The Dharma of Climate Change
6 years 8 months ago - 6 years 8 months ago #111106
by Andromeda
Replied by Andromeda on topic The Dharma of Climate Change
My hope is that by looking honestly at the worst-case scenario predictions, people in leadership roles will have the motivation and support to make changes which slow/delay the onset of the badness and mitigate what will happen when/if the worst does comes along. A broader awareness of the situation may facilitate that. The world is already experiencing a variety of effects from climate change and we can expect that to increase regardless, but for all we know this is just the beginning of a slow decline and the worst won't come for generations. And of course you never know--humans are incredibly resourceful creatures, and you never know what we'll come up with.
The military has been preparing for climate change for years now--it's about time the rest of us catch up. It sucks to have the uncertainty of if/when/where/how bad, but this is our reality and it does no good to try to pretend these things aren't happening. Things are really good right now and we aren't in imminent danger, so this is an opportunity to focus on living full, meaningful lives. There's certainly no need to panic. Something I noticed at a talk on this subject given by a Dark Mountain Project writer was that it was the old folks in the audience who objected the most, and felt that kids needed some sort of hope for the future and should be protected from the idea of collapse. But the kids in the audience were much more realistic and okay with it. They're not dumb and the fact that the world is burning has been all over the news since before they were born, and they were happy people were just talking about it openly instead of denying what they saw as a reality. There was definitely a sort of, "Shut up, Grandpa" eye rolling kind of vibe from the younger generation.
One key and important point that Bendell made in the interview: don't get all fired up and join a movement because that is just a distraction. After working with the Tibetan 5 elements practice, I can't help think--air reaction, noooooo!
The military has been preparing for climate change for years now--it's about time the rest of us catch up. It sucks to have the uncertainty of if/when/where/how bad, but this is our reality and it does no good to try to pretend these things aren't happening. Things are really good right now and we aren't in imminent danger, so this is an opportunity to focus on living full, meaningful lives. There's certainly no need to panic. Something I noticed at a talk on this subject given by a Dark Mountain Project writer was that it was the old folks in the audience who objected the most, and felt that kids needed some sort of hope for the future and should be protected from the idea of collapse. But the kids in the audience were much more realistic and okay with it. They're not dumb and the fact that the world is burning has been all over the news since before they were born, and they were happy people were just talking about it openly instead of denying what they saw as a reality. There was definitely a sort of, "Shut up, Grandpa" eye rolling kind of vibe from the younger generation.
One key and important point that Bendell made in the interview: don't get all fired up and join a movement because that is just a distraction. After working with the Tibetan 5 elements practice, I can't help think--air reaction, noooooo!
6 years 8 months ago - 6 years 8 months ago #111115
by Chris Marti
I was at a seminar in Silicon Valley a few years ago and a scientist who does research on nano-scale materials said that in order to reduce global temperatures we could build and release a hoard of self-replicating nano-particles into the atmosphere, engineered to self-destruct after a certain period of time. I like the orbital sun shades idea better
Replied by Chris Marti on topic The Dharma of Climate Change
The engineer in me looks for things to incrementally solve. For example, the planting of sea grass/kelp on a massive scale (a) doesn't sound like rocket science, and (b) will measurably help the acidification problem. Then, what about temporarily replacing the effect of the sea ice with space-based geosynchronous shades?
I was at a seminar in Silicon Valley a few years ago and a scientist who does research on nano-scale materials said that in order to reduce global temperatures we could build and release a hoard of self-replicating nano-particles into the atmosphere, engineered to self-destruct after a certain period of time. I like the orbital sun shades idea better
6 years 8 months ago #111116
by Tom Otvos
Yes, I think that releasing a ton of stuff into the atmosphere is too uncontrollable to work effectively, or without unintended side effects. Look how well releasing stuff into the atmosphere has worked so far.
Regarding your other comment about not being a "scientific publication", is that based on it having been rejected for publication? Did you read the comments on why it was rejected? I think that, like anything, one has to do due diligence on who the writer is, whether they are representing facts correctly, and whether the logical flow makes sense. I think that "review papers" that take stock of an area of research are just as publishable, and "scientific" as something original. And he did a lot of literature review before writing DA, apparently. Not being in the field, I would be at the mercy of, for example, the critical responses from those that know more than I about this and weighing their arguments over the DA paper's.
But I am all for getting more informed on the science, so if you have links send them along.
-- tomo
Replied by Tom Otvos on topic The Dharma of Climate Change
Chris Marti wrote:
The engineer in me looks for things to incrementally solve. For example, the planting of sea grass/kelp on a massive scale (a) doesn't sound like rocket science, and (b) will measurably help the acidification problem. Then, what about temporarily replacing the effect of the sea ice with space-based geosynchronous shades?
I was at a seminar in Silicon Valley a few years ago and a scientist who does research on nano-scale materials said that in order to reduce global temperatures we could build and release a hoard of self-replicating nano-particles into the atmosphere, engineered to self-destruct after a certain period of time. I like the orbital sun shades idea better
Yes, I think that releasing a ton of stuff into the atmosphere is too uncontrollable to work effectively, or without unintended side effects. Look how well releasing stuff into the atmosphere has worked so far.
Regarding your other comment about not being a "scientific publication", is that based on it having been rejected for publication? Did you read the comments on why it was rejected? I think that, like anything, one has to do due diligence on who the writer is, whether they are representing facts correctly, and whether the logical flow makes sense. I think that "review papers" that take stock of an area of research are just as publishable, and "scientific" as something original. And he did a lot of literature review before writing DA, apparently. Not being in the field, I would be at the mercy of, for example, the critical responses from those that know more than I about this and weighing their arguments over the DA paper's.
But I am all for getting more informed on the science, so if you have links send them along.
-- tomo