Look at this map to see how extensive is the expanding drought areas of the USA. The Department of Agriculture said 1,016 counties in 26 states are natural disaster areas.
US Drought Declared Widespread Natural Disaster | Common Dreams.
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just before i looked at your post, i read an interesting passage in the current book i’m reading, “tar sands showdown: canada and the new politics of oil in an age of climate change” by tony clarke. i’d like to share it with you here:
“new research is raising disturbing concerns that the warming of the north through greenhouse gas emissions may be triggering a self-perpetuating climate time bomb trapped in the permafrost. according to results of a 2008 study published by nature, the thawing of the permafrost releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at a rate that is five times faster than anticipated. as thawed permafrost releases greenhouse gases, which, in turn, trap more heat in the atmosphere, more permafrost thaws, creating a continuous self-perpetuating cycle, “the higher the temperature gets, the more permafrost we melt, the more tendency it is to become a more vicious cycle,” said chris field, director of global ecology at the carnegie institution in washington, dc.”
“in the summer of 2008, the journal science published a study showing that one kind of carbon trapped in the permafrost, called yedoma, is much more prevalent than originally thought and may amount to 100 times the volume of carbon released into the air each year by the burning of fossil fuels”
our capitalist economic system, which is being force fed down the throats of so many the world over as part of the new colonialism, has caused the triple crisis of peak oil, climate change, and the decimation of the natural world (fresh water, forests, fish, wildlife, biodiversity, ocean habitats, fertile soil)to converge upon us.
it is time for a paradigm shift in our thought and actions toward a more just, moral and compassionate future. sure the truth will set us free, but only if we act accordingly on the knowledge we have gained. sadly, so far, that doesn’t seem to be happening.
Thanks for the info on permafrost exposure and the vicious warming cycle being unleashed as a result – more consequences of warming facilitated by modern human behaviors. The issue of changing people’s minds and hearts is not an easy one since it can’t be forced. Consciousness shifts that come from places deep within, prompted by external realities, do happen in history, but they cannot be predicted even as they seem long overdue. It seems without the consciousness shifts emerging from the viscera that then in turn influence the cognitive the earth will be correcting us without our active participation. Extinction or near so is a likely consequence. Meanwhile, we continue to explore right livelihood and share that process with as many as possible.
“Consciousness shifts that come from places deep within, prompted by external realities, do happen in history”
absolutely, as you personally can attest to.
“It seems without the consciousness shifts emerging from the viscera that then in turn influence the cognitive the earth will be correcting us without our active participation.”
a species that would allow that to continue is hardly worthy of the proud, self-appointed name, homo sapiens. perhaps homo hubris, homo ignoramus, or homo deleterious is more in order.
Agreed.