(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . How About this Heat? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-10 “In Earth's hottest spots, heat pushes limits of survival” Scott Dance, WASHINGTON POST, in THE SACRAMENTO BEE, 7/19/23 July, 2023, went down as the hottest month in the planet’s recorded history—ever. News stories ran the gamut, from amusing articles with pictures showing ways to “beat” the heat, to stories about ambitious, clueless thrill seekers who visit especially hot places, hoping to be there when heat records are broken. We also had the more serious articles about people dying from heat-related conditions, along with crop failures and people having to move, usually with nowhere to go. Then we watched a famously beautiful tropical island being ruthlessly scorched. Anybody else waiting hopefully for fall? If any good can come out of all that weather news, it is the possibility that global warming could finally get the full attention it needs from this sphere’s dominant species, which stands accused, behind hard evidence, of causing the continuous, growing heat wave by burning fossil fuels. With all the publicity, this species might finally realize its home planet is in a terrible predicament, and get together to alleviate (probably too late to reverse) the threat. There are many here among us who still feel that climate change is either a hoax or a wrong conclusion. Will the ongoing bad news get those people to look at the situation realistically and act on it meaningfully? If not, there is always next summer. Humanity’s scientific community solidly agrees that the danger from climate change is deadly serious, and is caused by mankind’s increased burning of coal, oil, and gas over the past three centuries. These scientific conclusions are not opinions. They result from extensive use of the scientific method: unbiased research and experimentation, testing and retesting theories before they are announced. The scientific method avoids declaring absolute truth, holding that any theory is the result of rigorous examination of existing scientific evidence. This does not mean a layman’s opinion is as valid as scientific research. The same science that has brought humanity to a monumental state of achievement, knowledge, prosperity, and health now tells us that our situation is morphing into an emergency. Science, having created the problem, has presented solutions: replacing fossil fuels with renewables. As of summer, 2023, no credible scientific evidence has contradicted the currently accepted theory. And the world is getting hotter, whatever the cause. Science has produced workable solutions to heal the planet. We are all responsible for employing these solutions, even though the commitment will require substantial sacrifice. Most nations, regardless of government type, are implementing some of these methods. But no single government can implement the changes we must make to save the whole planet. All who govern are mainly interested in staying in power, which they would jeopardize by demanding that their citizens make all the sacrifices necessary to keep Earth livable. Additionally, ruling classes in every nation make gargantuan profits from extracting, processing, selling, and using fossil fuels. The fact that elites are as vulnerable as everyone else to the threat of climate change is buried by the quarterly bottom line. Furthermore, almost every resident of every country depends on fossil fuels for the basic essentials of life. Small surprise, no one wants to rock the boat. However, it keeps getting tougher to ignore the fact that nature is rocking the boat regardless of our preferences. Continental heat waves, hotter for longer periods than ever before; long lasting droughts and horrendous floods; summer-long wildfires of ferocious proportions; hot oceans and seared farmlands; there is no longer any doubt that the world’s climate is less benign than it once was. Now we must decide whether we will do something meaningful about it. Or will we just grin and try to bear it, selfishly seeking some measure of comfort at the expense of those future-deprived unfortunates who will inhabit the planet after us? I have friends who seem willing to defend to the death the second option. They are nice folks—kind, caring, friendly, of high integrity and intelligence. But they refuse to recognize the overwhelming evidence of the threat we face, and scorn the solutions we must take to remedy it—clinging to the creed that their opinions are as credible as science, and guarding their “freedom” to travel on gasoline, cook with natural gas, and use electricity from burning coal, if that be the cheapest source. They zealously oppose government regulations that increase the cost or restrict the easy availability of fossil fuels. And they abhor or ridicule renewable alternatives. These are likable, highly moral people. I also have friends with the same desirable qualities who believe the science, who would see the country and the world switch to alternative fuels and mass transit as quickly as possible, even if it costs money and causes personal inconvenience. I and most people I know in this second group are nonetheless utterly dependent on fossil fuels not only for comfortable lives, but for basic survival. Individualism will not solve a global emergency like climate change, no matter how many trees we plant or vegetables we eat. While such actions help, real solutions can only be made by communal action on a worldwide scale, to stop burning fossil fuels. How long do we have to make up our collective minds and begin cooperating to prevent global disaster? I write about this apparently hopeless situation because I want to inspire hope, and by hope I do not refer to the idea that climate change could signal some apocalyptic evidence of a coming rapture. I would see the people who are living on this planet now do what is necessary to keep Earth livable for generations who will live here in the future. It will take all eight billion of us to do the job, but where do we start? The same solutions for climate change also work against general environmental pollution, which many of us have been aware of, and have been trying to remedy, since shortly after World War II. We started to actually solve those problems in the 1960’s and 1970’s, then began slowing down in the eighties, in favor of profits. Remember when Ronald Reagan reassured us that pollution was “caused by trees?” The solutions to those environmental problems are still available, and technology has improved. The same organizations that have been advocating for politicians to legislate a livable environment are still around. We can strengthen their efforts. What would be the downside should we end pollution, only to discover science was wrong about global warming? The outlook is hopeless only if we do nothing. If we know what is happening and why, we must do something about it, hopeless or not. Since evidence of the invisible hand of the market is nowhere to be seen, do we have any choice but democratic socialism? The difficult yet required changes must come from the bottom up. Young people are aware of the danger, and voting in greater numbers than were once predicted, which is encouraging. It is their planet. We oldsters must help. My generation was vilified sometime back, for trying to change our society, which included saving the environment. Now many of us Boomers have grown comfortable, and there is a strong urge to simply do nothing. We had better get over it. Once we wanted to change the world. Now, there is no longer a choice. The project will be costly and burdensome. But letting the current situation run its course will lead to results that are much worse. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/10/2192606/-How-About-this-Heat 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/