Exxon Knew, pt. 2
“You adults are not mature enough to tell the truth…” Greta Thunberg
Big school strike today in Europe. Go Climate Kids. I’m rooting for you. We adults failed you. It’s time to take over for us. Did you all know that in Malta, 16 year olds can vote?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2019/may/24/school-climate-strikes-expected-to-be-largest-yet-live-coverage-greta-thunberg
What are the chances society can make the changes we need to meet IPCC goals?
https://singularityhub.com/2019/05/22/how-realistic-are-the-global-climate-change-targets-new-research-weighs-in/
The environment is international. But if we can’t get our own country to stop destroying the environment, how are we going to convince other countries to stop?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/china-emits-illegal-greenhouse-gas-that-destroys-ozone-layer-study.html
America could try electing a climate change candidate. Did I ever mention I’m a Climate Voter for 2020? Here’s the NYT on why Jay Inslee, the only true climate candidate, hasn’t taken off like CO2 levels. Yet.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/us/politics/jay-inslee-climate-change.html
Climate change and war. Bad pun with “fuel” there.
https://www.economist.com/international/2019/05/25/how-climate-change-can-fuel-wars
Ecocide Uncovered. It’s a detective story for the eons. Who on earth killed the Earth?
This article stopped me dead. A few minutes later I dried my eyes enough to come back to typing. I’ve already written about this unfolding story in “Exxon Knew” a couple of months ago. But the vividness of that single chart (shown above), with its highest estimate so exactly matching today’s level— it broke my heart– again. A chart from 1982 describing the destruction of the earth. In Exxon’s hands. 1982! Exxon knew, and they went ahead and did it anyway. Ecocide is the greatest crime of all.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/exxon-predicted-2019-s-ominous-co2-milestone-in-1982-1834748763
The problem we face is changing the course of our civilization. Seems hard. Imagine that NASA saw a comet coming toward Earth. It’ll be the end of everything. But if you blow it to pieces, you just increase its destructiveness. You have to push the comet to a new, safer trajectory. And to do that, you have to start early. And you have to keep pushing.
It may be too late to adjust the trajectory of our civilization. But there’s not much choice, in my mind, but to try.
This column is me, pushing from the side, trying to nudge the destructive comet of our civilization onto a new, safer course. I’m not having much luck so far! But I’m not the only one pushing. Millions of others, like the Climate Kids inspired by Greta, are trying to move this deadly culture onto a new orbit. They are pushing hard, too. And maybe if just a few more of you all join in….
Trackbacks/Pingbacks