The Pyromaniacs Arrive With Blowtorches on Planet Earth by Tom Engelhardt

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/10-1


'To adapt that classic example of free speech limits,' writes Engelhadt, 'imagine that a vast crew of scientists is now continually yelling “Fire!” in the global movie theater and, as a result, more pyromaniacs with blowtorches are arriving all the time.' (Screenshot: 'Spies Like Us')

So here we are in a record-breaking “polar vortex” with Florida’s Everglades going on a freeze watch and Minnesota registering wind chills of -60 degrees Fahrenheit. This most extreme of weather systems, which should warm the hearts of climate deniers, may in fact turn out to be climate-change related (thanks to a melting Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet). Meanwhile, halfway around the world, Australia has been experiencing a staggering heat wave, having just emerged from a year that included the hottest day, week, month, and overall average on record for that continent.

Still, give the climate deniers their due. They have long claimed that climate science is, at best, a mistake-prone activity. It’s a point with which Professor Steven Sherwood concurs. He happens to be the lead author of a study that just appeared in the journal Nature, focused on future cloud cover and climate change. It concluded that the planet will heat up faster than expected, minimally rising by 4 degrees Celsius by 2100 (which, of course, would spell unimaginable catastrophe). Here’s his way of giving the deniers their due: “Climate skeptics like to criticize climate models for getting things wrong, and we are the first to admit they are not perfect, but what we are finding is that the mistakes are being made by those models which predict less warming, not those that predict more.”

The year just past was generally a humdrum one in the new age of climate change. Though final results won’t be in until March, it will be among the top ten warmest years since temperatures were first recorded, falling somewhere between fourth and seventh. (By the way, the 10 hottest years have all occurred since 1998, nine in the last decade). For the first time in history, the planet briefly and ominously topped 400 parts per million of atmospheric CO2; oceans grew more acidic; droughts and wildfires strengthened; storms raged, though only one reached epic proportions, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; Arctic summer sea ice had a major melt (significantly above twentieth century levels, but less than in 2012); climate change media coverage rose modestly for the first time in years; and one of the climate-denial movement’s most beloved supports -- the supposed “warming pause” the planet was undergoing -- went down the drain.

Meanwhile, predictions are starting to come in suggesting that -- if an El Niño phenomenon develops in the Pacific Ocean, as some scientists believe -- 2014 could be one for the record books.

[Prophet 451]

1. So what can we do?

I already recycle what I can, pay a premium to get our energy from eco-friendly producers, write letters and send emails, have a carbon neutral life (helps that I don't drive) and have argued with deniers until my SO had to force me to stop for the sake of my already-high blood pressure. I can't go on marches since I can barely walk. And yet, I'm still going to boil with everyone else. Forgive my frustration but what else can be done?

[GliderGuider]

2. At this point, very little.

We can keep making mindful personal choices, but it's time to stop expecting them to help the global situation.