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With apologies to the Biospherians!
Last week, I posted a blog comparing GRATOLA to the Biosphere 2 project that was launched in the early 90's.
Shortly after posting that blog, I received a thoughtful, yet critical, message from a well-known friend asking me to rethink what I had written about Biosphere 2, a project in which two of his close friends were involved.
Moved by the sincerity and scope of his message, I decided to conduct "major surgery" on BSB 195 and have posted a link to that revised edition on my BSB Webpage.
The well-known friend, who will remain anonymous,
made the point that an incredible amount of good science was conducted by the Biosphere 2 team. And we should learn from that science and offer only praise and thanks to the entire project organization.
As with GRATOLA, those Biospherians were thinking "outside the box." And we need a lot more of that kind of thinking if our civilization and our species are to survive.
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Eight Biospherian Scientists over 25 years ago
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As for his own, well-informed view on humanity's state of affairs, my influential friend provided me
with this candid summary of his assessment on our situation.
Good to hear from you. Stay strong in the struggle. The world is completely delusional and going to hell in a handbasket, as fast as humanly possible. The only relevant question is how to make the crash as soft a landing as possible for some kind of continuation of human civilization.
A "soft" landing?
That is exactly what GRATOLA is all about - urgently reinventing almost every aspect of our civilization. For the sooner we do, the sooner we will be able to live in harmony with nature.
The problem is that world leaders have not grasped
the horrifying scope of the consequences if we fail to quickly renegotiate our contract with Biosphere 1.
- That's why it's so important for those mainstream journalists who do actually "get it," like David Wallace-Wells and Dahr Jamail, that they talk and/or write about NO OTHER TOPIC until there is non-stop coverage from the mainstream media regarding the urgency for reinventing the way we live.
- That's why it would be great if someone would produce a blockbuster movie "showing us the way." Maybe it could be a first class love-story like Titanic - with the realistic, primary theme being the survival of humanity after global leaders are pressured into taking urgent action to reinvent our civilization.
- That's why GRATOLA is now the primary focus of ALL of my public presentations...
GRATOLA provides me with an uplifting way of writing and speaking about the many troubling sustainability issues by envisioning how we can totally re-invent the way we live on this planet, such that we can co-exist indefinitely with nature in the virtual paradise as described by Dr. E.O. Wilson.
The Bottom Line.
Going forward, I am now focusing all my weekly blogs on GRATOLA and the urgent need for us to completely reinvent how we interact with nature. Some friends describe my blogging as a never ending drumbeat...
As for public speaking, I would love to address mainstream audiences about this crucial topic every week. As such, I will travel anywhere for an opportunity to speak to one or more groups in each city that I visit. I just need travel expense reimbursement and a modest honorarium.
Last week, I spoke at the University of Scranton, where the mainstream audience included faculty, students and interested individuals from the community. Although hearing about our "Earth as a System" was new for them, their questions and comments reflected their appreciation for "the big picture" as it relates to our survival.
I look forward to speaking at a venue near you sometime soon. The more people who hear about the urgent need for radical change in the way we live, the sooner we'll be on the pathway to living in harmony with nature.
In closing, I invite you to contact me directly about how I might tailor my presentation to best suit the audience you have in mind: schools, churches, clubs, and/or civic groups who may appreciate a message of hope for our future.
Weekly Arctic Update. This week, I am featuring a very recent (
4-7-19) graph from Jim Pettit at the University of Washington. It illustrates the historical sea ice extent year by year, and the red line is 2019. Dotted lines represent averages by decade: 80's, 90's, & 2000's. He also shows the three "record" years with solid lines. 2012 is yellow.
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| Annual Sea Ice Extent; with 2019 in RED |
As the graph clearly shows, 4-7-19 marks the record low extent of sea ice in the Arctic this early in the melting season. From the NSIDC site, I tracked the last 8 days of data regarding daily loss of sea ice in square kilometers.
- Most recent 4 days averaged 85,000 sq. km daily loss.
- Previous 4 days, avg. daily loss was about half that.
Want to see many more of Pettit's graphs?
Click here
.
Earlier this week, I reached out to Jim Pettit and here's what he had to say:
Whether this will ultimately mean anything for the year as a whole remains to be seen; as recent history has shown, an early and rapid decrease in extent doesn't necessarily translate to a record minimum, and vice versa. But even having said all that... [If current trend continues] look out below.
Temps are still very high. As in March, the temperatures in the Arctic remain way above normal. Every day this week has been in the mid 50's at the North Pole - compared to a historical high of 40 to 42 degrees for this time of year.
It's like we're about a month out of sync with the Arctic temperatures. We got typical March temps in February and and typical April temps in March. And now in mid-April, this abnormal trend continues.
Stay tuned.
Without a doubt, there will eventually be a blue ocean event in the Arctic. The only question is when?
Given all of this new data above, what Dr. Peter Wadhams told me a few weeks ago bears repeating:
Jim, This early turnover of ice extent needs careful watching. I agree that this may be the next big jump downwards in summer area - which could reach zero. Best wishes, Peter
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| Dr. Petter Wadhams, Professor Emeritus, Ocean Physics, The University of Cambridge |
Want to help?
Perhaps you could find some thoughtful audiences where I can speak freely about the most important topic
in the history of humanity: our survival as a species. Questions? Email me directly and let''s talk.
What else can you do? Three things:
1. Live as greenly as possible while doing all that you can to raise the awareness of "big picture" solutions that are crucially necessary to saving our civilization.
2. Share this BSB and my
"Mama Ain't Happy" BSB with prominent journalists, thought leaders and/or elected officials whom you respect. They need to learn a lot more about the many reasons why
Mama ain't happy.
3. Here are a few more GRATOLA-related blogs that you can share with your most powerful friends, leaders, journalists and movie producers.
Until next time, just remember...
Humanity is on a collision course with Nature.
A damaged Nature will survive. We may not.
We must change course to avert an ecological disaster.
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
(now contains 5-minute video of me speaking in Tucson)
In the past 12 months, I have spoken at a
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