As government officials, scientists and policy experts gather this week in Cancun, Mexico, to quibble once again over climate change, one largely unspoken reality is starting to set in: We as a society are too dysfunctional to do anything about global climate change, so just get used to it.
The Economist this week describes how any meaningful effort to stop global warming is so laughably out of reach that we should just give up trying, and instead start adapting to the ugly reality of climate change. In other words, get ready for scorching hot summers, mosquito infestations and disease, rainier winters, floods and hurricanes, famines and droughts, mass species extinctions ... in short, the whole damned apocalyptic disaster.
Some places, of course, are already feeling the effects of global warming: Norfolk, Va., is spending a small fortune to raise the levels of its streets, which are underwater more and more often these days. (Meanwhile, the Virginia attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is spending his time trying to prove that global warming is a hoax.)
Nero fiddled, but we probably don't have time ... do we? What do you think?
Comments
I sure hope that more than 7 people comment on this. Otherwise it will show that concern & interest are limited, which will contribute to the do-little or do-nothing approach of the majority of our politicians, regardless of their political stripe. We may be doomed as a species but sadly we are dooming all the other species on this Earth to extinction, though they haven’t caused the problems and don’t deserve to be eliminated. Despite the recession we continue to over-consume, over-pollute, over-populate, over-eat, and under-achieve in counteracting the destruction of nature and the Earth — and counteracting the “deniers” resistance to what is not only being proven scientifically but what is sitting in front of our noses. Yes, I don’t have much hope for the future of our beautiful Planet but I shall keep on doing my best, individually, collectively, politically & environmentally, to improve the situation in my town and local areas. If we all recognized that we’re in a tub of rapidly heating water – like the proverbial frog – and then collectively worked together to turn off the heat, rapidly, not slowly, then maybe we might change the terrible course we’re now on.
Thanks, Libra, for your comments. I’m sure more people will respond in the days to come. And I agree that we’re like the frog slowly simmering away — maybe a big jolt, like a massive hurricane wiping out a major East Coast city, or a malaria epidemic in Canada, will finally goad us into meaningful action. Until then, keep up the good work and don’t despair — Mother Nature is coming!