1. What's Gaia Capitalism?
2. What should we remember about Noah's Ark?
3. What has Virgin Airways added to its fleet since Richard Branson's meeting with Al Gore?
4. How has air capture technology "morphed"?
5. What was Branson "onto," with his pledge, and what's the problem with it?
6. What's our most intoxicating narrative?
DQ
- Is the Gaia Hypothesis a constructive model of the planetary ecosystem?
- How can a green future be "a win-win for all concerned"? 233
- Is it bad rhetorical strategy to proclaim that capitalism threatens our existence?
- Do you draw any distinction between Branson, Gates, Buffett, Pickens, Bloomberg, et al? Are you more disappointed in one than the others?
- If you were a climate-conscious billionaire, what would YOU do?
- Is it immoral to try and profit from climate disruption? 234
- Have you heard of Tom Steyer before? Why do you think we've not heard more of him?
- Is there anything "cute" about solar panels? 237
- Are most "green billionaires" malevolent, cynical, or just habituated to the profit motive? Or all of the above?
- Would it be a good or bad thing to multiply proven oil reserves? 248
- Do you accept the more charitable interpretation of what's gone wrong with Branson's pledge and prize initiatives? Do you grant his good intentions? Why aren't good intentions enough? 251
- Do you consider it likely that Branson, Buffett, Gates et al will support legislated regulation, higher taxes, and steeper royalty rates? 254
- Should we be actively pressing our university to divest from fossil fuels, or making other symbolic or substantive green "gestures"? (For instance, urging President McPhee to join with other university presidents in accepting a "climate challenge"? FYI-we tried that.)
Post your DQs and your video project scripts, please
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Oceans Are Absorbing Almost All of the Globe’s Excess Heat
This year is on track to be the third consecutive hottest year on record. Where does that heat go? The oceans, mostly... (continues)
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August ties for hottest month on record
It just keeps getting hotter.
August has tied July for the distinction of being the hottest month since record-keeping began in 1880, NASA said in a news release onMonday.
And there’s a good chance 2016 will become the third year in a row of record heat.
An increase in greenhouse gas emissions and El Niño, a weather pattern that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean, has contributed to temperature increases in 2016, scientists said earlier this year.
“But we’ve had El Niños before, they haven’t given us the record-warm temperatures like this,” said Gavin Schmidt, the director for NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The records being set continue to stack up.
• August and July are now the hottest months on record.
• Every month since October 2015 has set a new monthly high-temperature record.
• The first six months of this year beat 2015 for the hottest half-year ever recorded.
• Both 2014 and 2015 set new heat records, and 2016 is on pace to continue the trend.
Mr. Schmidt cautioned against putting too much significance on monthly rankings and emphasized that the long-term warming trend is more significant.
“This year really does stand out in comparison with all the other years,” Mr. Schmidt said.
The streak of record highs could end — for a while at least — if a weather pattern known as La Niña, in which sea surface temperatures fall below normal, takes hold soon, but Mr. Schmidt said it’s not clear that will materialize.
And even if it does, it is not likely to prevent 2016 from becoming the hottest year on record. nyt
I think What Klein said about Noah's ark is not really accurate, because from the religious view about the Noah's Ark shows that Noah's Ark wasn't only for lucky few. It was for everyone one who obeys God's calling. Indeed, we could say that people who obeys the environmental call to action, they will be able to consider as the people who obeys God's calling and get in Noah's Ark that saves our generations from a real catastrophic event, "Climate Change".
ReplyDeleteYes, It is a constructive model because it is true. The organisms of the plant all play a role in maintaining the health of the planet. It is just that humans are disrupting the natural order of things and this may lead to negative consequences.
ReplyDeleteSome may be all of the above but I feel all are only worried about profits and how much they can earn.
ReplyDeleteThey will only support what is in their best interests and what will make them and help them keep as much money as possible.
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ReplyDeleteDQ: "Why do you think we continue to believe in the "intoxicating narrative"?
ReplyDeleteI think it's because we want to believe that technology will also act as our savior, as a sort of "back door" to our issues when we force ourselves into a corner. We act under the mentality that someone else will invent a way to solve our problems and that very well could be true, however there may come the time when we have gone pass the point of no return and technology can no longer save us from ourselves.
DeleteI think we continue to believe technology will save us in the end because it is sort of similar to the sweep it under the rug mentality that a lot of people have but they never think about what to do once that rug is 3 feet above the floor and you cant sweep anything else under it. We just got so set in our ways of thinking about various things that we started thinking inside the box and that box was hoping for a techno fix instead of thinking outside the box and actually changing things
DeleteDQ. Do you consider it likely that Branson, Buffett, Gates et al will support legislatited regulation, higher taxes, and steeper royalty rates?
ReplyDeleteI doubt any of them will because their track record shows that they are interested in making profits and anything that takes away from profits or potential profits they will be highly against it. The only way to change this is mass public pressure on them or the government to do something about it and even then I am sure they will be in backrooms making deals and behind the scenes doing what eer they can to stop or get exemption status. But then again a good idea may be to either enforce higher rates or to force companies to take profits and invest them in viable real renewable technologies that they can switch to that would help the environment or force them to pay the higher rates.
I think the information Mr. Schmidt is talking about is as solid of proof of anything that climate change is real and happening, I just find it extremely hard to comprehend that these things can be chalked up to coincidence or happenstance by some people.
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