AN INTELLIGENT SPECIES?
Reality Check
For all our scientific advances and prowess, humanity has been — to put it mildly — a dismal steward of Mother Earth.
And, we continue to be completely ignorant at what’s truthfully staring us in the face. We hub-nub at climate conferences and endlessly debate and negotiate climate goals by 2050 when practically every single scientist warns us we’re already in completely unchartered territory.
Nevertheless, we have countless daft politicians, corporate climate dilettantes and even a Canadian clinical psychologist suggesting it’s all a hoax.
The truth is quite simple.
We live in a biosphere — a closed glass bowl basically where the outer atmosphere is the glass — and there’s a zone of vitality wherein we know Earth can regulate itself and provide a life-sustaining environment.
With a fairly high amount of scientific certainty we know the upper limit is right around 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. Beyond that we’re in unchartered territory as in the last 800,000 years that hasn’t happened.
We know that somewhere beyond 350 ppm we will reach a tipping point — a point of no return — game over basically as the processes of degradation spiral beyond the capacity of Earth to self-regulate itself back to within the zone of vitality.
We’re at 412 ppm today from 350 ppm in 1950, we are at the very edge as most scientific models show beyond 450 ppm all bets are off. At our current rate of accretion, we’ll reach that well before 2050.
None of what we — humanity — have been doing so far shows any form of intelligence, wisdom, leadership, or courage. This isn’t a high stakes poker game or a suitable time to try out a game of Russian climate roulette, because the forces of nature will simply call our bluff.
And, we will lose. Guaranteed. The only open question is when we’ll lose.
So, what needs to happen?
Systemic change is what needs to happen. Each single one of us needs to muster the courage to change. Anything else is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
This sort of change requires a different level of thinking. A shift from reductionist thinking — i.e. optimizing only a few parts — to holism as that’s the only way we can solve something as complex as the challenges we’re facing.
The good news is we actually have and know all the solutions, but with a few notable exceptions like Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard we’re just missing the awakened leadership at large to take us there.
Maybe you’ll decide this is a good time to quit angling for the best dinner table in the First Class Dining Saloon and rise up to become one of the desperately needed architects of a new world.
DM me if you’re ready, this world could sure use your awakened greatness.
Love & Truth,
Robert