This from Rajani reflecting Guy McPherson's worldview feels
understandably melodramatic. But fair enough, how we give voice to the
accumulative threats to 'civilisation' is a very contested issue.
Some people have found the intentionally confronting approach of my
recent video /Messages from the Blue Planet/
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57u_NGMQbkk> 'unnerving'. My son Elmer
was very helpful, he told me that he thought what I was doing with the
videos echoed the very last lines in Shakespeare's King Lear:
'The weight of this sad time we must obey;
speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
shall never see so much, nor live so long.
Yes, it is certainly a global emergency, yes, irreversible changes
appear to be in train. The two years of more or less 24/7 research for
/Messages From the Blue Planet/ and its upcoming sequel support this,
and especially how the crisis has been created from, and continues to be
researched from a linear take on unfolding events ('progress', capital
accumulation etc). This tends to mean that the climate modelling of how
the earth system is evolving is unhelpful about nonlinear change, which
seems to be overwhelmingly likely to be how forcings in the earth system
will be expressed/are being expressed. Consequence: continuation of
'business as usual'.
I doubt if evolution is over, a very long time ago oxygen was toxic to
some emerging life but a very long time later, here we are. However I am
certainly convinced that 'progress' will soon be history.
Denis
On 20/08/2018 07:11, Michel Bauwens wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: *r kanth* <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 1:30 AM
Subject: Fwd: From Rajani: The End of Evolution?
To: Michel Bauwens <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Doomsday?*
May not be far away.
Remember Barry Mcguire?
His song was titled ‘Eve of Destruction’.
Could be an anthem for us all, in these times.
Let me explain.
Turns out I am not the only gloom-sayer around.
The really hard act here is Dr. Guy Mcpherson, Biologist and Concerned
Citizen(he’s all over /Youtube)./
He is predicting an /early/ , /abrupt/, extinction for us anthropic
beings ( I detest the term ‘ homo sapiens’: /Homo Baceolus /might be
more apt?).
Here’s a digest.
/Firstly,/ our /Habitat./
Our species has been around for a bit.
But 99% of all species are now extinct.
Are we next?
Yes, likely.
In 1750 – the baseline year of Industrialisation - - planetary temp
was at 13.5 Celsius.
The species has survived, Guy estimates, at no more than about 2
Degrees above that, and that may be the highest that permits a real
habitat for humans.
Today we are already 1.6 Degrees above the 1750 baseline.
Close.
/Second/, ‘/Civilisation’ /– his term, not mine – is a veritable /heat
engine./
Only way to turn off this heating is a total collapse of this’
civilisation’ /tout a fait./
But , /Third,/ such a collapse of this ‘civ’ brings about, in turn,
yet another crisis: /global dimming./
Industrial activity produces /particularates/ that blanket the earth
and block sun’s rays this ‘cooling’ the earth ( by some 3 degrees).
If we stop that engine then the planet heats up some more , maybe , by
another 4.5 Degrees.
There goes our Habitat.
/Fourth/, iswhat he calls the /Sixth (Mass) /Extinction: the
/ominicide/ extant that is killing off as many as , perhaps, 200
species/a day./
Their death presages ours.
Plus, the steady melt of Arctic ice could release trapped methane in
abrupt fashion.
All that could shoot Planetary temp up to 19 Degrees, /within a year
or two, at most:/
/ergo,/ crop failures, droughts, starvation, /et. al (/note, he sees
the ‘commencement ‘ of this scenario within but a year or so).//
Pop goes the weasel.
Why aren’t the powers that /shouldn’t /be telling us?
Fear, of mass panic.
Even science journals are loth to print such radical ideas.
So, what can be done?
/Nothing,/ says Guy, since it’s out of control already.
We are doomed.
/Instead, he asks us to remain calm, pursue excellence, and pursue love./
Whew.
Tall order.
I like the last, the second to last is but an old affectation, and the
first may be well beyond reach.
I register only 2 informed objections – to his analysis - neither of
them minor.
No, ‘Western Civ’ is not ‘civ’, by any stretch ( I have explained this
in many /Works/): it in fact a ‘culture of death’ , to use a telling
phrase of environmentalist Vandana Shiva, that has brought us to this
catastrophic pass.
Second, if we are counting, it’s not the 6^th, but, in fact, the 7^th
Extinction.
/The Sixth was the genocide against Non-Europeans, carried out by
Europe, non-stop since 1492./
Yes, /non-stop./
Have a look around.
Other than that, his logic and facts appear sound.
We need to listen toBarry.
And to Guy.
It’s time for soothsayers to step up: all others have, more or less,
failed us.
*[©R.Kanth 2018]*
--
P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation
Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
_______________________________________________
P2P Foundation - Mailing list
Blog - http://www.blog.p2pfoundation.net
Wiki - http://www.p2pfoundation.net
Show some love and help us maintain and update our knowledge commons by making
a donation. Thank you for your support.
https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/donation
https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation
_______________________________________________
P2P Foundation - Mailing list
Blog - http://www.blog.p2pfoundation.net
Wiki - http://www.p2pfoundation.net
Show some love and help us maintain and update our knowledge commons by making
a donation. Thank you for your support.
https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/donation
https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation
