It Feels Like the End of an Era Because the Age of Extinction Is Beginning:

stevemaclellan:

I recently read an article by Douglas Rushkoff, one of the age’s great thinkers. He
was invited to speak to an “ultra wealthy” group in the American West,
so he did what us nerds do, prepared a little talk. And when he got
there, he realized — LOL — it was five billionaires who wanted to pick
his brain about whether their Luxury Doomsday Bunkers were going to make it.

You
see, these idiots thought — think — that there’s going to some kind
of…event. A sudden cataclysm, during which they’ll be able to rush to
their luxury bunkers, and eat hydroponic food and be protected by their
Imperial Guard of Navy Seal mercenaries for…what…the rest of their
lives? While the rest of us out here are taken up to heaven in some
version of the Rapture.

They don’t get it. There’s not going to be an event. Because we’re already living inside The Event. See the planet dying? That’s The Event.
It’s not going to happen overnight — at least in the mayfly timescale
of a human life. And yet it’s happening, increasingly horrifically,
every single season.

We’re living inside The Event. This age is so difficult to explain and comprehend because that’s really different.
This age is itself The Event — yet an “event” is something we humans
think of as happening in the blink of an eye. This is, in geological
time — but not in human time. To reconcile these two perspectives is
very, very difficult for the human mind. It’s like seeing with two
different sets of eyes at once.

Let me try to distill that, so you understand how different this age really is going to be.

Just apply the formula at the End of History — and don’t worry about it. We weren’t going to run out of planet. Because in all this, nature’s job was just to keep on giving us stuff for free. The trees breathed out air for free, the rain poured, the ocean currents surged — and to the way of thinking of the neoliberal mind, left over from Ages of Empire and Industry, that free stuff was an afterthought. It’d just be there forever.

And yet here we are. A civilization, running out of clean air, water, food, energy. Prices skyrocketing. Economies in turmoil. Fascisms erupting. Pandemics igniting.

It Feels Like the End of an Era Because the Age of Extinction Is Beginning: stevemaclellan:

I recently read an article by Douglas Rushkoff, one of the age’s great thinkers. He
was invited to speak to an “ultra wealthy” group in the American West,
so he did what us nerds do, prepared a little talk. And when he got
there, he realized — LOL — it was five billionaires who wanted to pick
his brain about whether their Luxury Doomsday Bunkers were going to make it.You
see, these idiots thought — think — that there’s going to some kind
of…event. A sudden cataclysm, during which they’ll be able to rush to
their luxury bunkers, and eat hydroponic food and be protected by their
Imperial Guard of Navy Seal mercenaries for…what…the rest of their
lives? While the rest of us out here are taken up to heaven in some
version of the Rapture.They don’t get it. There’s not going to be an event. Because we’re already living inside The Event. See the planet dying? That’s The Event.
It’s not going to happen overnight — at least in the mayfly timescale
of a human life. And yet it’s happening, increasingly horrifically,
every single season.We’re living inside The Event. This age is so difficult to explain and comprehend because that’s really different.
This age is itself The Event — yet an “event” is something we humans
think of as happening in the blink of an eye. This is, in geological
time — but not in human time. To reconcile these two perspectives is
very, very difficult for the human mind. It’s like seeing with two
different sets of eyes at once.Let me try to distill that, so you understand how different this age really is going to be.

Just apply the formula at the End of History — and don’t worry about it. We weren’t going to run out of planet. Because in all this, nature’s job was just to keep on giving us stuff for free. The trees breathed out air for free, the rain poured, the ocean currents surged — and to the way of thinking of the neoliberal mind, left over from Ages of Empire and Industry, that free stuff was an afterthought. It’d just be there forever.And yet here we are. A civilization, running out of clean air, water, food, energy. Prices skyrocketing. Economies in turmoil. Fascisms erupting. Pandemics igniting.Read More

It Feels Like the End of an Era Because the Age of Extinction Is Beginning:

I recently read an article by Douglas Rushkoff, one of the age’s great thinkers. He
was invited to speak to an “ultra wealthy” group in the American West,
so he did what us nerds do, prepared a little talk. And when he got
there, he realized — LOL — it was five billionaires who wanted to pick
his brain about whether their Luxury Doomsday Bunkers were going to make it.

You
see, these idiots thought — think — that there’s going to some kind
of…event. A sudden cataclysm, during which they’ll be able to rush to
their luxury bunkers, and eat hydroponic food and be protected by their
Imperial Guard of Navy Seal mercenaries for…what…the rest of their
lives? While the rest of us out here are taken up to heaven in some
version of the Rapture.

They don’t get it. There’s not going to be an event. Because we’re already living inside The Event. See the planet dying? That’s The Event.
It’s not going to happen overnight — at least in the mayfly timescale
of a human life. And yet it’s happening, increasingly horrifically,
every single season.

We’re living inside The Event. This age is so difficult to explain and comprehend because that’s really different.
This age is itself The Event — yet an “event” is something we humans
think of as happening in the blink of an eye. This is, in geological
time — but not in human time. To reconcile these two perspectives is
very, very difficult for the human mind. It’s like seeing with two
different sets of eyes at once.

Let me try to distill that, so you understand how different this age really is going to be.

It Feels Like the End of an Era Because the Age of Extinction Is Beginning: I recently read an article by Douglas Rushkoff, one of the age’s great thinkers. He
was invited to speak to an “ultra wealthy” group in the American West,
so he did what us nerds do, prepared a little talk. And when he got
there, he realized — LOL — it was five billionaires who wanted to pick
his brain about whether their Luxury Doomsday Bunkers were going to make it.You
see, these idiots thought — think — that there’s going to some kind
of…event. A sudden cataclysm, during which they’ll be able to rush to
their luxury bunkers, and eat hydroponic food and be protected by their
Imperial Guard of Navy Seal mercenaries for…what…the rest of their
lives? While the rest of us out here are taken up to heaven in some
version of the Rapture.They don’t get it. There’s not going to be an event. Because we’re already living inside The Event. See the planet dying? That’s The Event.
It’s not going to happen overnight — at least in the mayfly timescale
of a human life. And yet it’s happening, increasingly horrifically,
every single season.We’re living inside The Event. This age is so difficult to explain and comprehend because that’s really different.
This age is itself The Event — yet an “event” is something we humans
think of as happening in the blink of an eye. This is, in geological
time — but not in human time. To reconcile these two perspectives is
very, very difficult for the human mind. It’s like seeing with two
different sets of eyes at once.Let me try to distill that, so you understand how different this age really is going to be.Read More

Climate Insanity: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Show a Sharp Rise in 2021:

An analysis published this week found that
government subsidies bolstering the production and consumption of coal,
oil, and gas nearly doubled in 2021, even as climate scientists warned
that fossil fuel development must be rapidly cut off if the
international community is to have any hope of stopping runaway
planetary warming.

Data compiled by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and
the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that 51 governments around
the world—including the United States, Germany, Canada, China, Russia,
and Saudi Arabia—provided a combined $697.2 billion in tax breaks and
other handouts to the fossil fuel industry last year, up from $362.4
billion in 2020.

The International Monetary Fund has estimated that total global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to nearly $6 trillion in 2020.

“The insanity continues,” climate scientist Bill McGuire tweeted in response to the new figures.

Climate Insanity: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Show a Sharp Rise in 2021: An analysis published this week found that
government subsidies bolstering the production and consumption of coal,
oil, and gas nearly doubled in 2021, even as climate scientists warned
that fossil fuel development must be rapidly cut off if the
international community is to have any hope of stopping runaway
planetary warming.Data compiled by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and
the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that 51 governments around
the world—including the United States, Germany, Canada, China, Russia,
and Saudi Arabia—provided a combined $697.2 billion in tax breaks and
other handouts to the fossil fuel industry last year, up from $362.4
billion in 2020.The International Monetary Fund has estimated that total global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to nearly $6 trillion in 2020.“The insanity continues,” climate scientist Bill McGuire tweeted in response to the new figures.Read More

Pierre Poilievre elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada – National | Globalnews.ca:

The party veteran and former cabinet minister, known for his
combative style, won a resounding first-ballot victory – with 68 per
cent of support – that prompted applause to erupt in the room of
Conservative faithful at a downtown Ottawa convention centre.

Jean
Charest, the former Quebec premier who likely had the best chance of
preventing Poilievre from winning the leadership, earned just 16 per
cent of support on the first ballot, placing him in distant second
place.

Poilievre also earned widespread support across the
country, being the first choice for Conservative party voters in nearly
every riding.

Pierre Poilievre elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada – National | Globalnews.ca: The party veteran and former cabinet minister, known for his
combative style, won a resounding first-ballot victory – with 68 per
cent of support – that prompted applause to erupt in the room of
Conservative faithful at a downtown Ottawa convention centre.Jean
Charest, the former Quebec premier who likely had the best chance of
preventing Poilievre from winning the leadership, earned just 16 per
cent of support on the first ballot, placing him in distant second
place.Poilievre also earned widespread support across the
country, being the first choice for Conservative party voters in nearly
every riding.Read More

Five policy questions Tory leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre hasn’t answered:

What Poilievre has vowed to do is cancel the federal carbon price,
which he calls a tax, and scrap environmental impact assessment
legislation and the ban on oil tankers off the coast of northern British
Columbia, which the Liberal government passed in 2019.

He argues these measures have stymied the country’s ability to get
energy projects, such as pipelines, built. Poilievre also promised to
end the import of oil from “foreign dictatorships,” boost oil production
in Newfoundland and Labrador, and support an east-west pipeline.

Poilievre has suggested he would rely on technology to reduce emissions but he hasn’t elaborated on what that means.

Five policy questions Tory leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre hasn’t answered:
What Poilievre has vowed to do is cancel the federal carbon price,
which he calls a tax, and scrap environmental impact assessment
legislation and the ban on oil tankers off the coast of northern British
Columbia, which the Liberal government passed in 2019.
He argues these measures have stymied the country’s ability to get
energy projects, such as pipelines, built. Poilievre also promised to
end the import of oil from “foreign dictatorships,” boost oil production
in Newfoundland and Labrador, and support an east-west pipeline.
Poilievre has suggested he would rely on technology to reduce emissions but he hasn’t elaborated on what that means.Read More