I would rather hear about this issue from an informed source like Dr. Suzuki than anyone who is unwilling to negotiate anything related to their biases views on the topic.
Obviously, it's too late to stop warming at 1.5°. But maybe not too late to stop at 2°? Or perhaps 3°? Or how about 4°? Every incremental bit of warming will have consequences. We might as well try to slow down the warming. Some day, even Republicans and their fellow travelers will be forced to admit that climate change is real. By then, it will almost certainly be too late to avoid major impacts. But we can eventually avoid even worse impacts. By the time we collectively wake up, Lloyd and I will be long dead, but that's no reason to give up and install a coal furnace like we had when I was a kid.
If I've noticed anything lately it's that the public is sick of people not being real with them and the reality is that this is going the get a lot worse. The climate is changing, it's probably going to cause a lot of problems, and (this is important) the solutions are going to ask something of us. Especially those who have and are taking the most. No magic technology is likely to solve this with a big, fancy, shiny, cool, new thing. That's no reason to stop fighting though. It's all the more reason to do so. I'm just not sure if humans are up to the challenge. It might be a people won't do the right thing until it's too late situation, but this time there's nowhere else to run to.
The two factors that make me pessimistic are:
-inertia
-human nature
People keep talking about technology, but these are the problems that need solving.
Having read the interview and the subsequent reactions, once again you address it all Lloyd!
Consider how much worse it WOULD have been already if there had been no climate action at all over the decades. It's difficult to visualize, in the same way we can't hold on to energy savings. The absence of something is a challenging concept but we do see it on larger scale trends.
Very thoughtful, thanks, Lloyd. I’m with you - be as in tune with reality as possible, while also continuing to bring awareness and advocate for sanity.
Honestly, I don’t see where David Suzuki is coming from.
So, let me see if I have this straight. My understanding is that he feels the earth, at least climate-change-wise, has gone beyond the tipping point or the point of no return. I don’t know what else he could possibly be implying here.
Then there is this:
“Ketan Joshi makes the same point I do in my writing and my lectures, using the same chart: Every kilogram, every ounce, every tonne of CO2 added to the atmosphere increases climate change and the breaching of every other planetary boundary. The problem is that us saying it doesn’t have any effect.”
I don’t see how, but apparently there is a crossover effect that I just don’t understand. This is the first time I’ve been introduced to this idea.
Shall we shoot the messenger with a bicker-festival? ... "It is too late" ..."It is never too late" or ask "are you doing everything possible now to keep it from being too late?" Yay David Provoker Suzuki!
Thank you, Lloyd. Suzuki adds an important component to the global heating debate -- the notion that it MAY be too late. That is a sober and significant position between the normal extremes of "it IS too late" and "it is NEVER too late." It is cerebral rather than emotional, which is something lacking in most climate discussions today.
I know my own writing often slips too far into the realm of emotion. I tend to think The Matrix had it right when it said humans are like a virus that consumes its host until both die. I will try in the future to leaven my thoughts in the future with a dash of Suzuki-style realism.
Lloyd writes, "Every kilogram, every ounce, every tonne of CO2 added to the atmosphere increases climate change and the breaching of every other planetary boundary...I am not giving up. I still write, I still teach."
He could've added: "I still fly a lot, creating a lot of aforementioned emissions. But I still don't offset my carbon, because I'd rather that you and the kids don't fly or eat burgers or drive."
Lloyd writes often about living in a smallish home that his family has split into two apartments, riding a bike everywhere and advocating for better policies. I don't know the numbers but I'm willing to bet that he's in the bottom quarter in North America as far as impact goes. And he's not advocating for perfection, he's advocating for change. What are you doing?
But I think it matters to distinguish facts from framing. Yes, climate change is already happening, but saying “it’s too late” implies the fight is over. That’s a message I won’t back.
I would rather hear about this issue from an informed source like Dr. Suzuki than anyone who is unwilling to negotiate anything related to their biases views on the topic.
Obviously, it's too late to stop warming at 1.5°. But maybe not too late to stop at 2°? Or perhaps 3°? Or how about 4°? Every incremental bit of warming will have consequences. We might as well try to slow down the warming. Some day, even Republicans and their fellow travelers will be forced to admit that climate change is real. By then, it will almost certainly be too late to avoid major impacts. But we can eventually avoid even worse impacts. By the time we collectively wake up, Lloyd and I will be long dead, but that's no reason to give up and install a coal furnace like we had when I was a kid.
Great post.
We’re living in the Age of Beckett, aren’t we?
“You must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”
If I've noticed anything lately it's that the public is sick of people not being real with them and the reality is that this is going the get a lot worse. The climate is changing, it's probably going to cause a lot of problems, and (this is important) the solutions are going to ask something of us. Especially those who have and are taking the most. No magic technology is likely to solve this with a big, fancy, shiny, cool, new thing. That's no reason to stop fighting though. It's all the more reason to do so. I'm just not sure if humans are up to the challenge. It might be a people won't do the right thing until it's too late situation, but this time there's nowhere else to run to.
The two factors that make me pessimistic are:
-inertia
-human nature
People keep talking about technology, but these are the problems that need solving.
Having read the interview and the subsequent reactions, once again you address it all Lloyd!
Consider how much worse it WOULD have been already if there had been no climate action at all over the decades. It's difficult to visualize, in the same way we can't hold on to energy savings. The absence of something is a challenging concept but we do see it on larger scale trends.
Very thoughtful, thanks, Lloyd. I’m with you - be as in tune with reality as possible, while also continuing to bring awareness and advocate for sanity.
Honestly, I don’t see where David Suzuki is coming from.
So, let me see if I have this straight. My understanding is that he feels the earth, at least climate-change-wise, has gone beyond the tipping point or the point of no return. I don’t know what else he could possibly be implying here.
Then there is this:
“Ketan Joshi makes the same point I do in my writing and my lectures, using the same chart: Every kilogram, every ounce, every tonne of CO2 added to the atmosphere increases climate change and the breaching of every other planetary boundary. The problem is that us saying it doesn’t have any effect.”
I don’t see how, but apparently there is a crossover effect that I just don’t understand. This is the first time I’ve been introduced to this idea.
Shall we shoot the messenger with a bicker-festival? ... "It is too late" ..."It is never too late" or ask "are you doing everything possible now to keep it from being too late?" Yay David Provoker Suzuki!
I'm a realist and I have to agree with David. It's far too late. It was far too late 50 years ago.
Sufficient onto the day will be my simple, yep.
Thank you, Lloyd. Suzuki adds an important component to the global heating debate -- the notion that it MAY be too late. That is a sober and significant position between the normal extremes of "it IS too late" and "it is NEVER too late." It is cerebral rather than emotional, which is something lacking in most climate discussions today.
I know my own writing often slips too far into the realm of emotion. I tend to think The Matrix had it right when it said humans are like a virus that consumes its host until both die. I will try in the future to leaven my thoughts in the future with a dash of Suzuki-style realism.
Lloyd writes, "Every kilogram, every ounce, every tonne of CO2 added to the atmosphere increases climate change and the breaching of every other planetary boundary...I am not giving up. I still write, I still teach."
He could've added: "I still fly a lot, creating a lot of aforementioned emissions. But I still don't offset my carbon, because I'd rather that you and the kids don't fly or eat burgers or drive."
Lloyd writes often about living in a smallish home that his family has split into two apartments, riding a bike everywhere and advocating for better policies. I don't know the numbers but I'm willing to bet that he's in the bottom quarter in North America as far as impact goes. And he's not advocating for perfection, he's advocating for change. What are you doing?
I do love a good waffle. ;)
But I think it matters to distinguish facts from framing. Yes, climate change is already happening, but saying “it’s too late” implies the fight is over. That’s a message I won’t back.
Is this Suzuki calling for dismantling industrial civilisation?