tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post6339337857492886685..comments2024-02-23T01:30:06.101-08:00Comments on Early Warning: Weekend LinksStuart Stanifordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07182839827506265860noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-5125847018281701872012-12-03T09:34:58.934-08:002012-12-03T09:34:58.934-08:00"we have to get it [human nature] working for..."we have to get it [human nature] working for the climate, instead of against it."<br /><br />Emphatic yes. Like an old friend in college once advised me, follow the water-course way, the path of least resistance. <br /><br />I've been trying to say this to my most liberal, aspirational, anti-capitalist friends (a crowd I'm happy to associate with) much of my adult life. Numbers like 7 billion, 400 parts per million, might put a crimp in otherwise laudable visions for social progress that I might otherwise share without reservation. I've had a hard time reconciling those messages over the years even to myself, between Desmond Morris and Jeremy Grantham on the one hand, William James, FDR, John Lennon, on the other. Climate change has tipped the balance for me. The notion that we might have 15 years or less to get a handle on emissions! Sobering. <br /><br />So your remark, Stuart, resonates. To me it means that it's best to assess the obdurate historical and biological facts on the ground that might impede progress to climate stability. We will continuously run into them if we don't know how to sidestep them. Human nature and historic path-determinacy are not to be argued with. Put another way, save the world in all it's imperfections first, and then I'm back on with the revolution.<br /><br />P. S. There's a tie-in here with David Robert's criticism of American environmentalism as a flawed vehicle for tackling climate change that I wanted to take on, but then decided not too because the comment then would be way too long. Thanks for your blog!Jeff Crunkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07848807363549394536noreply@blogger.com