Comments precipice has made

  • Politics not allowed?

    This is another question we should see Lew Black reacting to. Of course it would be incredibly wonderful if the Republicans gave the issue the respect it deserves.

    I wonder how the political sides are lining up these days around Atlanta.On Partisan debate on climate change vs. unity posted 2 years ago 24 Responses

  • Civil rights and climate rights

    I turned 13 years old in 1962. Television was still finding its purpose and the news had not yet turned into the circus it is today. When we watched the blacks in Alabama being knocked down by fire hoses and attached by German Shepherds, the graphics themselves generated outrage that legislators could not ignore. You just could not be on the side of the racist police.

    Today we live in another era. Television can still influence public opinion, but our reporters now equivocate about every issue. "Ice caps are melting and threaten to raise sea levels, but SOME SAY this is normal." We watched the inhumanity of the aftermath of Katrina, but the climate part got lost in the lambasting of our incompetent public officials.

    I'm frankly surprised that the heatwaves, floods and droughts of this past summer haven't been packaged more effectively to present the potential impacts of global warming in a more compelling manner. Climate change is always presented as one possible future where no one in particular suffers, but someone (always the other guys) will be affected. Thus, no massive public sense of urgency or outrage.On Tidwell responds to scientists responding to Tidwell posted 2 years, 2 months ago 28 Responses

  • Yikes

    It seems like I've said "Yikes" every day this week. One would like to be an optimist, but when every optimistic estimate proves overly so, well, you might want to start making some preparations while you cut deeper into your carbon-slinging habits.On Greenland ice melting faster than predicted posted 2 years, 2 months ago 6 Responses

  • The gentleness conundrum

    Most of us able to access and read this blog live in a culture where consumption of products is what's supposed to make us feel whole. We've grown up as the targets of marketing and, of course, we've responded to much of it by purchasing what we're supposed to. Shopping has become our security blanket and now we must be gentle with people while they slowly wean themselves from their habits.

    I only wish the progression of climate change would slow down a bit to give us time for everyone to catch up.On All the PR is starting to sound the same posted 2 years, 2 months ago 6 Responses

  • Adaptation, too

    I agree with Wildleaf. We and our children are going to have to adapt long before our efforts to prevent the worst from happening have any effect. People today are having to adapt to higher temperatures, longer droughts, more extreme flooding, dwindling water supplies. If we don't develop supportive programs for this adaptation, we're just going to accelerate the downslide of our societies.

    The Dutch are exceptional. The U.S. seems very far away from having that kind of vision at the national level. Local self-determination may have to take the wheel.On When it comes to climate change, prevention is more important than adaptation posted 2 years, 3 months ago 15 Responses

  • Local politics as a starting point

    I live in one of the most progressive - and green - political districts in the country. Yet no one in the local government has really given thought to how climate change will impact life here. We're always under threat of wildfire, because we are in California, we have a dry season, and most of the forest land has been preserved as parks and open space. We expect to have the occasional minor flood.  Besides that, most of our region lies between two major earthquake faults. We have some renewed efforts to raise consciousness about disaster preparedness. Yet no one in county planning has even considered such contingencies as sea level rise (we have over 50 miles of coastline).

    If our county raised a red flag about its own local risks, and if all other California counties assessed their own risks from climate change and raised their own red flags, the state would become more involved. If all state governments made a racket, our federal representatives would have to respond.

    National politics is all about image and using the emotion of current issues to swing polls. It's not about leadership. We have to lead from the bottom up.On Why is green so low on the political agenda? posted 2 years, 3 months ago 30 Responses

  • Yeah, but

    You write, "Progressives must show people a path from here to there, a continuity that can be bridged with hope and confidence. Fear yields neither."

    There is a threshold beyond which those of us attempting to lead and inform cannot be responsible for what people fear. The continuity you describe could be described along the lines of, "Our habits and consuming practices have aggravated climate change, so now we need to take definitive action on all levels to arrest this change before it makes the world uninhabitable for us. We need to change our habits and insist on our government changing the laws that permit massive carbon emissions."

    I'm sure many people find that scary, but do we hide the truth from grown-ups? Do we need to sugar coat global warming to avoid scaring anyone? If the stakes are not presented accurately, do you really believe people will make radical changes in their lifestyles and consumer choices?

    I live in the progressive land where Lynn Woolsey is our US representative. I don't see significant evidence of people reducing their carbon footprints outside of the ubiquitous presence of the Toyota Prius.

    The longer grassroots action is delayed, the more likely authoritarian control will emerge as crises mount. It's mellow right now...but nobody's about to shut down the coal-fired plants. I'm not complaining about the point of your article, but wondering sincerely - how do we motivate massive change?On Fear of death leads to authoritarianism, not sustainability posted 2 years, 3 months ago 33 Responses

  • Good article but...

    ...he buried the lede!

    Finally paragraph 15 begins with, "But the big issue is global warming." We're gonna need a massive groudswell of public opinion to slow down, much less stop, the coal-carbon-warming train, and the public  is barely aware that coal is still being mined.

    Maybe this is the only way to get the medicine to go down - wrap it in a human interest story. We got a long way to go.On A blast across coal's bow in the Washington Post posted 2 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

  • These national delusions

    We live in crazy times in a crazy land. But right fucking on, David.  Cheering for coal is only one of the ongoing stupidities that should have been smother many years, billions of dollars and millions of lost lives ago. But the continuing deification of coal has by far the highest stakes in terms of the extinction of our species.

    This is nuts. So, in the most practical terms, how can we put a halt to the coal insanity?On Why does everyone assume that coal mining in Appalachia must continue? posted 2 years, 3 months ago 8 Responses