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Home > Politics
Trump/Republicans: Worse Than 9/11
by Bob Powell, 11/22/16
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Those with children who don't understand that voting for Trump/Republicans has sentenced them to a future dystopia of environmental destruction and economic collapse.

Trump/Republican supporters shout "You lost. Get over it!"
No, you lost! We all lost ... especially the children ... your children!
Look at them and weep for what's coming.

Here's what Trump/Republican supporters bring:

Drought - from higher temperatures 
Fires - from drought and changing climate ... trees do not migrate when there's drought: 102 million dead California trees.
Floods - because when it does rain there will be downpours that result in flooding because of more water in the atmosphere.
Hurricanes - more devastating hurricanes because the oceans are warmer
Sea Level Rise: "By 2045, the sea level is expected to rise at least a foot. In South Florida, where most land sits five feet above current sea level, homes and roads are expected to start flooding more frequently. It’s only a matter of time, scientists and economists warn, before it becomes so unbearable that people will pick up and leave—ditching their mortgages and devastating the economy."
Ocean life dying - more CO2 dissolved in the oceans make them more acidic destroying the coral and phytoplankton and devastating aquatic populations that feed on them. Half of the O2 produced on earth comes from the phytoplankton we are killing.

But no problem ... ISIS ... and Syrian refuges fleeing ISIS ... are the true threats.

So-called 'conservatives" are ignorant on both economics and business. A major error is they don't understand that imposing the negative externalities of CO2 into the atmosphere means theft from everyone on earth for the profit of a few.

This is "free market" theft! That's because "market forces" cannot properly balance supply and demand if all costs of providing a product or service are not internalized.

Summary

Do you recall 9/11? The feelings of dread ... of terror of being in one of those jets about to hit a tower? I do. Yes, for me this is worse. "Conservative" denial of Global Warming is an existential threat to life on earth. I describe 8 reasons for this denial.

Were I a better person, I would say "forgive them, for they know not what they do". But they are so damned dedicated to not knowing that I cannot. Gravity is only a theory -- a unified theory of forces isn't "settled science" -- but we know what happens when we jump off a cliff: we die. Global Warming is also only a theory, but it's settled enough to know, not exact temperature predictions, but what's happening because we're jumping off that cliff.

The Trump/Republican Party is the most dangerous organization in human history, because it is all in for racing over the Global Warming cliff. This is malevolence on a planetary scale. No, I'm not exaggerating.

Trump/Republicans: Worse Than 9/11

Do you remember 9/11? The feelings of dread ... of terror of being in one of those jets about to hit a tower?

I do.

Americans electing Trump/Repubicans is worse for me. I wake many times at night and mornings feeling the terror, because Global Warming is an existential threat to life on earth. Perhaps my feelings of terror are because I know too much about the threat ... it's the opposite of ignorance is bliss.

The threat from Global Warming isn't about the loss of tall buildings and thousands of lives.

It's about the destruction of life on earth ... the deaths of billions of persons, today's children about which "conservatives" claim concern, and the extinction of countless species.

I'm telling you for a fact that the science is settled as to what's happening and why.

Of course, no science is ever completely settled. Theories about gravity aren't, but we know what will happen if you jump off a high cliff. You die!

Similarly on the science, we know for certain we're jumping off the Global Warming cliff.

I describe the physics here: The Physics of Global Warming. It's not that complicated. Denying what's happening requires a dedicated will to not understand.

Yes, predicting future average global temperature is enormously complex, but that doesn't mean we don't know that the earth is warming, we're causing it, and that drastic action must be taken to cut CO2 and other emissions in half. In HALF.

One denier said I'm "clinging to a worldview". In a sense, yes, but it's a science-based worldview, not an ideological worldview.

So-called "conservatives" praise "hard work". But they tell me that, because I have a Ph.D. in physics, I'm "Piled Higher and Deeper", ignoring that getting a BS, MS, & Ph.D. in physics is hard work. In comparison, my MBA was a snap. I'm a scientist, not paid by anyone. I'm not lying to you or exaggerating the threat.

Instead, deniers demean me as being an "intellectual" ... code for "you know nothing practical" ... but physics and systems thinking are eminently practical.

Having Trump/Republicans in total control of government is the death knell for life on earth. We are way past time to act to avoid serious consequences. But at least 4 years of, not just inaction, but going in reverse, means it's game over. Trump/Republicans want to race over the cliff.

This denial and lack of action is EVIL. Going backwards under a Trump/Republican regime is profoundly immoral and malevolent on a planetary scale. It's the epitome of EVIL: that means causing injury or harm (look it up).

Global Warming deniers can have many irrational reasons for their denial ... I've identified six:

  1. Human mental deficiencies in dealing with Dynamic Complexity -- systems with multiple feedbacks and long delays.
  2. Religion-like faith in "free market" capitalism and belief that government only makes things worse. This pretends that combating Global Warming will harm the economy, but ignores the incredibly more massive damage it will do.
  3. It's "My Team" vs "Your Team" ... don't be disloyal to the tribe: "the more unsettled and uncertain we feel and the less we feel we have control over how things are going ... the more we circle the wagons and fiercely fight for tribal success, looking to the tribe to keep us safe." 
    The irony: this tribalistic "drive to keep us safe" makes all life on earth not safe at all.
  4. So-called "conservative", black propaganda from the likes of the Republican Party, Fox News and Glenn Beck.
  5. Fossil Fuel Corporate black propaganda paying scientists and others to sow doubt.
  6. Religious faith that God's in charge and humans aren't more powerful than God so we can't be responsible. Sen James Inhofe (R-OK) said, "The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous." What's arrogant is for Inhofe to reject the science.
  7. Warming is "natural" and would be happening even if humans did not exist. This, too, is false; see here.
  8. 8. It's the sun! This is false. False ... see graph showing warming and solar activity.

    ... or maybe it's even simpler than these invalid explanations; I've gotten this:
    "You're just lying. I know what I know and I don't give a damn what you say."

If you knew -- and could discard denialism -- that current economic polices are destroying life on earth, would you object? Would you hate those who were doing that?

I do. And I tell you for a fact that current economic polices are destroying life on earth.

Were I a better person, I would say "forgive them for they know not what they do". But they are so damned dedicated to not knowing that I cannot.

"Conservative" dinosaurs don't wake up until it's too late.

Humans are causing the Sixth Mass Extinction of life on earth even without the major impacts of Global Warming.

The planet is experiencing Overshoot & Collapse because humans are not only overrunning the planet's carrying capacity, we're destroying its carrying capacity by the negative externalities of pollution. We're doing to the planet what the inhabitants did to Easter Island. They cut down the trees.

Here's John Sterman on what happened on Easter Island from Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World, 2000:

... one of the most remote spots on earth, is a small island of about 160 km2 located in the eastern Pacific. Easter Island is most famous for the giant stone statues, known as moai, that dot the island. ... prior to the arrival of the first humans, Easter Island was lushly forested and supported a diverse set of fauna, particularly birds. However, as the human population grew, the forests were progressively cut to provide wood and fiber for boats, structures, ropes, and tools, as well as to provide firewood.

There is clear stratigraphic evidence that soil erosion increased with deforestation as rain washed away the unprotected soil. Without tree cover, wind speeds at ground level increased, carrying still more valuable soil into the sea. The erosion was so severe that sediment washed from the higher elevations eventually covered many of the moai, so that European visitors thought the giant statues were just heads, when in fact they were complete torsos averaging 20 feet in height.

The overshoot and collapse of Easter Island is but one of many similar episodes documented in the history of island biogeography. In each case, population growth led to deforestation, the extinction of native species, and unfavorable changes in local climate, rainfall, and agricultural productivity, followed by starvation, conflict, and, often, population collapse.

A precipitous decline in population had set in by about 1680, accompanied by major changes in social, political, and religious structures. Spear points and other tools of war appeared for the first time, and there is evidence of large battles among competing groups. Some scholars believe there is evidence of cannibalism during this period.

Good work, "free market" "conservatives".

This is not a matter of opinion and should not be "Your Team vs My Team." Humans are causing the Sixth Mass Extinction of life on earth even without the major impacts of Global Warming.

Despite "conservative" denialism, would they think there's even a chance it's a fact? Even a small chance?

Then follow Dick Cheney's advice about preventing an attack: if there's "a one percent chance" that a threat is real "we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response."

CONSIDER A 1% CHANCE A CERTAINTY!

Even the military knows Global Warming as a threat multiplier:

Military Leaders Urge Trump to See Climate as a Security Threat By Erika Bolstad, Scientific American ClimateWire, 11/15/16
Dozens of military and defense experts advised the president-elect that global warming should transcend politics

Of course it should transcend politics. If aliens were destroying life on earth, wouldn't you want to kill every damn one of them and their collaborators? Well, that's what the fossil fuel corporations and their "free market" collaborators are doing.

Some refer to those like me who recognize the problem as being "Cassandras", thinking that means being pessimistic for no good reason.

What they forget: "Cassandra was correct!"

As for me, I oppose those who are destroying life on earth for profit because of adherence to failed "free market" ideology or because they think "God is in charge".

But "conservatives" believe ISIS is the existential threat to the U.S. and that we must fear the Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS. This is insane.

Noam Chomsky is correct:

Chomsky: Today's Republican Party is a Candidate for Most Dangerous Organization in Human HistoryDemocracy Now!, 5/17/16

"... the fact of the matter is that today's Republican Party qualify as candidates for the most dangerous organization in human history. Literally. Just take their position on the two major issues that face us: climate change, nuclear war. On climate change, it's not even debatable.

They're saying, "Let's race to the precipice. Let's make sure that our grandchildren have the worst possible life." On nuclear war, they're calling for increased militarization. It's already way too high, more than half the discretionary budget. "Let's shoot it up." They cut back other resources by cutting back taxes on the rich, so there's nothing left. There's been nothing this-literally, this dangerous, if you think about it, to the species, really, ever. We should face that.

At least not everyone is insane.

After Trump Elected, Nearly 200 Nations Proclaim "Urgent Duty" to Implement Paris Climate AccordDemocracy Now!, 11/18/16

... nearly 200 nations have agreed on a proclamation that declares implementation of the Paris climate accord to be an "urgent duty." This comes just over a week after the election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to pull the United states out of the Paris Agreement and has called climate change a Chinese-created hoax. Meanwhile, climate activists staged protests targeting corporate sponsors of the climate talks.

Will any of what I write here make a difference to "conservatives"?

Not a chance!

From NASA: How is Today's Warming Different from the Past?

As the Earth moved out of ice ages over the past million years, the global temperature rose a total of 4 to 7 degrees Celsius over about 5,000 years. In the past century alone, the temperature has climbed 0.7 degrees Celsius, roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming.

Models predict that Earth will warm between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius in the next century. When global warming has happened at various times in the past two million years, it has taken the planet about 5,000 years to warm 5 degrees. The predicted rate of warming for the next century is at least 20 times faster. This rate of change is extremely unusual.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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