The John James Newsletter 188
22 July 2017
Humans will have created for themselves a new geological era, the Eremozoic, the Era of Solitude, in which little remains on the Earth but themselves and the prosthetic environment that keeps them alive
John Gray
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards
Aldous Huxley
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
William Shakespeare
We aren’t doomed by climate change – we are choosing To be doomed
Joe Romm
All organic systems are unsustainable – previous mass extinctions were caused by changes fauna had made to the biosphere. In this inevitable process nature creates a habitat for fauna, fauna changes that for the benefit of its niche, and that in time triggers feedback loops that destabilise the habitat
John James
Here is a balanced statement of our global reality. A must-read, either as the text or in the more interesting annotated version. He looks at the whole problem, as Guy McPherson does in Nature Bats Last, also with references.
The Uninhabitable Earth
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html
The Uninhabitable Earth, Annotated Edition
The facts, research, and science behind this article that explored our planet’s worst-case scenarios.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans-annotated.html
The Plutocene: Blueprints for a Post-Anthropocene Greenhouse Earth – Andrew Glikson
Projections and blueprints of the future geologic period, climate and biosphere, based on our current understanding of the Earth’s history and recent developments. It has now become clear that, rather than protecting its planetary biosphere, Homo sapiens continues to sink its remaining resources into weapons.
http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319572369
The outcome of this scenario could be blocking oil for supporters of the US, including Australia – so get yourself a fleet of electric vehicles as soon as you can
Donald Trump’s Road to Debacle in the Greater Middle East
Blitzed by an incessant stream of bizarre tweets and White House conspiracy theories, observers worldwide seem to have concluded that Donald Trump is a president like no other, that the situation he’s creating is without parallel, and that his foreign policy is already a disaster without precedent. After 70 years of global dominion, America’s geopolitical command of the central pillars of its world power seems to be crumbling in a matter of months. Embattled empires throughout the ages have often suffered an arrogance that drives them to plunge ever deeper into military misadventures until defeat becomes debacle.
http://lobelog.com/donald-trumps-road-to-debacle-in-the-greater-middle-east/#more-40235
Burlington Electric to offer $10,000 rebate on ‘Leaf’
A beneficial path forward exists for numerous clean energy industries.
http://www.vermontbiz.com/news/june/burlington-electric-offer-10000-rebate-leaf
Buried tools and pigments tell a new history of humans in Australia for 65,000 years
Although it is well known that anatomically modern humans were in Africa before 200,000 years ago and China around 80,000 years ago, many archaeologists believe that Australia was not occupied until 47,000 years ago. But our research pushes back to at least 65,000 years ago. Our large excavation area allowed us to pick up very rare items, such as the world’s oldest known edge-ground hatchets and world’s oldest known use of reflective pigment.
Australian dig finds evidence of Aboriginal habitation up to 80,000 years ago
Artefacts in Kakadu national park have been dated between 65,000 and 80,000 years old, extending likely occupation of area by thousands of years It puts to rest the idea that Aboriginal people wiped out the megafauna very quickly.
Doomsday narratives about climate change don’t work. But here’s what does
When we present humanity as a hopeless victim of climate change, we are less likely to act because the ending seems inevitable. Climate change adaptation only works when we are hopeful for the future and believe that communities can act. We should instead report on the climate change heroes who are doing everything they can to avoid that doomsday scenario. When people see strength in communities, we can overcome limiting labels. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement, city leaders publicly committed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Their determination provided the foundation for an optimistic conversation about climate change solutions despite national inaction.
Hopelessness Theory and the Approach System:
Cognitive Vulnerability Predicts Decreases in Goal-Directed Behaviour
http://www3.nd.edu/%7Eghaeffel/Resources/Haeffel%20et%20al%202008.pdf
Our Aversion to Doom and Gloom Is Dooming Us
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/07/19/our-aversion-doom-and-gloom-dooming-us
Under2 Coalition
A total of 176 jurisdictions representing 36 countries and six continents have signed or endorsed the Under2.Coalition. Collectively, they represent more than 1.2 billion people and $28.8 trillion in GDP – equivalent to 16% of the global population and 39% of the global economy.
http://under2mou.org/coalition/
In the absence of national leadership, cities are driving climate policy
A new Climate Council report tracks the action being taken at the local government level. It gives myriad examples of cities, towns and local shires, in Australia and abroad, setting and achieving ambitious goals for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable transport. it’s at the local government level where enthusiastic action to embrace a more sustainable future is really taking off.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/absence-national-leadership-cities-driving-climate-policy-28759/
Global Sea Ice Coverage Has Fallen Off a Cliff — Impacts Likely to Be Wide-Ranging
Total sea ice area and extent have now ranged between 2 and 3 million square kilometers below the 38 year average for about a year now. That’s a region of sea ice larger than Greenland which has been removed from the face of the Earth for the better part of four seasons. Global sea ice volume losses are now in the range of 12,000 cubic kilometers — each cubic kilometer roughly equal to a moderate-sized mountain. These are very considerable losses. But perhaps more ominous than the losses themselves is the fact that they seem to be sticking around — locking in a permanent warming-related-change to the Earth System, its weather and environment.
Poverty in Italy triples over decade as economy slows
According to the agency, the number of absolute poor in Italy rose to 4.7 million last year against almost 1.7 million in 2006. The figure represents 8% of the population with most of them living in southern regions.
https://www.rt.com/business/396320-italy-poverty-triple-decade-crisis/
Echoes of Fort McMurray — Massive Wildfire Forces the Emptying of Another City
A little more than a year after a massive wildfire forced the full evacuation of Fort McMurray in Alberta, another set of extreme wildfires in British Columbia is forcing major population centers to empty. In the region of Williams Lake and Cariboo City, 17,400 people have been forced to flee as a wildfire is threatening the major highway exiting the area. As the fire expands, another 27,000 in the broader province may also be asked to leave. This mass evacuation has been enough to empty large urban centers — turning them into ghost towns as fires rage through the surrounding countryside.
Iran Dominates in Iraq After US ‘Handed the Country Over’
Across the country, Iranian-sponsored militias are establishing a corridor to move men and guns to proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon. And in Baghdad, even the most senior Iraqi cabinet officials have been blessed, or bounced out, by Iran’s leadership. When the US invaded Iraq 14 years ago to topple Saddam Hussein, it saw Iraq as a potential cornerstone of a democratic and Western-facing Middle East, and 4,500 American lives were lost and more than $1 trillion were poured into the cause.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/world/middleeast/iran-iraq-iranian-power.html
Why are we so drawn to Game of Thrones?
We are drawn to GOT in this particular time in our contemporary “post-truth” world because its fiction is truthful. Unlike Trump Junior and Kushner, Petyr Baelish does not pretend he is an honest respectable man. He runs a bordello house for a cover. The fiction of the Westeros is factual. There are no “alternative facts” to its fiction. None of these fictional characters are charlatans. They are who and what they are, and entirely honest in their terror-stricken souls. We love every last one of them, good or evil, even their most devious opportunists like Littlefinger for they are real in what they do.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/drawn-game-thrones-170714130659046.html
When policer allowed to randomly kill without restraint you know that a country is being prepared, softened up, for totalitarian state control. At three (!) killings per day it could me Mexico.
Justine Damond is the 541st person shot dead by US police this year
Damond, a 40-year-old meditation teacher and life coach who had been living in the US for the last three years, was killed on Saturday night after calling 911 about a disturbance in her neighbourhood. She was outside her house, unarmed, when she was gunned down by the police she had contacted for help.
Holistic Doctor Death Series: Over 60 Dead In Just Over A Year – the list
Besides the fact that the majority were holistic, there is another common theme; they all cared deeply and were passionate about health. I know many have shut down their practice or have hired bodyguards due to these reports. I understand it’s necessary to be aware and safe, but I hope that those brave enough to work in holistic medicine will keep carrying the torch and doing their great work, in memory of those we lost this year.
https://www.healthnutnews.com/recap-on-my-unintended-series-the-holistic-doctor-deaths/
US will meet Paris accord commitments even if Donald Trump withdraws, says report
We project that by 2020, renewables will be the cheapest form of new-power generation across the globe. Favourable renewables economics rather than government policy will be the primary driver of change.
Pentagon Study Declares American Empire Is ‘Collapsing’
Stunning new evidence that the US Department of Defense is waking up to the collapse of American primacy, and the rapid unraveling of the international order created after the Second World War. But the Pentagon’s vision of what comes next hardly inspires confidence. Report demands massive expansion of military-industrial complex to maintain global ‘access to resources’
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47462.htm
China to launch ‘un-hackable’ computer network
Apart from improving the security of financial services, the network will make it nearly impossible for other governments to eavesdrop on Chinese communications. The execution of this quantum computer network will mark China as the first country to put quantum technology in practice.
http://www.brecorder.com/2017/07/17/359556/china-to-launch-unhackable-computer-network/