Earth Day or Earth Doom?

Earth Day is an old United States invention. But talking the talk is all too often a vaccination against walking the walk. A few countries are leading the charge towards doom and gloom. And foremost that great leader of all, the USA.

As I have explained, disaster have been most profitable to Anglo-Saxon America’s expansion, traditions, and institutions… But for the Civil War. Thus there is an US tradition of benign neglect towards the worst, until it becomes juicy enough to bear fruit.

PPP A Few Countries Are The Main CO2 Culprits, And It Does Not Have To Do With Development.

Hillary Clinton feels the USA cannot afford health care. And it’s just one more step to inform us that the USA cannot inform us to cut down on CO2 emissions. Actually super young, super cool, super hip, super elected Justin Trudeau just informed us of that about Canada. It reminds me of people who say: ‘I am not a racist, BUT…’

So Trudeau agrees the Earth is scorched by carbon, but does not want to tax carbon, lest carbon would lead an unhappy life…

Pic Vignemale, With One Of the last Dying Glaciers of Pyrénées At the Foot of the Granite Pillar.

In the Middle Ages, it was claimed that the lioness gave birth, with her mouth. 14 centuries earlier, there were European lions in Greece. Facts get easily replace by ridiculous myths. The very large European lion had no mane. It is now extinct. Officially due to its obvious similarity with the Devil (Pluto, Hades): tall, hairy, with claws and large teeth, the European Brown Bear (ancestor to the American Grizzly) was ordered more or less exterminated by Charlemagne’s government. It nearly disappeared too.

I was talking with an American friend. She and her two children are going to the Alps this summer. Curiously she plans then to train to another mountain range, and visit it. I observed that said range, lower than the Alps, and less sharp, yet full of lakes, and granite reminded me of the Sierra Nevada, so I would never need to go there, as I frequent the Sierra all too much. She suspiciously wondered how I could know the Pyrénées, as I had never been there and gloated I never will.

Well, I use advanced morality, and various methods of tele-vision. It’s not just as good, it’s better. Knowing that the Pyrenees is a formidable, mostly impassable (very few passes) rampart between Spain and France, explains a lot. But that’s better explored through books, as, doing it by foot would take much of a lifetime.

Travelling is good. But having a human reason for it, better. If it’s just for marking territory, one stoops to the level of dogs, considering what is going on with our planet-wide mismanagement.

171 countries signed the Paris COP 21 accord in New York at the United Nations. It’s going to take one or two more years to ratify this Paris COP 21. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be implemented in 2020… when every month now counts! There were eleven (11) straight months of worldwide temperature records.

Things need to change faster. French justice seized the belongings of the Bongo family. Bongo is one of the many African presidential families which has milked Africa. A relative of dictator Assad of Syria owns hundreds of millions of dollars of property in France alone. If one stripped all the world plutocrats of the properties they own in the leading cities and places of the West, real estate would not doubt significantly go down in value.

Meanwhile a drugged out “Jehovah Witness” musician died at 57. A few days ago, a plane had to make an emergency landing because said drugged out anti-role model had overdosed. Well I am witness that Jehovah had a very Dark Side we arguably would have done better without. And I don’t like Purple Rain very much.

Those who drug themselves out are basically saying that reality is better left alone, thus, if not most satisfying, at least, satisfying enough.

In 20 years, if one persisted at the present rate of CO2 emissions, Earth’s overall temperature would not stay below a two degree Centigrade increase. That would mean the poles would melt. Empirically the rise of temperatures of the poles has been at least five times that of the rest of the planet. That rate will itself augment considerably. Ice will run out of planet (so will many species).

The public does not seem to appreciate that a 40 a 70% reduction in CO2 before 2050 enormous effort. An example is my friend above, who has travelled over much of the world. Air travel contributes significantly to CO2 emissions. Yes, Airbus works on large electric planes. Slap a carbon tax, to accelerate its work.

COP21 says: no more net emissions CO2 in second half century. This will be very difficult to achieve without thermonuclear plants (which are still the energy of the future).

The world Public does not understand magnitude of change. One has to change not just development mode, to get rid of Carbon burning, but the very nature of everyday morality. The CO2 gets in the atmosphere, and the ocean, and the warming and acidity occur decades later. Skepticism is natural in scientists. One can only be skeptical when one sees the entire Coral Reef Barrier blanching under our eyes.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, within existing technology, the only fix is to stop burning carbon. Thermonuclear Terraforming plants will have to extract CO2 from the atmosphere, to prevent a runaway Jurassic, but those admirable devices are not yet here.Giant solar plants in the most favorable places may be able to extract CO2 too, with existing technology, including imitating plants to make useful materials from CO2.

But the fact remains: the “Energetic Transition”, away from carbon burning, is also a moral transition.

Patrice Ayme’

Tags: Carbon, Earth Day, Moral Transition