Vividlee

Go to my webpage at vividleee.com

Geologic epochs are super long time spans visible in rocks. Three million years is a long time and earth’s climate can be deduced in the chemistry of the layers. Climate is generally understood to be measured as an average of 30 years of weather. Weather being what we experience daily and throughout a year.

Humans and our recent activity of consuming fossil fuels has reached levels that are now affecting the geological record. Recorded in the rocks. Wow that is something.

Makes sense since 7.5 billion people consume a lot of products and create a lot of waste. The planet has a plague upon it. And it’s us. Still, it is hard to imagine that our impact will last millions of years.

The Anthropocene is an idea that is hard to believe. But it doesn’t matter what we believe or don’t believe. The inevitable trends in climate are unstoppable. Maybe we will course correct and blunt the worst. But the worst will be bad, very bad. Probably horrific.

Go to my website at: Vividlee.com

Carbon in earth’s atmosphere has been measured in old ice. This data shows ice ages and warm periods occur roughly every 100,000 years. We are presently at the top of the latest warm period where carbon content measures around 300 parts per million.

Data recorded at the top of a volcano in the middle of the Pacific Ocean shows a rise in carbon. The rise so dramatic it causes alarm. The data in graphic form shows a regular variation in values for many hundreds of thousands of years. Then in only the last hundred years a rapidly accelerating curve rising above ‘normal’ limits. Present day values now exceed 400 ppm and show no sign of decreasing.

Mass extinctions have occurred in the past. This past measured in hundreds of million years ago. Fossil records show five previous mass extinctions. Some estimates show a correlation between extinction events and carbon levels. Extinctions occurring when carbon levels reach super high levels measured in the thousands of ppm.

A value that current data shows can be reached in 100 years. Let that sink in.

We could be the cause of global catastrophe because of our actions over the last hundred years, a couple of generations of us. Let that sink in.

With the exception of massive nuclear weapons stockpiles, never before in the history of our planet have so few people been able to cause so much global scale destruction. Let that sink in.

The geology of the planet will now be able to show human presence. We are at the beginning of the Anthropocene, the human Epoch. The sixth extinction where 90% of the planet’s species could disappear. Let that sink in.

I sincerely hope we are all wrong.

There is a classic graphic of five figures in profile walking left to right in a line representing human evolution. The left most figure is a small ape like creature hunched over and walking on all four limbs. Next in line is slightly larger and walking hunched over on two limbs. In the middle is a mid size, upright ape like creature carrying a rock.

Fully upright, the next figure looks human but is small and carrying a primitive tipped spear. The last figure is a less hairy fully formed human who may be carrying a modern metal tool.

Variations show a sixth figure as a comment about the present state of evolution:

…upright fully clothed man in suit and tie, carrying a briefcase.

…hunched over a keyboard and staring at a glowing computer monitor.

…very obese guy carrying a large soft drink cup with straw.

…holding a phone, head down, staring at the phone.

…holding a remote, controlling a robot.

All of these show a sarcasm about who we are or what we have become because of modern technology. Implying that we are now changing because of technology. This may be true.

Evolution is measured in large passages of time, think millions of years. Geologic changes are measured in even longer spans, think billions of years.

The rocks forming now will show a human mark, a record of human existence that has never happened before on the planet. Our impact is now global and planetary in scale. This is not a good thing. We are now a permanent stain on our world.

The last figure in the ascent of man should not be a puddle of goo staining the ground.

Tony’s website vividlee.com

Siege mentality starts with a sense of collective victimhood, constant attack, oppression or isolation and will lead to an overly fearful defensive attitude, black and white thinking, lack of trust and a preparedness for the worst.

Stockholm syndrome is when hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. Our captors today are corporations and rich celebrities. We admire and aspire to their values. Values obscene as they are hollow.

That is what we have right now. One group can foster siege mentality against other groups. When in reality what has happened is a chronic economic inequality caused primarily by government regressive tax policies. Started in the 1980’s and called trickledown economics. In short, the theory is that wealth in the hands of rich people will naturally create more jobs and prosperity. The reality is that wealth accumulates in fewer hands and income inequality is higher than ever. The ranks of the poor are expanding, fast.

History is like a pendulum and large swings in one direction will lead to a large swing in the opposite direction. A sort of self correction that is far worse than a careful, firm, constant and thoughtful policy that seeks to avoid dramatic imbalances.

There is a human bias for action that is not always the best choice. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it is wisdom that is hard to follow. Our overly active imaginations cause us to react too often and overreact inappropriately. Our emotions amplify and come to direct our actions.

We always follow the charismatic. We crave the secret shortcut. Our constant pursuit of better and faster leads us away from tried and true paths to success and happiness. The proven path is usually simple and boring hard work completed over a long period.

Sounds terrible! Who wants to do that? (Sarcasm intended)

It is 240,000 miles to the moon. Sounds far to me. How far is Mars? Tens of millions to hundreds of millions of miles. Now that is far away!

Lots of people think going to Mars is a good idea. Some say the moon is a good destination for people. Human space travel is a dream. But humans in space is super expensive, super risky and super dumb.

What did we learn from ‘people on the moon’ that a robot could have done? What would a human on Mars tell us? Not much more than we already know. It is a hellish, hostile to life and an unlivable place.

Ideas are powerful. History shows us that people with the right ideas is a beautiful thing. People with the wrong ideas is horrific.

We know enough about the moon. We don’t need people living there. We know enough about Mars to know we don’t want people living there. We know the Earth is livable and this is where people belong. There are challenges right here on Earth.

Millions (maybe billions) of people are going to die or be displaced. Animals are going extinct. The Earth may become (more?) hostile to life. War, conflict and strife will become more likely. Survival here on Earth is the problem to solve. Peace on Earth is the problem to solve. Lack of good leadership is the problem we have.

The moon and Mars are just distractions, bright shiny objects for people to look at while other people go about their business of accumulating wealth and consolidating power. But all wealth and all the power will not keep you alive. We all die and the only thing that really matters is did you have any good ideas.

Good ideas are durable and valuable. Good ideas live on. Bad ideas die away. Are humans on Earth a bad idea?