Tom Toles for January 19, 2015

He’ll be dead thousands of years before it even gets close to his noggin…

Anyone ever heard of a thing called a tide?The guys is probably going to be dead before 24 hours are past, but certainly before another month has passed.

As for stopping sea rise with a carbon tax, dream on.Neither the physics of how something heats up or nor the likelihood that people will be willing to stop using energy on the scale needed, are very likely.

Well let’s be fair if you put a big enough tax in place you might start a global depression, and that would most likely lower the energy use by quite a bit for awhile.

Most of the world’s political problems are really environmental problems. Over population, insufficient carrying capacity, deforestation, desertification, the acidification of the oceans, and the consequences of billions of high-consuming humans using the oceans as a common sewer. Etc. Etc. The result? Millions of people in motion, trying to reach more temperate climates, to escape places where life is cheap, resources few, opportunities nil; fleeing to places whose ability to absorb and integrate newcomers is strained. Millions fleeing nostalgically to “fundamentalist” religions, or backward or inward-looking political movements that allow them to draw sharp lines between “us” and “them” in the vain hope that they’ll be able to keep “them” out or get rid of “them” altogether, or at least put “them” into the category of “people who don’t matter” and will so be able save “us”. Millions more abandon the “we” and “us” altogether and are really only concerned with themselves personally. They are the sort who put everyone else into the category of “people who don’t matter.” The world begins to look like the scene around a vast slowly sinking ship: some are still on board blissfully unaware of what is happening. Others are in lifeboats, still others already in the water. Some of the folks in lifeboats are trying to help the ones in the water reach them. Some in lifeboats are afraid their boat will swamp if any more are allowed to get it, and are only interested in saving themselves. Some are staying on the ship or are trying to climb back into it, preferring its comforts while they last. A few are actually trying to save the ship (though even they don’t know if it is possible), and are being stymied by those who refuse to admit the ship is sinking, those who know it is sinking, but think trying to save it is futile, and will spoil the fun they can still have before it sinks, and those are convinced that they are smart enough and strong enough always to get a place in a lifeboat. Only a great concerted effort of all, working together, will save the ship, if it is saveable. Not much sign of that. Even a place in a lifeboat, and a successful effort to keep the drowning and desperate from getting in, and overloading the boat, may not matter. For in the end, nobody knows if there is actually any land within reach. And inch by inch the ship settles lower into the water.

The assistant director of the EPA says it’s already too late to prevent it. We need to start preparing for the inevitable. They’re already replacing the sandbags with a sea wall at Cape Canaveral. BTW, There isn’t a director of the EPA because the republicans have blocked every one of Obama’s candidates.

Doughfoot’s comment is Malthusian and reflects a deep sense of unease at the information flow coming from around the world. I would argue that while there are many willfully blind people (who seem mostly to be right wing Americans), the species is actually pretty resilient. Think adaptation. Political parties usually aren’t very adaptive. They have their ideas set in their minds, and are remarkably free from thoughtful consideration of the real circumstances. But the reason for my optimism is not political, it’s evidence based. Every time I have my doubts about the ability of the species to maintain it’s unbelievable success, I reconsider things as events prove more positive than negative. It was Richard Nixon who brought us the EPA, for example, and science that brought us (and continue to bring), innovations in agriculture. Fewer people are being killed in mass conflict than ever. Why if it were not for the persistent and pernicious impact of magical thinking, we’d be progressing and adapting even more quickly.

It’s kind of a self regulating problem. If the climate gets hostile enough it will start killing off the human race and then carbon emissions will drop dramatically returning the earth to a lower temperature. If there are survivors they can start the whole cycle over again. If not, there won’t be anybody to have problems.

Actually, upon second thought, it’s not the American right wing alone, it’s all the far right wings everywhere that are problematic. Fundamentalist christians who believe in the rapture. Fundamentalist hindus who attack muslims. Fundamentalist muslims attacking each other and financing additional attacks on others. These folks would destroy that which renders us more adaptable. Right wing Americans are more vocal in this country, and so I see their thinking more often. My mischaracterization. Sorry American right wingers, you are not nearly as distinctive as I was giving you credit for.

I thought Martin Luther took care of that indulgence nonsense in the 15th century, Re…

Please be careful when using “labels” for other people. I, for one, consider myself to be leaning towards being a “fundamentalist” Christian, but the “rapture” is not really part of my faith statement.

Janet Wonders: With good reason. There is nothing commendable in the Bible that can translate as rapture. There are a couple of passages against the idea, though. Amos says it is like fleeing from a lion and encountering a bear, and Jesus says no one knows when the end will come. Yet many high-placed members of Congress think they know and use that delusion to wreck havoc on the rest of us.

“But that is what the left does.” No, Harley, that is what lots of people do, left and right, and you should know, you are particularly good at it.

like they evil GOP deniers and all they want is dirty air and water if we do not get our way! The science is settled and we right you wrong, so you must pay.

All right, who left the Gibbertron running again?

Some good comments so far. (I skip Harley’s to save time and aggravation.)

Early 1960’s people around the world were dying because of unregulated use of fossil fuels, “We need the fuel, can’t change”.

That arch liberal Richard NIxon, joined the rest of the civilized world and signed laws to clean up our act, and millions of people’s lives were improved, and continued.

Along came even greedier morons to deny the science, and visible facts, and “deniers” were roused to support greed, not need.

So what if climate change and impacts from less than 200 years of human actions equal “natural” change, like the rise of the Sierra Nevada and Himalaya mountain ranges that changed climate patterns, over hundreds of thousands to millions of years to effect that same change.

“Studies” in Oregon and elsewhere are looking at charging people per mile traveled, rather than by the gallon of gas, to “offset” losses from more fuel efficient, or electric vehildles. The exact opposite of “carbon tax” , the proposal is to TAX electrics or fuel efficient means out of the “market” to protect profits for oil companies, and major polluters.

It was those good Christians in Europe with their civilized nature that knew you got better service and a cleaner cut, if you gave a good tip; to your executioner.

Reread the article, you missed the point entirely.You and Mr Inhoe need to go to China to see what unlimited coal burning does to the atomosphere. It is visible and disgusting for most of their beautiful land to be coverd in gray air. Clearly, the Chinese understand the importance of cleaning up. but they still have a billion people to keep warm in the winte- so yes, they are not moving as fast as they would like. But if I know the Chinese they will clean it up. They don’t have another party to fight them on it (not that I necessarily agree with a one party system,but in this case it will allow them to get something done.

Yup, shovel more money to Al Gore and his cronies. That’ll cool the planet.

I recently bought property 630 ft above sea level.I’m building a beach house…

Why does climate change always have horrible, terrible, we need to redistribute wealth to stop this, bad effects?