One of my favorite tropes — used by activists of all stripes— is ‘acting like a rock in a stream’. According to this metaphor a handful of people could become a catalyst for change, simple by standing firm. (An act often taken quite literally, like demonstrators gluing themselves to the road or large immovable objects). The idea is that after attracting a number of like-minded people, together they could create a tipping point, beyond which history would be forced to change its course — not unlike a river, after having a large enough number of rocks thrown into it. Now take a look at the chart below, depicting an exponential rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and see if the metaphor has earned a merit.
How are you so convinced climate change is a symptom of ecological destruction or has an anthropogenic cause? Surely the climate is always changing. The historical record shows a much warmer planet with a much higher CO2 with a thriving ecology. A lot of data suggests we are emerging from a local ice age. I have come across so much research on solar activity affecting heating as well as core-mantle decoupling. "Climate change" is the stick the degenerates on top will beat us with as they continue BAU and it's nauseating to see you keep legitimizing it.
(The underwater volcano that erupted 2 years ago spewed out so much water vapour into the atmosphere and this is a far more potent greenhouse gas - if that mechanism is even a thing after a certain point)
I will now explain why EVs - which are not in any way shape or form 'Green' - exist.
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And why the Ministry of Truth runs endless hype campaigns promoting planet-saving EVs and why governments subsidize them to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Because he is a true scientist, and uses his senses to observe without prejudice.
And thus he sees that pumping billions of tons of specific chemicals has an anthropogenic effect upon the environment.
A pendulum may swing back and forth freely, but when you add a magnet to one side, it is no longer just a 'natural' swing.
A true scientist does not look at the data and deny part of it just because they don't like the secondary outcomes. It's fine to be concerned over the attempt by "elites" to use climate change to push their own agendas - that however in no way "proves" that the climate change problem doesn't actually exist.
Problem-Reaction-Solution works just as well when the problem is actually real.
when you burn carbon it heats the atmosphere. we figured this out in the 1800's. you don't have to be a captive to a religious adherence to an ideology to believe this. you just need to understand some basic facts and not become addicted to the thrilling idea that you have some secret knowledge that others don't that you've found on the internet.
Mate I too was once a true believer. I knelt at the alter of guy McPherson. I know first hand what ideology and scientism are.
I don't have any secret knowledge . I just ask questions. I don't patronize people unlike yourself.
The only thing I know for sure is that nothing can be known with absolute certainty. And I have seen enough contrarian evidence on the issue of climate change to know there isn't a consensus.
I really don't understand the religious zeal people have on the subject - I mean it's not like anything can be done?
I suggest having a look at this documentary for some very compelling counter narrative by some very well respected scientists including Christy who was one of the lead authors for the initial papers for the IPCC :
*The ‘97% climate consensus’ is over. Now it’s well above 99% (and the evidence is even stronger than that)*
Published: October 28, 2021
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"Despite the overwhelming evidence, it’s still common to see politicians, media commentators or social media users cast doubt on the role of humans in driving climate change.
But this denialism is now almost nonexistent among climate scientists, as a study released this month confirms. US researchers examined the peer-reviewed literature and found more than 99% of climate scientists now endorse the evidence for human-induced climate change."
""There is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, our new research shows.""
Guy McPherson eh? Narrative eh. I see you have decided to go with the narrative that is the least uncomfortable for you. That's normal for humans. Both the needing a narrative to understand the world and picking the one that makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning. McPherson provided hundreds of links to climate papers and explainer articles. You obviously skipped the homework. Those of us who did the homework can tell those who did not do it and are trying to fake it.
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Most people do not need a scientists to tell them the climate has changed.
They live it.
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*Hurricane Beryl broke records. Climate change a main contributor, NOAA says*
"Beryl spent more than a week ravaging parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and the U.S. as a major hurricane-turned-tropical storm and back to a hurricane where it made landfall in Texas.
Its path over the Atlantic left a trail of devastation that is rarely seen this early in the year, and it shattered multiple records to start the 2024 hurricane season."
*Deadly Hurricane Beryl Supercharged by Climate Change, Experts Say*
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"Beryl has alarmed environmental scientists for how early in the year it appeared, with most major storms only forming closer to September. And as The Guardian reports, that's almost certainly due to climate change supercharging Atlantic ocean temperatures.
"Beryl would be astounding to happen anyway, but for it to form in June is completely unprecedented," University of Miami climate scientist Brian McNoldy told the newspaper. "It’s just remarkable to see sea temperatures this warm."
"I don’t think anyone would expect an outlier like this to happen, it exceeded expectations," he added. "With a climate-change-influenced ocean, we are making extreme storms like this more likely to happen."
*Thousands in Houston still without power amid brutal heatwave after Beryl*
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'Nearly 300,000 residents without electricity as governor gives company until end of month to address outages'
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"Power outages persist in Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Beryl tore through the area last week leavings hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity in the middle of a brutal heatwave.
Nearly 300,000 customers have now gone almost a week without electricity and air conditioning during excessive heat where temperatures are reaching 94F (34C)."
“Nanyang, Henan and Xiangyang, Hubei were hit by record-breaking rainstorms, with rainfall reaching 410 mm in 12 hours and 111.7 mm in 1 hour, causing flooding in many rivers…
“Then 711.6 mm [28 inches] of rainfall in 24 hours! (The data was interrupted afterwards) This is almost equivalent to the annual rainfall in the area!”
“RECORD IN THE CARIBBEANS AND CENTRAL AMERICA – Record of July hottest nights destroyed all over the area; in nearly 100% of HONDURAS stations (up to 28.2C / 82.8F and even tropical nights in the highlands) .
“Record-smashing Western heat wave to continue through 3rd week of July.
“While the severity of the heat wave will wane some as the core of a heat dome shifts, dangerous triple-digit temperatures will continue to be common across the West well into the second half of July.”
*Not 'Just Summer'. Deadly Heat Waves in 2024 Are The Toll of Climate Change*
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"Extreme heat like this has been hitting countries across the planet in 2024.
Globally, each of the past 13 months has been the hottest on record for that month, including the hottest June, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service."
It just goes on & on & on. Too much to keep up, but don't worry because there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Big Pain is baked in.
You can always tell yourself 'it's not real' or it's 'a hoax' - Trump said it's a hoax to steal our manufacturing. Too late by a decade they already have it and did not need to steal anything. American captains of industry happily off shored it for cheap labour. That's how capitalism has always rolled.
Everyone gets that telling yourself is not enough to keep your sanity and that is why you need to comb the web and tell everyone they are wrong in the hopes you will run into someone else who believes the same, an ally to reinforce your narrative. I remember 10 years ago every third troll was a denier. Just the hardcore true believers remain. The last of the breed. Die hard Duh-niers. The only problem I can see is if you act obstinate in the face of an oncoming heatwave or storm forecast and refuse to take any precautions. That is how people win Darwin awards.
Stay Frosty
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*D.C. soars to record high of 102 amid hottest summer to date*
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" For a second straight day, Washington soared into the triple digits, setting a record high. Its high of 102 Monday followed Sunday’s 101, at the midpoint of a summer that has been the hottest on record to date.
The ongoing heat wave — the third of the summer — is perhaps the most intense and dangerous."
*'It's hell outside': People warned to stay inside as heatwave suffocates central and southern Europe*
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With summer heatwaves starting ever earlier and 13 months in a row of record-breaking temperatures, some experts have asked whether this could be Europe's hottest summer ever.
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*Map reveals spread of ‘hellish’ wildfires as 44°C heatwave sweeps Europe*
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" Wildfires are tearing through southern Europe as sizzling temperatures of up to 44°C spark ‘danger to life’ weather alerts. Apocalyptic weather – originating from an air bubble from the Sahara desert – has hit Europe, with multiple heat-related deaths reported in Italy. A prolonged heatwave is forecast across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions until at least the end of this week. Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 42-44°C – 10 degrees hotter than the average for the mid-July period."
What's it like being a missionary for the dying religion of climate change denial? There's so few of you left conservation biologists have added y'all to the endangered species list. So far only $1.75 has been donated to try and save y'all.
Hiya, I think what we’re told about the ‘elites’ using climate change (or even faking climate change) to ‘push their agendas’ (would the elites really have an agenda to stop us using oil when this is what made them elite?) is a deliberate ploy to spread doubt about climate change and to create resistance to green policies that harm the powerful fossil fuel and animal ag industries.
And I also agree with the "would the elites really have an agenda to stop us using oil when this is what made them elite?" - I don't think they have the slightest intention. It's all about convincing the rest of the World to leave their deposits so Western armies can "liberate" them later. Imo.
I hadn't really thought of it like that. I thought of it more as convincing the West to ignore the climate crisis, which affects the Global South most, and to carry on with the burning. The 'elites' may also wish to convince the Global Majority to leave their oil in the ground so that they can come and steal it. Though I think the Majority are wise to the West's perfidy and want to leave their oil because they don't want to destroy their own countries. The Global South are much more
aware of both the climate crisis and environmental destruction; they need no convincing.
The elites have even managed to turn equality into a dirty word by allegedly using it for their own agenda. This in no way proves that inequality doesn’t exist nor does it mean that it shouldn’t be urgently addressed. It is a ploy to maintain the status quo.
You ask, "How are you so convinced climate change is a symptom of ecological destruction or has an anthropogenic cause?"
Doesn't ecological destruction, which you seem to acknowledge is happening by your phrasing (or am I wrong about that?), equate, by definition, to climate change? Ecology is a scientific lens that attempts to encompass living organisms and their environment. The environment includes the climate, by definition. Wouldn't it follow then that ecological devastation has some impact on the climate, even if it is fairly minimal (which, if your argument is that it is fairly minimal, that's all well and good)? And surely you acknowledge that much ecological destruction is anthropogenically caused, right (deforestation, microplastics, monoculture farming, etc.)? So wouldn't it then be reasonable to conclude that some amount (even if it is small) of climate change has an anthropogenic cause?
Also, you decried Business As Usual in this comment I'm replying to, but then linked Climate: The Movie, which promotes BAU, in another comment. Or did you link that solely for the scientific views at the beginning?
Yes I don't think they necessarily equate. I mean it's certainly obvious there is an ecological crisis - we are raping and pillaging left right and centre driving species to extinction.
I just don't conclude that this is changing the climate. But I don't know.
Yes there is quite a lot of good science referenced in that movie that debunks CO2 as a driver of anything. And there is also this body of work hypothesizing on how a decoupling of the core-mantle relationship is heating the oceans driving CO2 into the atmosphere.
I suppose it irks me that it's like a religion with people that you can't question without the usual slurs of science denier and climate denier being hurled.
The high priests ( Guy McPherson et al) will tell you it's a predicament and nothing can be done - because to stop BAU is to increase CO2 (loss of aerosol masking effect) and to continue BAU the same- so I really don't get people defending this narrative? I mean what does it matter? Why not see if other variables are at play?
I agree that it’s hard to know anything when so many variables are at work.
I think some of this also comes down to how one defines climate. Because, for example, deforestation messes with local water cycles, which can affect weather patterns. We see this in the Amazon. Right there is an anthropogenic effect on climate, but when people say climate, they mostly seem to refer to CO2 emissions and warming even though that’s only one part.
I’ll admit that I learned a few things from Climate: The Movie, and I’m now more curious about the other factors named (cloud formation, in particular). However, I will say, when that one scientist being interviewed said, “CO2 has zero effect.” to me that makes as little sense as it being the only important metric. Why wouldn’t the vast quantities we’re putting into the atmosphere change the climate in some way when everything else we do as such a large scale seems to effect things? I admit I’m a complete layman, so at the end of the day, like you, I don’t know, but my intuition is that the truth is somewhere between those two extremes—that it has some impact but not as much as other things.
"Sure, there are several (admittedly) very powerful special interest groups, like the fossil fuel lobby, investment firms, big tech, pharmaceutical companies, the military-industrial-congressional complex, big agriculture businesses, mining companies, and many more, but none of them is able to dictate all the terms to everyone else."
I think there is a small group of extremely rich people operating behind the facade of the Bank For International Settlements" that do indeed want to dictate the terms to everyone else. Of course, if they fail, we will still have all these so called "wicked" problems to deal with . .
But if they succeed the number of degrees of freedom remaining in the hands of the rest of the human race will be miniscule.
It is worth reading "The Great Taking" more than once. So that if and when it happens you wont be taken in by the big psy-op in relation to what is going on .
Great article and good summary advice postscript. The comparison of civilization to an organism driven by the need to consume energy to reproduce is striking. It resonates with my view of our predicament. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Clear and helpful, thank you. And about that postscript; yes! put it at the top of the article as well, so we can hold it in our paradox-capable minds for much needed exercise.
Also, for some future column (and apologies if you’ve already written on these; computer searches are not my strong suit) I’d love to read your take on AI- that hall of mirrors. My take is that AI’s ‘hallucinations’ apply equally to hyper-processed food, hyper-processed social media.
Heck, hyper-processed anything. Civilization is on a speed-addicted feeding frenzy- walking past digestion and integration for a sugar rush. And we all know what happens after too much candy. Ergo your encouragement that we learn to garden, cook, and repair our tools. Well said. So let’s talk more about the small holder farmers and artisans, small businesses, and communities building regionally reliant networks that will restore circulation in the post-collapse future. I see us as a healthy bio-film. Small, molecular, but connected on the inner, and mighty in a quantum impact kind of way.
You have seen 'The Road'? If not I recommend it! Might want to hold off on those small holdings 😂
I hate to be a Debbie downer 😂 but you've obviously figured a solution for the 450+ nuclear plants and 2000+ spent fuel ponds that will be melting down post civilizational collapse?
Great read. I love the acceptance, the practical view point, and the lack of hopelessness in the face of a predicament. There might not be a solution per se, but there are skills and lifestyles to help individuals still thrive with simpler living in a declining globalized world.
Great synthesis and framing in your critique, but you do have an Achilles heel. “Life is beautiful” is an absurd, preposterous phrase to utter, especially in the time of overshoot collapse. Life does contain beauty, no doubt, but the tragedy of the ineluctable human predicament is not, at all, “beautiful.”
The Great Dessert: The Geopolitical - Financial Endgame [Thanks Michael R.]
These 3 parts are well laid out and bullet-pointed, and fairly concise, a valuable overview to share around:
Part I: Reviews
...Fragility of the Global Financial Structure
Fragility is built into the global financial system which is dominated by one privately held company: The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which through its subsidiaries controls the markets, including:
By 2014, thirteen years rather than five had already passed and none of Wesley Clark’s seven countries were “taken out.” The Empire’s armies had been defeated in Iraq, Afghanistan was a quagmire, and the Empire’s “Arab Spring” terrorist proxy war was heading for failure too. The G7 real economies had been shrinking since 2007, while the Russia, Iran and China (RIC) economies were growing robustly. The RIC’s global influence was expanding at the expense of the Empire. It was thus clear to the Empire by 2014 that total global dominance was out of reach and that an alternate geopolitical plan was needed...
..More significant to the Protected Class than hundreds of millions of deaths, is the fact that unlike previous global wars, the global financial structure that will emerge subsequent to this war will be developed by the Sovereigntist states with Russia, Iran, and China (RIC) at their core, ending a millennium of global financial domination, and it is this defeat that the Protected Class will avoid at all costs.
The only feasible strategy for the Empire to preclude its capacity for domination from melting away completely would be to terminate the competition by splitting the world into two regions: the Western Realm over which the Protected Class has ironclad control, where “their rules” rule, and the Sovereigntist Realm, which is completely separated from it.
It has been shown that the alternate plan is the establishment of “Two Worlds”: a Western realm and a Sovereign world of self-determining countries protected from the deteriorating Empire by the RIC core.[xii] The current global geopolitical turmoil reflects the transition phase towards the “Two Worlds”. The West’s objective in the current transition is to lock-in as many resource-rich countries of the Global South within the Western realm as possible. It is to this end that a hyper-crisis consisting of combined energy, food, economic, and monetary crises has been engineered by the Protected Class.[xiii]
It is therefore posited that there will not be a global war. The current regional wars, and the hawkish war rhetoric of the Empire are merely intended to cement the ideological basis of the “Two Worlds”, namely RICophobia: Russophobia, Islamo-Iranophobia and Sinophobia.[xiv] https://fadilama.substack.com/p/the-great-dessert-the-geopolitical-0fe
Part III: The End Game
Realizing that the alternate plan is “Two Worlds”, a Sovereign World and the Western Realm, the end game for each differs.
End Game for the Sovereigntist World
A blueprint for the Sovereigntist World emerged from the President Xi – President Putin meeting of February 4, 2022.[i] From Why the West Can’t Win:[ii]
As reflected in the diverse political and economic models of the RIC, the Sovereign World will see a variety of development models coming into existence, reflecting the civilizational diversity of the world. It is this civilizational diversity, where each civilization has its own unique features, that is the cornerstone of an egalitarian world and a key component of the right to self-determination. Inherent in civilizational diversity is the acceptance of the cultural and religious orientations of the different civilizations, hence an acceptance of the “others” as they are...
..End Game in the Western Realm
The end game will be ushered by implosion of the extremely fragile global financial structure, the consequences of which are presented by David Webb:[iii]
Comprehensive “collateral management” systems have been implemented which assure the transport of all securities cross-border through the mandated linkage of CSDs[iv] to ICSDs[v] to the CCPs[vi] (where the risk of the derivatives complex is concentrated), and on to the anointed secured creditors which will take the collateral when the CCPs fail, having assured for themselves that their taking of assets cannot be “legally” challenged.
Once prices of essentially everything crash and all financial firms rapidly become insolvent, these collateral management systems will automatically sweep all collateral to the Central Clearing Counterparties (CCPs) and Central Banks.
It is about the taking of collateral, all of it, the end game of this globally synchronous debt accumulation super cycle. Included are all financial assets, all money on deposit at banks, all stocks and bonds, and hence, all underlying property of all public corporations, including all inventories, plant and equipment, land, mineral deposits, inventions and intellectual property. Privately owned personal and real property financed with any amount of debt will be similarly taken, as will the assets of privately owned businesses, which have been financed with debt. If even partially successful, this will be the greatest conquest and subjugation in world history.
Thus, the end game in the Western realm can be thought of as the Great Equalization, or Great Reset as labeled by Klaus Schwab and the WEF. Neoliberalism has resulted in historically unprecedented wealth concentration, with the top 10% of the population owning about 70% of wealth.[vii] The Great Equalization will go further down that path, further consolidating the wealth of the top 10% and concentrating it in the hands of the miniscule group that owns the major hedge funds.
The Great Equalization can also be labeled the “Great Dessert” as expressed by David Webb:[viii]
Well, this is your own partial view and agenda. Nothing more. What I see coming soon is the end of the democratic model for most parts of the Earth, a world dominated by big empires, led by dictators (including the USA), sharing the world with their own zone of influence and absolute power. The Trump foreign policy as well as the ones of the existing large dictatorships, are totally consistent with this future (if these psychopaths don't blow up the planet with nuclear annihilation). Then you factor in the consequences of global warming, resource depletion, growing inequalities in the context of kleptocratic regimes... Adam Flint, author of "Mona."
No, I just excerpted, copied and pasted, so not "own partial view and agenda, nothing more".
The "all wars are banker's wars" model is not inherently inconsistent with what you postulate.
I don't think we are fundamentally in disagreement, though we may not see identical actors on the stage.
The playwrights and owners do not appear on stage, for their own security, of course.
We are challenged to come up with a working, more egalitarian and cooperative paradigm, or suffer horrifically under our current "man is a wolf to man" economic-system model.
Taking steps along the way helps a person see a little farther forward. Growing a substantial vegetable garden, and paying off debts, for instance.
PS: I looked up your "Mona" thumbnail sketch.
Trump is a nationalist-capitalist, with global scope, but national focus, as is RFK Jr.
On the other side of the ring are the globalist-globalists, the WEF crowd, to over-simplify.
Most living humans don't really share interests with either camp.
We are their livestock herds. We can infer that their long-term management plans differ, but they all lie...
Act as you see is morally best for the humans you love, and the humans around you, knowing that hunger and violence spread rapidly at times.
At this point I'm not sure it will take several decades. Overall, maybe, as in "are there still cars driving in the world" or "is there still a place with open supermarkets."
But locally I give the whole thing a few years, at best, before it starts looking increasingly apocalyptic.
I agree with everything you said but making a dig at the likes of Just Stop Oil is disappointing, since they are one of few groups I know of that are desperately trying to put attention on all of this, while the rest of us are stuck in the status quo of working "bullshit jobs" to feed our kids. The intention of civil disobedience is actually to get arrested, because no arrest = no news coverage = no-one cared. Decades of quietly petitioning politicians changed almost nothing. Yes it's very late in the game to do a damn thing to save the existing system, and would we even want to? But with enough involvement in direct action, disruption and protest, big things have been changed before and could be again.
Just Stop Oil should change their name to 'Just Stop Civilization', as that would be the result of 'just' stopping oil. Presumably, JSO's members go to supermarkets, expect emergency services to be available, buy things etc.? Like it or not, the system depends on FF, and people have no choice but to live in (under?) the system. JSO are deluding themselves. If they were calling for complete destruction of the system, I'd have more time for them, but no - they advocate fantasy-physics 'renewables' BS.
"big things have been changed before and could be again."
Yes, big things will change - but it will have FA to do with Just Stop Oil, or anyone else. The time for 'action' has long since passed. The die is cast, and nothing is going to magic up more, easily accessible deposits of FF, metal ores etc. (never mind 'clean' energy, which is an illusion).
The system's going down, eventually. The sooner governments (and all institutions/organisations) are got out of the way, the easier the transition will be.
Humans survived on basic water, wind and wood power before there was a billion people on the planet and we'll have to do with out FF eventually. I agree renewables are not sustainable as they are, but wouldn't it be nice if we were having more serious conversations about how to make it all work. I find it hard to believe the only option is to wait for the collapse of systems and go to war over the resources that are left. If we could drastically reduce oil usage in the many ways we already know how to, we would at least have longer to make the massive adjustments required to reduce suffering. Sounds like a lot of people are ready to just wait until a few billion poor folk die to make sure the rich can keep enjoying their luxuries just a bit longer.
Truly sustainable living (water, wind, wood etc) is not possible for 8000,000,000+ people. That huge number was reached only by the use of FF and industrial agriculture etc.
The rich are parasites, true, but even if they all disappeared, there'd still be an unsustainable number of people on the planet.
Those who survive will (by default) live sustainably, and probably be happier in the long term.
Exactly. People aren't very good at change when it comes to giving up the comforts to which they have quickly become accustomed (especially my teenagers), so you're probably right that we have to wait for the shit to hit all the fans and give people little to no choice in the matter of simplifying or dying.
When TSHTF, people prove to be very adaptable. Humans are naturally creative/problem solvers... just now, they're all totally constrained by the machine system which enslaves them.
'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' is good advice, which obviates the need for governments.
(PS I tried to 'like' your comment, but that feature seems to have stopped working in my browser.)
‘He Had a Rifle!’ Trump Rally Attendee Says He Warned Police Gunman Was Crawling on Roof. So we are to believe a man was able to get that close with a rifle… without being seen or stopped by the police or Trump’s security. And that they ignored warnings of a man with a rifle and allowed Trump to continue to speak?
Multiple shots were fired in the direction of Trump. We are told that one member of the audience was killed. What happened to the other bullets that were fired?
How did they get to the roof and take the guy out so quickly? If the police and security detail purposely ignore warnings, wouldn’t they take their sweet assed time trying to kill the shooter? Wouldn’t they let him unleash at least one full clip at Trump before acting?
The weapon found at the scene was an AR type semi-automatic rifle that generally holds up to 30 rounds. Each pull of the trigger unleashes a round so the entire clip could be easily emptied in well under 10 seconds. Did anyone hear 30 rounds being fired? And if so did the shooter fire only two into the podium with the rest completely missing?
Surely if the shooter was on a suicide mission he’d try to wastes some of the men who were coming for him. Yet we hear not a single shot from the cornered rat.
Climate change Duh-niers are a sad little boys. Asking the same questions, why? why? why? like a petulant child, that they know have been thoroughly answered decades ago. Funny how so many duh-niers went from it's not happening to, OK it's happening but it's not 'us' it's 1,2,3,4,5........ oh and don't forget the Jewish space lazers that are what is causing all the record Smashing wildfires.
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Now for the adults. The most profound phrase I've ever heard is "nature abhors a gradient". It has great explanatory power.
*The purpose of life is to disperse energy*
"The truly dangerous ideas in science tend to be those that threaten the collective ego of humanity and knock us further off our pedestal of centrality. The Copernican Revolution abruptly dislodged humans from the center of the universe. The Darwinian Revolution yanked Homo sapiens from the pinnacle of life. Today another menacing revolution sits at the horizon of knowledge, patiently awaiting broad realization by the same egotistical species.
The dangerous idea is this: the purpose of life is to disperse energy.
Many of us are at least somewhat familiar with the second law of thermodynamics, the unwavering propensity of energy to disperse and, in doing so, transition from high quality to low quality forms. More generally, as stated by ecologist Eric Schneider, "nature abhors a gradient," where a gradient is simply a difference over a distance — for example, in temperature or pressure. Open physical systems — including those of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere — all embody this law, being driven by the dispersal of energy, particularly the flow of heat, continually attempting to achieve equilibrium. Phenomena as diverse as lithospheric plate motions, the northward flow of the Gulf Stream, and occurrence of deadly hurricanes are all examples of second law manifestations.
There is growing evidence that life, the biosphere, is no different. It has often been said the life's complexity contravenes the second law, indicating the work either of a deity or some unknown natural process, depending on one's bias. Yet the evolution of life and the dynamics of ecosystems obey the second law mandate, functioning in large part to dissipate energy. They do so not by burning brightly and disappearing, like a fire torching a forest, but through stable metabolic cycles that store chemical energy and continually reduce the solar gradient. Photosynthetic plants, bacteria, and algae capture energy from the sun and form the core of all food webs.
Virtually all organisms, including humans, are, in a real sense, sunlight transmogrified, temporary waypoints in the flow of energy. Ecological succession, viewed from a thermodynamic perspective, is a process that maximizes the capture and degradation of energy. Similarly, the tendency for life to become more complex over the past 3.5 billion years (as well as the overall increase in biomass and organismal diversity through time) is not due simply to natural selection, as most evolutionists still argue, but also to nature's "efforts" to grab more and more of the sun's flow. The slow burn that characterizes life enables ecological systems to persist over deep time, changing in response to external and internal perturbations.
Ecology has been summarized by the pithy statement, "energy flows, matter cycles. " Yet this maxim applies equally to complex systems in the non-living world; indeed it literally unites the biosphere with the physical realm. More and more, it appears that complex, cycling, swirling systems of matter have a natural tendency to emerge in the face of energy gradients. This recurrent phenomenon may even have been the driving force behind life's origins.
This idea is not new, and is certainly not mine. Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger was one of the first to articulate the hypothesis, as part of his famous "What is Life" lectures in Dublin in 1943. More recently, Jeffrey Wicken, Harold Morowitz, Eric Schneider and others have taken this concept considerably further, buoyed by results from a range of studies, particularly within ecology. Schneider and Dorian Sagan provide an excellent summary of this hypothesis in their recent book, "Into the Cool".
The concept of life as energy flow, once fully digested, is profound. Just as Darwin fundamentally connected humans to the non-human world, a thermodynamic perspective connects life inextricably to the non-living world. This dangerous idea, once broadly distributed and understood, is likely to provoke reaction from many sectors, including religion and science. The wondrous diversity and complexity of life through time, far from being the product of intelligent design, is a natural phenomenon intimately linked to the physical realm of energy flow.
Moreover, evolution is not driven by the machinations of selfish genes propagating themselves through countless millennia. Rather, ecology and evolution together operate as a highly successful, extremely persistent means of reducing the gradient generated by our nearest star. In my view, evolutionary theory (the process, not the fact of evolution!) and biology generally are headed for a major overhaul once investigators fully comprehend the notion that the complex systems of earth, air, water, and life are not only interconnected, but interdependent, cycling matter in order to maintain the flow of energy.
Although this statement addresses only naturalistic function and is mute with regard to spiritual meaning, it is likely to have deep effects outside of science. In particular, broad understanding of life's role in dispersing energy has great potential to help humans reconnect both to nature and to planet's physical systems at a key moment in our species' history."
Yes, it's you, it's me, it's the MPP. The west is using it's dregs of energy throwing suicidal hissy fits. They're losing reactions are predictable & rather boring. What I find interesting is watching how far China will go before it burns out. China still has millions who live in poverty that they are seriously trying to raise out of. You have to read between the lines and find alternative sources when it comes to goings on in China as most establishment western reporting is US empire propaganda and/or sour grapes. The only thing that will stop China's continued growth is energy depletion.
Good read as per usual.
How are you so convinced climate change is a symptom of ecological destruction or has an anthropogenic cause? Surely the climate is always changing. The historical record shows a much warmer planet with a much higher CO2 with a thriving ecology. A lot of data suggests we are emerging from a local ice age. I have come across so much research on solar activity affecting heating as well as core-mantle decoupling. "Climate change" is the stick the degenerates on top will beat us with as they continue BAU and it's nauseating to see you keep legitimizing it.
(The underwater volcano that erupted 2 years ago spewed out so much water vapour into the atmosphere and this is a far more potent greenhouse gas - if that mechanism is even a thing after a certain point)
I will now explain why EVs - which are not in any way shape or form 'Green' - exist.
Thanks for reading Fast’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
And why the Ministry of Truth runs endless hype campaigns promoting planet-saving EVs and why governments subsidize them to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
https://fasteddynz.substack.com/p/the-three-pillars-of-bullshit
Because he is a true scientist, and uses his senses to observe without prejudice.
And thus he sees that pumping billions of tons of specific chemicals has an anthropogenic effect upon the environment.
A pendulum may swing back and forth freely, but when you add a magnet to one side, it is no longer just a 'natural' swing.
A true scientist does not look at the data and deny part of it just because they don't like the secondary outcomes. It's fine to be concerned over the attempt by "elites" to use climate change to push their own agendas - that however in no way "proves" that the climate change problem doesn't actually exist.
Problem-Reaction-Solution works just as well when the problem is actually real.
That didn't occur to Icke.
I find the zealotry amusing. It's almost religious.
"Uses his senses to observe without prejudice"
Seriously? How would you observe climate with your senses?
How exactly do you see with your senses that pumping billions of tons of specific chemicals has an anthropogenic effect? (Are you referring to co2?)
A true scientist?
when you burn carbon it heats the atmosphere. we figured this out in the 1800's. you don't have to be a captive to a religious adherence to an ideology to believe this. you just need to understand some basic facts and not become addicted to the thrilling idea that you have some secret knowledge that others don't that you've found on the internet.
Mate I too was once a true believer. I knelt at the alter of guy McPherson. I know first hand what ideology and scientism are.
I don't have any secret knowledge . I just ask questions. I don't patronize people unlike yourself.
The only thing I know for sure is that nothing can be known with absolute certainty. And I have seen enough contrarian evidence on the issue of climate change to know there isn't a consensus.
I really don't understand the religious zeal people have on the subject - I mean it's not like anything can be done?
I suggest having a look at this documentary for some very compelling counter narrative by some very well respected scientists including Christy who was one of the lead authors for the initial papers for the IPCC :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A24fWmNA6lM
(But you probably won't - you would prefer to believe your assumptions are correct)
*The ‘97% climate consensus’ is over. Now it’s well above 99% (and the evidence is even stronger than that)*
Published: October 28, 2021
.
"Despite the overwhelming evidence, it’s still common to see politicians, media commentators or social media users cast doubt on the role of humans in driving climate change.
But this denialism is now almost nonexistent among climate scientists, as a study released this month confirms. US researchers examined the peer-reviewed literature and found more than 99% of climate scientists now endorse the evidence for human-induced climate change."
.
https://theconversation.com/the-97-climate-consensus-is-over-now-its-well-above-99-and-the-evidence-is-even-stronger-than-that-170370
........
""There is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, our new research shows.""
.
https://theconversation.com/99-999-certainty-humans-are-driving-global-warming-new-study-29911
..........
*Analysis: Why scientists think 100% of global warming is due to humans*
.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-scientists-think-100-of-global-warming-is-due-to-humans/
............
*First published online November 20, 2019
Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming*
.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0270467619886266?journalCode=bsta
.
Guy McPherson eh? Narrative eh. I see you have decided to go with the narrative that is the least uncomfortable for you. That's normal for humans. Both the needing a narrative to understand the world and picking the one that makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning. McPherson provided hundreds of links to climate papers and explainer articles. You obviously skipped the homework. Those of us who did the homework can tell those who did not do it and are trying to fake it.
.
Most people do not need a scientists to tell them the climate has changed.
They live it.
....................
*Hurricane Beryl broke records. Climate change a main contributor, NOAA says*
"Beryl spent more than a week ravaging parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and the U.S. as a major hurricane-turned-tropical storm and back to a hurricane where it made landfall in Texas.
Its path over the Atlantic left a trail of devastation that is rarely seen this early in the year, and it shattered multiple records to start the 2024 hurricane season."
.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/hurricane-beryl-broke-records-climate-change-a-main-contributor-noaa-says/ar-BB1pGbeB
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*Deadly Hurricane Beryl Supercharged by Climate Change, Experts Say*
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"Beryl has alarmed environmental scientists for how early in the year it appeared, with most major storms only forming closer to September. And as The Guardian reports, that's almost certainly due to climate change supercharging Atlantic ocean temperatures.
"Beryl would be astounding to happen anyway, but for it to form in June is completely unprecedented," University of Miami climate scientist Brian McNoldy told the newspaper. "It’s just remarkable to see sea temperatures this warm."
"I don’t think anyone would expect an outlier like this to happen, it exceeded expectations," he added. "With a climate-change-influenced ocean, we are making extreme storms like this more likely to happen."
.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/deadly-hurricane-beryl-supercharged-climate-145521629.html
...
This is the future for most humans
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*Thousands in Houston still without power amid brutal heatwave after Beryl*
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'Nearly 300,000 residents without electricity as governor gives company until end of month to address outages'
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"Power outages persist in Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Beryl tore through the area last week leavings hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity in the middle of a brutal heatwave.
Nearly 300,000 customers have now gone almost a week without electricity and air conditioning during excessive heat where temperatures are reaching 94F (34C)."
.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/15/texas-heatwave-power-outage
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This ain't your grand daddy's hydrologic cycle.
.
“Nanyang, Henan and Xiangyang, Hubei were hit by record-breaking rainstorms, with rainfall reaching 410 mm in 12 hours and 111.7 mm in 1 hour, causing flooding in many rivers…
“Then 711.6 mm [28 inches] of rainfall in 24 hours! (The data was interrupted afterwards) This is almost equivalent to the annual rainfall in the area!”
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https://x.com/yangyubin1998/status/1813068314987667907
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Rain bombs keep falling on their heads......
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*Torrential rainfall in London, Ont., breaks century-old records*
The record broke by 14.1 mm, meteorologists say
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/rain-london-ontario-1.7264931
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*'Something you'd see in a hurricane:' Toronto saw more than a month’s worth of rain in three hours*
https://www.cp24.com/news/something-you-d-see-in-a-hurricane-toronto-saw-more-than-a-month-s-worth-of-rain-in-three-hours-1.6966033
.............
*Record-breaking rainfall wreaks havoc on Montreal roads*
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/record-breaking-rainfall-wreaks-havoc-on-montreal-roads-1.6958647
......
*B.C. weather: 149-year-old temperature record broken amid heat wave*
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-weather-149-year-old-temperature-record-broken-amid-heat-wave-1.6958151
..
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN JAPAN. Dozens of records fall every single day systematically since several weeks.
“34.3 [93.7F] Oku all time high; 35.7 Ashimine all time high; MONTHLY RECORDS: 35.5 Naha; 35.0 Amagi; 35.2 Nakasuji; HIGH MIN, RECORDS: 29.9 Kitadaito; 29.8 Ibaruma; 29.7 Nakasuji.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1812739002769735715
..........
“RECORD IN THE CARIBBEANS AND CENTRAL AMERICA – Record of July hottest nights destroyed all over the area; in nearly 100% of HONDURAS stations (up to 28.2C / 82.8F and even tropical nights in the highlands) .
“In Mexico MINS up to 30C.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1812534923473117646
.
“Record-smashing Western heat wave to continue through 3rd week of July.
“While the severity of the heat wave will wane some as the core of a heat dome shifts, dangerous triple-digit temperatures will continue to be common across the West well into the second half of July.”
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-forecasts/record-smashing-western-heat-wave-to-continue-through-3rd-week-of-july/1669169
...
*Not 'Just Summer'. Deadly Heat Waves in 2024 Are The Toll of Climate Change*
.
"Extreme heat like this has been hitting countries across the planet in 2024.
Globally, each of the past 13 months has been the hottest on record for that month, including the hottest June, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service."
.
https://www.sciencealert.com/not-just-summer-deadly-heat-waves-in-2024-are-the-toll-of-climate-change
....
Can't catch a break....
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*Ukraine starts emergency power cuts amid record heatwave*
.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-starts-emergency-power-cuts-amid-record-heatwave/ar-BB1q46Yz
.
It just goes on & on & on. Too much to keep up, but don't worry because there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Big Pain is baked in.
You can always tell yourself 'it's not real' or it's 'a hoax' - Trump said it's a hoax to steal our manufacturing. Too late by a decade they already have it and did not need to steal anything. American captains of industry happily off shored it for cheap labour. That's how capitalism has always rolled.
Everyone gets that telling yourself is not enough to keep your sanity and that is why you need to comb the web and tell everyone they are wrong in the hopes you will run into someone else who believes the same, an ally to reinforce your narrative. I remember 10 years ago every third troll was a denier. Just the hardcore true believers remain. The last of the breed. Die hard Duh-niers. The only problem I can see is if you act obstinate in the face of an oncoming heatwave or storm forecast and refuse to take any precautions. That is how people win Darwin awards.
Stay Frosty
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*D.C. soars to record high of 102 amid hottest summer to date*
.
" For a second straight day, Washington soared into the triple digits, setting a record high. Its high of 102 Monday followed Sunday’s 101, at the midpoint of a summer that has been the hottest on record to date.
The ongoing heat wave — the third of the summer — is perhaps the most intense and dangerous."
.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/dc-soars-to-record-of-101-for-second-straight-day-amid-hottest-summer-to-date/ar-BB1q1MDf
..
*'It's hell outside': People warned to stay inside as heatwave suffocates central and southern Europe*
.
With summer heatwaves starting ever earlier and 13 months in a row of record-breaking temperatures, some experts have asked whether this could be Europe's hottest summer ever.
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*Map reveals spread of ‘hellish’ wildfires as 44°C heatwave sweeps Europe*
.
" Wildfires are tearing through southern Europe as sizzling temperatures of up to 44°C spark ‘danger to life’ weather alerts. Apocalyptic weather – originating from an air bubble from the Sahara desert – has hit Europe, with multiple heat-related deaths reported in Italy. A prolonged heatwave is forecast across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions until at least the end of this week. Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 42-44°C – 10 degrees hotter than the average for the mid-July period."
.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/map-reveals-spread-of-hellish-wildfires-as-44-c-heatwave-sweeps-europe/ss-BB1q4sOx
..
*Death Valley's Recent Heat Wave Saw 125+° Fahrenheit Temps For Nine Straight Days*
.
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/07/death-valleys-recent-heat-wave-saw-125deg-fahrenheit-temps-nine-straight-days
Wow.
What's it like being a missionary for the dying religion of climate change denial? There's so few of you left conservation biologists have added y'all to the endangered species list. So far only $1.75 has been donated to try and save y'all.
Hiya, I think what we’re told about the ‘elites’ using climate change (or even faking climate change) to ‘push their agendas’ (would the elites really have an agenda to stop us using oil when this is what made them elite?) is a deliberate ploy to spread doubt about climate change and to create resistance to green policies that harm the powerful fossil fuel and animal ag industries.
Absolutely 100%.
And I also agree with the "would the elites really have an agenda to stop us using oil when this is what made them elite?" - I don't think they have the slightest intention. It's all about convincing the rest of the World to leave their deposits so Western armies can "liberate" them later. Imo.
I hadn't really thought of it like that. I thought of it more as convincing the West to ignore the climate crisis, which affects the Global South most, and to carry on with the burning. The 'elites' may also wish to convince the Global Majority to leave their oil in the ground so that they can come and steal it. Though I think the Majority are wise to the West's perfidy and want to leave their oil because they don't want to destroy their own countries. The Global South are much more
aware of both the climate crisis and environmental destruction; they need no convincing.
The elites have even managed to turn equality into a dirty word by allegedly using it for their own agenda. This in no way proves that inequality doesn’t exist nor does it mean that it shouldn’t be urgently addressed. It is a ploy to maintain the status quo.
(y)
I'm a little confused by what you write here.
You ask, "How are you so convinced climate change is a symptom of ecological destruction or has an anthropogenic cause?"
Doesn't ecological destruction, which you seem to acknowledge is happening by your phrasing (or am I wrong about that?), equate, by definition, to climate change? Ecology is a scientific lens that attempts to encompass living organisms and their environment. The environment includes the climate, by definition. Wouldn't it follow then that ecological devastation has some impact on the climate, even if it is fairly minimal (which, if your argument is that it is fairly minimal, that's all well and good)? And surely you acknowledge that much ecological destruction is anthropogenically caused, right (deforestation, microplastics, monoculture farming, etc.)? So wouldn't it then be reasonable to conclude that some amount (even if it is small) of climate change has an anthropogenic cause?
Also, you decried Business As Usual in this comment I'm replying to, but then linked Climate: The Movie, which promotes BAU, in another comment. Or did you link that solely for the scientific views at the beginning?
Yes I don't think they necessarily equate. I mean it's certainly obvious there is an ecological crisis - we are raping and pillaging left right and centre driving species to extinction.
I just don't conclude that this is changing the climate. But I don't know.
Yes there is quite a lot of good science referenced in that movie that debunks CO2 as a driver of anything. And there is also this body of work hypothesizing on how a decoupling of the core-mantle relationship is heating the oceans driving CO2 into the atmosphere.
I suppose it irks me that it's like a religion with people that you can't question without the usual slurs of science denier and climate denier being hurled.
The high priests ( Guy McPherson et al) will tell you it's a predicament and nothing can be done - because to stop BAU is to increase CO2 (loss of aerosol masking effect) and to continue BAU the same- so I really don't get people defending this narrative? I mean what does it matter? Why not see if other variables are at play?
I agree that it’s hard to know anything when so many variables are at work.
I think some of this also comes down to how one defines climate. Because, for example, deforestation messes with local water cycles, which can affect weather patterns. We see this in the Amazon. Right there is an anthropogenic effect on climate, but when people say climate, they mostly seem to refer to CO2 emissions and warming even though that’s only one part.
I’ll admit that I learned a few things from Climate: The Movie, and I’m now more curious about the other factors named (cloud formation, in particular). However, I will say, when that one scientist being interviewed said, “CO2 has zero effect.” to me that makes as little sense as it being the only important metric. Why wouldn’t the vast quantities we’re putting into the atmosphere change the climate in some way when everything else we do as such a large scale seems to effect things? I admit I’m a complete layman, so at the end of the day, like you, I don’t know, but my intuition is that the truth is somewhere between those two extremes—that it has some impact but not as much as other things.
Yes we are sure that climate change is anthropogenic even though it's changed before. https://jowaller.substack.com/p/climate-change-hasnt-been-debunked?utm_source=publication-search
Who's in charge ? Why Insecurity is in charge !!
Ok Great! The World is burning up.
I just gave my car away. I will walk everywhere.
I quite my job and took all my savings and flushed them down the sewer. I don't want to be tempted into buying stuff
I wander the highways scraping up road kill then eating it raw ... don't want to participate in the industrial food chain
I am going to abandon my house tomorrow and live in the bush .. just looking for a cave.
My goal is nett zero.
Come join me?
I thought so
"Sure, there are several (admittedly) very powerful special interest groups, like the fossil fuel lobby, investment firms, big tech, pharmaceutical companies, the military-industrial-congressional complex, big agriculture businesses, mining companies, and many more, but none of them is able to dictate all the terms to everyone else."
I think there is a small group of extremely rich people operating behind the facade of the Bank For International Settlements" that do indeed want to dictate the terms to everyone else. Of course, if they fail, we will still have all these so called "wicked" problems to deal with . .
But if they succeed the number of degrees of freedom remaining in the hands of the rest of the human race will be miniscule.
It is worth reading "The Great Taking" more than once. So that if and when it happens you wont be taken in by the big psy-op in relation to what is going on .
Great article and good summary advice postscript. The comparison of civilization to an organism driven by the need to consume energy to reproduce is striking. It resonates with my view of our predicament. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Thank you B🙏
Clear and helpful, thank you. And about that postscript; yes! put it at the top of the article as well, so we can hold it in our paradox-capable minds for much needed exercise.
Also, for some future column (and apologies if you’ve already written on these; computer searches are not my strong suit) I’d love to read your take on AI- that hall of mirrors. My take is that AI’s ‘hallucinations’ apply equally to hyper-processed food, hyper-processed social media.
Heck, hyper-processed anything. Civilization is on a speed-addicted feeding frenzy- walking past digestion and integration for a sugar rush. And we all know what happens after too much candy. Ergo your encouragement that we learn to garden, cook, and repair our tools. Well said. So let’s talk more about the small holder farmers and artisans, small businesses, and communities building regionally reliant networks that will restore circulation in the post-collapse future. I see us as a healthy bio-film. Small, molecular, but connected on the inner, and mighty in a quantum impact kind of way.
You have seen 'The Road'? If not I recommend it! Might want to hold off on those small holdings 😂
I hate to be a Debbie downer 😂 but you've obviously figured a solution for the 450+ nuclear plants and 2000+ spent fuel ponds that will be melting down post civilizational collapse?
Great read. I love the acceptance, the practical view point, and the lack of hopelessness in the face of a predicament. There might not be a solution per se, but there are skills and lifestyles to help individuals still thrive with simpler living in a declining globalized world.
Absolutely right on . . . all of it! Thank you for stating the truth so clearly.
Great synthesis and framing in your critique, but you do have an Achilles heel. “Life is beautiful” is an absurd, preposterous phrase to utter, especially in the time of overshoot collapse. Life does contain beauty, no doubt, but the tragedy of the ineluctable human predicament is not, at all, “beautiful.”
Just because you can't perceive it doesn't mean it's not there.
The Great Dessert: The Geopolitical - Financial Endgame [Thanks Michael R.]
These 3 parts are well laid out and bullet-pointed, and fairly concise, a valuable overview to share around:
Part I: Reviews
...Fragility of the Global Financial Structure
Fragility is built into the global financial system which is dominated by one privately held company: The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which through its subsidiaries controls the markets, including:
DTC: Central Securities Depository, CSD
NSCC, FICC and Deriv/SERV LLC: Central Clearing Counterparty, CCP https://fadilama.substack.com/p/the-great-dessert-the-geopolitical
Part II: The Transition
2014 The Pivotal Year
By 2014, thirteen years rather than five had already passed and none of Wesley Clark’s seven countries were “taken out.” The Empire’s armies had been defeated in Iraq, Afghanistan was a quagmire, and the Empire’s “Arab Spring” terrorist proxy war was heading for failure too. The G7 real economies had been shrinking since 2007, while the Russia, Iran and China (RIC) economies were growing robustly. The RIC’s global influence was expanding at the expense of the Empire. It was thus clear to the Empire by 2014 that total global dominance was out of reach and that an alternate geopolitical plan was needed...
..More significant to the Protected Class than hundreds of millions of deaths, is the fact that unlike previous global wars, the global financial structure that will emerge subsequent to this war will be developed by the Sovereigntist states with Russia, Iran, and China (RIC) at their core, ending a millennium of global financial domination, and it is this defeat that the Protected Class will avoid at all costs.
The only feasible strategy for the Empire to preclude its capacity for domination from melting away completely would be to terminate the competition by splitting the world into two regions: the Western Realm over which the Protected Class has ironclad control, where “their rules” rule, and the Sovereigntist Realm, which is completely separated from it.
It has been shown that the alternate plan is the establishment of “Two Worlds”: a Western realm and a Sovereign world of self-determining countries protected from the deteriorating Empire by the RIC core.[xii] The current global geopolitical turmoil reflects the transition phase towards the “Two Worlds”. The West’s objective in the current transition is to lock-in as many resource-rich countries of the Global South within the Western realm as possible. It is to this end that a hyper-crisis consisting of combined energy, food, economic, and monetary crises has been engineered by the Protected Class.[xiii]
It is therefore posited that there will not be a global war. The current regional wars, and the hawkish war rhetoric of the Empire are merely intended to cement the ideological basis of the “Two Worlds”, namely RICophobia: Russophobia, Islamo-Iranophobia and Sinophobia.[xiv] https://fadilama.substack.com/p/the-great-dessert-the-geopolitical-0fe
Part III: The End Game
Realizing that the alternate plan is “Two Worlds”, a Sovereign World and the Western Realm, the end game for each differs.
End Game for the Sovereigntist World
A blueprint for the Sovereigntist World emerged from the President Xi – President Putin meeting of February 4, 2022.[i] From Why the West Can’t Win:[ii]
As reflected in the diverse political and economic models of the RIC, the Sovereign World will see a variety of development models coming into existence, reflecting the civilizational diversity of the world. It is this civilizational diversity, where each civilization has its own unique features, that is the cornerstone of an egalitarian world and a key component of the right to self-determination. Inherent in civilizational diversity is the acceptance of the cultural and religious orientations of the different civilizations, hence an acceptance of the “others” as they are...
..End Game in the Western Realm
The end game will be ushered by implosion of the extremely fragile global financial structure, the consequences of which are presented by David Webb:[iii]
Comprehensive “collateral management” systems have been implemented which assure the transport of all securities cross-border through the mandated linkage of CSDs[iv] to ICSDs[v] to the CCPs[vi] (where the risk of the derivatives complex is concentrated), and on to the anointed secured creditors which will take the collateral when the CCPs fail, having assured for themselves that their taking of assets cannot be “legally” challenged.
Once prices of essentially everything crash and all financial firms rapidly become insolvent, these collateral management systems will automatically sweep all collateral to the Central Clearing Counterparties (CCPs) and Central Banks.
It is about the taking of collateral, all of it, the end game of this globally synchronous debt accumulation super cycle. Included are all financial assets, all money on deposit at banks, all stocks and bonds, and hence, all underlying property of all public corporations, including all inventories, plant and equipment, land, mineral deposits, inventions and intellectual property. Privately owned personal and real property financed with any amount of debt will be similarly taken, as will the assets of privately owned businesses, which have been financed with debt. If even partially successful, this will be the greatest conquest and subjugation in world history.
Thus, the end game in the Western realm can be thought of as the Great Equalization, or Great Reset as labeled by Klaus Schwab and the WEF. Neoliberalism has resulted in historically unprecedented wealth concentration, with the top 10% of the population owning about 70% of wealth.[vii] The Great Equalization will go further down that path, further consolidating the wealth of the top 10% and concentrating it in the hands of the miniscule group that owns the major hedge funds.
The Great Equalization can also be labeled the “Great Dessert” as expressed by David Webb:[viii]
“If you are wealthy, you might assume that, because the system has allowed you to accumulate wealth, you will be protected in some way, that you are special. You are special. They’re saving you for dessert.” https://fadilama.substack.com/p/the-great-dessert-the-geopolitical-f48
Well, this is your own partial view and agenda. Nothing more. What I see coming soon is the end of the democratic model for most parts of the Earth, a world dominated by big empires, led by dictators (including the USA), sharing the world with their own zone of influence and absolute power. The Trump foreign policy as well as the ones of the existing large dictatorships, are totally consistent with this future (if these psychopaths don't blow up the planet with nuclear annihilation). Then you factor in the consequences of global warming, resource depletion, growing inequalities in the context of kleptocratic regimes... Adam Flint, author of "Mona."
No, I just excerpted, copied and pasted, so not "own partial view and agenda, nothing more".
The "all wars are banker's wars" model is not inherently inconsistent with what you postulate.
I don't think we are fundamentally in disagreement, though we may not see identical actors on the stage.
The playwrights and owners do not appear on stage, for their own security, of course.
We are challenged to come up with a working, more egalitarian and cooperative paradigm, or suffer horrifically under our current "man is a wolf to man" economic-system model.
Taking steps along the way helps a person see a little farther forward. Growing a substantial vegetable garden, and paying off debts, for instance.
PS: I looked up your "Mona" thumbnail sketch.
Trump is a nationalist-capitalist, with global scope, but national focus, as is RFK Jr.
On the other side of the ring are the globalist-globalists, the WEF crowd, to over-simplify.
Most living humans don't really share interests with either camp.
We are their livestock herds. We can infer that their long-term management plans differ, but they all lie...
Act as you see is morally best for the humans you love, and the humans around you, knowing that hunger and violence spread rapidly at times.
At this point I'm not sure it will take several decades. Overall, maybe, as in "are there still cars driving in the world" or "is there still a place with open supermarkets."
But locally I give the whole thing a few years, at best, before it starts looking increasingly apocalyptic.
You could write a little about modern healthcare. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/02/how-sustainable-is-high-tech-health-care/
I agree with everything you said but making a dig at the likes of Just Stop Oil is disappointing, since they are one of few groups I know of that are desperately trying to put attention on all of this, while the rest of us are stuck in the status quo of working "bullshit jobs" to feed our kids. The intention of civil disobedience is actually to get arrested, because no arrest = no news coverage = no-one cared. Decades of quietly petitioning politicians changed almost nothing. Yes it's very late in the game to do a damn thing to save the existing system, and would we even want to? But with enough involvement in direct action, disruption and protest, big things have been changed before and could be again.
Just Stop Oil should change their name to 'Just Stop Civilization', as that would be the result of 'just' stopping oil. Presumably, JSO's members go to supermarkets, expect emergency services to be available, buy things etc.? Like it or not, the system depends on FF, and people have no choice but to live in (under?) the system. JSO are deluding themselves. If they were calling for complete destruction of the system, I'd have more time for them, but no - they advocate fantasy-physics 'renewables' BS.
"big things have been changed before and could be again."
Yes, big things will change - but it will have FA to do with Just Stop Oil, or anyone else. The time for 'action' has long since passed. The die is cast, and nothing is going to magic up more, easily accessible deposits of FF, metal ores etc. (never mind 'clean' energy, which is an illusion).
The system's going down, eventually. The sooner governments (and all institutions/organisations) are got out of the way, the easier the transition will be.
Humans survived on basic water, wind and wood power before there was a billion people on the planet and we'll have to do with out FF eventually. I agree renewables are not sustainable as they are, but wouldn't it be nice if we were having more serious conversations about how to make it all work. I find it hard to believe the only option is to wait for the collapse of systems and go to war over the resources that are left. If we could drastically reduce oil usage in the many ways we already know how to, we would at least have longer to make the massive adjustments required to reduce suffering. Sounds like a lot of people are ready to just wait until a few billion poor folk die to make sure the rich can keep enjoying their luxuries just a bit longer.
Truly sustainable living (water, wind, wood etc) is not possible for 8000,000,000+ people. That huge number was reached only by the use of FF and industrial agriculture etc.
The rich are parasites, true, but even if they all disappeared, there'd still be an unsustainable number of people on the planet.
Those who survive will (by default) live sustainably, and probably be happier in the long term.
Exactly. People aren't very good at change when it comes to giving up the comforts to which they have quickly become accustomed (especially my teenagers), so you're probably right that we have to wait for the shit to hit all the fans and give people little to no choice in the matter of simplifying or dying.
When TSHTF, people prove to be very adaptable. Humans are naturally creative/problem solvers... just now, they're all totally constrained by the machine system which enslaves them.
'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' is good advice, which obviates the need for governments.
(PS I tried to 'like' your comment, but that feature seems to have stopped working in my browser.)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
‘He Had a Rifle!’ Trump Rally Attendee Says He Warned Police Gunman Was Crawling on Roof. So we are to believe a man was able to get that close with a rifle… without being seen or stopped by the police or Trump’s security. And that they ignored warnings of a man with a rifle and allowed Trump to continue to speak?
Multiple shots were fired in the direction of Trump. We are told that one member of the audience was killed. What happened to the other bullets that were fired?
How did they get to the roof and take the guy out so quickly? If the police and security detail purposely ignore warnings, wouldn’t they take their sweet assed time trying to kill the shooter? Wouldn’t they let him unleash at least one full clip at Trump before acting?
The weapon found at the scene was an AR type semi-automatic rifle that generally holds up to 30 rounds. Each pull of the trigger unleashes a round so the entire clip could be easily emptied in well under 10 seconds. Did anyone hear 30 rounds being fired? And if so did the shooter fire only two into the podium with the rest completely missing?
Surely if the shooter was on a suicide mission he’d try to wastes some of the men who were coming for him. Yet we hear not a single shot from the cornered rat.
https://fasteddynz.substack.com/p/the-trump-shooting-was-staged
Climate change Duh-niers are a sad little boys. Asking the same questions, why? why? why? like a petulant child, that they know have been thoroughly answered decades ago. Funny how so many duh-niers went from it's not happening to, OK it's happening but it's not 'us' it's 1,2,3,4,5........ oh and don't forget the Jewish space lazers that are what is causing all the record Smashing wildfires.
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Now for the adults. The most profound phrase I've ever heard is "nature abhors a gradient". It has great explanatory power.
*The purpose of life is to disperse energy*
"The truly dangerous ideas in science tend to be those that threaten the collective ego of humanity and knock us further off our pedestal of centrality. The Copernican Revolution abruptly dislodged humans from the center of the universe. The Darwinian Revolution yanked Homo sapiens from the pinnacle of life. Today another menacing revolution sits at the horizon of knowledge, patiently awaiting broad realization by the same egotistical species.
The dangerous idea is this: the purpose of life is to disperse energy.
Many of us are at least somewhat familiar with the second law of thermodynamics, the unwavering propensity of energy to disperse and, in doing so, transition from high quality to low quality forms. More generally, as stated by ecologist Eric Schneider, "nature abhors a gradient," where a gradient is simply a difference over a distance — for example, in temperature or pressure. Open physical systems — including those of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere — all embody this law, being driven by the dispersal of energy, particularly the flow of heat, continually attempting to achieve equilibrium. Phenomena as diverse as lithospheric plate motions, the northward flow of the Gulf Stream, and occurrence of deadly hurricanes are all examples of second law manifestations.
There is growing evidence that life, the biosphere, is no different. It has often been said the life's complexity contravenes the second law, indicating the work either of a deity or some unknown natural process, depending on one's bias. Yet the evolution of life and the dynamics of ecosystems obey the second law mandate, functioning in large part to dissipate energy. They do so not by burning brightly and disappearing, like a fire torching a forest, but through stable metabolic cycles that store chemical energy and continually reduce the solar gradient. Photosynthetic plants, bacteria, and algae capture energy from the sun and form the core of all food webs.
Virtually all organisms, including humans, are, in a real sense, sunlight transmogrified, temporary waypoints in the flow of energy. Ecological succession, viewed from a thermodynamic perspective, is a process that maximizes the capture and degradation of energy. Similarly, the tendency for life to become more complex over the past 3.5 billion years (as well as the overall increase in biomass and organismal diversity through time) is not due simply to natural selection, as most evolutionists still argue, but also to nature's "efforts" to grab more and more of the sun's flow. The slow burn that characterizes life enables ecological systems to persist over deep time, changing in response to external and internal perturbations.
Ecology has been summarized by the pithy statement, "energy flows, matter cycles. " Yet this maxim applies equally to complex systems in the non-living world; indeed it literally unites the biosphere with the physical realm. More and more, it appears that complex, cycling, swirling systems of matter have a natural tendency to emerge in the face of energy gradients. This recurrent phenomenon may even have been the driving force behind life's origins.
This idea is not new, and is certainly not mine. Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger was one of the first to articulate the hypothesis, as part of his famous "What is Life" lectures in Dublin in 1943. More recently, Jeffrey Wicken, Harold Morowitz, Eric Schneider and others have taken this concept considerably further, buoyed by results from a range of studies, particularly within ecology. Schneider and Dorian Sagan provide an excellent summary of this hypothesis in their recent book, "Into the Cool".
The concept of life as energy flow, once fully digested, is profound. Just as Darwin fundamentally connected humans to the non-human world, a thermodynamic perspective connects life inextricably to the non-living world. This dangerous idea, once broadly distributed and understood, is likely to provoke reaction from many sectors, including religion and science. The wondrous diversity and complexity of life through time, far from being the product of intelligent design, is a natural phenomenon intimately linked to the physical realm of energy flow.
Moreover, evolution is not driven by the machinations of selfish genes propagating themselves through countless millennia. Rather, ecology and evolution together operate as a highly successful, extremely persistent means of reducing the gradient generated by our nearest star. In my view, evolutionary theory (the process, not the fact of evolution!) and biology generally are headed for a major overhaul once investigators fully comprehend the notion that the complex systems of earth, air, water, and life are not only interconnected, but interdependent, cycling matter in order to maintain the flow of energy.
Although this statement addresses only naturalistic function and is mute with regard to spiritual meaning, it is likely to have deep effects outside of science. In particular, broad understanding of life's role in dispersing energy has great potential to help humans reconnect both to nature and to planet's physical systems at a key moment in our species' history."
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https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10674
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Yes, it's you, it's me, it's the MPP. The west is using it's dregs of energy throwing suicidal hissy fits. They're losing reactions are predictable & rather boring. What I find interesting is watching how far China will go before it burns out. China still has millions who live in poverty that they are seriously trying to raise out of. You have to read between the lines and find alternative sources when it comes to goings on in China as most establishment western reporting is US empire propaganda and/or sour grapes. The only thing that will stop China's continued growth is energy depletion.
i ain't reading all that
i'm happy for u tho
or sorry that happened