If anything, Bill may be understating the challenges coming quickly. The WBT rise is already being observed here in the States and is going to be an issue in the eastern agricultural areas, where transpiration is highest. The western bread basket areas west of the cross timbers will have another suite of problems all their own. The situation is very dynamic and is going to make even medium range agricultural production forecasting an unenviable task.
I wish I could come up with a matching rejoinder on how cancer, again mostly the result of our mindless poisoning of the air, water and soil, is killing so many of us so ruthlessly. Being a pathologist practicing in a city with a tertiary cancer hospital in Nepal, I am witness to the moments of cancer diagnosis when lives of countless people are upended forever.
It is heartbreaking to give a diagnosis of lethal, often terminal cancer to the kids and teenagers. It is no less heartbreaking to counsel a pregnant or a nursing mother, or their families with the devastating news. I remember a case of a 18 years old boy who requested me: please finish this procedure fast so that I can catch up with my regular futsal game. He was already diagnosed with a lethal type of Leukemia (blood cancer in colloquial terms) even though the news was not broken to him yet. Given the state of cancer care in Nepal his survival was a matter of months rather than years.
Sometimes it occurs to me that, when it comes to climate crisis, we as humanity are in a collective denial which is even more confounding than that of the boy because the news has been already broken to us. What we need right now is a forceful measure akin to a chemotherapy: painful, yes; costly, yes; but far better and cheaper than non-action leading to painful death. In Nepal, I have been doing everything from writing articles and a book to making videos about the urgency of the situation but very few people are receptive to this because they are fixated at the instant pleasure that consumption gives.
The huge challenge in front of us as climate communicators is, I think, pricking the bubble of convenience and habit the people are accustomed to. That is like making people fear cancer before they get it themselves so that it can be prevented in real life.
As always, I am grateful to Bill for inspiring me to pivot to the Climate issue from other social issues. That inspiration mostly came from your books 'A Guide to the End of the World' and 'Hothouse Earth' but this newsletter has also been very valuable with timely insights. Besides, this has been the biggest source from which my foreign subscribers have been reaching to my own newsletter. Cool Earth readers interested in the devastating impacts that the wildfires are having in poor countries like Nepal can check my latest post: A trip to my native village has killed something inside me https://jiwankshetry.substack.com/p/a-trip-to-my-native-village-has-killed
Bill. I notice that night temperatures are increasing faster than day temperatures, faster still in urban areas, and that from a study in Japan all-cause mortality increased above a daily mean minimum (presumably dry-bulb) temperature of 25C. For those in temperate climates that might bring the prospect of intolerable heat closer to home.
Looks like we’ve missed the boat on renewables already. Could a very rapid expansion of nuclear help - what’s your position on these new ‘mini’ nuclear plants Bill?
Renewables are massively ahead of nuclear. China build wind and solar in the first six months of this year equal to the entire capacity of the UK electricity system. Nuclear has no role to play in the climate emergency. Thousands of reactors would need to be built, including in nations that don't have the money to do so. Nuclear, generally, is too slow, too costly, makes power that is far too expensive, and is too risky. In addition, it doesn't work well in heatwaves, and most reactors are coastally located and under considerable threat of rising sea levels. All best, Bill.
Scary but insightful. Knowledge is power.
If anything, Bill may be understating the challenges coming quickly. The WBT rise is already being observed here in the States and is going to be an issue in the eastern agricultural areas, where transpiration is highest. The western bread basket areas west of the cross timbers will have another suite of problems all their own. The situation is very dynamic and is going to make even medium range agricultural production forecasting an unenviable task.
I wish I could come up with a matching rejoinder on how cancer, again mostly the result of our mindless poisoning of the air, water and soil, is killing so many of us so ruthlessly. Being a pathologist practicing in a city with a tertiary cancer hospital in Nepal, I am witness to the moments of cancer diagnosis when lives of countless people are upended forever.
It is heartbreaking to give a diagnosis of lethal, often terminal cancer to the kids and teenagers. It is no less heartbreaking to counsel a pregnant or a nursing mother, or their families with the devastating news. I remember a case of a 18 years old boy who requested me: please finish this procedure fast so that I can catch up with my regular futsal game. He was already diagnosed with a lethal type of Leukemia (blood cancer in colloquial terms) even though the news was not broken to him yet. Given the state of cancer care in Nepal his survival was a matter of months rather than years.
Sometimes it occurs to me that, when it comes to climate crisis, we as humanity are in a collective denial which is even more confounding than that of the boy because the news has been already broken to us. What we need right now is a forceful measure akin to a chemotherapy: painful, yes; costly, yes; but far better and cheaper than non-action leading to painful death. In Nepal, I have been doing everything from writing articles and a book to making videos about the urgency of the situation but very few people are receptive to this because they are fixated at the instant pleasure that consumption gives.
The huge challenge in front of us as climate communicators is, I think, pricking the bubble of convenience and habit the people are accustomed to. That is like making people fear cancer before they get it themselves so that it can be prevented in real life.
As always, I am grateful to Bill for inspiring me to pivot to the Climate issue from other social issues. That inspiration mostly came from your books 'A Guide to the End of the World' and 'Hothouse Earth' but this newsletter has also been very valuable with timely insights. Besides, this has been the biggest source from which my foreign subscribers have been reaching to my own newsletter. Cool Earth readers interested in the devastating impacts that the wildfires are having in poor countries like Nepal can check my latest post: A trip to my native village has killed something inside me https://jiwankshetry.substack.com/p/a-trip-to-my-native-village-has-killed
Bill. I notice that night temperatures are increasing faster than day temperatures, faster still in urban areas, and that from a study in Japan all-cause mortality increased above a daily mean minimum (presumably dry-bulb) temperature of 25C. For those in temperate climates that might bring the prospect of intolerable heat closer to home.
Looks like we’ve missed the boat on renewables already. Could a very rapid expansion of nuclear help - what’s your position on these new ‘mini’ nuclear plants Bill?
Renewables are massively ahead of nuclear. China build wind and solar in the first six months of this year equal to the entire capacity of the UK electricity system. Nuclear has no role to play in the climate emergency. Thousands of reactors would need to be built, including in nations that don't have the money to do so. Nuclear, generally, is too slow, too costly, makes power that is far too expensive, and is too risky. In addition, it doesn't work well in heatwaves, and most reactors are coastally located and under considerable threat of rising sea levels. All best, Bill.
There’s been a lot of arguments on the left FOR nuclear power and this is the best response I’ve read to that dangerous thinking- https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1504/nuclear-powers-useful-idiots/