Pirate's Cove

Remember the little bit about whether being optimistic on the climate makes you pro-Trump? Well, let’s go to the UK Guardian

In tackling the global climate crisis, doom and optimism are both dangerous traps

Protesters march in the streets in an “extinction rebellion” against the climate crisis, with some (but not all) of their leaders claiming that climate tipping points could kill billions in the coming decades. Others dismiss the importance or reality of the crisis, while new books loudly proclaim “apocalypse never” and “false alarm”.

The popular discourse around the climate emergency all too often highlights fringe voices that predict the end of the world or suggest that there is little to worry about. But as the climatologist Steven Schneider presciently remarked a decade ago, when it comes to the climate “the end of the world” and “good for us” are probably the two least likely outcomes.

So, we need to take a middle road?

The environmental crisis is one of the most serious and pressing issues facing the world today. We are already living with impacts of human-caused global heating, and the world is not doing nearly enough yet to put us on a pathway to avoiding potentially dire impacts later in the century to both humans and the natural world. But a discourse sharply divided between doom and dismissal risks obstructing climate action, rather than motivating it.

There’s your middle of the road. Is it any wonder climate cultists keep saying we’re doomed? As far as taking ‘climate change’ action, well, when it is mostly mule fritters, why would we? When few climate cultists are willing to make major changes in their own lives, why should we?

Uncertainty is not our friend. Because expected damages increase faster the hotter it gets, we stand a real risk of catastrophic impacts if we end up with an unlucky combination of a highly sensitive climate and faster accumulation of CO₂. We will also have fewer options to stop or reverse this by the time it happens. These uncertainties are why it’s all the more important to control the one thing we can: our future emissions.

Middle of the road?

Perhaps some major league Warmists could show us the way?

Also in the Guardian

What can you do to fight the climate crisis?

As the climate crisis intensifies, scientists and experts agree that systemic change is critical. But while individual efforts alone aren’t enough to reverse global heating, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do. We asked several climate scientists and advocates about individual actions that can make a difference.

What’s one thing you do in your day-to-day life to combat the climate crisis?
Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist: I have transitioned over 80% of the talks I give to virtual online events (100% these days!), and when I do travel, I bundle my requests and commitments such that I am doing anywhere from 4-5 to as many as 15-25 events in each location that I fly to, in order to minimize the carbon footprint of each individual event.

Adrienne Hollis, climate justice and health scientist: I am being mindful about the water shortage. I like to plant around my deck, and I use my rain barrel to water my plants. It’s a small thing, and it’s a big thing. I get up at about 6 to water my plants, and I grow my herbs and peppers. It makes me feel like I am making a difference. And feeling like you’re making a difference is important. It’s finding your way of contributing. It makes you feel like you’re a part of the fight.

So, literally as little as they can possibly do. I do more just by accident.

Michael Mann, climatologist: I speak out about the climate crisis, and the importance of taking action, using every medium, vehicle, forum or platform that is available to me.

So…..nothing. He refuses to give up fossil fuels and make his life carbon neutral. And, the article spends over half the time on what you can do politically, because this is all about science, you know.