@WoodsDweller getting people to understand the seriousness of climate change is that the numbers of the temperature increase seem so small. Even converted to Fahrenheit instead of Celsius temperatures, it a small number. As far as I know, the sensitivity of the earth to very small temperature changes is not discussed in schools. I don't think kids hear about the very small temperature differences that affect growing climates, the difference in temperatures between tropical and temperate zones, etc. or even the small differences in rainfall amounts that make the difference between a desert and a farming area.

And that can make it hard to grasp the idea that a 1.5 or 2.0 increase can make or break the earth and its ability to support life. People my age were well into adulthood before we ever heard about these things or carbon or methane. And by the time we were adults, drastic changes in western lifestyles were already needed.

This article popped up last week. There's an embedded video that I haven't watched, maybe I'll do that while I make coffee.

Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion/XR recently interviewed Peter Carter, M.D., who has the distinguished title – Expert IPCC Reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. ... Dr. Carter is currently reviewing the 6th Assessment (AR6) of the IPCC. Additionally, he reviewed the IPCC Special 1.5°C Report of 2018 ...

You know your title is distinguished when it has the acronym AND the full name in it.

The upcoming 26th COP (Conference of the Parties) to be held November 2021 in Glasgow ... ever since COP1 in Berlin in 1995 ... the annualized CO2 emissions rate is +60% since COP1, not decreasing, not going down, not once.

Whatever they're doing at those conferences, it doesn't seem to be helping.

Dr. Carter praised the current Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres (Portuguese) for telling the truth. In his first public statement about climate change, he famously zeroed in on the heart of the issue: “Climate change is an existential threat to the survival of life on Earth, particularly including human kind.”

We hear Bernie Sanders (correctly) refer to climate change as an "existential threat" as well. The language is plain, but I don't think the point is getting across. If we get this wrong we will cease to exist, aka die, hence "crisis". OTOH we can't even get people to wear masks.

global temperature for the first six months of 2020 registered 1.3°C above baseline, a number that has new significance ever since the IPCC Special Report/2018 about the risks of exceeding 1.5°C.

Global average temperature rise as of last year 1.1 C, this says first half of this year 1.3 C. 0.2 C in one year? Yeah, that's going to go well. IIRC the full year data is released in late February or early March.

2.0°C above baseline is, in Dr. Carter’s words: “Out of the question, a catastrophe!”
Carter: “A world at 1.5°C is a disastrous world, no question.”
Carter: “2°C is an impossible world.”
...
New research published only a couple of weeks ago shows atmospheric carbon dioxide now at the highest level in twenty-three million (23,000,000) years.
...
Moreover, there is random CO2 data that goes back as far as 40 million years, bringing to light one more bleak data point, namely: We are increasing CO2 faster than at any time over the past 40 million years that’s 100 to 200 times faster than natural background rates.

In the final analysis, survival of civilization that resembles the current setup means the notorious neoliberal brand of capitalism needs a major work-over. ...

According to Dr. Carter: We must-must-must change the world’s economic direction as the current system destroys our planet faster and ever faster. It’s the sixth mass extinction, accelerating at an unbelievable pace: “It is, for certain, the most rapid extinction Earth has ever experienced.” (Carter)...

Roger Hallam: “We’ve established two things so far in this interview: (1) If this (abuse, overuse of the climate) carries on, they’ll be no humans left; humans are going to die and it’ll be the end of the human race. (2) The mechanism for which this happens is the compounding effect of feedbacks triggering, and thereafter triggering more and more feedback loops and more trigger points.”

Accordingly, what’s evolving is a “slow death scenario” with hundreds of millions starving, which is the end game of excessive global warming.

"Hundreds of millions" seems like a quaint euphemism for "everyone".

“We’ll lose food production at 1.5°C.” (Carter)
...
“All of the accelerating data trends together result in a trend that the biosphere is headed in direction of collapse, meaning the human species will be lost.” (Carter)

Phew! Another 0.2 C, that's gotta take a long time to happen. We'll have plenty of time for gradual, incremental change that doesn't impact the stock market! Oh, wait, we had a 0.2 C increase this year. Oops.

Hallam: “If you have not got enough food and if you have infectious diseases, then, you’re going to get social breakdown ... they go exponential, they happen fast, it doesn’t just gradually creep up on societies; once a society passes a certain point, it will cascade downwards with slaughter and death. That’s what we’re looking at.”

It's the most basic social contract. People will put up with almost anything if you feed them. Once the food is gone they burn the place down.

But hey, did you see the Dow set a new record? Trump called a press conference and everything!

At the end of the day, Dr. Carter suggests a glimmer of hope

Because otherwise nobody will publish your article.

If you're still reading, let me recommend a tiny YouTube channel, Environmental Coffee House. Sandy runs it along with a few other folks. There usually aren't more than 50 of us in chat, we could use some more company. Sometimes it's just Sandy ranting, but they frequently review articles and do interviews. Here's last night's show:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaCjYDjwVw0]

@randtntx

me too

and been down on the bayous smelling that burning cane

and all.

It looks as if Food Not Bombs is going to need to exponentially expand its operation to keep up. Lets see if our government helps.

I like your cranberry recipe, sounds good. We make a homemade cranberry sauce and put a dash of Grand Marnier in it. I do like cranberries.

Wishing everyone a quiet, relaxed, calm, safe day.

@mimi
but we sure like watching them forage for bugs!

Thank you for sounds and images. It is strange to live with my heart close to Americans and forced to live with my body in what I would describe my German cage. The isolation of one's mind... has to stop. Fight it.

May you all find something to be thankful for.

Freedom for all the Turkeys!
Turkeys matter!

The wild turkey is one of America's most tenacious birds, known for fearlessly confronting and even chasing away potential threats. Benjamin Franklin famously preferred it as the national symbol over a bald eagle, writing in 1784 that "the Turk'y is in comparison a much more respectable Bird."

Signed - Turkeys United for Change.

@Azazello

(seem to remember something about some rich dude in Carolina in the 30's)
it all got so cheap, mixing family gatherings with buying shit. With you there.
Christ on a turkey sammich. Doesn't get much more gluttonous than that.
The spirit of giving thanks to nature with the harvest, the change of seasons
and basic appreciation of our world has been sold out to the trinket peddlers.

It's such a damn long way back.

Maybe, but for me today begins a season of dread. Did I say dread ? It's becoming an active hatred. From now until January 1, from one lame parade to the other one. It's all bullshit, from the bullshit Indian story to the bullshit Jesus story. All bullshit. A parade ? I hate a parade. Why must I pretend to care about some department store in New York City that is going bankrupt, if it isn't in bankruptcy already ? Fuck it, I say. Fuck Macy's. Fuck the Detroit Lions. Did I say bankrupt ? Yes. The whole Greatest Gen/Boomer/TV/consumer culture, it's all bankrupt. We're all supposed to eat too much today. And then we're all supposed to have a "New Year's Resolution" where we all resolve to lose the weight that we shouldn't have put on in the first place. Do you see ? The conformity, the awful conformity of the TV culture ? Then the other parade, the one in Pasadena. I think that one was once associated with an important football game. But there are no important football games. Fuck football, fuck it all the way down Colorado Boulevard. Black Friday ? Fuck Black Friday especially, one of the most recent innovations in the fake, corporate "holiday season." And the worst part ? The horrible inertia of the thing. It. Never. Changes. And buried within it all is the WW2 victory culture and the wars and the violence and the greed and the waste and the pressure to conform. Oh, it's all in there all right. Don't ever doubt that. This is 'Murka after all. Fuck Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Fuck the Grinch too. Fuck Santa Claus and that lame song about a white christmas. Fuck all those tired old tunes, sleigh rides and chestnuts and all of 'em. Fuck Judy Garland, and Paul McCartney and Mariah Carey while we're at it. Thankful ? I'm supposed to be thankful ? To who ? And for what ?
I will not be thankful. I will not eat too much and I will not go shopping. Fuck it all.
Happy Thanksgiving.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JodPHplACCE width:400 height:240]

@Azazello

if viewed on the tube.

Maybe, but for me today begins a season of dread. Did I say dread ? It's becoming an active hatred. From now until January 1, from one lame parade to the other one. It's all bullshit, from the bullshit Indian story to the bullshit Jesus story. All bullshit. A parade ? I hate a parade. Why must I pretend to care about some department store in New York City that is going bankrupt, if it isn't in bankruptcy already ? Fuck it, I say. Fuck Macy's. Fuck the Detroit Lions. Did I say bankrupt ? Yes. The whole Greatest Gen/Boomer/TV/consumer culture, it's all bankrupt. We're all supposed to eat too much today. And then we're all supposed to have a "New Year's Resolution" where we all resolve to lose the weight that we shouldn't have put on in the first place. Do you see ? The conformity, the awful conformity of the TV culture ? Then the other parade, the one in Pasadena. I think that one was once associated with an important football game. But there are no important football games. Fuck football, fuck it all the way down Colorado Boulevard. Black Friday ? Fuck Black Friday especially, one of the most recent innovations in the fake, corporate "holiday season." And the worst part ? The horrible inertia of the thing. It. Never. Changes. And buried within it all is the WW2 victory culture and the wars and the violence and the greed and the waste and the pressure to conform. Oh, it's all in there all right. Don't ever doubt that. This is 'Murka after all. Fuck Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Fuck the Grinch too. Fuck Santa Claus and that lame song about a white christmas. Fuck all those tired old tunes, sleigh rides and chestnuts and all of 'em. Fuck Judy Garland, and Paul McCartney and Mariah Carey while we're at it. Thankful ? I'm supposed to be thankful ? To who ? And for what ?
I will not be thankful. I will not eat too much and I will not go shopping. Fuck it all.
Happy Thanksgiving.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JodPHplACCE width:400 height:240]

@jakkalbessie
I'll cut Las Posadas some slack since it has deeper roots than the Macy's parade.

Let's to be thankful for this year. Spent yesterday sending donations to food banks.

Going to be a low key day with brother and sister in law. Their son is bringing over a Turkey, dressing rolls and half a pumpkin pie.

Not a real fan of turkey but the spirit of giving is nice. Have to agree with Arazello, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is awful on the super consumer attitude. My thanks is going to food banks in area that need more than anyone I know.

Thanks Magi for great tunes and maybe someday the cranberry recipe.

@Granma

new normal perhaps
zoom is safer
but ain't the same as
in person contact.

enjoy ok

With a few side dishes. But what I will miss is the wonderful relaxed conversations with, and of, family and friends. Holidays are usually slower paced days, a change from rushed, busy lives.

@RantingRooster

tanks man

[video:https://youtu.be/tfLyK2DVVUU]

Jaffa, Kree, drinks for everybody!

@travelerxxx

Lived fairly close to the both of you. That must feel a little strange to, as you said it, be so close yet so far away? How old are your grandkids?

It is a weirdly adaptive holiday. Spending it alone. Not Awful, but strange. My neighbors just sent a group text to 20 of us who all live on the same block which included a picture of her 90 year old grandfather in the kitchen with an apron on. Like I said. We’ve all adapted.

Enjoy the turkey dinner. (And the gravy!)

About to do a Zoom with the oldest daughter's family. They live about five miles from us, but we haven't seen them (in RL) since the pandemic began. Husband is able to work from home, daughter doesn't do the paycheck thing, and kiddos are doing online learning (we hope it's "learning," anyway). So, they have been holed up like bandits the entire time.

The younger daughter lives about a block from the oldest. Her kids haven't seen their cousins the entire time of Covid. That family has no choice but to work; kids have to attend physical school buildings. Quite a difference between the two families. Even though that family is out and about, they won't come to our house, as they realize it would be risky. They're not going to take that chance.

So, it's a weird holiday for us. Kids all so close, but so far.

We will probably have to avoid phone calls to my family in Kansas, as it would certainly turn political within thirty seconds. They are in a total-disconnet Trump world. It's gotten nearly impossible to talk to them. Sad. Oh, well.

I'd mentioned here earlier that due to my wife's restricted diet, we're slumming. She is allowed some turkey, and we're doing that. We're cooking only a portion of turkey breast, some canned stuff (Yes, Anja, canned ...LOL), and some non-starchy veggies. That's it ...and we'll be fine.

A year ago at this time the house was packed. Well over twenty folks, with almost no where to even sit. What a change!