(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . It’s a nice Planet we have here. I hate seeing Things happen to it THAT WE CAN STOP [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-28 It’s a nice Planet we have here. I hate seeing Things happen to it THAT WE CAN STOP. Back in late January I read PvtJarHead’s excellent environmental post (the title of which I borrowed and altered for this belated response). https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/24/2149123/-That-s-a-nice-planet-you-ve-got-there-I-d-hate-to-see-something-happen-to-it?utm_campaign=trending and although loaded with all sorts of informative and much needed information, one section impacted me especially… Under PvtJarHead’s heading: But there’s no reason to give up hope… The Guardian Regarding the following subject… “Three “super-tipping points” for climate action could trigger a cascade of decarbonisation across the global economy, according to a report. https://www.systemiq.earth/breakthrough-effect …it was this statement that struck me in particular as being pertinent and substantive when applied to an idea I have been trying to promote… “Urgent emissions cuts are needed to avoid irreversible climate breakdown and the experts say the super-tipping points are the fastest way to drive global action, offering “plausible hope” that a rapid transition to a green economy can happen in time.” (my bold) …and this… Prof Johan Rockström said “….the world was coming “very, very close to irreversible changes … time is really running out very, very fast”. While these ‘super tipping points’ sound promising, whether they will aline in time to create the emission cuts being called for, remains to be seen. However, when combined with another highly viable approach already proven to achieve the necessary low CO2 levels, the odds for our survival increase greatly. Scientists observe and make measurements using a variety of instruments, as well as collect samples for analysis to try and understand the world. They conduct experiments in an attempt to establish surety. And when the results warrant it, they report their findings. While some scientists may be involved in the development and application of these findings, others move on to further exploration. These last do not automatically become involved in implementing the results or in the case of climate, suggesting policy related solutions which would take them out of their field of expertise. Perhaps this explains why climatologists, when calling for drastic cuts in CO2 emissions ASAP, stop short of suggesting a path for doing so. However, by stating that the Pandemic Shutdown was able to achieve these cuts both sufficiently and quickly enough these scientists make an indirect, but very strong case for employing the same method to achieve the same results. In the meantime a year has passed during which things have grown worse than any of the scientists involved expected. During this time, I have seen several sources report on the results of studies showing that the Pandemic shutdowns were able to temporarily drop CO2 to safe enough levels to potentially slow down climate collapse. Since January of 2021, long before the results of the aforementioned research, I have been advocating climate shutdowns for just this reason. During all that time, I have heard of no counter proposal for achieving such levels within the timeframe called for that offer virtually guaranteed results. What I have heard is plenty of “good luck” and “maybe, but it’s not going to happen” or “dream on”…end of topic…next! These knee-jerk, ‘half baked’ negative responses ignore the fact that the concept of climate shutdowns is sound for a variety of reasons: a) This has already been done and climate science has shown that it will yield the results necessary in the time frame required. It’s important to remember that we shut down during the Pandemic not just to control the spread of Covid, but also to buy the time necessary for developing vaccines, which we did successfully. b) As opposed to geo-engineering, shutdowns are ‘tried and true’. Unlike proposals to try to alter the climate damage trajectory through atmospheric or oceanic ‘seeding’, the effects of shutdowns are already known and the dire predictions of societal and economic disruption from a Pandemic shutdown turned out to be far less damaging than predicted. This means we have a fair idea of both the results and the ‘costs’ of climate shutdowns. By contrast, attempts to geo-engineer direct alterations to correct our unbalanced, planetary self-regulating circulatory systems are untested, and potentially environmentally dangerous. Past attempts ‘to play God’ have most often been disastrous, because we lack the ability to factor in all the variables in play. This is proven by the ongoing inaccuracies of climate models. Although ‘geo-medicating’ seductively offers the possibility of not disrupting our ongoing economic systems and thus not interfering with ‘business as usual’, playing environmental Russian roulette with the incalculable risk of taking a unknown path, as opposed to the surety of shutdowns, should make the choice clear. (While it is a certainty that various bad actors in the economic sector will try their best to thwart shutdown efforts, they tried to do so during the Pandemic and were overridden. The link below is an excellent example of how they are already hard at work…) https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/22/2154350/-WSJ-Goes-Doomer-Assumes-Climate-Failure-And-Promotes-Nerd-Chef-s-Geoengineering-Obsession?utm_campaign=recent c)As the enormity of the danger we are facing with climate collapse continues to breach the dam of blanket denial, shutdowns will appear increasingly advantageous and eventually, eminently doable. Furthermore, since climate shutdowns would be designed to address CO2 reduction and not the spread of a deadly virus, the parameters would change in ways that would make this approach less harsh. As an example, lock-downs and shut-ins would not be necessary and the overarching immediate fear of contagion would not be a factor. The use of fossil fuels would be restricted, so aspects of travel and industry would be effected, but able to recover as our transition to sustainables progressed. d)Our previous experience from the Pandemic shutdown should prove very helpful with managing climate shutdowns. Shutdowns are no longer uncharted territory and we can build on what we’ve learned. e)To date I have come across no other viable alternatives capable of providing the results shutdowns would. The ‘three super tipping points’ while appearing to be the next best thing, remain an unknown quantity without proven results. Using shutdowns to assure there is time for the ‘3 points’ to realize their potential, is erring on the side of caution and fully warranted by our circumstances. While some of us took heart in the beneficial effects of the Pandemic shutdown, at the time these could be hard to gauge and something of an abstraction for most people. They were not sufficient to overcome our collective annoyance with the shutdown ‘hardships’* by instilling a sense of accomplishment and enthusiasm for helping others survive. While the most readily tangible results of climate shutdowns will be cleaner air and water, as happened during the Pandemic shutdown, in this case those improvements will not be a curious byproduct, but rather a vital and direct sign of progress. But the public will need to understand what is at stake. A well thought out public awareness campaign is critical and if properly instituted, could potentially help with public awareness. If we escape armageddon without the majority of humanity understanding both the threat and ‘miracle’ of our salvation, then I fear we will be doomed to go back to our bad habits and we will have only managed to forestall the inevitable. A lot will depend on the severity of future climate ‘events’ and their ‘enlightening’ effect on the zeitgeist. Nevertheless, it is clear to me that shutting down the resource devouring, carbon generating aspects of the world’s material gluttony is our best chance to buy us the time we need to transition into a sustainable future. In the process we might rediscover our ability to live with less and regain our connection with vital aspects of our neglected better characteristics and inclinations as a result. Whether we will choose to save ourselves and where we will choose to go from there are still unknowns at this point, but this does not constitute a valid reason for not trying to save our wondrous and unfathomable home. We have all contributed to our current predicament and we own it. Giving up is both premature and utterly unacceptable. Despair at this stage in the game needs to be seen for what it is…a denial generated cop-out. As it stands now we have no certainty that change will arrive fast enough to offset the manic delirium of consumption and waste that continues to beset us. This remains so hardwired into our individual and collective mindset that we accept it blindly and, in the face of this mind boggling threat, continue to spin like delusional dervishes. This is a force that cannot be moderated... it needs to be cut off, to snap us out of our trance of self destruction. Either ‘climate shutdowns’ become acceptable or climate collapse becomes irreversible…that is the choice facing us. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/26/2118953/-Perhaps-the-most-important-information-of-all-time-and-hardly-anyone-is-listening This link is to a previous article I wrote on the subject of climate shutdowns and it in turn provides a number of links to other sources regarding this proposal. *I chose to place quotation marks around ‘hardships’ to reference its range of meaning in the context of the Pandemic. While I am in no way insensitive to the fact that many suffered real hardships, often what was referred to as such were more in the category of inconveniences. Depression and domestic violence spiked and finances for many became a substantial problem. But in America, where much of the population is narcissistic, insulated and privileged, a lot of the ‘suffering’ I heard about came closer to being just petty annoyances. We weren’t beaten by the shutdown, we just got tired of it. Personally I had a rough time financially and dealt with the added stress of packing an enormous household (alone) and then selling and moving during the shutdown, which was a stupefying ordeal. In retrospect, I can’t comprehend how I managed it. However, I actually have fond memories of the shutdown due to mornings spent with friends exercising outdoors and the opportunity it afforded me to intimately witness the extraordinary environmental transformation that took place during that time. It was like returning to the cleaner world of my childhood and it euphorisized me. 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