climate change 4.0

I've talked about climate change (CC) a lot over the last two decades.  I am no longer a
fervent believer in the mainstream, pop media version of CC - it's fear and scarcity based.  i think our whole media is becoming the 3rd political party, the 3rd rail, whatever you want to call it.  
Fear mongering sells clicks, ads and stuff - and there's a lot of profit in it.  I'm a lukewarmer on CC: yes it's real, yes the world is warming up, yes humans are a major contributor, BUT we have no idea of what's going to happen.  We're extrapolating a whole bunch of loosely based assumptions on top of each other and crying 'fire' in a very crowded theater.  I say this with a background in modeling and statistics.  

 I remember getting into tensors in advanced algebra/calculus (i was a couple credits away from a math degree) and how difficult it was to predict weather patterns (in 27 dimensions!) and that was in the late 1970's.  Sure we've gotten more advanced... but since
we can't accurately predict weather more than a few days out, what makes us think we can predict climate 20+ years out?  Sure our models have been proven to be conservative... but it's a stacked deck!  it's like all the articles about coffee and chocolate being good for you:  bought to you by people who like coffee and chocolate!

 I go more along the lines of George Will and his stand on CC:  yes it's real, but there are global black swan events every 50-75 years that can dramatically change the global dynamics.  The Mt. Pinatubo volcano in 1991 cooled the earth's atmosphere by several degrees for several years.
A recent 60 minutes episode of a Siberia scientist who is cutting down the forests there to prevent the permafrost from melting was a real eye opener! 

 What concerns me more is the poisoning of our air, water and oceans - especially the oceans!  Now, that's a game changer. 

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 I gave a talk on CC at a sangha in Placerville (a Vipassana Buddhist group that I'm part of).  Here's the handout, which is summary of everything I know about CC.  Each little point in this handout, i can talk about for hours...
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Climate Change = Climate change (CC) is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time. Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather within the context of longer-term average conditions (wikipedia)

Group: seven generations exercise (Joanna Macy)

CC History: Brundtland, acid rain, GHG= greenhouse gases, Montreal Protocol, NYT’s ‘losing earth’, IPCC, Kyoto to Paris,

Insights: our current collective dukkha
  1. do no harm (precept), right livelihood
  2. dependent origination everything is connected
  3. attachment to views (collective perceptions)
  4. not knowing suffering,
  5. ‘would you expect it to be different?’ YES!
  6. cravings for modern comforts


short overview.. then discussions
Fred’s view: 2005 turning point: WIE: ‘will capitalism change or destroy the world’ ,Rio + 20, ‘death of environmentalism’, Cradle-to-Cradle™ (DfD & chemistry), chemical industry DTSC, WinSol, Pope’s Encyclical, Paul Hawken’s Drawdown, Abundance vs scarcity, biomimicry (1043) Carbon/eco footprinting (eFP),
one earth equiv, downshift vs. downsize, +++

Fred’s practice: Lukewarmer, Experiential, abundance, WinSol, < 1 earth eFP, #days w/o car, give more than take daily, no flying, no chemicals (algae, biochar, rockdust, DIY detergent) , lotsa tree hugging

things you can do right now (yes u can :-)
  1. Stop flying (or longest & direct, fullest, newest)
  2. chemicals (including organic)Chlorine/flouride in vegie mists, showers, etc.Demeter certified, biodynamic
  3. food (grow own, buy closest & better), eliminate waste
  4. experiential learnings (e.g. biochar, shw, ++)
  5. open heart, spread the love, hug a tree daily, stop listening to ‘news’


But my real conundrum was how to blend in the Buddhism approach to CC.  Rather than espousing sitting on the cushion and wishing well to all beings (which is a very good thing!) I'd rather focus on a secular, action-oriented perspective - like being a lukewarmer!  google it :-)

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