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Our Rising Oceans

By Stephen Fitzgerald

The fact that we look different is telling us something. We are different. The way we view the world, the way we process information, the way we communicate, the way we do things and what we choose to believe, is all different. As individuals, we have a right to believe what we want whether it’s ideology or some other thing that supports our own agenda. This does not give our democratically elected representatives the right to ignore irrefutable scientific evidence that puts all of society at risk.

We took action against the nuclear threat by building nuclear arsenals as aggressors but also as a defence. Nobody is game to launch the first strike for fear of annihilation. That fear drives a response. If our borders and major cities were under attack we would rally together and respond with all our strength. We are prepared to fight to the death in defence of our families and our country when called to arms.

What is coming is not a myth and it’s not an exaggeration and if you look out to sea, it’s on the horizon right now. Our entire 35,877km of Australian coastline and all our major cities are under threat. What is coming is backed up with hard-core scientific research, analysis, observation and evidence supported by the global scientific community. These are our greatest thinkers, our greatest minds and, they are telling us to act on global warming to avoid catastrophic weather events and rising oceans.

90 percent of the study’s simulations found that global sea-level rise will be between 93 cm (3’1”) and 243 cm (8’) during the 21st century under RCP8.5. As an example, under the high-end 8-foot scenario, impacts would be particularly heavy in the continental U.S., where sea level would rise substantially more than the global average. Due to regional effects driven mainly by land subsidence and gravitational effects linked to ice mass loss from Antarctica, sea-level rise of 9 to 11 feet (3 meters) would be expected along densely populated Gulf and Atlantic coasts. 150 million homes will be permanently flooded globally but it doesn’t stop there. The ocean will keep rising beyond 2100.

The United Nations urges global leaders to act now on climate change or pay a higher price. So, what’s stopping us? Why the inaction from government and big business against this national and international threat? A threat, so profound it has the potential to destroy the natural world and civilization as we know it. Imagine our beaches flooded and gone and a beautiful way of life destroyed along with it. If all land ice melted, sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (230 feet) flooding our major cities. To get a grip on that, the Sydney harbour bridge has a clearance of 49 meters. Is this the future we want for our grandchildren and beyond or, don’t we have the capacity to look a lifetime ahead?

The unprecedented catastrophic weather events we are experiencing, as a result of global warming, are one thing. Clearly, when the cost runs into billions of dollars, as it did in the 2019 Queensland floods, there is an impact on real GDP with the capacity to drive a country into recession. Irrespective of that and irrespective of the loss of life, we can rebuild from floods and bush-fire and to some extent, we can adapt to extremes in weather. It’s a different story with sea level rise and the global displacement of possibly billions of people. If there was ever a case for ‘prevention is better than cure’ then this is it.

Over millions of years of geologic time, sea level has gone through natural cycles, moving up and down 300 – 400 feet, roughly every hundred thousand years. We have now clearly broken out of that natural pattern, usually described as the ice ages. More than two hundred feet of potential sea level rise, are still locked up in the ice sheets and glaciers on Greenland and Antarctica. Even the worst case scenarios show that full meltdown would take perhaps five hundred years on our current path. If we reverse global warming in time, we can prevent the full-blown meltdown.

The oceans have already warmed by approximately 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s one degree Celsius heading to 3 or 4 degree Celsius by 2100. Because of this, sea level rise is happening and is now unavoidable, despite efforts to curb CO2 emissions and slow the warming. Estimates for potential sea level rise this century now range from about three to ten feet (1-3 meters), depending somewhat on how warm the planet gets in the coming decades. In recent years the upper bounds have been raised several times, as Antarctic and Greenland ice melt has been exceeding the previous models and is accelerating faster than predicted.

Geologic records indicate that in the past, during a global warming cycle and between ice ages, sea level rose an average of a foot and a half (50 cm) a decade, and that was happening 14,000 years ago. In four centuries, global sea level rose some sixty-five feet (20 m). We need to get it in our heads that we live on a planet where sea levels can and do, fluctuate by up to 400 feet (120 metres) depending on global average temperature and the ice reservoir. We need to get it in our heads that we can manage this by managing atmospheric CO2 concentration and the other greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere that drives our current global warming scenario.

We need an awakening! Catastrophic sea level rise is outside the human experience. It might be seen as a “black swan event” –– something extraordinary that we deny until it has been experienced first hand. Today, average global sea level rise, since 1880 is 23cm but, for the casual observer, it’s lost in the changing of the tides. We can’t see it until we get king tides flooding our streets. It’s easy to understand why we are so apathetic but, it’s not an excuse for inaction, it’s just another part of the challenge.

The future of our civilization, economies, and communities depends on our ability to deal with these challenges. The burden of inaction will fall hardest on coastal dwellers worldwide, but will impact everyone, even those living far inland in terms of food production, water supply and mass migration. The sooner we get educated, plan, and adapt the better. But let’s do it based on what is realistically possible, not some fantastical descriptions that step beyond the reality of the ice sheets and glaciers. The realistic scenarios are scary enough.

Already, sea level rise coupled with extreme tides and severe storms are causing enormous loss of land and coastal infrastructure. With each passing year, the rate of rise accelerates, as does the potential for economic devastation. Yet the damage could be lessened significantly if we have the vision and guidance to plan for this profound change.

The sooner that planners, engineers, architects, lawyers, financiers, legislators, investors, business leaders, and the public become informed, the quicker we can begin to take the necessary actions. With vision, creativity and planning, we can protect our future liveability and sustainability.

The key word, for now, is sustainability. We need a rapid transition to renewable clean energy from the sun, wind and hydro. We desperately need a government with a pro-climate action agenda. We need governments that runs on social conscience rather than narcissism. We need a rapid faze-out of greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels and, most importantly, we need to think of the future and we need to start thinking of that future right now. The world has just over a decade to get climate action under control.

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27 comments

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  1. Phil.

    Some deniers wont believe the science until they float out of their lounge rooms sitting in their favourite recliner and into a shipping channel.

    For mine it is all too late. At the moment, the fascists, the Philistines, the religious loons, the flat earthers, the mentally challenged, etc. have won or, are winning. A cursory look on Facebook and the comments ref Pauline Hanson and Fraser Anning saga doesn’t just speak volumes, it screams volumes, of out right insanity. Excuse the bad pun.

    On top of all this, trouble is about to come down on us like a ton of bricks, the Americans have voted in a man by any yard stick is barking mad and another term is far from out of the question. Global warming for me anyway is on the back burner, I will be just happy, if the planet survives long enough with the certifiable mad gibbering idiots that are leading us into Armageddon, to see out my life what’s left of it, in happiness

    From a left perspective for mine, the time for talk is long gone. We have tried to reason with the loons, appealed to their better Angels and given them enough evidence about global warming, for even a jury of dunces to see the facts. Shout me down at your leisure but, their is a world of trouble stewing away under a low flame and violence and mayhem will soon affect us all.

  2. corvus boreus

    Steve Fitzgerald,
    Solid article.
    Probably the biggest unknown in sea-level predictions (apart from how much contributory GHG humans will continue to emit) is how rapidly the ever-decreasing Greenhouse ice sheets will disintegrate, and how much the resultant rapid rise will destabilise the Antarctic shelves and accelerate their collapse.
    The best time for serious collective action was a few decades ago when the extent of the emerging problem first became manifestly obvious to the people who pay proper attention.

    Phil,
    I have learned that fatalistic proclamations of inevitable doom are not particularly welcomed on a site that is intended for productive discussion of progressive solutions, but, suffice to say, I am not just nodding.
    Interesting times ahead, methinks.

  3. John Hermann

    Sea level rise is not the only, and arguably no where near the worst, catastrophe that is likely to accompany climate change. The worst effects of climate change would have to include the loss of sources of clean water (drying of rivers and the disappearance of glaciers and mountain snow) along with the loss of rain water (i.e. drought) over large regions currently used for growing food crops. All this, in concert with larger monsoonal rains and floods in the equatorial and tropical regions, and storms (hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons) which are larger, more severe, more frequent, and more prolonged.

  4. David Bruce

    Cutting GHG emissions, alone, will not solve this problem. It maybe a first step in a much more vigorous global response.

    We still haven’t fixed the Fukushima catastrophe and no one is talking about it.

    I would have thought by now Kiribati would be submerged, yet it hasn’t happened. Similarly, while I was in Tonga for the past 2.5 years, the sea levels only rose during cyclones.

    There are some who view the reduction of the population by 50% as a worthwhile goal!

    Maybe in the near future, there will be a global event of such magnitude it will force the controllers to take action?

  5. Phil

    ” Phil,
    I have learned that fatalistic proclamations of inevitable doom are not particularly welcomed on a site that is intended for productive discussion of progressive solutions, but, suffice to say, I am not just nodding.
    Interesting times ahead, methinks.”

    Hey I’m all ears. If you have some untried method to save the day share it. I remember the Whitlam dismissal, same old platitudes, same old lets talk it out, let get a plan happening. I remember Bob Hawke after Gough got the arse, lets all go back to work it will all sought itself out. I remember Bob when he moved into a 3 million dollar house on Sydney Harbour. What was it ? Oh that’s right the politics of envy. I remember the accord and the wages of workers going backwards. I remember Keating and the 18 % percent interest rates. Added another 10 years to my mortgage.

    I was on the barricades of the Patricks dispute and Senator Peter Cook telling us to all be good comrades and go back to work. Progressive solutions, Really? Oh please. Btw I make most lefty’s look like Genghis Khan. I am now in my dotage, I’ve heard it all before. While we are all pontificating over the new left wing trendy politics of lets all be friends, the rancid right wing are busy digging our graves. I’m not, although have come close two years ago, am not ready for mine quite yet. We are being sold a pup by our own party the fact the Labor party has not guaranteed a living wage is ringing alarm bells. Not on this blog obviously. Cheers.

  6. corvus boreus

    Phil,
    Sorry, no magical solutions here
    Personally, as an ecologically literate individual who follows the science, I think we have already broken the biospheric balance to the stage of initiating negative feedbacks, and thus probably engineered our own extinction.
    I am also another who has both stood in militare gregarias and studied history, so I understand that things will very likely get increasingly nasty amongst the humans as complacently comfortable living turns into precarious existence struggle.
    Fortunately, I am a non-progenitor, so am spared the mental angst of imagining the fate of any offspring.

    Ps, I usually try to maintain a guarded facade of cautious hope, for the mental benefit of both myself and others, but a few extra hits of homebrewed mead have put me in an unusually honest mood.

  7. Phil.

    “Ps, I usually try to maintain a guarded facade of cautious hope, for the mental benefit of both myself and others, but a few extra hits of homebrewed mead have put me in an unusually honest mood.”

    Ditto… Getting three sheets to the wind is my only relief these days from the insane world we live in. I also play the guitar at levels that would wake the dead, tinnitus is a welcome side effect that takes my mind off the problems of the world. For me it matters not, brain surgery two years ago and a mild stroke, my own fate is sealed, from my genes. But I worry for my children and grandchildren who btw share my politics, so all is not lost yet. Yes things are going to turn nasty. The financial crash in the works will be the first cab off the rank of things to come, imho. The left has lost the plot, they will be the victims of their own complacency. Interesting months ahead.

  8. Kaye Lee

    I’m not sure that complacency is the problem, at least with the people here who have well and truly heard the warning bells. I just don’t see the point in despair. I feel the same about regret. They can immobilise you.

    The world will end one day. That is an inescapable fact that we cannot change. In the mean time, we have to do the best we can. At times it feels overwhelming. But in reality, whilst some things are getting much worse, some things are getting better too. Have the courage to change what we can and the strength to endure what we can’t. We will never reach perfection but must continue trying to take steps forwards along the road.

    “The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.”

  9. Keitha Granville

    thanks for those remarks Kaye, I have to stop myself some days from feeling enormous regret that I had children, who now have children – what have I done?

    I read a terrifying article recently about water shortage in Britain. But then I realised that it is the same as everything else, people just use and use and use without thinking about the next manor the next generation. We hear it all the time, there is no Planet B.

    I hope that I have instilled in my children a sense of other. We have to keep on trying, we have no other options.

  10. Stephen Fitzgerald

    Phil – I’ve had a long hard look at why some politicians are concerned about society and others are in it for themselves. Donald Trump is a perfect example of a “type” that are attracted to politics. Our own PM Scott Morrison fits into the same category. It’s what’s called narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and there’s plenty written about it.

    You can add this to right-wing ideology which dictates that they only care about themselves and not society. The right-wing admit that they are the political arm of big business and look after the top end of town. For a politician, that’s where the election funds and contacts are, so give the top end whatever they want.

    What they want is money, power and control and there is a total disregard for the consequences to others. They don’t care who they hurt and if climate change stands in the way then, dismiss it. A challenging example drawn from the bigger picture includes oil, natural gas, big business, politicians, war economies and lots of money.

    I notice that Trump has jumped into bed with Netanyahu in another play for U.S. control of the oil and natural gas reserves being tapped by Israel from under the nose of the Palestinians. All the vicious wars in the middle east are about control of oil and natural gas. Innocent civilians are raped, plundered, murdered and displaced with entire countries literally destroyed to make a few people filthy rich on the control and sale of oil and gas. The collapse of society in Venezuela is also about control of oil and natural gas.

    We have a handful of global warmongers and oil barons who, along with their expansive entourage including politicians, have become very skilful at diverting attention away from the main causes of global warming. They are quite happy to fight over and burn the last few drops of oil and the last puff of natural gas and they are oblivious to the fact that they are destroying the planet in the process. They are quite happy to drown our cities and destroy our homes on a global scale. It’s part of being narcissistic.

    There is a solution and we can force their hands – We need to turf these war and fossil fuel sympathizers out of government. We have them outnumbered and we can use that at the ballot box and then, we can get on with action on climate change.

  11. Stephen Fitzgerald

    Kaye Lee – Very nice words and, I’m with you – Future generations will be born into a world that seems normal to them and they will learn to adapt and survive in their world the same way we have in ours. Lets do what we can to make that future world as good as we can and in the mean time, enjoy what we have while we have it, in our own short time here.

  12. Joseph Carli

    Ah!…The corporate memory fading to a sepia light…

    Wiki’…:
    “Candide, ou l’Optimisme (/kænˈdiːd/; French: [kɑ̃did]) is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment.[5] The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Optimism (1947).[6] It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss.[7] The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide’s slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting Leibnizian optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, “we must cultivate our garden”, in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, “all is for the best” in the “best of all possible worlds”.

    Candide is characterized by its tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious coming-of-age narrative (Bildungsroman), it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is bitter and matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years’ War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.[8] As philosophers of Voltaire’s day contended with the problem of evil, so does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.”

    Pass the Soma, please.

  13. Phil

    ” Phil – I’ve had a long hard look at why some politicians are concerned about society and others are in it for themselves. Donald Trump is a perfect example of a “type” that are attracted to politics. Our own PM Scott Morrison fits into the same category. It’s what’s called narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and there’s plenty written about it. ”

    I have read about it too Trump has it in spades. Trump is the product of what an uneducated, ignorant, insular population, can cough up. I always thought Americans were unique in their ability to put politicians in charge, by any yard stick, are barking mad and should either be in an asylum or, as in Trumps case a prison. It would appear this affliction is endemic in countries all over the planet.

    Does NSW last week ring any alarm bells? If this trend continues into the Federal election in May, I can guarantee there is going to be trouble. If Morrison gets another mandate he will continue his purge on the working class, with gay abandon. Their wet dream of privatising the health system and the continuation of the dismantling of the social welfare system will be completed with a speed and zeal never before seen in this country.

    The union movement, GetUp and other activists groups, are well aware the traditional working class representatives the Labor Party, are as weak as diluted ducks piss. They are making plans that do not include the Labor party in any possible court action etc into the future. Shortens demeanour and body language is palpable, it reflects ‘ Don’t rock the boat don’t make waves ‘ This tells me we have something fundamentally wrong with our approach to gaining government. Are we to be cowered into a corner because we might offend some of our own class? Have we lost the will to take to the streets like our forefathers did to get a fair piece of the countries pie? Are we to continue to let our children die from the evil of illicit drugs, with the only thing to look forward too in the future is a job flipping hamburgers in some fast food outlet shit hole? Let unmarried mothers starve, let women be killed by the bushel by men who should be in prison, not the partner in a marriage that is a nightmare? Well not me.

    I think being a lefty is just more than platitudes and waffling on blogs. I mean hey I’ve got three children/ children my God, the eldest is forty eight. They all have good jobs two of them professionals, never had the police knock on the door for them, the only drugs in my home are prescription and the other comes in brown bottles which I keep in the fridge. So I’ve got it made in the shade for now. Why should I give a flying fcuck? But strange I do. But a shit storm is coming that, is money in the bank.

  14. corvus boreus

    Kaye Lee,
    This morning, raw, mead-induced honesty expunged by 6 hours sleep, I put back on my guarded façade of cautious hope and went out to conduct a site assessment then strategic weed removal amidst an endangered ecological community on a coastal headland.
    I did this full knowing that the site into which I poured my efforts will either be washed away or isolated as an island within a few thousand years (even without the wildcard factor of AGW induced sea rise).
    As you say, we have to do the best we can.

    That said, I am still very glad that I’ve always bagged my seed.

  15. Stephen Fitzgerald

    Joseph – As I ponder the folly of optimism it comes to mind that pointing out stark reality is more about enlightenment than despair. It’s something that all those great thinkers and philosophers, you refer to, would seek out willingly to broaden the mind and add clarity to their thinking.

    Once upon a time, ignorance was bliss. The perpetual state that politicians would love to keep us in. They can no longer… We are now in a world of instant communication and I think collectively, we are in a much better position to manage what we have if we see the big picture and we understand the world as it is.

    We are in the same battle that has echoed down through the ages of man. The battle between right and wrong or good and evil. Nothings changed, just the stage settings. In all these battles, and that’s what it is, you need to fully understand what you are up against and, we have that now.

    We also have choices – Slump our shoulders and fade quietly into the night or use what we have and fight for what we want. I’m a fighter, not a giver-upper, so I’ll keep pushing for change and a better future. Everyone can do their bit at the ballot box and, on that note, I think I’ll try some soma.

  16. Uta Hannemann

    Stephen you say: “We are now in a world of instant communication and I think collectively, we are in a much better position to manage what we have if we see the big picture and we understand the world as it is. . . .” Of course this should work, Stephen, if only we’re not afraid of pointing out stark reality!

  17. Stephen Fitzgerald

    The stark reality is that coal provides 75% of our electricity and it’s Australia’s largest export. The stark reality is that the world is running out of oil and natural gas and global super-powers are prepared to wage brutal wars for control of what’s left. The stark reality is that there is trillions of dollars to be made from maintaining the fossil fuel status-quo. The stark reality is that if we burn all the oil, gas and coal it will force catastrophic and irreversible climate change.

    As a first step, our best strategy is to reduce the demand for fossil fuels by backing governments that supports a transition to renewable clean energy and a subsequent reduction in CO2 emissions. Once solar power generation is cheaper than coal, Australia can aim to export pure energy captured form the sun instead of coal.

    What we are going through here with the tussle between fossil fuel and renewable energy is no different to previous monumental advances in technology. As an example, look at the transition from horses to motor vehicles. The resistance was monumental but it still happened because that’s what people wanted.

  18. Stephen Fitzgerald

    We are talking about progress here so lets break it down to it’s basic common denominators. Suppose we are left to our own devices to generate our own electricity.

    (A) Drop down to Bunnings, buy a few solar panel, generate enough electricity to cook your meals, warm your home, turn on the lights and watch the telly. Store the surplus in batteries for later.

    (B) Grab the pick and shovel – Head down to the coal pit – Fill up a few buckets. Get covered in coal dust, start a fire, fill up the house with smoke, cook your dinner. Use more coal to crank up the steam engine to generate enough electricity to turn on the lights and watch the telly. Put up with the noise, the smell, the coal dust and the polution.

    (A) or (B), horses or motor cars, renewable or coal, the future or the past? The transition from fossil fuel to renewables is not insurmountable – It’s logical.

  19. Kaye Lee

    I was speaking to a family member on the weekend who is an engineer involved with the feasibility study for Snowy Hydro 2.0. He said we need a ‘smart grid’.

    “A Smart Grid is an electricity network that can cost efficiently integrate the behaviour and actions of all users connected to it – generators, consumers and those that do both – in order to ensure economically efficient, sustainable power system with low losses and high levels of quality and security of supply and safety. A smart grid employs innovative products and services together with intelligent monitoring, control, communication, and self-healing technologies in order to:

    • Better facilitate the connection and operation of generators of all sizes and technologies.
    • Allow consumers to play a part in optimising the operation of the system.
    • Provide consumers with greater information and options for how they use their supply.
    • Significantly reduce the environmental impact of the whole electricity supply system.
    • Maintain or even improve the existing high levels of system reliability, quality and security of supply.
    • Maintain and improve the existing services efficiently.”

  20. corvus boreus

    Phuq it.

    Stephen did point out some very harsh realities about the deteriorating environmental situation, it is the basic theme of his article.

    However, there is an overall far starker reality, which is that we have passed the point where we can hit the brakes on an oncoming biospheric disaster of our own creation, and the ensuing catastrophic consequences for our own over-stocked kind.

    This is shown by the fact that, with over 1/2 a century of increased heating already locked in place by the CO2 released today (which, by trend, was probably an increase on yesterdays already unprecedented emissions), we have already triggered feedback amplifications that will exponentially accelerate the process (eg permafrost-melt driven methane releases).

    It is also indicated by documented rapid decline in crucial lynchpin species, especially amongst the terrestrial invertebrates and soil microbiae, whose loss heralds the death knell of swathes of larger species whose continued existence is dependent upon the symbiotic functions of the smaller beings.

    It is signalled by the rapidly increasing acidification of our oceans, where the influx of both gaseous carbon and poly-carbonate plastics is turning the majority portion of the planet’s habitat into an environment only hospitable to jellyfish.

    Lastly, it is blatantly broadcast by the increasingly aggressive militant extremism pervading previously civil societies, where even a ‘progressive’ blog like the AIMN is now the vehicle for narcissistic opportunists attempting to incite class-based carnage.

    Given this summation of the situation, it seems pointlessly wasteful to continue squandering fossil-fuel derived power in order to try and speak over the bullshit brayed on this blog in the hope of helping to reverse a runaway coal-train heading for a sheer cliff.

    Therefore, as part of my ongoing programme of minimalising my wastage and reducing my hypocrisy footprint, I shall kick this destructively self-indulgent addiction, and limit my computer usage to more directly productive purposes.

    Corvus out.

  21. SteveFitz

    Corvus – I must have missed something? Could you give us an example of narcissistic opportunists attempting to incite class-based carnage. Explain it like you would to a child.

  22. SteveFitz

    While I’m waiting, I’ll add a bit more – Corvus – We can split the atom to release unimaginable amounts of energy, we can convert water to hydrogen and oxygen for energy, we can capture energy directly from the sun and store it in big containers called batteries. We can also develop methods to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and cap global warming.

    The prime objective, right now, should be to minimize green-house gas emissions to make the task of regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations a little bit easier down the track. It’s not doomsday – It’s just a process and just another challenge for mankind as we transition to renewables and move into a new era.

    We should be saving the last of our fossil fuel for manufacturing and recycling, not for burning. Future generations will look back in astonishment that we could be so stupid as to burn the most precious product the earth has to offer and, in the process, screw the environment. You see Corvus, it’s about a change in thinking but first, we need to get rid of the knuckle draggers.

  23. DrakeN

    “…but first, we need to get rid of the knuckle draggers.”

    You mean that we need to cull over half of the human population?

  24. SteveFitz

    Drake – Let’s start with those in politics – I’m happy to swing through the trees with the rest.

  25. DrakeN

    But, SteveFitz, we are all – everyone of us – in politics.

    We are the polity who elect these lesser evolved simians into office.

    Sort out the electorate and you resolve the governance problems!

  26. SteveFitz

    Drake – I’m doing my bit as best I can – I get out there and talk to people, I discuss the issues face to face and on social media within my expansive network. There are lots of people and organisations drumming up community support on these issues. We are all in this together and we need to work together, as a society, to protect the future. We can’t bend peoples will or force open their eyes but, we can push for a majority in parliament that supports climate action. For that we just need a slight majority and, at the moment, the poles suggest we have that. So, keep pushing.

  27. Stephen Fitzgerald

    If you have landed here, you have probably read my stylized on-line book
    “ARTICLES: Our Children’s Future – Oil Wars and Ice Melt”.
    https://www.hootgallery.com/steve-fitz-articles

    It’s themed on the raging wars for control of oil and natural gas and, the global consequences if we burn it all. The solution is to remove the demand for fossil fuels with a rapid transition to renewable energy.

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