but insist that the human species can adapt.
office, who dismiss the science and empirical evidence as false.
There are others who accept the science surrounding global
warming but insist that the human species can adapt.
Our only salvation—the rapid dismantling of the fossil fuel industry—is ignored by both groups. And we will be led, unless we build popular resistance movements and carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience, toward collective self-annihilation by dimwitted pied pipers and fools.
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Those who concede that the planet is warming but insist
we can learn to live with it are perhaps more dangerous than
the buffoons who decide to shut their eyes.
the buffoons who decide to shut their eyes.
It is horrifying enough that the House of Representatives
voted 240-184 this spring to defeat a resolution that said that
“climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human
activities, and poses significant risks for public health and
welfare.” But it is not much of an alternative to trust those who
insist we can cope with the effects while continuing
to burn fossil fuels.
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“climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human
activities, and poses significant risks for public health and
welfare.” But it is not much of an alternative to trust those who
insist we can cope with the effects while continuing
to burn fossil fuels.
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Horticulturalists are busy planting swamp oaks and sweet gum
trees all over Chicago to prepare for weather that will soon
resemble that of Baton Rouge. That would be fine if there was
a limit to global warming in sight. But without plans to rapidly
dismantle the fossil fuel industry, something no one in our
corporate state is contemplating, the heat waves of Baton
Rouge will be a starting point for a descent that will ultimately
make cities like Chicago unlivable. The false promise of human
adaptability to global warming is peddled by the polluters’
major front group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
informed the Environmental Protection Agency that
“populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of
behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.”
This bizarre theory of adaptability has been embraced
by the Obama administration as it prepares to exploit the
natural resources in the Arctic. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton announced recently that melting of sea ice
trees all over Chicago to prepare for weather that will soon
resemble that of Baton Rouge. That would be fine if there was
a limit to global warming in sight. But without plans to rapidly
dismantle the fossil fuel industry, something no one in our
corporate state is contemplating, the heat waves of Baton
Rouge will be a starting point for a descent that will ultimately
make cities like Chicago unlivable. The false promise of human
adaptability to global warming is peddled by the polluters’
major front group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
informed the Environmental Protection Agency that
“populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of
behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.”
This bizarre theory of adaptability has been embraced
by the Obama administration as it prepares to exploit the
natural resources in the Arctic. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton announced recently that melting of sea ice
“will result in more shipping, fishing and tourism,
and the possibility to develop newly accessible
oil and gas reserves.”
Now that’s something to look forward to.
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“It is good that at least those guys are taking it seriously,
far more seriously than the federal government is taking it,”
said the author and environmental activist Bill McKibben of
the efforts in cities such as Chicago to begin to adapt to
warmer temperatures. “At least they understand that they
have some kind of problem coming at them. But they are
working off the science of five or six years ago, which is still
kind of the official science that the International Climate
Change negotiations are working off of. They haven’t begun to
internalize the idea that the science has shifted sharply. We are
no longer talking about a long, slow, gradual, linear warming,
but something that is coming much more quickly and violently.
Seven or eight years ago it made sense to talk about putting
permeable concrete on the streets. Now what we are coming to
realize is that the most important adaptation we can do is to
stop putting carbon in the atmosphere. If we don’t, we are
going to produce temperature rises so high that there is
no adapting to them.”
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said the author and environmental activist Bill McKibben of
the efforts in cities such as Chicago to begin to adapt to
warmer temperatures. “At least they understand that they
have some kind of problem coming at them. But they are
working off the science of five or six years ago, which is still
kind of the official science that the International Climate
Change negotiations are working off of. They haven’t begun to
internalize the idea that the science has shifted sharply. We are
no longer talking about a long, slow, gradual, linear warming,
but something that is coming much more quickly and violently.
Seven or eight years ago it made sense to talk about putting
permeable concrete on the streets. Now what we are coming to
realize is that the most important adaptation we can do is to
stop putting carbon in the atmosphere. If we don’t, we are
going to produce temperature rises so high that there is
no adapting to them.”
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The Earth has already begun to react to our hubris.
Freak weather unleashed deadly tornados in Joplin, Mo. and
Tuscaloosa, Ala. It has triggered wildfires that have engulfed
large tracts in California, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
It has brought severe droughts to the Southwest, parts of
China and the Amazon. It has caused massive flooding along
the Mississippi as well as in Australia, New Zealand, China
and Pakistan. It is killing off the fish stocks in the oceans and
obliterating the polar ice caps. Steadily rising sea levels will
eventually submerge coastal cities, islands and some countries.
These disturbing weather patterns presage a world
Freak weather unleashed deadly tornados in Joplin, Mo. and
Tuscaloosa, Ala. It has triggered wildfires that have engulfed
large tracts in California, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
It has brought severe droughts to the Southwest, parts of
China and the Amazon. It has caused massive flooding along
the Mississippi as well as in Australia, New Zealand, China
and Pakistan. It is killing off the fish stocks in the oceans and
obliterating the polar ice caps. Steadily rising sea levels will
eventually submerge coastal cities, islands and some countries.
These disturbing weather patterns presage a world
where it will be harder and harder to sustain human life.
Massive human migrations, which have already begun, will
create chaos and violence. India is building a 4,000-kilometer
fence along its border with Bangladesh to, in part, hold back
the refugees who will flee if Bangladesh is submerged. There
are mounting food shortages and sharp price increases in basic
staples such as wheat as weather patterns disrupt crop
production. The failed grain harvests in Russia, China and
Australia, along with the death of the winter wheat crop in
Texas, have, as McKibben points out, been exacerbated by the
inability of Midwestern farmers to plant corn in water-logged
fields. These portents of an angry Gaia are nothing compared
to what will follow if we do not swiftly act.
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Massive human migrations, which have already begun, will
create chaos and violence. India is building a 4,000-kilometer
fence along its border with Bangladesh to, in part, hold back
the refugees who will flee if Bangladesh is submerged. There
are mounting food shortages and sharp price increases in basic
staples such as wheat as weather patterns disrupt crop
production. The failed grain harvests in Russia, China and
Australia, along with the death of the winter wheat crop in
Texas, have, as McKibben points out, been exacerbated by the
inability of Midwestern farmers to plant corn in water-logged
fields. These portents of an angry Gaia are nothing compared
to what will follow if we do not swiftly act.
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“We are going to have to adapt a good deal,” said McKibben,
with whom I spoke by phone from his home in Vermont.
with whom I spoke by phone from his home in Vermont.
“It is going to be a century that calls for being resilient and
durable. Most of that adaptation is going to take the form of
economies getting smaller and lower to the ground, local food,
local energy, things like that. But that alone won’t do it,
because the scale of change we are now talking about is so
great that no one can adapt to it. Temperatures have gone up
one degree so far and that has been enough to melt the Arctic.
If we let it go up three or four degrees, the rule of thumb the
agronomists go by is every degree Celsius of temperature rise
represents about a 10 percent reduction in grain yields.
If we let it go up three or four degrees we are really not talking about a planet that can support a civilization anything like the one we’ve got."
There's much more....read the entire article here:
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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_sky_really_is_falling_20110530/
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durable. Most of that adaptation is going to take the form of
economies getting smaller and lower to the ground, local food,
local energy, things like that. But that alone won’t do it,
because the scale of change we are now talking about is so
great that no one can adapt to it. Temperatures have gone up
one degree so far and that has been enough to melt the Arctic.
If we let it go up three or four degrees, the rule of thumb the
agronomists go by is every degree Celsius of temperature rise
represents about a 10 percent reduction in grain yields.
If we let it go up three or four degrees we are really not talking about a planet that can support a civilization anything like the one we’ve got."
There's much more....read the entire article here:
.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_sky_really_is_falling_20110530/
.
.
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