Quote of the Day: Andy Revkin Re-Evaluates Climate Change
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12. 1.08
Andy Revkin of the New York Times at Columbia University on why climate change is not “the story of our time”:
My coverage has evolved. Climate change is not the story of our time. Climate change is a subset of the story of our time, which is that we are coming of age on a finite planet and only just now recognizing that it is finite. So how we mesh infinite aspirations of a species that’s been on this explosive trajectory — not just of population growth but of consumptive appetite — how can we make a transition to a sort of stabilized and still prosperous relationship with the Earth and each other is the story of our time.
And it’s a story about conflict. It’s a story about the fact that there are a billion teenagers on planet earth right now. A hundred thirty years ago there were only a billion people altogether — grandparents, kids. Now there are a billion teenagers and they could just as easily become child soldiers and drug dealers as innovators and the owners of small companies in favelas in Brazil. And little tweaks in their prospects, a little bit of education, a little bit of opportunity, a micro loan or something, something that gets girls into schools, those things — that’s the story of our time. And climate change is like a symptom of the story of our time, meaning our energy choices right now come with a lot of emissions of greenhouse gases and if we don’t have a lot of new [choices] we’re going to have a lot of warming.
Andy Revkin in TreeHugger:
Andy Revkin on Geoengineering
Sea Level Rises and Ocean Temperatures: 50 Percent Higher than Previously Expected
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A lot of people get scared when you tell them we need to rethink how much we consume. They think it is some sort of death sentence for prosperity, a submission to the will of others and a loss of freedom.
They're wrong. Rather, as we come to appreciate- and approach- the finite extent of natural resources- where nature does the work for us- we must constrain our growth until our technological capabilities catch up with consumption. A look at the raw numbers shows quite clearly that with sufficient technology properly applied, the Earth can support a very high population at a very high standard of living. We just don't yet know how to do it, and we'd better constrain our growth in the present in order to buy ourselves enough time to get it right. Natural resources will not increase as demand increases, but man-made resources can go much farther- but it'll take time and a lot of investment. Things once free will have to be paid for- kind of like children growing up and leaving their parents' house.
A lot of people get scared when you tell them we need to rethink how much we consume. They think it is some sort of death sentence for prosperity, a submission to the will of others and a loss of freedom.
They're wrong. Rather, as we come to appreciate- and approach- the finite extent of natural resources- where nature does the work for us- we must constrain our growth until our technological capabilities catch up with consumption. A look at the raw numbers shows quite clearly that with sufficient technology properly applied, the Earth can support a very high population at a very high standard of living. We just don't yet know how to do it, and we'd better constrain our growth in the present in order to buy ourselves enough time to get it right. Natural resources will not increase as demand increases, but man-made resources can go much farther- but it'll take time and a lot of investment. Things once free will have to be paid for- kind of like children growing up and leaving their parents' house.
Here's my "quote of the day": NYT down 7.56%
Apparently the planet isn't the only thing that's finite:
S&P cuts New York Times credit rating to junk
http://tinyurl.com/5w8aac
Guess we'll have to find something else to wrap our fish.
She says this as she's drinking from a plastic water bottle......