In Kim Stanley Robinson’s new book Ministry for the Future, a grim future of climate change paints a picture that cannot be ignored. A world where citizens watch helplessly as climate disasters unfold all across the planet forcing governments to consider untested and unsanctioned ecological biological transformations of the environment by geo-engineering.
What follows is a nightmare as such unsanctioned events trigger cascades of unexpected consequences around the globe making others think they too should consider their own uncoordinated geo-engineering projects.
How real is the underlying premise for Robinson’s book? Very real. We have already had temperature extremes all over the planet resulting in floods, wildfires, powerful hurricanes, and other extreme weather affecting the day-to-day existence of people all over the world.
In Mexico, it has become impossible to work during the hottest parts of the day, so much so, work is being scheduled at night, since it is becoming the only part of the day where temperatures allow workers to continue their work with less risk of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and other heat-related challenges.
In the Pacific Northwest, a heat dome covered a quarter of the United States, trapping slow-moving air in a
bubble of heat which affected millions of citizens and has resulted in an official count of 90 deaths but a study of excess deaths may make that toll as high as 600 people.
Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana, wrecking homes with its category four winds for six hours, rendering 90% of the state without power, and as the storm headed up the coast, it hammered New York and New Jersey with flash flooding.
Wildfires continue to ravage every nation with a living forest, particularly if there have been extremes of drought in those regions. Areas such as the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, Washington, and California have a bumper crop of wildfires with the largest in California history, the Dixie Fire, still burning months after it started.
This is the end game. Life as we have enjoyed it is over. A news article caught my eye with the strange and terrifying question: Is this going to be the coolest summer for the rest of your life?
What should we be doing to galvanize our government into action? As it stands NO nation has met their Paris Climate Accords agreements while climate continues to raise sea levels, melting ice, release methane from the permafrost, and endanger any of 250 million people living along the coastline of any country on Earth.
- Should we be waiting for technology to save the day?
- Should random geo-engineering be the order of the day?
The effects of climate change are not just what’s happening, it’s what is also EXPECTED to happen. Famine, drought, plagues, insect swarms, are all also part of the climate experience as people adjust to the idea they may or may not be able or even want to return to areas blighted by climate.
What ideas should we be fielding as mass migrations become more and more unavoidable?
Has the coronavirus shown us what to expect from world governments in the face of an unstoppable natural force?
Does the future bode what we have already experienced? “We just have to learn to live with it…”
What does that future even look like?
New legislation is always being presented, yet given our completely polarized government can legislation such H.R.3764 – Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2021 even be recognized, let alone accepted given we can’t even get an infrastructure bill passed which would make any adaptations necessary for climate change mitigation possible.
Join us tonight on Climate Change by the Elements and share your ideas for the best ways for our nations to
plan for a future we are currently ill-prepared to survive.
Climate Change by the Elements
The Good Men Project Live-Cast | Produced by Lisa Hickey
Hosted by Thaddeus Howze and Carol Bluestein
You can dial in for the live show at:701-801-1220 code: 934-317-242 and # symbol.
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Event Link: https://fb.me/e/5JSwLF7tJ
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This post is republished on Medium.
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