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Renowned philosopher and social critic Noam Chomsky weighs in on arguably the most important issue in the history of humanity--Climate Change and the Sixth Mass Extinction.
In this 11-minute excerpt from an address he delivered at St. Olaf College in May (2018), Chomsky effectively "calls out" the leadership of the most powerful entity in the history of humanity--the Federal government.
He read this phrase to introduce a portion of his talk:
Global Warming's worst-case projections look increasingly likely.
Clarification. I noticed one misspeak near the beginning when he said the last mass extinction took place 65,000 years ago. He meant to say 65 million years ago.
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11 Minutes with Noam Chomsky at St. Olaf College in May of 2018
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In the above video, Chomsky points out that we are failing miserably when it comes to understanding, acknowledging, slowing, preventing or even preparing ourselves to survive the worst effects of climate change.
In his talk, he quotes from respected references like Nature, the Journal of Science and the World Meteorological Association. From the latter, he read, with respect to current CO2 levels above 400 parts per million:
The last time the the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 3 to 5 million years ago. At that point, the temperature was 2 to 3 degrees C above now and sea levels were 30 to 60 feet higher than they are now.
He went on to recite many other statistics from reputable sources and paused often to reflect on the lack of serious action being taken by world leaders. In this regard, I completely agree with him.
As I have written frequently since 2017, we must quickly begin addressing these four primary drivers of climate change and the demise of humanity.
My 4-Part Summary of Our Failure to Date
1. Overpopulation. We're still adding 230,000 (net) per day.
2. Green Economy? It's still capitalism & business as usual.
3. Carbon Removal. No serious effort has begun--anywhere.
4. Unsustainable Animal Agriculture continues to increase.
As Chomsky noted in the above video, the USA has a greater percentage of people who are outspoken climate deniers than any other country in the world. And, of course, we know that those deniers include our president, most of his administration and a large percentage of both houses of Congress.
Now that mainstream thinkers like Noam Chomsky have begun speaking out regarding the imminence of climate change and all the unimaginable horrors that come with it, maybe we should occasionally check in to see what Dr. Guy McPherson has to say.
Guy McPherson update. While I strongly hope and believe that his timetable is off by many decades, it's because of his extensive scientific background on so many topics related to climate change, sustainability and species extinction--that I like to be aware of what he has to say.
Turning to a little humor of late, he has added some cartoons to his talks--which make them much easier to watch. In this new video, his predictions are just as grim--he's just improved the presentation.
Losing the White Stuff -- Dr. Guy McPherson Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona, Environmental Studies
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| Ten Minutes with Dr. Guy McPherson |
Near the end, Guy shares this quote about civilization by author and environmentalist, Edward Abbey:
Civilization, like an airplane in flight, remains aloft only as it is moving forward.
The Bottom Line. As long as I can envision a viable pathway for humanity going forward, I will not give up hope. I welcome your feedback and/or your questions at: [email protected]
Finally, for your convenience, since my weekly BSBs tend to build on one another, I am now providing handy links to several related "Bite-Size Blogs" (BSBs):
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
Looking for Opportunities to Speak.
Since 2016, my research, writing and speaking has been focused on the sustainability of our ecosystem and our future as a species. With a primary emphasis on food choices, I call it the "most important topic in the history of humanity."
After all, what could possibly be more important to humans than the survival of our species?
(now contains 5-minute video of me speaking in Tucson)
To schedule a presentation at a venue near you, please contact me at
[email protected]
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