This ain't no solution because it won't happen, but I think we should be clear that it needs to happen: the government has to declare that all fossil fuels, whether they are in the ground or in pipes, is immediately owned by the government, by the People. Then we can use the science of centrallly planned economies to use only the oil, coal, and gas that is most essential, and forbid their use elsewhere. We would need collaboration from China and Russia, not enmity and endless wars.
This is the world I live in. I understand what's happening, I'm seeing it happening. I also understand that there's nothing that will be done about it, even though (as Al Gore is fond of pointing out), the technology to stop ruining the climate exists *right now.* Every time the seasons change, and the birds head north or south (depending on the bird and the season), I wonder if it's the last time I'll see them. I actually teach a course on climate change, and I've incorporated a unit on climate change into every class I teach. I'm careful to try to be optimistic, and talk about technological and political solutions to the problem. I don't believe a word of it. Instead, I doom-scroll through news items, seeing phrases like "mass human die-offs" and "not compatible with human life."
I get headaches if I have more than a generous splash of whisky, and my shrink won't prescribe any benzodiazepines, so I just stew in my own juices. It must be heartbreaking, regularly facing the young folk, and I know you love them.
We are off to 118 sometime in the next week. My heat resistance stops at 110. I have not seen you in a bit. Indeed, this is your first commentary I have seen in a bit. Hope all is well by you.
Great read and as usual you have all the facts out there. Peace.
Understanding how difficult something is is not the same as giving up. Pretending that something will work that obviously won't is simply deceiving oneself.
Perhaps. I just noticed that the House is controlled by Republicans, and rather strange and dangerous ones at that and that the Democrats can't cobble together a majority in the Senate without Manchin and Sinema and the Supreme Court is controlled by right wing Republicans. I must be missing something but it doesn't look very promising for sensible action to me.
I think you're deceiving yourself about the potential for any political solution ever, with or without Republicans, absent a fundamental transformation of how politics is done in this country.
I was suggesting that electing more Democrats would offer at least the possibility of attention to the climate crisis. You were bemoaning Biden not accepting Kerry's suggestion of proclaiming a climate crisis. What you thought that was going to accomplish is beyond me given that we have Supreme Court that won't allow the DEA to promulgate restrictions on industrial and petroleum polluters. My point is that a "fundamental transformation of how politics is done in this country" could begin with people paying attention to the politics here and voting. One of Obama's best lines was "Don't boo; vote!" I'm not saying that's likely. Rather, I'm saying nothing will change without it.
I certainly join in your angst about the situation and also have progeny whose welfare concerns me greatly.
To say it's good to see you here again may be the understatement of the month, but the month isn't over. My June ended with me finishing "The Passenger," Cormac McCarthy's last novel, becoming abyssally despondent over it, then waking up to find that he had died. You have not; I have not. I'm going to copy out your remark about writing being as good as not writing and putting it somewhere I have to look at it every day, which will be a feat, given the clutter in which I live. Anyway, welcome back to the hellishness we inhabit, and all that.
Hey, Hilary. Good to see you, and thanks. I haven't yet read The Passenger. I am doing my best to forget last month and to find something else to write about. This shit looms so large that everything else pales, but that's not healthy.
This ain't no solution because it won't happen, but I think we should be clear that it needs to happen: the government has to declare that all fossil fuels, whether they are in the ground or in pipes, is immediately owned by the government, by the People. Then we can use the science of centrallly planned economies to use only the oil, coal, and gas that is most essential, and forbid their use elsewhere. We would need collaboration from China and Russia, not enmity and endless wars.
https://thespouter.substack.com/p/the-punchline-to-history
Hey, Jed, good to see you, and yeah.
This is the world I live in. I understand what's happening, I'm seeing it happening. I also understand that there's nothing that will be done about it, even though (as Al Gore is fond of pointing out), the technology to stop ruining the climate exists *right now.* Every time the seasons change, and the birds head north or south (depending on the bird and the season), I wonder if it's the last time I'll see them. I actually teach a course on climate change, and I've incorporated a unit on climate change into every class I teach. I'm careful to try to be optimistic, and talk about technological and political solutions to the problem. I don't believe a word of it. Instead, I doom-scroll through news items, seeing phrases like "mass human die-offs" and "not compatible with human life."
I drink. A lot.
Hey, John, you don't want to be dehydrated in this stuff.
I get headaches if I have more than a generous splash of whisky, and my shrink won't prescribe any benzodiazepines, so I just stew in my own juices. It must be heartbreaking, regularly facing the young folk, and I know you love them.
Weldon:
We are off to 118 sometime in the next week. My heat resistance stops at 110. I have not seen you in a bit. Indeed, this is your first commentary I have seen in a bit. Hope all is well by you.
Great read and as usual you have all the facts out there. Peace.
Bill
Hey, Bill, Thanks for the kind words. I've been thinking about my Arizona friends.
Doesn't matter if you don't want to hear it. Nothing happens with the current political lineup. It has to be changed. Sorry about that.
That's as good as giving up.
Understanding how difficult something is is not the same as giving up. Pretending that something will work that obviously won't is simply deceiving oneself.
I think you're deceiving yourself.
Perhaps. I just noticed that the House is controlled by Republicans, and rather strange and dangerous ones at that and that the Democrats can't cobble together a majority in the Senate without Manchin and Sinema and the Supreme Court is controlled by right wing Republicans. I must be missing something but it doesn't look very promising for sensible action to me.
I think you're deceiving yourself about the potential for any political solution ever, with or without Republicans, absent a fundamental transformation of how politics is done in this country.
I was suggesting that electing more Democrats would offer at least the possibility of attention to the climate crisis. You were bemoaning Biden not accepting Kerry's suggestion of proclaiming a climate crisis. What you thought that was going to accomplish is beyond me given that we have Supreme Court that won't allow the DEA to promulgate restrictions on industrial and petroleum polluters. My point is that a "fundamental transformation of how politics is done in this country" could begin with people paying attention to the politics here and voting. One of Obama's best lines was "Don't boo; vote!" I'm not saying that's likely. Rather, I'm saying nothing will change without it.
I certainly join in your angst about the situation and also have progeny whose welfare concerns me greatly.
To say it's good to see you here again may be the understatement of the month, but the month isn't over. My June ended with me finishing "The Passenger," Cormac McCarthy's last novel, becoming abyssally despondent over it, then waking up to find that he had died. You have not; I have not. I'm going to copy out your remark about writing being as good as not writing and putting it somewhere I have to look at it every day, which will be a feat, given the clutter in which I live. Anyway, welcome back to the hellishness we inhabit, and all that.
Hey, Hilary. Good to see you, and thanks. I haven't yet read The Passenger. I am doing my best to forget last month and to find something else to write about. This shit looms so large that everything else pales, but that's not healthy.
Don't look up