- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 36,679
Or, "I remember the good old days"
Or, "Looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses"...
...well, here's something that the young 'un's will be able to see - something provably real - that shows once and for all older people looking back in their memory can actually remember "better times".
James Lovelock (who recently passed away - one of the few "famous" people I actually genuinely feel sad about) invented the Electron Capture Detector precicely because he used to stand on a hill near his home dahn sarth, look at the sea and go "you know what - this view used to be a whole lot clearer when I was younger" - and invented a device to measure and prove it. His glasses were provably rose-tinted - he put his money where his memory was, and made the whole world a better place by doing so.
In my rather less-positive idiom - by "better times" I mean: times when a billion people's homes weren't under water because of the things we continue to do (and pay lip service to fixing).
www.theguardian.com
We're in for a minimum 27cm sea-level rise (which, having an intimate knowledge of the north west coast is monumental in and of itself IMO) - and that's if we stop all warming emissions today - 29th August 2022.
But, lets face it - its' going to be multi-meter level rises (I've a friend who has a beautiful house here who simply doesn't get it). I mean - it's not the 52-meter rise that would happen if the East Antartic Ice Sheet went kaput (which isn't beyond the realms of possibility if we're being truthful) - but we'll all be too busy being preoccupied with the famines/ fires/mass migrations and wars that are going to come to realise that huge swathes of the British Isles (which averages just 164m above sea level) are going to be swamped. This includes the vast majority of our family homes - the UK is a low country - ranking 31st in Europe for height above sea level.
I mean, I'm going to be alright - at 600 feet above sea level when the Irish Sea floods the Conwy Valley I'll literally be able to throw stones down the cliff face from my house into the sea. I'm signing up to lessons!
I've not had kids (of course - I think you guys who have done so are crazy!) - but to make up for it I'm going to live a minimum of two human lifetimes. Just so I can say "I told you so", whilst raising a glass to all the dead Freddies I'll (definitely (I mean it's been nearly 25 years!)) remember.
Anyway - it's an interesting feeling to know you're witnessing the fall of an entire planet brought about by the species you're a member of. Not a happy one, but it makes one feel connected to all the other idiot species that evolution has likely given birth to across our universe, before natural selection failed us (because we beat natural selection, only to scupper ourselves with our woefully-inadequate average IQ of 100 - leaving us incapable of acting rationally in the face of multiple existential threats).
Been fun knowing you Freddies. I'm going to have another Negroni
BTW - the price of electricity / gas / heating your home is still too cheap people.
Or, "Looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses"...
...well, here's something that the young 'un's will be able to see - something provably real - that shows once and for all older people looking back in their memory can actually remember "better times".
James Lovelock (who recently passed away - one of the few "famous" people I actually genuinely feel sad about) invented the Electron Capture Detector precicely because he used to stand on a hill near his home dahn sarth, look at the sea and go "you know what - this view used to be a whole lot clearer when I was younger" - and invented a device to measure and prove it. His glasses were provably rose-tinted - he put his money where his memory was, and made the whole world a better place by doing so.
In my rather less-positive idiom - by "better times" I mean: times when a billion people's homes weren't under water because of the things we continue to do (and pay lip service to fixing).
Major sea-level rise caused by melting of Greenland ice cap is ‘now inevitable’
Loss will contribute a minimum rise of 27cm regardless of what climate action is taken, scientists discover
We're in for a minimum 27cm sea-level rise (which, having an intimate knowledge of the north west coast is monumental in and of itself IMO) - and that's if we stop all warming emissions today - 29th August 2022.
But, lets face it - its' going to be multi-meter level rises (I've a friend who has a beautiful house here who simply doesn't get it). I mean - it's not the 52-meter rise that would happen if the East Antartic Ice Sheet went kaput (which isn't beyond the realms of possibility if we're being truthful) - but we'll all be too busy being preoccupied with the famines/ fires/mass migrations and wars that are going to come to realise that huge swathes of the British Isles (which averages just 164m above sea level) are going to be swamped. This includes the vast majority of our family homes - the UK is a low country - ranking 31st in Europe for height above sea level.
I mean, I'm going to be alright - at 600 feet above sea level when the Irish Sea floods the Conwy Valley I'll literally be able to throw stones down the cliff face from my house into the sea. I'm signing up to lessons!
I've not had kids (of course - I think you guys who have done so are crazy!) - but to make up for it I'm going to live a minimum of two human lifetimes. Just so I can say "I told you so", whilst raising a glass to all the dead Freddies I'll (definitely (I mean it's been nearly 25 years!)) remember.
Anyway - it's an interesting feeling to know you're witnessing the fall of an entire planet brought about by the species you're a member of. Not a happy one, but it makes one feel connected to all the other idiot species that evolution has likely given birth to across our universe, before natural selection failed us (because we beat natural selection, only to scupper ourselves with our woefully-inadequate average IQ of 100 - leaving us incapable of acting rationally in the face of multiple existential threats).
Been fun knowing you Freddies. I'm going to have another Negroni
BTW - the price of electricity / gas / heating your home is still too cheap people.
