(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Climate Change- Delusion And A Sardonic Chuckle. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-13 We are now, the pragmatic and realistic among us, beginning to see the hell that Climate Change is going to bring. Temperatures are soaring, humidity is staggering in some places, dryness and drought debilitating in others. Humans are on the move, seeking better climes. Food is or will be getting scarce and expensive. That’s a trend that will only increase once a few more harvests come in depleted by the crazy weather or don’t come in at all- being, perhaps, beat down by torrential rain or hail in places that used to be renowned for the mild weather and pleasant climes. That or the other end of it, fruits and grains cooked to an early death on the vine or stalk- of use to no one except livestock, maybe. People are looking up and shaking their heads when the emergency situation that has caused most of us to stick our thinking apparatus ostrich deep in the sands suddenly presents itself at our door as unavoidable. This is an admonishment, absolutely, one I give to myself as much as I do anyone else. We screwed up. See, My memory now stretches back a fairly long while. 1986 was a big year for me. I was in Germany with the American forces, serving up north, not far from the Danish border. I’d married my wife, Anja the year before and for awhile, until we found quarters the Army would accept, I was spending my time away from post at her dad’s place. I’ll try to paint a picture for you. Germany, in the north, was pleasantly cool and wet. It rained ALL the time up here, the winters had snow, summer was short and chilly, for the most part. It was one of the greenest places I’d ever seen. Coming from N. Illinois, that’s saying a lot, but it was true. When you live among a people it’s helpful to speak their language, so I was reading every newspaper and magazine that I could get through in an attempt at teaching myself- with the help of any German who would be kind enough to take the time to correct my inevitable errors. Father in law, Johannes, he read the Bild Zeitung. Now, the Bild is a conservative paper. The Germans have long said “Bild speaks first to the dead, then they report” a saying that warned you to take what you read in it’s pages with a bit of salt. Roughly five pounds of salt to one purported fact. It’s conservative and kind of along the lines of the National Enquirer or The British Sun. However, it had large pictures of scantily clad women every day and did also print some news- if with a slant that would slide the unwary right into polemic. “Palm Trees On North German Shores In Thirty Years! Won’t That Be Wonderful?!” By the time I read that, I was ABLE to read it and understand it. I was struck, even then, at how they immediately moved to trivialize the whole scientific report. “You won’t have to go to Italia for sun anymore, HooRAY!” coupled to or joined by “Science is split into two camps, one says the world will heat up if humans keep driving their cars, the other says an ice age is possible! We’re rooting for the palm trees- imagine tourists here in our cold part of Germany!” Sure, imagine. This fishing and industrial city is now filled with tourists. The fishing went away and the building of big ships went to Korea. The weather we are now having is inviting to tourists where once it kept people away. The prognosis turned out to be true, no ice age, no- We haven’t gotten the palms yet but we are losing the oaks and beeches to the heat and dryness. We were warned. I was warned- yet, we- certainly I, kept living as though there was no danger. It was always just so convenenient to buy that shiny new car. Make sure you get the one that would make the neighbors go OOOOH when they heard the loud sound that only a BIG engine could make when you tromped on the gas. Besides, how could anyone exist without air conditioning- silly, it’s HOT outside! The excuses rolled out as fast as people could think them up. Solar panels on the roof? Who could afford that? Also, solar panels and wind power generators are a blemish on the landscape! - I’m guessing that miles and miles of coal mines and smokestacks are more aesthetically pleasing- or something. Betrayed- by ourselves. Yes, industry lied to us. You’d think we’d be aware of that little trend by now and start buying according to our own self interest, looking at industry with a jaundiced eye- but you’d be thinking wrong. Through all of this, I am reminded of that old song title “Lie to me, tell me everything is alright!” I never understood how anyone could beg to be lied to, now, it has become a little clearer. Homo Sap. has proven itself to be full of intellectual sloths who will dive into the delusion to keep the convenience. That is especially true if we think we’ll die before the problem we don’t believe in becomes insistent and turns into personal human suffering. But damn it, it became real a lot faster than it was supposed to! What now? What now indeed. The oceans ARE rising, the weather is reacting to the higher temperatures. Crops are failing and the rich people are slowly, slowly coming to understand that they won’t be able to build climate enclaves where they will be protected when the whole world begins to look like a duck in a hot oven. Here in Europe we’re seeing southern animals and insects settling in to stay as their range widens- and those that used to live here are moving further north. Ticks are a problem now, it seems that the tick that carries Lyme disease didn’t like cold temps. They like it here now, people are getting sick that never did before. It’s a small thing, unless you get sick, I only mention it to allude to the myriad problems that await us which we haven’t had the foresight to foresee. We don’t know how bad the totality can get. Spain, Portugal, Italy and France are expected to become outliers of the Sahara desert. yes, it will take some time, but people who study this say it’s happening already. I remember when they talked of greening the Sahara, now we’re actually browning Southern Europe. Sand brown, lovely. Fish stocks are getting harder to find and yes, crops are failing. Human displacement because of unlivable temperatures and situations is becoming an ever growing problem. Soon, those railing about the influx of brown people from down south may be railing about those people up north who don’t want THEM to move where they are simply because a human can still survive there. Who has resources to share with refugees, eh? Karma indeed. Once the ocean rises enough, well, this city I and so many others live in will be an underwater sightseeing attraction. Bring your own scuba gear. We’re going to have to have someplace to go to. I fear it may be Russia. I’m angry. I’m angry with myself. I COULD have done better. I could have bought two bicycles instead of the big Honda and Kawasaki motorcycles for my wife and I, that would have been helpful. Dry your laundry on the line, open windows instead of buying the most evil air conditioning unit you could buy- acclimatize yourself instead of retreating to a cooled cave. Especially when the cooling of your cave heats up the world your cave is on. To be fair, for a large portion of those years, we lived in Wyoming. I’m not at all certain that there is a municipal bus service ANYWHERE in Wyoming- although Casper or Cheyenne might have one. Most places it’s either a car, truck or walk. Heck, I’ve had jobs that were seventy miles one way in Wyoming. You had to live. But to be just as honest, yeah, there was a LOT I could have done had I really, truly cared. The danger was so far down the road and life’s needs too immediate- I left it for another generation to deal with. Shame on me! And so many of us are still using the lies to ease our conscience. I’m looking at the refrigerator here, I’m writing this from my office at work, a communal security office. On the fridge is a sticker. “I HEART my Diesel!” Who printed that and put it out there free of charge to the public? Why, the conservative Bild Zeitung! They’ve never met an oil consortium they didn’t love and want to take home to mummy. (Note: Zeitung means Newspaper.) It’s disheartening. The Germans here don’t do well in the heat. I see them now, walking slow, groaning under the temps as they say things like. “I don’t want an electric car! I need that SOUND baby, otherwise it’s just no FUN!” What a stupid reason to damn your children to a death by hunger and thirst, dying horribly isn’t a lot of fun either. I don’t know what to do- hell, I’m as liberal as they come and I also just- yeah, just ignored it. But I won’t tell those lies anymore- not that I did. For me it’s even more egregious, I believed the science and still didn’t modify my behavior until it was too late. Nor will I listen to them any longer. If anyone tells me they didn’t know climate change was on the horizon, I may snap and jump off a cliff into deep water- which, apparently, won’t be hard to find soon, and practice aqua breathing for awhile. I do think we can save our world and ourselves IF we can get past humanity’s willing delusion, indifference and outright greed. That seems a big if. Right now, people that drive into and through climate change protesters in Germany are being seen, not as assaulters of other people, but heroes! How DARE they impede a driver’s right to drive his oil and monoxide spewing death machine wherever and whenever he wants? And the courts and politicians are siding with the oil. How DARE they remind us of unpleasant facts? The cads! That seems to be the most prevalent sentiment right now. And that is in woke Germany. Climate change protesters just got more severe prison sentences in Germany than those given for assault. What did they do? They glued themselves to a highway. I mean, yeah- how DARE they remind us we are in a crisis situation. They’re going to prison for making cars come to a stop on the road. That is really like telling a neighbor his house is burning, whereupon he imprisons you in the basement- of the burning house. How dare they. The courts say they are refusing to learn the lesson that you do NOT impede oil! Despite that, the protesters say they won’t be stopping anytime soon, it’s too important for them to give up. I think those are the real heroes. I’d like to end this with something upbeat, some pithy remark that will bring about a little hope- but all I can muster- is a sardonic chuckle. Be safe friends. It’s getting crazy out there. Kell [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/13/2180907/-Climate-Change-Delusion-And-A-Sardonic-Chuckle Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/