As is often the case, my mailbox (and your comments) connect and blend to make a larger point. For instance:
J Olson’s comment to this post, A Phrase for Our Times: Soft Denialism:
The denial conversation is truly a “dead end conversation”.
Human beings have in recent times become dependent and embedded in a technology that produces GHG emissions. In this sense humans have become cyborgs, machine dependent organisms. We cannot imagine how we can change this situation, and so I have I coined the term for this conundrum the “Cyborg Syndrome”. This is the sense of helplessness we all feel as we consider the future, the sense that I being one person cannot fix this no matter how I live my life.
Since we are unwilling to give up our cyborg lifestyle the only possibility for survival lies in retooling our technology so that it is in balance with the biosphere. This is possible to achieve but it will take organized, focused and concerted effort in all spheres of human endeavour. We should support and encourage the creative, passionate and inventive thinkers among us who have the ability to solve this challenge.
Re-tooling technology is the way forward, the only way forward.
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Next in the mailbox, a New York Times alert provides a fine example of Soft Denialism: With Eye on 2016, Christie Resists Climate-Change Plan for New Jersey
WASHINGTON — As Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey explores a 2016 presidential campaign, he is under growing pressure from his State Legislature to rejoin a regional cap-and-trade program that would limit New Jersey’s carbon emissions — and likely hurt his chances for the Republican nomination. …
“No, I would not think of rejoining it,” Mr. Christie told reporters during a recent trip to Mexico. “I think it’s a completely useless plan.” …
Some political analysts say Mr. Christie‘s motive in staying out of the plan is to placate powerful conservative groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which are highly influential in Republican primaries and consider cap-and-trade programs energy taxes that hurt business and eliminate jobs. …
In 2011, Mr. Christie also acknowledged the human role in climate change: “When you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this, stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role, it’s time to defer to the experts.”
Since then, however, Mr. Christie has avoided speaking publicly about climate science.
Olson provides some hope – a concerted effort to retool; Christie dismisses any need to act in the face of well-funded vested interests. One tool delays the use of others.
