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Thoughts for TomorrowCOP29 and Mahatma GandhiYet another COP has passed with little achieved that seriously tackles climate change. It's clear now that, one way or another, we all are suffering, or will suffer severe consequences of climate change sometime in the future, directly or indirectly depending on where we live and how rapid the changes are. So, whether it's flooding, hurricanes, forest fires, unbearable heat or the wider impact on society of food shortages, migration, or civil unrest etc, we will all be affected somewhere and somehow."Oh really?" you say. "It's not clear at all, probably a hoax!" Then let's have your detailed arguments, the evidence that refutes the consensus of just about every expert on Earth. Yes, there are different conspiracy theories ranging from uninformed conjecture to webs of disinformation linking climate change to deliberate human manipulation, and so on and so forth, but not one of these emerges with any consensus. I know that many people attending COPs do see things as they really are, whatever the official position of their masters. The distress of those from the most immediately threatened countries has been well reported as has the deceit of fossil fuel lobbyists using COP29 to promote their commercial interests. However, there's only anecdotal evidence of what many officials from the countries most responsible for the climate emergency are thinking privately. Obviously the politicians among them fear the next election and the industrialists that falling sales of their products will see them out of a job, but isn't there at least some discomfort when their behaviour disconnects with very basic beliefs and values? I don't believe that very basic beliefs and values differ so much when it comes to culture, religion or even politics. Isn't honest recognition of the common good a universal value that must be reckoned with? Some brave souls try to work for the common good inside their commercial organizations doing what they can to end support for fossil fuel interests in ways that are likely to be at odds with their company's policies. Even sabotage has been reported inside the fossil fuel industry itself by employees who at great risk to their personal livelihood, just cannot live with a guilty conscience. The point here is that there's not much time left and the degree of success for adaptation and mitigation for climate change depends on how quickly very large numbers of we humans can personally act for the greater good, regardless of our circumstances.
Here's the quote* by Mahatma Gandhi. "We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a person changes their own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards them. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do." I think he still makes sense! EcoBud *Updated by replacing 'man' with 'person'. Money! Money! Money! Is a Rich Man's World Realistic?I was confused when I first visited a supermarket in the USA, having to choose between vast ranges and varieties of products but I was soon trapped in a consumerism loop. I would purchase several things and discard more than I really needed. Then I'd happily go back again, for more unnecessary stuff!The trouble is the more money we have, the more power we have to take anything away from the world that we happen to want. We acquire and probably waste more and more things; food, clothes, vehicles, second homes, land, private aeroplanes - whatever! The planet's resources are finite so, inevitably, the richer we become as individuals, the less becomes available to those who really are in need, wherever they happen to be on the globe.
Unfortunately, the financial system was created years ago for a very different world where exploitation of the planet's resources was pursued as if there was no tomorrow. G The top 1% of the world's population already own half of the world's net wealth, giving billionaires enormous power over politicians, the media, finance and the large international companies with a vested interest in maintaining the fossil fuel industry. Is a systemic change towards a more cooperative way of sharing resources realistic? Could excessive accumulation of wealth and money be curbed somehow to achieve a more equitable distribution of the planet's resources without yet more ecological damage? Systemic change is not necessarily unrealistic as history proves with the abolition of slavery, women's rights, decolonisation etc. etc. but changing the status quo requires so many hearts and minds to change and there's not much time left! Well then, reducing the power of individual wealth is just not realistic. After all, money is absolutely necessary for everything. Or is it? In June 1962 Satish Kumar and a friend walked from India on a 'Pilgrimage for Peace' to Moscow, Paris, London, and Washington D.C. They carried no money at all on a trip lasting two and a half years relying only on the cooperation, friendship and support of the people they happened to meet on the way. Here's what Satish Kumar says about realism: "Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell people who call me "unrealistic" to show me what their realism has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly exaggerated concept." I'm inclined to agree! EcoBud Artificial Intelligence and Real Stupidity.AI's ability to analyze and detect complex patterns in massive data sources is expected to bring new tools for the good of humanity. Examples applied to climate change and environmental issues include efficient monitoring of indicators such as CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, changes in the mass of glaciers, rising sea levels, methane emissions and deforestation.![]() All well and good but apart from its huge demands for energy, careless development of AI could be disastrous. AI is already used to generate videos that create realistic but fake images of celebrities falsely advertising products. There may be worse to come. For example, how, if at all, should AI bring persons, 'back from the dead'? Seeing a realistic Elvis in new performances could be harmless enough entertainment but what if future developments make realistic face-to-face interactions with an apparently real Elvis possible? Also, the ability to create as many new episodes as you like of your favorite television programs is evidently a fascinating possibility for the future. But fascination can be dangerous if large numbers of individuals become obsessed and isolated in unreal worlds of their own making and are also at the mercy of those seeking to broadcast disinformation about climate and political issues in ways that AI could make more and more convincing. Isn't isolation from reality the very opposite of what's needed to face the climate emergency? No easy answers but free and unregulated Artificial Intelligence is Real Stupidity! EcoBud How should we Live?Not a few of us, right now, are dealing with hurricanes, flooding, forest fires and other potential disasters made more likely by the changing climate. Confronting these threats in the short term is bad enough but what of the future? Current efforts to reduce CO2 emissions can slow down and hopefully arrest further global warming but climate changes already on the way are here to stay and climate scientists have recently predicted warming of at least 2.5C this century, with disastrous results for humanity.![]() At the very least, for the sake of the young and future generations, let's think long term and actually replace whatever unsustainable lifestyles led to the climate emergency in the first place. No easy solutions but living in smaller self-sufficient communities where everyone can meet most of their daily needs within a short walk or bike ride is an attractive ideal and has been implemented in several cities such as Paris. There's less need to travel, greatly limiting the use of energy guzzling vehicles including electric ones. As for air travel, although 1% of the population in their private jets are responsible for half the world's aviation emissions the other 99% are collectively guilty too! Perhaps greater and better use of communication technology such as virtual reality could help to reduce travel needs? It's easy to speculate but long term plans and actions should be carefully considered and acted upon, sooner rather than later. If not, it could be too late for our wonderful planet and the inseparable part of it named 'humanity'! EcoBud Challenging MisinformationMisinformation about climate change persists and often goes unchallenged. Unfortunately, when the clear findings of expert climatologists are disputed it can be difficult to challenge misinformation without the necessary expertise. Also, when politely drawing attention to misinformation, it's very discouraging to be subject to abuse and the absence of civilized debate!
Here's a suggestion. Scatter brief comments that gently point to good information among the bad. Not comments inviting debate and engagement but simple, short, relevant and diplomatically worded statements of fact. Hopefully, long threads of negative comments and misinformation would then become more positive by the tactful insertion of helpful notes. For example ..... @igotit 2 wks ago If done on a large organized scale could this not help reduce the influence of misinformation? Crazy idea or not? Any thoughts? EcoBud WASTE!My battery-operated hedge cutter came with an instruction manual of about 300 pages. OK, detailed instructions? Not at all - I tore out the one single page in English and recycled the rest!Imagine the waste generated all over the world by purchases of this hedge cutter as each buyer discards every page not in their own language. Imagine the energy needed to deliver these unnecessarily heavy manuals, the trees felled to make it possible and the admin costs of organising scores of translations, probably directed from a single country. It's an obvious example of waste but created in ways that can be difficult to assess because of our reliance on complex transport and communications systems. Is waste unavoidable? Just take a look at Nature. Here's an extremely complex system of systems where recycling is the norm and nothing goes to waste. For us, production and consumption may be necessary but can't we learn to restrain our activities without exploiting natural resources so that the entire planet with all its lifeforms, including ourselves, is threatened by our wasting ways? EcoBud Electrification is the name
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