Young investors are advised to take risks and stay the course. They need some real talk about the risks of climate change — to coastal cities, to the economy, and to their futures
The deeper question with climate is, why would well-educated people consent? It's never been a lack of info, even preceding Hansen's testimony in 1988. This White House memo, visualizing 10' of sea level rise wiping out New York City, is from 1969, and Moynihan went on to represent NY in the Senate:
You literally cannot be better educated on sea level than Eric Schmidt. That's not the problem. Getting America's high school valedictorians off this pipeline would be great:
At the moment, they're busy applying to Princeton (Schmidt's alma mater) so they can hopefully get in on the AI bubble, or at the least get to Goldman or McKinsey.
It's a long shot but it's possible that even valedictorians can take a chance on democracy, too:
We have no time. It’s up. No sugar coating it. For years I’ve been watching moderates try to lighten the message. But I always listened to James Hansen. It’s now time to mitigate the impacts. Of species loss and population growth too. If ever there was a time for the planet to come together, it’s now.
Such a good column Susan, and so important. Those of us who have followed Hansen have seen how he gets derided by those who wish to maintain status quo. Or who wish to control a narrative that doesn't – actually – match physical reality because they think the public can't "take it." What our children, and we, need is honest truth telling. Thank you
Too many humans/domestic animals are using/depleting too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including GHGs, climate heating/collapse, and plastics. I respect James Hansen but see his view on climate collapse as myopic. To see the truth we only need to look at the 1.2 trillion tons of annual melting global ice, where each pound is absorbing 144 BTUs of excess heat energy that we are pouring into the environment by continuing to burn 8 B tons of coal annually and 100 M barrels of oil daily. 30 million tons of Greenland ice are melting HOURLY. We are only saved from ourselves by the hydrological cycle but it has limits, as our continued accelerating global surface heating is so clearly showing to any damn fool paying attention, so a really small number of humans. Have a blessed day/evening and enjoy these last hours of life on planet earth.
The deeper question with climate is, why would well-educated people consent? It's never been a lack of info, even preceding Hansen's testimony in 1988. This White House memo, visualizing 10' of sea level rise wiping out New York City, is from 1969, and Moynihan went on to represent NY in the Senate:
https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/jul10/56.pdf
A good gauge of what's actually happening with climate is Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, who is now all in on AI:
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/former-google-ceo-says-climate-goals-are-not-meetable-so-we-might-as-well-drop-climate-conservation-unshackle-ai-companies-so-ai-can-solve-global-warming
Schmidt and his wife helped launch Climate Central, which has done nothing but an excellent job detailing sea level rise with projections since 2008:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Central
You literally cannot be better educated on sea level than Eric Schmidt. That's not the problem. Getting America's high school valedictorians off this pipeline would be great:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800914000615
At the moment, they're busy applying to Princeton (Schmidt's alma mater) so they can hopefully get in on the AI bubble, or at the least get to Goldman or McKinsey.
It's a long shot but it's possible that even valedictorians can take a chance on democracy, too:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LEAC20RbBIxw803QN88muaG37LT-8Vt_/view?usp=sharing
In any case, thanks for spelling things out!
Two good overviews of our climate situation, now that we're really experiencing the first fully climate-aware power elite in tech and finance:
https://yalereview.org/article/dasgupta-trump-is-only-a-symptom
'Finitude capitalism:'
https://www.techpolicy.press/how-tech-oligarchs-profit-from-the-logic-of-finitude-capitalism-and-what-to-do-about-it/
We have no time. It’s up. No sugar coating it. For years I’ve been watching moderates try to lighten the message. But I always listened to James Hansen. It’s now time to mitigate the impacts. Of species loss and population growth too. If ever there was a time for the planet to come together, it’s now.
"They need some real talk about the risks of climate change"
They do.
We all do.
Perhaps biggest problem is that "where we’re headed later in this century" bit
Sounds like we have time.
We don't.
Really good understanding and explanation of his points - bravo.
Thank you so much. He is worth our listening to.
Such a good column Susan, and so important. Those of us who have followed Hansen have seen how he gets derided by those who wish to maintain status quo. Or who wish to control a narrative that doesn't – actually – match physical reality because they think the public can't "take it." What our children, and we, need is honest truth telling. Thank you
Too many humans/domestic animals are using/depleting too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including GHGs, climate heating/collapse, and plastics. I respect James Hansen but see his view on climate collapse as myopic. To see the truth we only need to look at the 1.2 trillion tons of annual melting global ice, where each pound is absorbing 144 BTUs of excess heat energy that we are pouring into the environment by continuing to burn 8 B tons of coal annually and 100 M barrels of oil daily. 30 million tons of Greenland ice are melting HOURLY. We are only saved from ourselves by the hydrological cycle but it has limits, as our continued accelerating global surface heating is so clearly showing to any damn fool paying attention, so a really small number of humans. Have a blessed day/evening and enjoy these last hours of life on planet earth.
The ‘new’ knowledge from the last five years will clarify more than can be imagined.