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Opinion: Don’t despair – climate change catastrophe can still be averted
The Guardian ^ | August 7, 2018 | by Simon Lewis

Posted on 08/07/2018 11:53:08 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

This is the summer when, for many, climate change got real. The future looks fiery and dangerous. Hot on the heels of Trump, fake news and the parlous state of the Brexit negotiations, despair is in the air. Now a new scientific report makes the case that even fairly modest future carbon dioxide emissions could set off a cascade of catastrophe, with melting permafrost releasing methane to ratchet up global temperatures enough to drive much of the Amazon to die off, and so on in a chain reaction around the world that pushes Earth into a terrifying new hothouse state from which there is no return. Civilisation as we know it would surely not survive. How do we deal with such news?

As a research scientist in this field, I can give some nuance to the headlines.

Thinking about climate change as a practical political problem helps avoid despair because we know that huge political changes have happened in the past and continue to do so. The future is up to us if we act collectively and engage in politics. To quote Antonio Gramsci: “I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” Looked at this way, we can see the politics as a battle between a future shaped by fear versus a future shaped by hope.

That hope is built on a better story of the future and routes to enact it. The outline of this story is that given the colossal wealth and the scientific knowledge available today, we can solve many of the world’s pressing problems and all live well. Given that our environmental impacts are so long-lasting, the future is the politics we make today.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: antoniogramsci; fakescience; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; hoax; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; propaganda; simonlewis; smearmachine; socialism; unitedkingdom
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1 posted on 08/07/2018 11:53:08 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It got hot in Great Britain. I would imagine Brighton and Blackpool were hopping.


2 posted on 08/07/2018 11:55:20 AM PDT by miss marmelstein
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

How do they explain the fact that in the Southern Hemisphere, they’ve been seeing record cold this “winter?


3 posted on 08/07/2018 11:56:59 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Don’t worry my fellow chickens, no matter how far down the road of climate destruction we are, there is always something we can do about it.....that is the one constant of the climate change hoax......(The cure is more devastating than the ailment)


4 posted on 08/07/2018 11:57:21 AM PDT by Archie Bunker on steroids
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The easy way to avert the climate change disaster is to simply change your mind. Dispel the false dogma and all will be well


5 posted on 08/07/2018 11:57:56 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12) Sanctuary is Sedition)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Of course it’s all nonsense. But remind them that we have actually met their silly Paris Accord targets (unlike the Europeans who signed on) and watch the blood drain from their pasty, sneering faces. “STFU and go talk to China and India” wouldn’t hurt either.


6 posted on 08/07/2018 11:58:55 AM PDT by katana (We're all part of a long episode of "The Terrific Mr. Trump")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Waiting for the punchline............... Still waiting............still waiting..........


7 posted on 08/07/2018 11:59:19 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Don’t despair – climate change catastrophe can still be averted”

Just give us all your money.


8 posted on 08/07/2018 11:59:49 AM PDT by READINABLUESTATE (But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.- George Orwell)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

***..that pushes Earth into a terrifying new hothouse state from which there is no return.***

Isn’t this the same as the old GREENHOUSE EFFECT of the 1960s and 1970s? I remember when Popular Science said they would never use the words “Greenhouse Effect” again as it was not true due to the coming Ice Age.

Ten years later they were back screaming Glo-Bull Warming!


9 posted on 08/07/2018 12:01:31 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids

That’s right. We’re already past the point of no return (Trump’s fault) but we can fix it anyway by impeaching Trump or something like that.


10 posted on 08/07/2018 12:01:55 PM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: miss marmelstein

My family and I spent a few days in London back in the summer of 1993. The temperature was close to 90F every day. To us it was hot. To the Brits it was like the Blitz was back. With no air conditioning to speak of in most buildings riding the tube and spending hours in the massive video game complex at Piccadilly Circus (air conditioned, of course) were reliefs. But this summer’s weather is hardly unprecedented.


11 posted on 08/07/2018 12:04:57 PM PDT by katana (We're all part of a long episode of "The Terrific Mr. Trump")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

looks like the global warming propagandists smartened up and quit claiming a “tipping point” has been reached or that unless something is done within X amount of months then “it’s too late and we’re doomed” ... now their new chat is “it’s NOT too late” ...


12 posted on 08/07/2018 12:07:59 PM PDT by catnipman ((Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It’s not a particularly hot summer in Colorado. Nor the East Coast from what I hear.


13 posted on 08/07/2018 12:10:06 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

One would think (yes, I know, that think word again)
that instead of trying to stave off global catastrophe
we would be hearing a few things about how to live and
thrive during it...but NOOOOOO.


14 posted on 08/07/2018 12:11:03 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: miss marmelstein

Fixing the problem is easy, just stop listening to these idiot Chicken Littles squawk and buawk. Nothing else need be done.


15 posted on 08/07/2018 12:12:05 PM PDT by Richard Axtell (So, this is the Third World! What happened to the first two?)
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To: miss marmelstein

simply requires 95% of all humans to be eliminated....

I suggest leftards and libtards make themselves examples to lead everyone else in that plan


16 posted on 08/07/2018 12:25:24 PM PDT by elbook
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

He was a handsome man. If Schumer and Pelosi had a child, this is what it would look like.


17 posted on 08/07/2018 12:36:21 PM PDT by richardtavor
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There is no such thing as Climate Change.

There are 4 Seasons.

End of Story.


18 posted on 08/07/2018 12:56:30 PM PDT by EnglishOnly (Fight all out to win OR get out now. .)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

When will people realize that climate change happens so slowly that you could not even notice in your LIFETIME never mind in a FEW YEARS?

What we are experiencing today is weather.


19 posted on 08/07/2018 12:57:52 PM PDT by GoodBadUgly
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Quoting Gramsci. They don’t even bother to hide it.

L


20 posted on 08/07/2018 12:58:57 PM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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