[MCN] The most important 4-letter word of our times

Lance Olsen lance at wildrockies.org
Sat Sep 9 15:44:37 EDT 2017


The whole complex tale of climate change can be summarized in a four-letter word: Heat

Heat fuels hurricanes
Heat fuels fires
Heat deprives oceans, lakes, rivers of oxygen, and so deprives fish of oxygen
Heat kills trees even without help from beetle or fire
Heat wilts food crops
Heat kills across the animal kingdom, from dairy cow to desert lizard

Climate itself has always been temperature-controlled. This time around it’s being forced into change by heat, and this time around the onus is on us.


********************* Climate & living standards. ***************************

“The ecological systems upon which humans rely for life support are in crisis, and human behavior is the root cause. 
These problems are thus not environmental, but rather related to how humans meet their needs and wants in disruptive ways.”
 
Elise Amel, Christie Manning, Britain Scott, Susan Koger
Beyond the Roots of Human Inaction. Science 21 April 2017
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“Consumer expectations of ever-higher living standards were fuelled by more lenient and readily available bank lending, 
…. Social status and identity became closely associated with consumption, in particular with the concept of luxury. 

"Identifying oneself with the good life meant being able to live beyond traditional understandings of basic needs. Debt 
was the price one paid for the joys of being part of a hedonistic consumer culture.”

Kenneth Dyson. The Morality of Debt. Foreign Affairs. May 3, 2015
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-05-03/morality-debt
======================================
“The American way of life is not negotiable.”

George H. W. Bush. 1992
=======================================================
"We are not able even to think adequately about the behavior that is at the annihilating edge."

R. D. Laing. Introduction, The Politics of Experience. 
1967, New York. Pantheon Books, a division of Random House

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