Almost the size of Belgium
Also, the fires that destroy forests that could have absorbed some of the CO2 also fill the air with soot which…raises temperatures further.
Russia has declared a state of emergency in five Siberian regions after wildfires engulfed an area of forest almost the size of Belgium amid record high temperatures as a result of climate change.
Officials said 2.7 million hectares of forest (about 10,400 square miles) were ablaze on Tuesday as soaring temperatures, lightning storms and strong winds combined, sending smoke hundreds of miles to reach some of Russia’s biggest regional cities.
…
Environmental groups worry that in addition to the destruction of carbon-absorbing forest, the carbon dioxide, smoke and soot released will accelerate temperature increases that are already melting permafrost in northern Russia. An estimated 12 million hectares of Russian forest has burned this year.
It will keep getting worse and it will keep getting worse faster.
Yep. The second part being the real killer. It’s entirely possible that most of us reading this will experience some kind of societal collapse due to climate change. A good case could be made that we’re already seeing the first signs of it.
Yep and yep.
I was listening to the presidential candidates the other night on the debates, and none of them are willing to be as alarmed as is called for. Most of them are saying we can’t just make big structural changes, Americans won’t stand for it, but we need to do something. Which mostly seems to be making sure people can buy things.
I don’t expect to live for many more decades but I have no doubt at all that severe societal crashes will happen before I utter my dying curse on all humanity (quite distinct from my daily one). I’m sure James is right and it’s already happening. We’ve all noticed a distinct change in how politics are done. Over here we have Brexit which we all know is an eye-wateringly self-destructive racist backlash to… well, to what exactly? Could it be that everyone kind of knows we’re fucked and we’re instinctively piling our plates at the buffet so nobody else can get our sausage rolls?
I’ve no idea, of course, but that might explain the new cruelty in politics. Or the new kind of cruelty in politics. Or the sudden global understanding that we don’t need no stinking checks and balances. Or whatever the fuck it is that’s going on. Either way, it isn’t just the climate that’s getting worse at an increasing rate.
Maybe it’s a massive displacement activity. “Uh oh we’re fucked – quick, let’s do something distracting! Like making a whole bunch of misogynist racist shits heads of state!”
It could be. Or it could be the massive societal regression to childhood that it seems to be. Or both. Fuck knows.
Here’s what we do know:
1. The climate is getting worse for almost everything that has to live in it.
2. It’s getting worse at an increasing rate.
3. We can’t predict how the rate of getting-worseness is going to change, but we are certain it is going to increase.
4. Feedback loops are establishing themselves and while their effects are largely unpredictable they are without the slightest doubt really, really bad.
Here’s what we’re doing:
1. Everything we were already doing, which is why we are fucked in the first place.
2. Electing people who will make sure that the people with the biggest interest in fucking the environment are in charge of it
3. Creating a new kind of politics in which lies are seen as legitimate things to say and a new kind of media in which optics are all.
4. Creating politics where branding is more important than policy and accountability is impossible.
5. Endorsing cruelty at every level of politics and, as a direct result, society.
6. Reducing funding for just about every single thing that makes life better.
I’m done, but we can definitely get this list up to fifty points without even trying.
It looks a lot to me like what your crazy militia people do. Stockpile guns and corned beef and shoot everyone who doesn’t look like us. That should have been the Brexit slogan. Well, it kind of was, really. You’ll remember the current Prime Minister’s previous lies about the EU and the NHS.
Brexit was about racism. Trump is, Johnson is, various leaders around Europe are… This is because there’s some big giant glug of racism to be used. It’s so big that idiots like Trump and Johnson are using it without realising it.
I think racism and sexism are very slow-burning fuels. We’ll never be rid of them. The reason they exist is that people want them to and now they’re sanctioned by all our political leaders.