[Reader-list] 20,000 times the long term rate

[Nagraj Adve]

Bipin, thinking about it in  terms of 'solutions' reduces the enormity
and complexity of the problem. It's like some having a heart attack,
or a very serious heart problem, a crude but reasonable parallel. We
don't ask, "What's the solution?" We do however try to intervene with
urgency. Also, in the case of a serious heart situation, the
intervention is - for those who can afford it - commensurate with the
seriousness and urgency. We don't say, "Take a dispirin', or 'Stop
eating samosas', which is what a bunch of people are suggesting re
climate change (change your lightbulbs, let's get more efficient). We
rush them to a doctor/hospital.

As for 'solutions', I'm an activist, not a magician. Having said that,
for a while now, we have been arguing that there needs to be a
combination of reduced consumption by elites, Indian and non-Indian;
decentralized production and distribution of electricity to the degree
possible; use of renewables such as solar and wind in particular; much
greater promotion of public transport and cutting back on private
transport and flights. How we do this and still manage to generate
employment is one of the many tricky issues involved. Look there's a
lot else, but global warming and whole range of ecological and other
crises that have been spawned by industrial capitalism has further
called into question our entire development trajectory, what is being
produced, how and for whom, urbanization to the degree it has
happened, how our energy is being generated and used, and a whole
range of other questions. We need to foreground the concept of (and
hence struggles for) equity, not only between human beings, but
between current and future generations (who have as much a right to
the commons), and between humans and other species.
Nagraj

On 19 January 2011 21:42, Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in> wrote:
> Co2 level is increasing day by day. That’s true. What is the solution according to you? can you tell.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net] On Behalf Of Nagraj Adve
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 5:36 PM
> To: Sarai
> Subject: [Reader-list] 20,000 times the long term rate
>
> When I first began following global warming four years ago, articles
> would refer to carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as being 379
> parts per million (ppm). Some weeks back we reached 390 ppm.
>
> The long term natural rate over the past several million years has
> been about one part per million every 10,000 years or so on average,
> in and out. We are now pumping CO2 in the atmosphere at over 2 ppm a
> year, or about 20,000 times the long term rate. This is despite the
> fact that much of what we pump gets absorbed by the oceans, where 90%
> of the excess (heat) energy is going.
>
> We can't say we weren't warned. "Human beings are now carrying out a
> large scale geophysical experiment of a kind that could not have
> happened in the past nor be reproduced in the future," said scientists
> Roger Revelle and Hans Suess in 1957.
>
> I just got back from villages in north and east Gujarat where most
> people were sceptical that humans had the power to alter nature. I'm
> just intrigued by how folks react to climate change. Unfortunately
> there's far too little discussion about this on this list, but those
> of you interested could email me directly so we can spare those not
> interested.
> Naga
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