Do you feel it?
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:22 am
Hi all. Dropped in tonight. It's been a long while. Since September, or thereabouts. Not much going on around the IAC... similar to other forums I've frequented in the past. The villages have all gone quite. Everyone is holding their breath. Do you feel it? That subtle undercurrent?
In 2007, I had this to say (with a fair bit in between): viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1372&p=20414#p20414
What's happened since? The economy has imploded and continues to fester, spreading its bile to Europe and slowly grinding Asia to a slower pace. Why? Peak oil, baby. It's here. In fact, it's likely past and we are now on the plateau, awaiting the plunge downward... Oil hits $100+ (during a global recession even--don't bother me with talk of a recovery until we see a drop in the food stamp numbers) a barrel and we can't function.
What else? Oh, the Arctic is venting methane like a sumbitch. Looks like we've triggered the mother of all feedbacks. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 76278.html Jury is still out, of course, as methane isn't showing up at monitoring stations as yet but at least one scientific team is alarmed by observed increases. Maybe we'll have a better understanding in a few months when Semiletov's paper comes out summarizing (I hope) the most recent observations in the Arctic.
Elsewhere, the weather has gone batshit insane. Northern Bay Area here and still waiting for some precipitation. We're still in fire season. That's just not right (It is January, right?). The southwest is in dire drought conditions, sharing the designation with Mexico and Argentina. Alaska burns and then experiences record snows. Records. Yeah, we're breaking them. Unfortunately on the high side of the scale.
I don't know about you all, but I'm scared, tempered with anticipation and an acceptance of the challenge issued. The change is coming--coming fast. It permeates my being. I've found a comfort in the change I did not have in the past. Resignation maybe. It's compelled me to effect that which I can control and not dwell in that which I cannot. The thing that worries me the most is not grinding poverty or hunger. It is that we have left our children a world that will not support humanity. We cannot exist without our environment. Adaptive we may be (via culture), but we all need to eat. And we all need a place in which heat exhaustion does not make life impossible. I'm profoundly worried for my daughter. Or maybe Ritter is just drunk again.
All this to say: "Hi! What are you all up to?"
In 2007, I had this to say (with a fair bit in between): viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1372&p=20414#p20414
What's happened since? The economy has imploded and continues to fester, spreading its bile to Europe and slowly grinding Asia to a slower pace. Why? Peak oil, baby. It's here. In fact, it's likely past and we are now on the plateau, awaiting the plunge downward... Oil hits $100+ (during a global recession even--don't bother me with talk of a recovery until we see a drop in the food stamp numbers) a barrel and we can't function.
What else? Oh, the Arctic is venting methane like a sumbitch. Looks like we've triggered the mother of all feedbacks. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 76278.html Jury is still out, of course, as methane isn't showing up at monitoring stations as yet but at least one scientific team is alarmed by observed increases. Maybe we'll have a better understanding in a few months when Semiletov's paper comes out summarizing (I hope) the most recent observations in the Arctic.
Elsewhere, the weather has gone batshit insane. Northern Bay Area here and still waiting for some precipitation. We're still in fire season. That's just not right (It is January, right?). The southwest is in dire drought conditions, sharing the designation with Mexico and Argentina. Alaska burns and then experiences record snows. Records. Yeah, we're breaking them. Unfortunately on the high side of the scale.
I don't know about you all, but I'm scared, tempered with anticipation and an acceptance of the challenge issued. The change is coming--coming fast. It permeates my being. I've found a comfort in the change I did not have in the past. Resignation maybe. It's compelled me to effect that which I can control and not dwell in that which I cannot. The thing that worries me the most is not grinding poverty or hunger. It is that we have left our children a world that will not support humanity. We cannot exist without our environment. Adaptive we may be (via culture), but we all need to eat. And we all need a place in which heat exhaustion does not make life impossible. I'm profoundly worried for my daughter. Or maybe Ritter is just drunk again.
All this to say: "Hi! What are you all up to?"