I've waited nearly a lifetime to hear this voice! How will we give answer to her righteous call to arms? How will Age pay it's debt to youth. How? Very soon or not at all. In my game, they often say that when the student is ready to receive, the sage arises. To which I would add when the world is ready to make a vast,sweeping and far reaching change Greta arises and calls upon all of us to do our duty and pay our dues to life on our only planet. I beg of us that we should give our lives to this child. She can see us all home. She can give rise to a new and better humanity...if only we will let her she can save our future generations. Do not doubt this! She began her work among us just last year. Look what she has accomplished in just one year. Imagine what she can do in the coming year...If we lend her our willing hands and the the strength of our numbers. From out of the mouths of babes comes the truth to our ears. If we wish to go to an unknown place we must seek a new path that will lead us there. Greta has a firm grip at 16 upon the path that can give to us the ages to come.
Quoted from: Something new and horrible Why? Because I work in the oil industry? I think someone like Greta was inevitable. A great many issues are only resolved when one polarising individual stands up and says, "enough, no more!" I have great respect for her fortitude, for picking her fight and having the courage and sheer bloody-mindedness to stick with it when everybody around her was telling her to go back to school. I also have great respect for the adults around her that recognised that she has the potential to be a catalyst for change, and gave her a platform, instead of - as has happened to many potential catalysts before - being punished for their "misbehaviour" and forced to comply until that spark is extinguished. I'm also somewhat concerned for her welfare: she's now mixing with powerful people, who will want to use her for their own ends, and hope that she has a strong enough support network to shield her from people who would turn her into a product for sale. About her message, however, I'm of mixed opinion. The basic thrust, that change needs to happen, and needs to happen now... is absolutely correct. Fossil fuels are extremely versatile - simply burning them is just a tremendous waste. The need for change is immediate and obvious. That much I agree with. I agree that we need to explore natural solutions - regreening, better land and water resource management, replanting of forests. I agree that this will need changes in consumption habits and behaviours. I think she's less clear on the depth and breadth of technological solutions available to us, which will develop as her exposure to, and grounding in, the necessary sciences develops. Mitigating* the damage requires a combination of both. Where I become a little unstuck, however, is with her rhetoric. Yes, I know that people trying to effect change need shock factor. They need to be difficult, and forthright, and definitely need to be rude. But her recent turn towards divisiveness, using the language of "betrayal" and pitching the young against the old are, I fear, mistakes that will limit her effectiveness later. The adults of today are, after all, the people that will need to build - and fund - the changes she's demanding. * note, we're a long way off repairing the damage. Even the 2030/2050 pledge for carbon neutrality is a mitigation, not a repair.
Humans are so bloody minded that there's only a tiny chance that we won't kill all of ourselves within the next forty years. This doesn't mean that we should stop fighting the good fight!
No dummy, because your British, have two young children.":O} I have never questioned what you feel you must do to earn a living/ Have you ?":O} I said many years ago (When no one was around to start quoiting me,) that it is getting harder and harder to find a way to earn a living that isn't a form of long term suicide. In terms of climate what we do we do together, what is permitted is permitted by us all. ( you guys can start quoting me now.":O} I don't think that she is divisive. I think she recognizes the existing divisions. The root of all evil isn't money (greed). it is our persistent indifference to the good. In mass, humanity only cares a little for what is right, they care more for what they want. Greta's task is to change this. To unveil the evil that comes from such indifference. Greta must face a power elite that doesn't care two shits for what will become of her after they are finally gone. The science she is advocating tells her exactly what her fate will be if we cannot rein in the power elite. And that's why I posted "Fearless Girl" I think of her as mother natures last warning. Mother Natures last attempt to straighten what has become crooked within us as a whole. That last peace entreaty , before mother nature turns loose our children to rip that economic bull to pieces. "Experience should fear the energy of youth." Greta understands that we are stealing the resources that properly belong to future generations. She understands that "This is all wrong I should not be here.I should be across the ocean in school." That "You have stolen my dreams, my childhood" Greta has I fear one terrible lesson to learn. Alas those who oppose her are truly evil. They have and will sacrifice all just to have their own. Greta is one of the great lights of this world and so makes an enemy of darkness. But her light will attract the best among us to lend her their aid and protection. Don't be surprised if your boys find her call irresistible. What an old man sees and understands, they will have to live and breathe. They will have to make this right all of it, or perish. Greta has lite a candle that will ignite the world.Flame passing from candle to candle until the darkness has no where left to hide. Because science. Greta has told her generation the truth. This is our fight, we must fight or we will all die terrible deaths. Our parents are failing us. Millions gathered all over the world and have every intention to continue together until they have righted our world. Finally the point you make I find myself in disagreement. Today adults have abdicated their personal responsibility. We have done nothing of significance to elevate the situation. That's what is freaking her out. Hers is a call to arms. A call to youth to not go down with this rat infested ship. To storm the bridge and seize the wheel and chart a course away from apocalyptic doom. She swings the sword of scientific insight which has laid low ten thousand bad or mistaken ideas. But more than this, more than all, She issues a warning of a threat no parent can withstand. "If you fail us we will never forgive you." Fearless girl has arrived. Now we will test her beyond human endurance, If she can survive us she can liberate us.
Three years Three more years. Then people will viscerally understand. More, something will have arrived to live among us. Something that was absence while we were weighing what we though were "our""options" . Three more years and it will live in every home. Three more years and the theoretical will be made manifest. Three more years and FEAR will begin to grip every heart. Three more years of Katrina's off spring and tornadoes that don't stay home but wander like children in packs from coast to coast. Three more hurricane seasons to strip the coasts The masses are slow to move until they start to die. Once on the move She who can mobilize the masses can rule this world. This will be all of a sudden upon us. First in the news then in our own back yards. We have been waiting for fear to come to the party. Fear that will do anything to gain a chance at survival. Upon the dumb animals Nature uses pain and fear to rear the young. Is why in nature we find mothers that,love their offspring beyond reason, will die to see them live, Mothers inflect the most pain and fear,,, So She will be listened to, so that they will live. Nature has figured out whats wrong with us. We have forgotten our primordial fear of natures wrath. 1/3 of north American birds breath takenly lost in the last ten years. Three more years and fear will come to a town near you. If it hasn't burnt down or drown. is why I've hinted that my younger friends take a closer look at the martial arts. Fear doesn't produce a lot clear sightedness. But it seems it is just what is needed to curb humanities childish destruction. Were all in for a lesson in consequences. Lesson one there are always unintended consequences. Lesson two. worse still consequences become causes that produce consequences. Over the next three years the world will start listening to Greta and her friends, now only in the millions, then in the billions Because when the lord gets ready ya gotta move. Same thing goes for God's old lady, she's done a lot for him ya know. ":O}
One of the very few steps I've taken in the right direction. I stopped smoking about five years ago. That's less oxygen burned and less irritation for eyes everywhere. Very tiny contribution but more than nothing.
I vaguely recall you did once, back on AOA, but I'm not concerned enough to bother hunting for a link. But yes, I do on a fairly regular basis. Not necessarily for the reasons you think. Anyway, you may be disappointed by the boys' opinions - remember, the lads are still very young, and haven't yet really started to think about the world and their place in it. Son #1, unfortunately, also shares my sense of humour. The school encouraged them to make "extinction rebellion" style placards - his read, "burn the planet - zombies hate the cold!" He must've been thinking of me before first coffee... So I asked. I took a screenshot, but it's probably better to paraphrase: I asked "what's your opinion of Greta Thunberg" #1: "Dunno" #2: "Can I go out to play now?"
I think it more likely that I wanted you to question it., But I can get pushy when I'm out of pot.":O} Does your son fully realize that Dragons eat frozen Zombies sprinkled with ash? "extinction rebellion" style placards -" what an altogether useful exercise for young climate warriors! So...to what extent has he been informed his planet is dying and needs his help. How old are they now Papa? School is obviously trying to break the news to him. And you've never been one to withhold an opinion..that's a good thing..Zombies feed upon the opinions of others.":O} This all just seems like one of those preachy sci-fi movies of my youth...always going o about the end of the world. The end of the world has always been rather entertaining in the movies. I feel much closer to the battle line today than I did yesterday. Dickens. At the end of one of his novels, I forget which one. Our weary, widower stands (no kidding)) on the white cliffs of Dover a ruined man. and after long reflection he come to a remarkable insight. "Either I will be the hero of my life or the victim of it." So we have set the stage for a drama to unfold, One in which the characters reveal the inner most workings of the human soul. In the next one hundred years we will come to know who we are. The heroes of our lives or the victims of them? All that we leave left undone this day will be a burden for tomorrow to carry. So as an insider, what gives you pause about your work? You of course know you will have to square it with your sons. Every father must at lest in his own mind square his life with his son. I know you to be a fine an honorable man. Given the chance I think your sons will as well. Nothing will bind them to you like having been told the best truth you have even, if/when it hurts your pride. For all the troubles that confront them I envy your sons. What an age for a warrior to be active in!!
Thanks! But I still own a car. I'm pretty much disabled these days, tbh. I have a friend who does the food shopping and runs errands and takes me to appointments. Asking him to do so via public transit is a bridge too far. I wish I'd bought a smaller auto 14 years ago. This machine isn't shy about adding to the smog pile, me so bad! It's the only new car I ever bought and it is lasting surprisingly well. The small "cheap" Mercedes suv's are nowhere near as durable as this Korean beast is. Hats off to Kia.
I'm well aware of the irony embodied by my profession being in conflict with my politics. But it's also allowed me to travel the world, meet my wife, interact with other cultures, and come face to face with the aftermath of war in Iraq - against which, if you remember, I was vehemently opposed. It's a small thing, but I offset my family's personal carbon emissions - including my copious air travel - through this platform: https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/ Offsetting is not the same as curtailing, I am aware - I like it because the poorer countries have long held that since we developed "dirty," then cleaned up when we could afford to do so, then criticising them for developing in a carbon-intensive manner is a bit hypocritical. And they're right. These projects help them to leapfrog straight to modern, clean technology. I try to sponsor projects in countries that are actually poor, not rich but unequal. Anyway... it's something. We're safe, because St. George slew them all! The science is well established - their planet-burning father is quite blunt on that. However, their planet-burning father is also quite blunt on the ineffectiveness of some of the initiatives taken in the UK, and know to focus on the behaviours and changes that actually will work. Coincidentally, these are also behaviours that are good for health, wealth and sanity - including human-powered locomotion for short distances, a general reduction in consumption and avoiding "cheap plastic shit" at all costs. Simply, I'd rather be making this...: https://www.sunfire.de/en/company/news/detail/sunfire-produces-sustainable-crude-oil-alternative ... but I also have a real and urgent need to pay the mortgage.
"Every where, Superior men are oppressed and held in restraint from they good that they would do, by inferior men." If it helps, I never doubted you. I have always held you in high esteem. If I may be so bold...What keeps you from the work you would prefer? We all know what they call people who don't pay the mortgage... Homeless. I bad mouth cheap plastic shit at every opportunity. Who knew that the problem with plastic shit would be that it's not plastic enough. At the risk of underestimating you...are you working to move towards the employment you prefer? Few of us can do what we wish to do in life....You might be one of the lucky ones.":O}
No, not yet. At the moment this is all in the experimental/pilot plant stage - once it's scaled up to commercial sizes, then I'll be first in the queue