[PrestonSturges]

You have to wonder what is driving the GOP to suddenly loot state and local budgets, rewrite the voting laws, and generally create a scorched earth/Thousand Year Reich strategy.

I mean, "because they can" is a pretty good explanation, but why'd they all get on board for this without anything resembling a strong or even marginally competent leader?

I'm at a loss to explain their success going down this road without a charismatic schizoid drug addicted lunatic leading them, even though the Birchers dominating the party definitely have managed to create a general air of schizoid lunacy in the GOP.

But that's not enough to generate the sense of purpose in the coup we are seeing, what we used to call a "slow-motion coup," but which is now definitely chugging along in real time.

I'm really wondering whether AGW isn't putting the GOP into power grabbing hyperdrive, and they see the writing is on the wall. In several years they'll at a minimum need to reorganize and rename. In 3-5 years, when the public realizes how the GOP has lied to them, the GOP is going to be like the white South Africans during apartheid, and the GOP is consolidating its control on everything in anticipation of the time they will be holding onto those resources by brute force in a system that defines parties by racial identity.

I think that is one of the motives for what seems to be a nationwide movement to sell off, privatize, or carve up the power grid, the school systems, and the watersheds, so that these services will only be available for people with the right party affiliation (Republican). They are heading for the Russian/Chinese model of government, and I think it may be in response to AGW.

[americandream]

Either one does something politically or like Ludi, stay silent. We have no options here. This is one problem we cannot wish away. We chose foolishly when we elected to go down the path of unbridled exploitation of the planet for personal gain and it isn't working.

This is something that needs to be changed at the global level. Growing your own potatoes from your composting toilet aint gunna work. Hoping that example will influence the mesmerised drones is pie in the sky. If you have kids, you have a generational obligation to make change happen or all this bogus morality that passes for parental devotion is pretty bloody worthless. Either that, or like Ludi, take to being silent and minimise the confusion that reigns.

Waffling on about composting your way out of this ballsup is just more delaying tactics and downright dangerous for your kids health. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, either shit or get off the pot.

[Timo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'A')s a friend of mine is fond of saying, either shit or get off the pot.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Timo', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'A')s a friend of mine is fond of saying, either shit or get off the pot.

[mos6507]

" That message needs to cut through the bullshit by as many of us who really have got to grips with the issues."

How? Bitching on a worldsend?

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '&')quot; That message needs to cut through the bullshit by as many of us who really have got to grips with the issues."

How? Bitching on a worldsend?

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Timo', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'A')s a friend of mine is fond of saying, either shit or get off the pot.

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?



Why are so few people talking about this?

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?



Why are so few people talking about this?

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?

[oowolf]

Most of the folks here (and similar sites) are what Gladwell describes as "mavens" and "connectors". We're the "big picture" people; among the first to sense a paradigm shift. In an emergency situation, most sheeple will sit waiting for someone else to make the first move. If you accept the 80/20 Pareto principle of the vital few--we're the ones who first realize that the Titanic IS actually going to sink, and make preparations for survival. Remember, 1500 people simply went down with the ship--it wasn't necessary for them to prepare because they were the ones who were going to die.

This assumes the emergency is survivable. Unsurvivable events aren't worth worring about because they are not zero-sum Pareto optimal--everyone loses; game over. Dealing with an end-Permian-grade anoxic atmosphere, supervolcano, nuclear holocaust, asteroid collision, etc. etc., is beyond individual effort. I doubt there's anyone here who actually believes petro-industrial "civilization" will willingly revert to a sustainable way of living. We have metastised and are now a cancer in the body of Gaia and are likely to set evolution back 250,000,000 years. As Pogo's Walt Kelly said: "There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us."

'tis sad....

[scas]

If anyone is wondering as to timelines, once the warming kicks in from an Arctic giving off 3.5+ Gt per year, it could be tens of degrees over a decade or two. All that ice and snow is going to help for a bit though.

Interesting reading from 2008.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2008 ... -22-02.asp

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?



Why are so few people talking about this?

[TheDude]

I notice the wikileaks emails weren't full of "But of course this is all moot, since methane outgassing will kill all macroscale life on Earth shortly; but it is entertaining to discuss all this irrelevant data on CO2, since we must keep the public unawares and maintain business as usual for our own purposes, have to have a career after all, and keep that funding rolling in."

Or does somebody on an obscure discussion forum know more about this than the acknowledged experts in the field? Are said experts simply in denial full time? For that matter our core precept is that there are limited amounts of hydrocarbons to burn in the first place, and as Aleklett points out this makes the extreme AGW scenarios dubious to begin with.

Mostly I just carry on, but then I'm not a fervent activist. Felt a bit Active a few years ago, but now...this is all very much out of our hands; walk/bike/garden all you want, did any of it keep the Chinese from piling on another 1 mb/d last year?

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy are we talking about anything but our imminent death from Global Warming?



Why are so few people talking about this?

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '
')So do you reckon that the methane venting will be sufficiently leisurely to ensure that natural processes mitigate its effects ensuring some survivors? Do you have anything to back this up given the emerging evidence that we may have passed the point of no return with methane outgassing?

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '
')So do you reckon that the methane venting will be sufficiently leisurely to ensure that natural processes mitigate its effects ensuring some survivors? Do you have anything to back this up given the emerging evidence that we may have passed the point of no return with methane outgassing?

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')
Why??? To what end?

[Revi]

Nobody wants to hear what's going on. I went to try to buy a four stroke motor for my boat. The salesman who I have known for years tried to convince me that global warming is a myth. I went along with it in the hope that I could get the price down a couple of hundred dollars, but he just wanted to convince me that I know nothing. I didn't end up buying the motor.

I try not to get into much of a discussion with people about global warming. It's cold out, so they can't understand what I'm saying. People can't hear me anyway. I told some of my colleagues about peak oil years ago, but they all buy bigger vehicles anyway. They are all going broke, and they can't understand why. They ridicule me for having small vehicles, and driving an electric car. They really can't comprehend what I'm saying. I've quit preaching. We save over $3000 dollars a year from the changes we've made, so that speaks for itself.

Imagine if you were on the Titanic and some guy came up to you early in the voyage and told you that the ship was going to sink. Would you listen to him or dismiss him as a nutter? If you were that guy and you knew what was happening would it help you to tell others? Or would it be better to scope out the lifeboats and make a raft out of deck chairs? I think the latter. That's why I prepare for what's coming every day. After work my second job is to get ready. If someone is really interested, I'll tell them what I'm doing and why, but I'm not telling any of my colleagues any more. It just pisses them off.