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Everyone that I know who really talks about it feels this way!

Lovelock: 'We can't save the planet'

Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet.

The man who achieved global fame for his theory that the whole earth is a single organism now believes that we can only hope that the earth will take care of itself in the face of completely unpredictable climate change.

Interviewed by Today presenter John Humphrys, videos of which you can see below, he said that while the earth's future was utterly uncertain, mankind was not aware it had "pulled the trigger" on global warming as it built its civilizations.

At the age of 90, Prof Lovelock is resigned to his own fate and the fate of the planet. Whether the planet saves itself or not, he argues, all we can do is to "enjoy life while you can".

Prof Lovelock does not pull his punches on the politicians and scientists who are set to gain from the idea that we can predict climate change and save the planet ourselves.

Scientists, he says, have moved from investigating nature as a vocation, to being caught in a career path where it makes sense to "fudge the data".

What is more, he predicts, the earth's climate will not conveniently comply with the models of modern climate scientists.

As the record winter cold testifies, he says, global temperatures move in "jerks and jumps", and we cannot confidently predict what the future holds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8594000/8594561.stm

"All we can do is to "enjoy life while you can".

What a bunch of bullshit. It's just as bad as Jehova's Witnesses, who have completely divorced themselves from social and political involvement because they think Satan has been given rule of the planet. What a bunch of pathetic whiners. Yes, the odds are hugely against us, but so what? Grow a backbone. Man up.

He's wrong, of course. I can change some lightbulbs in my house, buy a prius, compost my own doo-doo, and that will save the planet. I know it will! I can chant for it, and it will happen!

Nordic wrote:He's wrong, of course. I can change some lightbulbs in my house, buy a prius, compost my own doo-doo, and that will save the planet. I know it will! I can chant for it, and it will happen!

You better buy TWO Priuses!

"He who has the privilege to know, has the duty to act." -Einstein

operator kos wrote:"He who has the privilege to know, has the duty to act." -Einstein

So I will go and buy THREE Priuses!

AND RECYCLE! THAT SHOULD DO IT EH?

Ignore the program......mmm......beer!

anothershamus wrote:

operator kos wrote:"He who has the privilege to know, has the duty to act." -Einstein

So I will go and buy THREE Priuses!

AND RECYCLE! THAT SHOULD DO IT EH?

Ignore the program......mmm......beer!

You know the corporate version of environmentalism is not real environmentalism, so why are you being intentionally dense?

Uncle $cam wrote:

I resonate with George's observation that we are an arrogant, self-important species.

There's a term or two to describe that phenomenon:

anthropocentricity, or anthropocentrism.

And I particularly like his closing metaphor of The Big Electron.

It doesn't judge; it doesn't punish; and, it doesn't reward.

It just is.

Touche, George.

Say hello to The Big Electron for us, eh?

23 wrote:I resonate with George's observation that we are an arrogant, self-important species.

There's a term to describe that phenomenon:

anthropocentricity.

Not taking anything away from Carlin, who would be the first to say We're fucked, but there's a similar term that I think better captures the moment to which Lovelock speaks:

Anthropocene

Do you ever find yourself nodding at your computer screen, in complete agreement with whatever you are reading?

I did, with James Lovelock's articles. And with the Anthropocene article. I had been reading every thing I could come across online about Peak this, Peak that, Sustainability, Carbon Footprinting, Urban Gardening. I love Treehugger and the Green Channel, I say this without any irony whatsoever. This past year has been one long watershed (pun?) moment...I mean, surely, with so many people waking up, the answer should be fairly easy to envision and then carry out, right? But no matter how many hours I spent looking up CO2 data, no matter how many times I found that with every doomsayer zig, I could find a naysayer zag, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a moot point. If we are scrutinizing the data this closely, surely the well is already dry, no? (pun intended)

Don't get me wrong...I have a little one, and I want fervently to believe that lightbulbs & Priuses will fix this as much as the next guy, and to get the IBM-Nazi colluding bastards...the resource-hoarding-price-fixing scum-sucking Mother F'ers who did not see this coming but wouldn't have cared and currently do not care that it is coming/already here...but as I have limited use of time/resources, I think they would be better used making this upcoming transition a little easier for everyone to accept, and, I guess right now the best/most economical way is educating somehow the surviving ones about how we got here - the sooner we can get that Anthropocene Era designation, the better.

operator kos wrote:

anothershamus wrote:

operator kos wrote:"He who has the privilege to know, has the duty to act." -Einstein

So I will go and buy THREE Priuses!

AND RECYCLE! THAT SHOULD DO IT EH?

Ignore the program......mmm......beer!

You know the corporate version of environmentalism is not real environmentalism, so why are you being intentionally dense?

One word, sarcasm!

It may be a lost art, nowdays it is really hard to tell when people are pretending to be dumb and when they are really being dumb. I choose the former.

(Just so you know.) And baseline, I feel your pain, but as lovelock says:

"All we can do is to "enjoy life while you can".