I want to add to Bluebelle's responses about hope.
Our situation is like the last eight minutes of a major league sports game. My husband likes to just watch those last minutes because he says it all happens then.
With the climate, it can all come down to what humans do during the final years that we have left to make a change.
That's because the climate and all natural systems, including human activism and politics, evolve exponentially.
Exponential growth means that the growth of something is invisible to us until the last minute, when it explodes. Like bacteria.
Exponential growth is why knowledgeable people are so terrified about the global warming figures. They've known that what we are seeing now is mild compared to what is coming, and that by the time the planet becomes so hot and storms so monstrous that everyone realizes it is really warming, then it will be too late to avoid a catastrophe. If you don't understand exponential growth, then you can read about it here .
Okay so now I've scared you even more than you were before. Sorry but, yes, the situation is grim.
However, there is real hope. There is hope because innovation and climate activism are also growing exponentially. Also, youth activism, scientific activism, diversity, tolerance, the rise of women and progressive politics are all growing exponentially right now, although mostly below the surface. Ten years ago, kids were largely apolitical. I was dismayed at how indifferent GenX seemed when they were in high school. But Friday millions of children marched all over the world.
Also growing exponentially are the number of people and hours spent working to solve the climate problem.Meanwhile the climate deniers and the corporate forces driving climate denial are aging and dying out.
Who will win? The deniers are going to fade because even though their tactics are becoming more lawless, their numbers are not growing and they are aging and fading. Charles Koch just died. Donald Trump looks and sounds really unhealthy and can't hold power much longer. Putin is acting more desperate. McConnell is also aging and facing greater opposition.
Now look at who is coming up into power. The youth in this country are largely liberal. AOC isn't even 30 and she's barely got started. I can already feel a growing frustration in the Democratic Party for moderate democrats. Biden may be ahead now, but remember exponential growth means that you can't see it until it's about to explode. I feel Warren will overtake him and be the front runner.
In my life, I have always been a little bit ahead of trends, not way ahead, but I have always gotten into things before the majority. Then the majority explodes and every one is doing it. I can tell when something is going to take off if I'm into it.
The explosion of climate activism is almost upon us. The Republican Party will be weak and dying by the late 20's if not before. It will end as a party by 2030. There will be more factions of progressives, but I believe the Republican Party is on its last legs.
This is so encouraging Jeanne. It reminds me of something the Dalai Lama said. I can't remember it word for word, but it was something like this: what looks like revolutionary change if something that has been quietly building for a long time. Sounds like the spiritual version of exponential growth.
@grayson
I want to thank Grayson for reaching out with this question. Grayson, many feel as you do. Your questions help us dig deeper into ourselves to address what is bothering us. These are hard questions. Time has been running out on saving ourselves. Going back to the sports analogy, people are talking about Hail Mary passes.
Bill McKibben (founder of 360.org) knows better than anyone about what is at stake, how the science works, and he has published last week this article in the New Yorker about just such a Hail Mary pass that he feels could save us. It involves pressuring Chase Bank to stop funding fossil fuel company drilling projects. Chase funds most of the drilling in this world. See Money is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns.
The New Yorker also published a story last week about a savant entrepreneur who has been using imaginative means to solve problems in Africa and who is also trying to use his imagination to solve the climate crisis.
Working link for Jeanne's recommended article by Bill McKibbons on savant entrepreneur:
Money Is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns | The New Yorker
Good day Jeanne,
I would like to thank this site, for keeping me sane. lol The insightful information is heart warming.
I have been following this site almost from the beginning. Just not one to join a social media. Usually
very quiet via social media but verbal in person. Many people I know support the idiot. It has my
personal life a bit stressful.
But this site has made it more understandable to me on a higher note.
I woke up happy knowing the idiot, will have to face a impeachment process.
Which will drive him nuts. Game on
Welcome to our community! Thank you for posting your thoughts. Hoping to hear from you again. We help each other here and unlike many social media platforms, we do our best not to pass along unsubstantiated rumors without links to reliable news sources. These measures help keep it honest and less susceptible to fake news with an agenda.
Yes, Jeanne, your site is honest and very careful about the news you share. It is one of the reasons for joining and why I regard this site in helping me not to go to squirrelly. lol
I thank you for starting this site and all the others for their input. Trying to keep the light shining!
Welcome,welcome, welcome!
We have a lot of squirrely people and even our beloved collection of nuts. Both are needed and welcome here. Talking about things helps us all as does sharing.
Honesty and being true to ourselves and to the needs of others like us, like you--who need an outlet, who need a balancing point and need information on people, places and things out among so many energies of so many different people in one big collective world.
We have hundreds of topics we've talked about over the years. Some get more attention than others so they are at tbe forefront of each topic but we're far more than politics, climate change, new science and medical discoveries.
We're real people with real lives some with real gifts both hidden and shared and all of us with pains, losses, and long back stories.
But most of all people working towards developing conscious awareness about ourselves, our world and each other.
We support one another on this journey and value each new voice and perspective.
Bless you for your bravery in stepping out of anonymity and into the light with us.
It's wonderful to have you join us!
You may think you’re squirrelly but I know I’m a bit nuts. There are days where I love humanity and look forward to what is coming, and other days, well, I just want the world to burn. But at least I accept that’s part of being an empath in this world.
i see the young people making a difference and I feel good. Then I see the adults (mostly men) who are so threatened by Greta Thunberg that they are saying the most horrible things about her. The old system of white-dominated patriarchy is on its last few breaths, so it will be a roller coaster.
@beingme49, welcome to the community!
@pacosurfer, you made me think of a cartoon by Dan Reynolds that I recently saw. It's a picture of a squirrel lying on a lounger, with a psychiatrist by his side, pen and pad in hand. The squirrel says to the psychiatrist, "When I learned, 'You are what you eat,' I realized I was nuts."
I've been eating a lot of nuts these days. I'm right there with you.