Here I go again… why am I angry? Do scientists even get angry? Yes. Yes they do. Well I am angry. Very fucken angry!
I‘m angry at politicians in the mainstream parties. Because they aren’t doing enough to mitigate an environmental catastrophe. Most politicians today only care about one thing: money. The economy. Whoop-de-doo.
Scientists, if you remember from highschool, are the clever people. They are the nerdy ones with poor social skills. You’d think most countries would be run by the smartest of individuals. Are they? No. See, I think that’s where we’re going wrong. Our countries are run by politicians.
Likewise, I am angry at climate change deniers. Because they are now claiming that “climate change is a government conspiracy” (right, well if that is true it has to be the dumbest conspiracy theory I have ever heard, because the governments are the ones who support burning coal for fuck’s sake!).
Actually, I lie. Half of it is worry, not anger. For example, what’s actually worrying is that some people think an average temperature increase of a couple of degrees in only a few decades is at all “natural”. What’s worrying is that some people still don’t seem to grasp the concept of “rate of change”. I have seen on LinkedIn that the biggest climate change deniers are frequently either working for oil companies, have a vested interest in contruction, or are simply “uneducated fools”.
I find some people’s responses to climate change infuriating. Scientists are (mostly) a VERY clever bunch of people. If climate scientists are ringing alarm bells and making videos like this one, it’s enough to make me pay attention and completely change my lifestyle.
Right. I’ll say that again, but in a different way, because it bears repeating. Because I know that people skim read things. When the leading climate scientist, James Hansen, says (back in 2012 mind you) that “we have a climate emergency“, well, it’s enough to make me sell my vehicle. It’s enough to make me think up a new career choice, about how I can make the world a better place for future generations to come…
In science, we have to have a kind of ‘faith’ too. Scientists have faith in other scientists. We mutually respect each others’ fields of expertise. If I were to say, as a materials scientist, that magnesium has a hexagonal close packed atomic structure, I would hope the other scientists would give me the benefit of the doubt about that. And that is how the whole science community works. Things are checked and rechecked. Publications are reviewed. These people are working on these problems their whole lives.
What’s truly worrying is that this video only has 181,583 views and yet Gangham style currently has 2,598,324,260. That’s what I find worrying. With those stats, it’s almost as if we deserve to go extinct. Out of sheer indifference. Dinosaurs became extinct through meteors. Humanity wiped out through ignorance, greed and stupidity.
I am even starting to get angry at the general public. Why am I starting to get angry at the general public? Well because it often seems that people just aren’t listening to scientists. Or maybe people are listening but they just don’t know what to do about it.
How can I put this? It seems like the more objective we are as scientists, the less persuasive as human beings we are also. And if we dare to become too emotional, then our research is questioned more because we seem to come across as too ‘subjective’. And that, my friends, is crap. How are we going to pursuade anyone of anything if there is absolutely no emotion in our voice? (by the way, that’s one of the reasons I like design, beceause it can be used to influence people)
Would you listen to someone that casually walked into a building and calmy stated that there was someone outside about to come in and blow everything up? Do you think that you would be more likely to listen to them if they ran in screaming the same message? I think you would… see?
So I’m angry. This year I read in a children’s book something like sometimes, people just have to get mad … because it gets things done. And according to my psychologist, sometimes it’s normal to feel anger. So I’m venting it here and now on the internet. And already, I feel better for having started this blog. Because at least I’m doing something. I’m doing something about what I feel, what I know.
Even more worrying is the coal industry in Australia saying that there are enough brown coal reserves to last the next 465 years!
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the world. And Australia is fortunate enough to have one of the largest coal reserves. In Australia it is estimated that we have enough black coal to last more than 100 years and lignite (brown coal) to last 465 years.
That’s really great, coal industry. Really fucking great. If coal is so ‘great’, why does the industry have to pay coal workers so much freakin’ money to get them to work in a coal mine?
Here’s another cause for concern:
“According to the international Energy Agency, the world will use 1 billion tonnes more coal in 2019 than today – more than 9 billion tonnes a year.”
“The total annual primary production of biomass is just over 100 billion tonnes C/yr”
Now do people see the problem with this? Does anyone actually think that those are NOT significant figures? In other words, we are burning coal at a rate of 9% of the weight in biomass that is produced annually by natural processes every single year…
So I have great concern for the future of humanity. And for all of the other species that humanity depends upon (albeit unknowingly) as well.
That’s all from me today,
Leslie.
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