David Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizon

[bronxiteforever]

The Guardian
Naturalist tells leaders at UN climate summit that fate of world is in their hands
By Damian Carrington
Published: 07:29 EST Monday, 03 December 2018

The collapse of civilisation and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN climate change summit in Poland.

The naturalist was chosen to represent the world’s people in addressing delegates of almost 200 nations who are in Katowice to negotiate how to turn pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate deal into reality.

As part of the UN’s people’s seat initiative, messages were gathered from all over the world to inform Attenborough’s address on Monday. “Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change,” he said. “If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/03/david-attenborough-collapse-civilisation-on-horizon-un-climate-summit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

At a time when America needs its best leaders on this issue, we have the worst. Today I read that we are to drill in Alaska and Zinke moves with speed to destroy our National Parks. The natural world is sick and human activities are the cause. One party, The Republican Party, is invested in the destruction of the natural world in order to plunder. One thing you learn from recent American history is that the GOP is never concerned with secondary consequences of actions. But given the state of the natural world, it’s clear the bill is coming due. To quote a Noble Laureate, “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing”.

[Lulu KC]

1. I have been pondering this for a while

He is, of course, not the first to state this but may bring a smidgen more credibility to the discussion.
We meet every item on every checklist about the fall of a civilization, and it is global, and it is suicide/homocide at the species level.
However, I recently started wondering if the civilization that is actually falling is White Patriarchy, and if, right at the last minute (the way humans operate), those who are oppressed by this uncivilized civilization aren't going to crawl out from under it and turn it around. On a dime.

Reading Who Do We Choose To Be by Margaret Wheatley is helping.

[bronxiteforever]

4. Great and interesting post.

Time is running and I don’t see world patriarchy dying out anytime soon. It is in full bloom in many other countries yet maybe in the US though. Given the wins in the midterms and the growing diversity of the House there is hope there.

Sounds like a good book, I appreciate the recommendation!

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[keithbvadu2]

3. But Christianity, esp. Prosperity Christianity, says it's ok to plunder the earth and abuse lesser p

But Christianity, esp. Prosperity Christianity, says it's ok to plunder the earth and abuse lesser people because we are only here for a short while until we enter heaven.

(Sarcasm thingie goes here)

[The Liberal Lion]

5. I've been pondering for a awhile what is the end game with these people who are bent on destroying

the environment. The environment, that is, which is conducive to human existence on this planet. I wondered to myself "do they not know they too will perish"? I considered this along with the march of automation that is displacing workers and keeping those who do still work at wages that are fit for indentured servants only. Then I saw the story about private companies making the next moon landing. As well I thought of trump's space force, and Musk's venture to Mars and everything became apparent to me as to what the end game must be. What is being planned for humanity? See the movie Elysium and it is there you will find your answers.

[Ponietz]

6. Profiteers are like addicts hustling for the next fix

They are unconcerned or oblivious to the consequences. It seems to me that a border wall, encouraging toxic white entitlement, alignment with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and aggressive moves toward Canada are the short-term fixes for them. 10 billion people by 2050. We need a new economic paradigm.

[The Liberal Lion]

8. Indeed we do new a new paradigm

I talked on a different thread about the work of Jacques Fresco, his Venus Project and Resource Based Economics. It's what I'm leaning towards. If you haven't heard of him or his work I think it's worth taking a look at.

[Ponietz]

10. I admire Fresco's work

Also, see Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein.

“Sacred Economics explores avant-garde concepts of the New Economics, including negative-interest currencies, local currencies, resource-based economics, gift economies, and the restoration of the commons.”

[link:https://charleseisenstein.org/books/sacred-economics/|

[The Liberal Lion]

11. I will check it out.

Thank you

[Cheviteau]

7. I Don't Like Wet Blankets.

I'll be one anyway. I believe we passed the tipping point (of no return) some 20-25 years ago. Moreover, I believe most scientists believe as I do. The alarm bells are being rung, not as a call to action, but to turn our attention to what is coming. At most, we may be able to kick the can down the road for a decade before our situation becomes so chaotic as to be unliveable.

[calimary]

9. Totally get that, Cheviteau.

Sometimes I actually find it comforting that I’m no longer young. I hope to be gone before the polar bears disappear.

It hurts my heart. I have kids. And I’m soon to be a grandmother. What kind of world will we have left them?

[Mickju]

12. I totally agree with you, Cheviteau.

Things are dire and we don't have all that long.

[misanthrope]

13. Agreed

We've had ample warning on all of this but chose to do nothing because of the inconvenience. There's nothing new there. Ask a Passenger pigeon or Tasmanian tiger how proactive humans are. If the past is any guide, I expect us to discover how late in the process it actually is and how we've underestimated the feedback loops.

Considering what current global trends are, the prospects are dim. Climate change's drought, famine, fires and disasters will cause wide-scale human migration. As we've seen in the U.S.A. and Europe in the last decade, the more it grows then the more it be met with reactionary nativism and turns to authoritarianism. That in turn increases chances for war, which hastens further environmental damage. You can see the spiral created.

I'm glad I'll be gone before 2050. When I was younger, I cherished a future for mankind like Roddenberry's Star Trek. Now, I think something closer to Mad Max or Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is almost unavoidable.

We had our shot and we blew it.