Methane news & reactions roundup

[hmpf]

This is what I just posted to a thread on boingboing:

Seems to me as if the only truly reasonable reaction to this is, for each of us, to turn our lives around so as to reduce our personal emissions *as much as possible*, *right now* - and start to get politically active so as to get society to adopt that course, as well.

Of course, that's for a definition of 'reasonable' which is based on two assumptions:

1.) The survival of civilisation/humans/life on earth is a priority that overrides individual desires for unnecessary luxuries. (I'm not equating the three things separated by slashes in the previous sentence, btw - I'm just listing them in the order of likelihood of their being threatened.)

2.) In a complex system which we do not fully understand, we should not be too ready to declare that 'it's over' and 'we're screwed'. As long as there are factors that aren't understood, there is hope. This means that giving up now is unreasonable, because only by giving up (and, by implication, continuing our lives the 'business as usual' way as long as it's still possible) do we condemn ourselves with *absolute* certainty.

**

Links:

I've posted most of these before, but here they are again, collected in one handy post for easier clicking. Discussion is still going on in the comments, so it pays to check back occasionally.

Green blogosphere:

http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/23/has-runaway-climate-change-begun/

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008702.html

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/9/24/111531/839

Newspapers:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/23/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange1?gusrc=rss&feed=environment

Addendum:

Nice animated movie explaining positive feedback loops and tipping points:

http://wakeupfreakout.org/

Comments

[mikes-grrl.livejournal.com]

The survival of civilisation/humans/life on earth is a priority that overrides individual desires for unnecessary luxuries.

Well, there you go, then. We're doomed.

I don't pretend to care as much as you do about this; I see the signs and read the articles etc. etc. but then I look around at everyone I know and NONE of them are going to give up their minor conveniences, much less their entire lifestyle, for the sake of "What Might Happen."

There has been too much 'cry wolf' from the environmentalists for anyone to take the direst warnings seriously (I lived through the 'acid rain' terror, which turned out to be less armageddon and more general-disturbance) and most people (my Husband included) don't care enough anyway.

You can fight anything but ennui.

I have a longer post brewing about this, I think,

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

sometime in the future. No time to really go into it here. Acid rain, though, is actually still a very real problem, and the infamous waldsterben that is caused by it (and by climate change and some other factors as well) is still going on, too. It's just that the forests aren't dying *fast* enough for people to care... Same goes for many other environmental catastrophes, too. They're real enough. They're just really *slow* (in some cases because *some* protective legislation was enacted), and so people get used to them, and their perception shifts to "well, it's been nearly thirty years and there are *still* forests around - wasn't much of a catastrophe, then. Stupid, hysterical enviros screaming about dying forests in the early eighties were wrong. Next time they scream about something, I better not listen."

Re: I have a longer post brewing about this, I think,

[mikes-grrl.livejournal.com]

"well, it's been nearly thirty years and there are *still* forests around - wasn't much of a catastrophe, then. Stupid, hysterical enviros screaming about dying forests in the early eighties were wrong. Next time they scream about something, I better not listen."

Yes, that is EXACTLY it. I mean, the drowning polar bears gets people choked up but they just don't see how they, personally, can do anything about it. In the face of such apathy and hopelessness, I have a hard time being proactive myself. I know I SHOULD work harder at caring about all this, but honestly, given how many of these battles we've lost, I'm just too jaded. :(

I understand the tiredness, believe me.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Every time I post about this, I kinda feel exhausted afterwards. And embarrassed, because I know it makes me look like a total tinhat. It's just that... I don't deal well with death. I'm not very good at accepting it. Mine; civilisations'; mankind's; Earth's; Life's. The frelling universe's. (Longer entry about that forthcoming.) And I don't believe much, anymore, in us 'muddling through somehow' - I think it's either Taking Definitive Steps, now, or Death on a Very Large Scale, in the medium-term future. (Longer entry about that forthcoming, as well.) And that's just big and scary enough to keep me motivated, somewhat (though my motivation is very much of the Frodo Baggins kind - kinda hopeless, really. One thing I love about The Lord of the Rings is how it's this big... celebration, really, of Stubbornly Going on in the Face of Utter Hopelessness. Because what other useful approach to all the Big Problems in life can there be? Meekly lying down to die? Fuck, no.)

Aaanyway. That's all for another day and another couple of posts or so.

Just wanted to point out that I've done the rec post for the Undercover series. You've probably noticed by now, actually, since you seem to be reading my LJ, but just in case you're erratic in your reading like me, here's a notification anyway. *g* I'm a bit unhappy with the post because I feel I could have done better at describing all the many things I love about the series - one thing I definitely should have mentioned is your proficiency at creating great original characters. But, my thesis is beginning to kick my ass in a big way, so I have very little time, so it will have to do. :-(