Introduction

It was a big deal when I turned 70 last July.  Recently I realized that I am closer to my 71st birthday than to my 70th!  I was about to write, "I guess it never stops," but I instantly realized, uhhh, yes it does.  That's the point.  70 is definitely an age when you realize you don't have forever left.  And even less time left with your full health and full mind and whatever skills you have accumulated and whatever people you are close to.

It was clear to me that there are two areas I want to devote as much time as possible to in my remaining years.  The first is playing music and singing.  I play several instruments, none at a very high level, and I sing along with my own guitar and ukulele accompaniment.  I want to play much more; to recover certain songs I used to play with ease; and to add to my repertoire and my skill as much as possible; and to play much more with others.  I may start a separate blog on this subject.

The second area is to contribute in the field of climate change.  That's what this blog will be about.

I have read pretty widely among the many authors on climate change.  It is so much the major existential predicament of our day.  Writing here in February of 2022, COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the challenge to US democracy posed by Donald Trump and the right wing he has co-opted are the big topics of concern.  But climate change is ultimately ten times worse than all three of those put together, and gets a tenth of the media scrutiny.  And demands immediate attention!  And I can see that it will be a significant task just to identify the major and minor constituencies and to reconcile, or at least to compare, their points of view to have any idea what I as an individual should do.  In fact, just to do this reconciliation may be a useful contribution.  And that's just to reconcile the views of those who understand climate change and agree on the challenge it poses, ignoring the cynical deniers!

One of the biggest splits I have become aware of lately is the one between those I will call the technologists and those I will call the conservationists.  Each of these broad perspectives has many subcategories.  Bill Gates of Microsoft fame is a current leading light among the technologists; he's certainly throwing a lot of his money and business acumen into this approach.  His hope lies in technical innovation not only to replace the current use of fossil fuels with green energy, but to provide energy (electricity, generally) for the first time to the impoverished billions in the world who do not have it at present.

Among the conservationists, the late E. O. Wilson stands out for his "half earth" idea and his book of the same name.  Among this group, the preservation of species and their natural habitats is key.  They often do not say much about what happens to the soon-to-be 8 billion people on the planet if half of the earth's surface is protected and returned to wilderness.  On the other hand, Bill Gates and other technologists often don't mention the loss of species and habitat implied by the vast amounts of land that must be given over to solar, wind, biofuel, hydro, and other green technologies in providing humans a similar level of affluence under green energy as with fossil.

Then there's Naomi Klein and other quasi-revolutionaries who say, basically, that surviving climate change implies that capitalism must go.  Vague talk about mass movements seems to be the path to accomplishing this. Extinction Rebellion and The Climate Mobilization are two organizations that I have some acquaintance with.

And there are the doomers and post-doomers, a not insignificant group.  They look around at the lack of any discernible progress made against greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, when James Hansen clearly identified the problem in testimony before the U.S. congress, and say, "Game over.  How do we handle the inevitable (or extremely likely) collapse of modern civilization?"  Paul Kingsnorth and Guy McPherson and Jem Bendell are three names in this group.

I think all of these people have their hearts in the right places, are doing their best to be constructive, even the doomers.  And yet, among all their prescriptions, what does one do?

Well, I'm going to read their work in more detail, the major figures and the lesser ones, and not just the latest offerings but the ones going way back.  And just try to see what there is to see, and hopefully clarify it back into this blog.