(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Got plans for the future?...either get proactive, or cancel them. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-26 Got plans for the future?...either get proactive or cancel them. Because El Niño doesn’t give a rat’s ass about our ‘stinking plans’. It’s got its ‘Sharpie’ out and is scribbling lines all over the globe, hopelessly entangling our petty trajectories. And to the best of our knowledge, it’s just gotten started. The heat domes and smoke choking America seem to have been a surprise introductory bonus offer. Australia, India and Europe are all in its sights and clearly prediction is being reduced to a crap shoot. With ground temperatures of 60C, Spain has already been turned into a barbecue grill. Cognitive dissonance continues to put up a valiant front; like a bunny facing down a tiger. A very ravenous and enraged tiger. Mother Nature has assumed her Kali form and we are now in deep shit; which, by the way is literally our own deep shit. From here on in, what future we may have left to us, no longer fits back into the ‘box’ it was delivered in. We have effectively thrown the switch and the runway lights are down. Back in the 1980s when Al Gore first spoke to Congress and warned them of the impending ‘dividends’ of our grand folly, I listened. My mind and heart were already primed to embrace his message. His words chilled my soul, and so I was stunned at the unified consensus of indifference displayed not just by our leaders, but by the public at large. It was as if his words were immediately sucked into a black hole, because they were. While I knew enough to suspect the role greed was playing, I was still too young and needed more time to fully comprehend that the ‘leading man’ in this drama was denial. While its understated performance has been Oscar worthy, its brilliance has gone unnoticed by the critics and public at large. Attempts taught me that speaking out about the threat of ‘runaway greenhouse’ was a one way ticket to ‘solitary confinement’. So I kept quiet and watched attentively for signs of a change in public awareness. I had a long wait. I grew to understand that when this came, it would be the result of an incremental erosion of the battlements denial had erected. While imperceptible at first, as the subconscious foundations were being undermined by experiential seepage, the resulting exponential shift would eventually reach critical mass, igniting awareness. As it has. We have now reached the stage where the assault of undeniable facts is striking with the force of a battering ram, cannon, and catapult all rolled into one. Environmental collapse is sending us El Niño as a long range, multiple target, stand-in ‘tactical nuke’. By staying current with events as they unfurl, which are given perspective by my understanding of how we got here, I have a working idea of where we are in terms shifting global blanket awareness. Although we have not collectively thrown off the heavy blanket of climate denial that has enshrouded mankind for decades, we are starting to peak out from under it, wondering what all the ‘fuss’ is about. Of late there has been a noticeable uptick in attention afforded to the environment on Daily Kos, through both a rise in traction for environmental posts, as well as a shift in the bearing and intent of comments to these diaries. The ‘concerned’ and ‘aware’ would appear to be outnumbering those who, while still resistant to facts, are mystifyingly curious and sometimes lash out aggressively in response to information that threatens them. As it all does. When they do react, their growing isolation along with the undeniablility of the ‘real time’ evidence being flung into our faces, makes them sound hollow and look foolish. Climate collapse is gutting their denial like a hunter with a bowie knife and flushing them out of their shallow defensive trenches. Thanks to El Niño this ‘C’ change is now going to proceed rapidly, as fear takes a blow torch to cognitive dissonance and holds a pillow over the face of greed. Our fundamental biological imperative is species survival and the same forces fettering climate awareness have had this in a straight jacket. As this dam gives, awareness will flood out, obliterating the slipshod constructs of our petty concerns and societal norms, while clearing a path for change and re-growth. But only if we rise to the occasion. I fear the intervention of the corporate behemoth far less than the current upwelling of despair and hopelessness, the pimps of ‘doomerism’. This cop-out is just one more trick-up-the-sleeve of denial. What we are facing environmentally, is such an unimaginable force, that it will topple the ‘money goliath’ without stopping to notice and power will be brought in line or perish; but denial, by morphing into its aforementioned avatars, could bring meaningful pro-action response to a crushing halt. These manifestations of denial may rapidly combine into a maelstrom of panic, obliterating clarity and diverting efforts more constructively applied elsewhere. Even if brought under control, this momentary madness could be our undoing, by consuming what little time we have left to us to act. Calmly facing the facts of a crisis of the magnitude of environmental collapse as our blinders are ripped off is beyond our cognitive capabilities. It is the equivalent of grasping a read hot poker and our ‘shocked’ minds react by shutting down. This is when despair, hopelessness, embracing doom and even panic rush in to offer us false refuge. Nevertheless, I continue to believe we still have a real chance of preserving our future. Lately, as more information surfaces, this is becoming something bordering conviction on my part. But I don’t countenance delusions. Getting there will be a trial by fire and if we come out on the other side, our world will be profoundly changed on every level. Our challenge is to mature as a species and embrace the collective good as a primary imperative or perish. We can no longer go back to what we now know to be unworkable. Nature also has its own version of ‘planned obsolescence’ and we have run this course to its end. ‘Every man for himself’ has led to this moment and ‘WE’ need to defenestrate it like a Russian general. We are a remarkably adaptive species. In this regard our abilities know no rival, but it is a double-edged blade and it remains to be seen if we can adapt collectively and permanently. Our species PTSD answers that with an auto-reactive “NO”, but the truth is, after hundreds of thousands of years, we still know ourselves poorly and we have not mastered our own minds. “The Lady Or The Tiger”, Frank R. Stockton’s great short story, comes to mind as a metaphor for our current predicament, but with a twist. As we have no guarantee what our fate will be (unless we don’t act), will we take a chance to open the door to potential salvation or continue to obfuscate and not bother? Between the obstacles that catastrophe will throw in our path and the choices that it will force us to make as we become engaged one way or another with this struggle, there is an increasing probability that planning for the future, as if we were still living in a relatively stable world will rapidly shift to a delusional waste of time. In many ways it already has. Accept Absorb ACT! Here is a link to my last diary with plenty of pro action suggestions: www.dailykos.com/… www.dailykos.com/… And even more :-) [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/26/2183434/-Got-plans-for-the-future-better-cancel-them 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/