Welcome to the Rest of Our Lives/This Is Not Cool

  By Linda G | July 9, 2012 - 15:51 |

 

The following two videos were posted this week by Peter Sinclair -

Peter Sinclair is a veteran videographer who originated the “Climate Crock of the Week” series and now contributes regularly to The Yale Forum.

The first video is entitled, “Welcome to the Rest of Our Lives” and talks about the increasing severity of various weather events.  It’s focus is the U.S., but the same can be described for much of the rest of the world as well…

The second video is from the Yale ”This Is Not Cool” series – part of the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media.  Here’s the intro:

A late-June report from a National Academy of Sciences committee finding that much of California will face higher sea level increases over the coming century than the projected global average …

 

A report from the U.S. Geological Survey, also in late June, saying Atlantic sea level rise from North Carolina to north of Boston is likely to be higher than anywhere else in the world …

 

Early July local temperatures across the U.S. on a record-breaking pace across much of the Midwest and Northeast and Atlantic coast, and coming after a June that also had set numerous local temperature records …

 

Efforts in several state legislatures to limit consideration of sea level rise as a result of a warmer climate …

 

Add to it all a biting look at the North Carolina example by Comedy Central satirist and humorist Stephen Colbert …

 

These feed into this month’s “This is Not Cool” video, the work of independent video producer Peter Sinclair for The Yale Forum.

 

Written by: Linda G on July 9, 2012.
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  • CSArichardo

    Hi Linda…what is your point ?  Too many people doing too many things (using carbon based energy) which might be causing global warming and weather change or shifts ? 

    So is the problem too many people and too much carbon burning ?  Must be the Chinese !!  Could not possibly be the rest of us !??  I see it like wages.  The OECD wages need to go down to meet the rising Chinese/Asian wages.  Just replace wages with energy consumption.  Ultimately we will find a global equalibrium but not before we come up with some wild accounting scheme (carbon credits) to try and rip off as many common people as possible.  Carbon Backed Securities sounds alot like Asset Backed Securities !

    • lgrinaker

      Whoops! I meant my previous comment as a reply to you, richardo – a fair question.

      Linda

  • lgrinaker

    I think it’s more along the lines of just knowing more about the current trajectory we’re on with this issue, right along with some of the other crucial issues we face here.

    I figured I was going to get some pretty stiff backlash for posting on “climate change,” so I was thinking I’d simply post and leave the comment section be, ;-), but your question, “what is your point?” – I can answer.

    I know some here vehemently disagree when it comes to “climate change” issues. But to me, that feels like arguing over evolution, so I don’t feel like engaging in that conversation, although others can.

    But If I’m going to post here, that’s an issue I’ll be posting on, for folks to do with what they will.

    Speaking of which, I heard on the national news tonight that the first 6 months of this year “were the warmest ever recorded.” I don’t know if that’s referring just to the U.S. or to the global temperature.

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       I think it would be US alone.
      There is something in the Atlantic blocking the hot air coming over and being shared with your friends in Europe ……… Here it has been cold and wet~!

    • CSArichardo

      If the planet is a living thing then smoking is probably not good for it as well !?

  • axionication1

    Hiya Linda,

    Money, oil & the climate all going to pot. Sheez, I can only handle one at a time.

    That our burnining of stuff has resulted in changes, is undeniable. How significant? Not entirely sure.

    Infrastructure is taking a hiding (talking in general nature related disaster stuff), insurance becoming expensive. Repairs prioritized -some damaged infrastructure may be left in that state ( this would be a very bad sighn).

    • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

      Sorry Axionication below meant as a general comment and not a reply to you.  

      Atrocious weather in  Europe. Where I am parts of the winter were warmer and we have had  more rain in June than in January. Will impact on crops.

      We have had a run of unusual weather this last few years. Is it due to the Gulf Stream weakening due to fresh water melt in glaciers, reducing the salinity of the sea? From where I stand it looks more like the onset of an ice age that the fiery pit. But unquestionably unpredictable and not anything like the norm.

      • lgrinaker

        Yeah, I think the term “climate change” is more apt, or at least more so intuitively, even if the average global temperature is increasing and an overall underlying phenomenon - that doesn’t mean that all sorts of weather won’t be wilder, including snow/ice events at times.  And there will still be record cold spells in places.  It’s just that there there are fewer record cold spells and increasing record warm spells in various places.

        Anyway, I just prefer to know something about what I’m heading into – and this is one of those critical and global “conundrums” that are part of the overall mix of what’s happening, intertwined with most every one of the other things we discuss here.

        I think Nate Hagen’s thoughts (in an interview about peak oil) are applicable in a lot of ways with this too (posted in a thread not too long ago as well):

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIThjusijQk

        Linda

        • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

           Linda

          I hope I didn’t come over as a cynic, a disbeliever. I am not. The evidence is strongly tending in one direction. What the exact proportionality of impact due to the possible mixes of reasons are, is academic to me. The climate is acting a little strange!

          We tend to think of the weather as stable, but minor fluctuations in the activity of the sun or even the occasional volcano has caused major problems for societies in recorded history. We now add in growing human activity over a few centuries and well…; better to assume there are problems as we don’t have the ability to fix and the consequences of error none of us know. No harm in being prudent on issues of this magnitude.

          There is much malign lobbing against by vested interests. I have strong views on people who deliberately propagate disinformation, buy influence etc. It is a better place to concentrate attention than monitoring internet use for it erodes ethics, standing, trust and confidence. Amazing how many believe the rubbish that is printed and how easy it is to buy people. We have political systems and structures that encourage, possibly necessitate, corruption.

          Again with peak oil, I have no problem with that concept whatsoever. Can’t understand why my local government is not spending its way out of recession (directly or indirectly) funding off shore wind farms, hydro schemes on every stream and river with a sharp fall or steady flow, tidal generation etc etc. What we do now will be pivotal in creating future wealth and we are running out of time.

          All too simple. They prefer tightening the belt, proposals to make pensioners poorer, dallying around with nuclear, which no one wants to live near, keep kicking the poor, the sick, the unemployed, the homeless, the weak, extorting more tax from Mr. Average. If a local gang of youths behaved in a similar manner we would be outraged.

          • lgrinaker

            No, I certainly didn’t get that impression from you.  And nicely put above, by the way, ;-).

            And even for the folks who do sincerely think it’s “bullocks,” well, I just figured they’d come in and say so – I’m surprised there haven’t been several to do so, for many have shared there feelings about the subject before, although maybe not within a post specifically about it.  But if they do, that’s fine by me.  I just probably won’t engage in the discussion.  It is a settled matter for me, and, like I mentioned above, it would be like engaging in a debate over evolution for me, which I won’t do.  I want to get beyond the debate personally. 

            If I recall, Paul was a major “bullocks!”-er when it came to this subject, but I guess he won’t be commenting.

            Linda 

    • Boz

      Cheer up if there is financial collapse then less oil will be burnt and climate change will slow down err hopefully arrrg its tooo late were all doomed! Its a bleak landscape that my kids head off into thats for sure! Still maybe the global adversity that climate change is will help unify the world man and we can all live in love peace and happiness left alone to weave our yoghurt sandals.

      Probably about time for a global carbon currency (do it on an individual level and then everyone can be censused and tagged!). It could keep people distracted whilst another paper raft is being built to float on!

  • doc

    Here… In the armpit of Canadia’s ocean playground, the weather has been wetter than usual, for a few years – more humid & probably a touch warmer, overall. These milder/less snowy winters are most welcome! It’s definitely more rainstormy, with more frequent freeze/thaw cycling, causing more rapid coastal erosion.
    The Atlantic, she seems to be on the rise – there was a blurb in this morning’s paper about it rising higher than predicted over the next decades – mostly impacting the eastern U.S. coast…

    I say – whatchagonnydo, eh – today’s a beyoodeeval buckets & shovels summer day to play…Hurray!

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       Hello doc,

      • doc

        Hello Nick & tilde friends… (all is well, yes)

        Just got back in from lawn maintenance duties – it re-occurred to me, again… What a perfectly assinine thing to do, this grass cutting routine… Also… That modernmysticschtick impersonator – what a troll, eh… Wish I’d of thought of it~!

        Good day.

        • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

           Well, I say doc …. It is not too late.
          They say imitation is ….. something-or-other.
          Well …..
          If you imitated an imitator, maybe it would be even more, well …… something-or-other~!?

  • windslice

    This climate change bollox is another bandwagon that the “concerned wealthy” like to jump on.

    I’m all for a bit of change.

    It will affect various areas in various ways. Live with it.

    Somehow I get the feeling that the “concerned wealthy” are trying to punish the “unconcerned poor” for  doing what the “concerned wealthy” did; to become the “wealthy”. And the finance industry is making a load of money on “carbon trades” for example.

    1. The world has gone through periods of warming up and cooling down before. It will cope with anything we can throw at it. We don’t matter at all.

    2. There is no conclusive proof that in the last two hundred years since the incredibly destructive Homo Sapiens has been burning off the fossil fuels the temperature change is directly related.

    3. I don’t regard the be all and end all of the world, the universe and whatever lies beyond, is the survival of humans.

    So hate me.

    • lgrinaker

      I don’t think that humans are the be all and end all either, and I also imagine the Earth will be just fine.  Nor do I imagine the planet will suffer too much that we, as a human society, are going through something very like “peak everything” – the resources that are critical for us.

      But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a challenge for me to prepare my heart and mind for this growing issue, along with others, as we enter further into what’s happening.

      To see “climate change” as a real issue doesn’t mean you deny the above.

      And so, as I continue to post about this issue from time to time, you are free to say, “Bullocks!”  And you are, of course, not alone.  Seems like a fair deal to me…

      Linda

  • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

    Would warming and expansion  of the water not be more significant than glacier melt in creating  rises in sea level? Big Ocean.

    A 1 metre rise would have a significant impact on the global economy. Loss of low lying land, major disruption to coastal cities, ports etc. Problems with services, sewerage outlets, existing coastal roads. Erosion would increase in many places.

    I am looking at the sea as I type. At 1 metre we would lose the local rail connection and parts of the coastal road would be under water. The promonade would require Wellington boots at high tide.

    Major deltas would be under water, serious problem.

  • Anne Panne

    Where I live, the sea – level is shrinking. This is because the land still are rising after the last time the ice weighted it down. The soil here is clay, sediments made by the sea. The fifty meters down in the sea – now seventy meters above.

    • lgrinaker

      It’s a wild world, isn’t it?

      Linda

  • Krallison

     Here ,try this for some perspective. People all too often mindlessly believe what they are told by one group or another without doing the necessary research or critical thinking required to make truly informed decisions.  http://climateconferences.heartland.org/iccc-4/

    • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

       The Heartland Institute, a wonderful organisation.

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/20/heartland-institute-future-staff-cash

      I have listened to the arguments, pro and anti for over 3 decades. The complexity is so great that it makes economics look like Kindergarden. The balance of argument is now that we have a problem. Many more are currently of the opinion that man has a contributory role than believe the reverse.

      The balance of financial opportunity has also shifted to the ‘Green Revolution’ and in many ways that worries me as impartiality and money interests are poor bedfellows.  I have a pragmatic view, better safe than sorry, cus sure as hell we have not the slightest idea how to undo if we had to. For me there are other compelling reasons, security of energy supply, improvements in balance of payments etc.

      There must be a fundamental culture difference between Europe and the US. There is a strong lobby in both regarding rights for the citizen. In Europe it is about securing through legislation. In the states it seems to be a more, ‘in your face’ type approach. It comes over as, I want to do whatever the hell I like, carry guns, burn coal, eat rubbish and smoke where ever I want and to hell with the consequences attitude. If we have shale oil then where is the problem, It our fracking right to extract, and burn, and don’t go telling us there is a problem cus we have experts that say otherwise. Mind you, I imagine those Brits in the Gulf really didn’t know what they were doing. Maybe it is the way the press here reports it, but it comes across as, firstly self centred, and secondly easily hijacked by any dubious lobby group with deep pockets..   

      • Krallison

         Thank you for an intelligent response. I just happen to look at it from the perspective that it’s always changing due to political winds and what happens to be in vogue at the moment with the money (or investments) to further some one else’s ideals. As far as I can see , no one seems to know for certain just what is really going on with this so called “Global  Warming” stuff. There just seems to be too much mischief involved to take anyone seriously.

        • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

           Krallison, from the point of view of the local economy, where I live, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels makes lots of sense as the region has very little, but it does have rain, sea, and wind in abundance.

          I am probably getting old and cranky, but I think there are now lots of examples where the self interests of ‘new industries’ is driving legislation, and there are many with jobs monitoring, testing and certifying due to legislation by people who perhaps don’t understand what they are doing in any practical sense.

          We pursue concepts like ‘zero carbon housing’ whatever exactly that may be. We seek to seal and control ventilation, yet fail to ask if any of this makes overall economic sense as requirements and costs rise. Beyond a certain standard what is the point in a generally mild climate? Could the money be put to better use generating energy? What about life style? Those that gain are those that sell some building products such as insulation, ventilation systems, controls, and the people who calculate, test and certify.

          I like to live with the windows open and wear a jumper. What then is the point for someone like me? Obviously we don’t want to live in cold draughty houses, but the cut off point, beyond which there is no sense in increasing standards, depends very much on lifestyle and local climate. There comes a point at which generating clean power may be better investment than attempts at reducing power consumption. I am convinced that where I live we could switch from being importers of over 95% of our energy use to being net exporters, but it would take investment and the political will to enable the necessary coordination for medium and large scale power production projects. Oh and IMO we need to dump any idea that nuclear is a long term option, short of some major breakthrough.

        • lgrinaker

          But isn’t that like saying that because Nicorettes makes money due to people’s desire to quit smoking that they must have then instigated the whole “smoking is bad for your health” campaign?

          It might just be that both are true – that smoking is actually bad for your health, with a huge body of evidence to back that up, *and* that there are companies that have found ways to take advantage of certain markets that have emerged in light of that knowledge. 

          Indeed, Nicorettes has major campaigns that advocate for all their worth that it’s a great thing to quit smoking, and, bygolly, they’re right there to help you do it.  (Have they nullified the science by doing that?  Are we to throw out all the scientific claims to that effect because Nicorettes, a representative of the marketplace, has become a part of the mix?  What about if Nicorettes, as a company, brings in their own scientists to further study the matter and add their findings to the fray?)

          Somewhere in there, as this issue came more and more to the fore, there was a growing body of evidence that developed over time that ultimately weighed in on what is more accurate – that smoking is more likely to be bad for your health than it is likely not to be (and the tobacco industry paid for plenty of scientists as well).  And the thing is, the body of evidence weighing far more to one side than the other ultimately won out. That’s what finally broke through louder than the market influences on either side.

          If climate science (along with branches of oceanography, ecology, biology, archeology, and various other applicable areas of science) had only just begun on this issue, that would be one thing… but this has been a growing area of study throughout multiple branches of science for multiple decades.

          So if you really want to do critical analysis, then take a good and thorough look at the body of evidence overall – including what the counter-analysis brings to bear, by all means. 

          To me, the body of evidence at this time overwhelmingly comes down on the side of humans having made significant impacts upon our planet in all sorts of ways, most definitely including major impacts upon our global climate.

          ~~~

          That is now settled for me.  But other questions remain for me, such as – could what has happened so far have happened in any different way, even if I might wish that it could have?

          What about what happens going forward?  Can I say for sure that we’ll continue to do as we have in the past? 

          Well, I see some, for various reasons, going along just as they always have, many probably figuring, and perhaps very sincerely so, ”what else can we really do?” 

          And yet, I see some who are working their tails off to try to do some things differently, maybe because they are in an overall better position to do so, to be some of the first to do so, and, therefore, to help others to do so.  

          I remember when Nate Hagens said that it takes about 15% of the population to begin to “get” something, beyond which it becomes much easier for a great many more to then “get” it, and so on and so on – that 15% becoming a kind of “critical mass.” 

          And he and others like him are working with all they’ve got to reach as many as they can as intelligently and as effectively as they can (and many of these folks work with various things in mind, such as peak oil, climate change, economic issues, seeing them as interrelated, and not isolated, issues) so that maybe, just maybe we can turn the corner of that 15%, and perhaps have at least a better chance than we might otherwise have had. (Or even if many of us do not, for whatever reason, “turn the corner,” maybe some will be able to.)

          My take is that for what has already happened – I honestly don’t think we could have done better than we have. 

          But as far as the future… it’s hard to say what effects the urgency of things actually happening in our present experience will have (in terms of climate change, scarcity of resources, economic stresses); or what effects that small portion of our population who are working so hard on these issues might have as, perhaps, more and more of us listen to them and try to learn from their example.  But then, I also know that, as Kunstler said in another video, tragedy (from the perspective of those involved) often occurs in life – in big and little ways… So, right now, I see various possibilities, although some I see as more likely than others, but, other than that…

          Linda

  • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan