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Showing posts from September, 2013

Jack's a Dull Boy

September 19, 2013 - I find myself in need of time to air out my brain.  After nearly 5 years of writing this blog, it feels as though I've said everything I want to say.    While I don't think that's really true, I do think a hiatus is just what the doctor ordered.  So I'm going to relax by the fireplace and eat chocolate bon-bon's for awhile.  Take time to harass the Republican of your choice, and never give up.  If you feel like giving up, follow my example and take a break.  It will do you a world of good. - Best, Vicki

Time for a Little Reinvention

September 5, 2013 – Imagine you are a member of a group that consists of 1,300 people.   You have all been given an important task to complete.   In order to enhance the group’s functionality, you are divided up into smaller groups.   A work schedule has been laid out, with small groups reporting to the heads of each group, and small group heads reporting to the director of the entire project.   Because group members live in different countries, a great deal of communication is handled via email.   Because group members are not paid for their work, it must somehow be fit into already busy schedules.   This is my abbreviated, concocted idea of how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) works.   Every six or seven years, the IPCC is mandated by the United Nations to issue a report defining global climate risks.   This year’s report is due out later this month in Stockholm.   Partly as a result of their expert analysis, climate change   science is now widely accepted.

A Future with Fewer of Us in It

September 13, 2013 – There are now almost countless articles, scientific studies, and books about climate change, many of them dealing with how the world will have changed as a result of climate change.   Many of them give reason for hope, perhaps even more reason for consternation.   All are good at describing various causes and effects as if they were happening in isolation from one another.   Very few bother to mention that, no matter what life is like in a climatically-changed world, it will be lived in the midst of utterly wretched weather.   It’s not that some things will be harder to do.   Everything will be much, much harder to do. When I get out my crystal ball and try to imagine what life will be like during the latter half of the twenty-first century, I feel pretty confident about one thing.   While it should be a surprise to no one, it’s hard to put into words, due to its sheer awfulness.   Millions of people will die.   (You may need to reread that sentence s