As we navigate the perfect storm of climate break down, contemporaneous with the rerise of fascism, with a second nuclear armed “democratically elected” dementia patient in the “White House that Slaves Built”, those of us with the time, courage and integrity to have these discussions often deflect our grief and anger with “Gallows Humor”, the video discussion below between Professor Guy McPherson and Chris Jeffries, the “Hopeless Romantic” is a perfect example. Let’s try and have as many laughs as we can, while we can.
Can anyone explain to me how tens of millions of American women voted for Trump, twice and Biden, knowing their predilection for young girls? Could tens of millions of women suffer from Stockholm Syndrome?
I know some people will find ‘Gallows humor” difficult or even repulsive but having been down this rabbit hole now, for 14 years, whew, finding and establishing strategies to deal with a phenomenon that our species has never confronted before, it seems to be a valid response.
Dive into the video and then check out the embedded links below it that provide clarity for the more scientific aspects of the discussion.
Early in the interview Guy mentions our error in relying on peer reviewed papers from Jennifer Mackinnon from Scrips institute and James Anderson, Harvard Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry. We admit that they/we were wrong, halleluiah, none of us want to be right about the rapidity of the catastrophe. Re: Jim: “He received the E.O. Lawrence Award in Environmental Science and Technology; the American Chemical Society’s Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest; the United Nations Vienna Convention Award for Protection of the Ozone Layer; Harvard University’s Ledlie Prize for Most Valuable Contribution to Science by a Member of the Faculty; the American Chemical Society’s National Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology.”
Jim discovered the hole in the ozone layer, what caused it and how to remedy it. It’s hard to doubt someone with those credentials, but we all make mistakes, especially those of us who follow “The Precautionary Principle”.
In an analysis from Scripps, that has yet to be proven right or wrong, because we haven’t had a Blue Ocean Event: (BOE) in the arctic ‘yet,’ the synopsis reads: “Losing the remaining Arctic sea ice and its ability to reflect incoming solar energy back to space would be equivalent to adding one trillion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, on top of the 2.4 trillion tons emitted since the Industrial Age, according to current and former researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.”
“At current rates, this roughly equates to 25 years of global CO2 emissions.”
Cascading Consequences of the Loss of Arctic Sea Ice
With the high probability of a “Super El Nino” evolving in the coming months and most of the ‘Fast Ice’ already gone or teetering on the brink, the September Sea Ice minimum looms ominously.
Summary
“New research links super El Niño events to long-term climate regime shifts affecting ecosystems and livelihoods.
A developing El Niño in the Pacific could intensify into a rare “super El Niño.”
Forecasts suggest it may become one of the strongest such events in over a century.
Likely to disrupt global weather patterns, including India’s monsoon cycles.
It could trigger extreme events such as floods, droughts and shifting storm tracks.”
A rare “Super El Niño” may be forming in the Pacific — and it could reshape global weather starting this summer
Guy mentioned the Naval Post-Graduate School Arctic Sea Ice Ensemble, which is due any day now, I’ll edit the blog and embed it here when it has been published.
There was a brief discussion about the role that micro and nano plastics play in this saga, Guy and I have both delved into this in more detail below.
“Microplastics in the atmosphere may be altering weather and climate by facilitating ice formation in clouds. Penn State research suggests these particles could impact precipitation and climate patterns, though their full effects remain unknown.”
“Of course, “their full effects remain unknown.” As Professor and Science Educator Carl Sagan pointed out long ago, “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” We will never know all there is to know about Earth, much less the universe we inhabit. Science is a means of accumulating reliable knowledge through observation and testing. However, complete knowledge is beyond us, as indicated in the next paragraph of the article at SciTechDaily: “Scientists have discovered microplastics—tiny plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in size—in some of the planet’s most untouched places, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow-capped peak of Mt. Everest, and even in clouds over mountains in China and Japan. Microplastics have also been found in human brain tissue, inside sea turtles, and even within plant roots. Now, new research led by Penn State scientists suggests that these airborne microplastics could be influencing weather patterns and impacting the climate.”
You’ve probably heard the expression about Aotearoa NZ being “Clean and Green”, it’s only half right.
“Seventy four metric tonnes of microplastics have been found in Auckland’s atmosphere, the equivalent of three million plastic bottles per year, researchers say.”
“The University of Auckland research, published in Environmental Science & Technology, found the microplastics were of such small sizes that there was concern they could be inhaled and accumulate in the human body.”
“Nanoplastics, the smallest particles, can potentially enter cells, cross the blood-brain barrier, and may build up in organs such as the testicles, liver and brain. Plastics have also been detected in the placenta.”
“Microplastics have also been detected in human lungs and in the lung tissue of cancer patients, indicating that the inhalation of atmospheric microplastics is an exposure risk to humans,” the paper noted.”
“The levels of microplastics in Auckland’s air were much higher than those recorded in London, Paris and Hamburg in recent years, with the study utilising a method which could detect particles as small as 0.01 of a millimetre, researchers said.”
Microplastics Changing Earth’s Climate from the depths of the Oceans, across Fertile lands and Forests & High up into the Atmosphere
“If the fracturing of our once stable climate doesn’t terrify you, then you don’t fully understand it!”
“While those of us working in the climate science field know the true picture, and understand the implications for our world, most others do not,” he wrote. “And this is a problem — a big one.” Check out the brutal honesty from Bill McGuire below.
Scientists Terrified by How the Climate is Falling Apart
Let’s end this with some industrial strength “Gallows Humor” from Katie Goodman et al.
“There’s never been a time, there’s never been a timeeeee, there’s never been a time, as fucked up as this”.
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(21) kevin hester (@iconickevin) / X
I'm an anti-imperialist, environmental activist and blue ocean sailor, who is passionate about the earth and all it's inhabitants without favour. Brace for imminent impact as we bare witness to the non-linear unraveling of the biosphere and habitability disappearing for most if not all complex life on the only habitable planet we know of. To quote President Niinistö in North Russia: ‘If We Lose the Arctic, We Lose the World’. Folks we have lost the Arctic.
Kevin Hester 
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