I just sent this as a reply to a friend in a conversation, but this is literal fact.
This thing humankind is doing on Earth is utter madness.
We ignore the following:
Food grows on trees. Or the ground. Water falls out of the sky. The more life there is, the more life it creates https://twitter.com/homemadeguitars/status/1266486205815885824
Every resource transaction among humanity is optimized to extract value from that transaction in the form of "money" for a tiny minority of us.
The following statement will withstand any scientific inquiry or investigation:
All the ecosystems on Earth are undergoing degradation.
Gotta go feed the donks, I'll continue in a moment.
4. Modern society, including all the climate scientists whose names you know, is in denial. Absolutely in denial. If people believed the climate scientists and related scientists nobody would ever talk about anything else.
A couple days ago @NicolleDWallace's show was on the 🚀
5. The space program could only be done by a society in total denial of climate change.
6. "Oh, it's such an opportunity for science to walk tall and be respected by everyone!"
No, it's not.
It's an opportunity for technology to walk tall and be respected by everyone.
Science says we're really, actually, looking right in the face of some doomsday event or events.
7. "What do you think history will say about Donald Trump?"
History?
As in, literate global society?
That statement is an expression of denial.
Ask the consensus of recognized climate scientists if they see what we call civilization maintained on the road we're on.
8. Every assumption, every conversation, assumes business as usual for the "foreseeable future."
In the first place, there is no such animal. Foreseeable future. That thing. It ain't there.
For details see, Covid 19, Donald Trump.
We still expect business as usual.
Denial.
9. Joe Biden, whom I respect highly and will be thrilled to vote for in November and would be a *wonderful* president for a society in denial, which we are, just said we'd be "carbon neutral by 2050."
In the first place, bullshit, we won't either, and in the second place... 2050?
10. There's no way in hell this machine can continue to run until 2050. I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.
11. The link between the atmosphere and the biome is absolute and undisputed.
It is an undisputed fact that the biome, way back when it was a little bitty baby, created the oxygen atmosphere.
This is an undisputed fact.
12. It is an undisputed fact that 100% of all the added carbon in the atmosphere used to be alive.
Every. Single. Atom.
Was alive.
We're killing the biome and pretending we can technology our way out of this.
That, my friends, is denial. In denial and science denial.
13. Whatever Donald Trump did today, we are some billions of tons of formerly living carbon in the atmosphere closer to the cliff. To the "full" mark.
That's how this works, according to all the recognized climate scientists.
Some maximum total amount of atmospheric carbon.
14. The only time we discuss climate change is when we discuss climate change. During all other public conversations we assume business as usual for the foreseeable future, as the basis for our current actions.
15. There is no human course of action in any field for any purpose which does not need to be evaluated in terms of climate.
I want ONE RECOGNIZED CLIMATE SCIENTIST to come into this thread and explain how we will reach a balanced carbon cycle with a continually degrading biome.
16. The continually degrading biome, literally measurably degraded every single day, is as surely established by research as the increase in carbon. You know why you never see news specials on that?
Because we're in denial.
Business as usual.
We can tech out.
17. Every big tech installation we put in degrades the biome. Permanently. Reduces photosynthesis. Permanently.
Repeat after me:
"Green plants make breathable air."
18. No, not "The Amazon Rainforest is the lungs of the Earth."
Bullshit.
If the Amazon Rainforest is the lungs of the Earth, then Earth is the Marlboro Man the day before he died.
Virtually 100% of the land surface of Earth used to be covered with lungs.
Every parking lot.
Denial
19. Manhattan Island was as much "lungs of Earth" as any equivalent sized hunk of the Amazon.
The lungs were made of carbon.
They're in the air now.
20. My writings show two apparently contradictory things, my belief that science is a valid way of knowing things, and my utter disbelief that we can get out of the climate change catastrophe with any non-living, non-biome dependent, solution.
They are one and the same.
21. Science is a way of knowing things. Technology is ways of doing things. Americans have an operational assumption that "technology" and "science" are more-or-less the same thing, that science always expresses itself in technology.
22. The fact that most recognized climate scientists recommend technological solutions to climate change makes me sad. I hate to stand on opposition to people I mostly respect and admire.
There is no scientific basis for the assumption that technology can solve climate change.
23. In the first place, a climate scientist who claims that carbon-emissions-free energy will solve climate change is denying his own specialty.
Everybody knows that won't get us even close to zero. We cause land emissions out the wazoo.
24. There is no possible global carbon removal "Negative Emissions Technology" (🤮) sufficient to make up the difference except photosynthesis. To say otherwise is not science, it's science fiction.
Which is fine, all the other technology is too.
<sigh>
25. I'm not kidding. The whole developed world, recognized climate scientists included, UN Panel on Climate included, is in denial.
People who believe they're personally in danger don't talk abstractly about things they'll do by 2050.
Joe Biden is older than me.
In 2050 I be 103.
26. I write all these dreamy essays about this simple life... everybody says, oh, yes, and did you see what Donald Trump did?
I don't care how we do it, but we need to recreate a wildly diverse global ecosystem that can feed people while extracting carbon from the atmosphere.
27. We need to put all best the scientific minds we're got to the question of increasing total biome productivity per cubic centimeter from three meters under the ground to a thousand meters above it starting right now today.
It's the only possible hope.
28. The basic assumption is that it won't be that bad. We're like the guy who jumped off the Empire State Building. As he passed the 33rd floor they heard him so, "So far, so good."
Let's look again at the concept of "full up." The concept that we can only emit so much total orđź’Ą
29. The promise of renewables is that there's a breakeven point, so it doesn't count that you have to emit carbon now to build, transport, and install them. The carbon is "free."
Renewables mean emit carbon now, getting us closer by the day to the "full up" mark, and then someday
30. It's not good enough. It's not good enough times two.
In the first place, the carbon emitted to build them never goes away. When someday comes, they don't suck it back up. They (theoretically) give us Power at No Cost and... We're still closer to full than without them.
31. Plus, the full / not full analogy is flawed. The closer we get to full the worse it gets, starting right now.
Every time technologists get challenged they attack.
Tell me how you solve climate change with utility-scale renewables.
If you can't, don't build them.
32. I can't prove my solution will work. See previous comments about foreseeable future. I do believe, however, that it is more soundly grounded on the predominance of accepted science than the high speed technology solution.
Make climate change quit. Isn't that the point?
33. Really, though, none of that matters. I wonder if Elon Musk👩‍🎓will get his rocket ship in space without killing those guys?
We can talk about climate some other day. Let's do some renewables.
Did you see what His Madnesty said?
PS https://twitter.com/homemadeguitars/status/1266486205815885824?s=20
You can follow @homemadeguitars.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: