tag > ClimateChange
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"Xi Jinping calls for China to become world leader in science, technology": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unqPqFJyb2o "Do not let scientists be bound by red tape": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i61bCm-Em2c
#Prediction: China will replace its drive for technocratic leadership, with eco-leadership in the next 10y.
The second largest economy in the world calling for total deregulation of science & technology in times of climate change. What could possibly go wrong?
@vakibs asks: Are you really that hopeful? They are cutting edge in how to abuse face recognition. A part of me hopes for China to realize its Daoist heritage. But I am really not convinced by the current leadership. It will most likely push for mass surveillance and not ecological health.
My answer: I am very much this hopeful, for hope is powerful https://samim.io/p/2018-02-27-excerpts-from-the-revolution-of-ho/ I do not say such things out of blind/dumb idealism or self-deception - but realistically see our path going from geo-politics to eco-politics, as a matter of naked survival. It won't be utopia, more Gaia. While I don't fully agree with the visions & conclusions of thinkers like Latour or Rifkin, they are at least soberly and cunningly discussing the coming politics of Gaia. The notion is right and we ought to do the same: https://samim.io/p/2018-05-21-on-not-joining-the-dots-excellent-talk-by-bruno-lat/
@prepaid_africa responds: Plus, ironically, comparative and competitive advantage. I once wrote a whole article tracing how the EU regs were forcing sustainable & eco friendly changes in industry sectors
My answer: exactly, a "competitive advantage" - a notion which itself is being eclipsed by more complex and dynamic model (see Actor–network theory etc). Plus it is time to say this clearly: The fairies, ents and river spirits are waking up & demanding from us to dance to a different beat.
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Larger Than Life: Injecting Hope into the Planetary Health Paradigm - by @susanprescott88 et.al: http://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/9/1/13/htm
Abstract: The term planetary health, popularized in the 1980s and 1990s, was born out of necessity; although the term was used by many diverse groups, it was consistently used to underscore that human health is coupled to the health of natural systems within the Earth’s biosphere. The interrelated challenges of climate change, massive biodiversity losses, environmental degradation, grotesque socioeconomic inequalities, conflicts, and a crisis of non-communicable diseases are, mildly stated, daunting. Despite ‘doomsday’ scenarios, there is plenty of room for hope and optimism in planetary health. All over planet Earth, humans are making efforts at the macro, meso and micro scales to promote the health of civilization with the ingredients of hope—agency and pathway thinking; we propose that planetary health requires a greater commitment to understanding hope at the personal and collective levels. Prioritizing hope as an asset in planetary health necessitates deeper knowledge and discourse concerning the barriers to hope and the ways in which hope and the utopian impulse are corrupted; in particular, it requires examining the ways in which hope is leveraged by advantaged groups and political actors to maintain the status quo, or even promote retrograde visions completely at odds with planetary health. Viewing the Earth as a superorganism, with humans as the collective ‘nervous system’, may help with an understanding of the ways in which experience and emotions lead to behavioral responses that may, or may not be, in the best interest of planetary health. We argue that the success of planetary health solutions is predicated on a more sophisticated understanding of the psychology of prevention and intervention at all scales.
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A Population That Pollutes Itself Into Extinction (and It’s Not Us):
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/science/microbes-ecological-suicide.html"microbial village be infected with mass stupidity, to devastating effect. soil bacteria fed a diet of glucose and nutrients in the lab & allowed to grow at will, ends up polluting their local environment so quickly & completely that the entire population soon kills itself":
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My number 1 recommendation for improved mental health and ecologically & ethically sound behaviour, is "surround yourself with lifeforms that exist at radically different timescales". Plants & Animals perceive time very differently and act differently. It is worth listening deeply.
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Slow Travel: The Benefits Of Longer-term Programs And Immersive Experiences Abroad:
https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/slow-travel-benefits-longer-term-programs-immersive-abroad-experiences/ #FFHCI #ClimateChange -
Plants outweigh all other life on Earth: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/plants-outweigh-all-other-life-earth #FFHCI #ClimateChange
"All life on Earth weighs about 550 gigatons. Of that, plants make up 450 gigatons of carbon (GT C), followed by bacteria at 70 GT C and fungi at 12 GT C. Animals are a mere 2 GT C, of which half are insects."
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"We have an ethical responsibility to refuse to work on software that will negatively impact the well-being of other humans, flora and fauna."
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"Autonomous Agents for Regenerative Ecologies" - a workshop by @thesjef @KlaasJK @theunk: https://www.bordersessions.org/lab/autonomous-agents-for-regenerative-ecologies-lab/ #FFHCI #ClimateChange
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- Generative systems (Computation) are interesting.
- ReGenerative systems (Flora & Fauna) are critical for survival. -
New books on the reading list:
"Design/Ecology/Politics: Toward the Ecocene" - by @Ecocene: https://ecocene.wordpress.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Design-Ecology-Politics-Towards-Ecocene/dp/1472588606/ #ClimateChange
The Handbook of Design for Sustainability - by Stuart Walker et.al:
Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice - by Tony Fry:
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Design-Sustainability-Stuart-Walker/dp/0857858521/
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Futuring-Sustainability-Ethics-Practice/dp/184788217X/ -
Tony Fry: Futuring, the City & Sustainment - the Remaking of Design
Lessons:
- Convert cultural to economic capital
- Shift from a quantitative-based to a qualitative-based economy.
- Lead not follow: export the future, not import it.
- Move/protect the culture with a vision -
"On Not Joining the Dots" - excellent talk by Bruno Latour (1h)
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"The problem is not humanity in general but certain humans in particular"
- Jeremy Narby on #ClimateChange -
Bitcoin’s energy use got studied, and you libertarian nerds look even worse than usual:
https://grist.org/article/bitcoins-energy-use-got-studied-and-you-libertarian-nerds-look-even-worse-than-usual/The first peer-reviewed study of bitcoin’s energy consumption confirms fears: Bitcoin’s energy consumption is growing at 20% *per month* and is effectively erasing decades of progress on renewable energy.
Comments by vakibs:
Bitcoin is another step in the accelerating entropy of abstracting real objects into virtual pieces of information, breaking that information into pieces & revirtualizing it. What will it do to the ecosystems in the real world? What does entropy do to the real world? Surprised?
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Watching this great documentary about the water shortage emergency in Iran brought up many ideas & feelings. Here some reflections on Water:
Water is the basis of life on planet earth. Water scarcity is the lack of freshwater resources to meet water demand. It affects every continent today. One-third of the global population (2 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity. (Wikipedia). What has lead to this situation and how do we move forward?
This comment by an Iranian farmer who lost his land still rings in my head:
"Technology created the illusion of abundance for 60y. We build our society on it. Now it all collapses."
An engineer, commenting on the massive water crisis in Iran.
"We were so proud of our engineering skills, but we lost track of reality and evoked the crisis ourselves"
Humans used to go to where the water was. Today, Water must go to where Humans are. The Iranian water crisis poignantly brings to mind the observations Lewis Mumford made over 40y ago, about the dangers of "megatechnics" and the myth of the machine.
In the act of 'conquering nature' our ancestors too often treated the earth as contemptuously, under the delusion that the losses did not matter, since modern man through science and invention would soon fabricate an artificial world infinitely more wonderful than the one that nature had provided - an even grosser delusion ― Lewis Mumford
Water will very likely be the main source of conflicts in the 21st century. Hydro politics is a tremendously important topic (even more than oil), yet not often discussed.
"There is a motto in hydro politics that states that the countries upstream are using the water to get more power. The countries that live downstream, use their power to get more water " - Hojjat Mianabadi
Area shown in the image is running the risk of desertification in our lifetime 
"Water is both a human & natural phenomena, closely linked to human activities. It is generally assumed that a water emergency leads to conflicts. But experts say lack of water can also lead to more cooperation. It is up to us what we choose, conflict or cooperation" - Hojjat Mianabadi
Our planet is gifted with Water - a truly magical thing in our solar system. Let's make sure we choose cooperation over conflict and preserve this natural wonder for future generation.
Comments by Vakibs in reaction to this posts on Twitter:
We forget that rivers are flimsy goddesses who step in a land on their own accord, and whose favours can change literally with the wind. The data is clear from history. Many civilizations perished into the desert when they did not treat water with the sacredness it deserves. But some survived all through the ages, as the rivers are pleased with how they are being treated by the people.
Massive dams, especially upstream, which block the nervous system of a river, will cause her to abandon her current home in the riverbed. It may be a matter of decades, but it is mere seconds in the geological timescale. The people upstream may be thinking their greediness is paying off. But it will be a very short time before the desert encroaches there too. The rainfall patterns will change with the wind. Rivers ought to flow till the sea. It is a connected system.It is urgent time for global culture to re-connect with the sacred river, water and ocean gods and spirits. The technocratic irreverence for all things sacred is ultimately a form of necrophilia, which directly yields climate change and mass extinction. It is time.
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A conundrum of our times: To solve many of the pressing global problems, we ought to do *less*, not *more*.
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ClimateChange is happening precisely *because* of our modus operandi (science > technology > industry > capitalism), not despite it. Think this through deeply, before asking for more of the same.
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The entire "America VS China", "China VS Europe" etc. militaristic narrative is totally backwards. The primary concern of all humans on the planet right now is climate change and the anthropocene. The solution can only be more collaboration, not more conflict and destruction.
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"Amazon deforestation is close to tipping point": https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180319124212.htm
"Deforestation of the Amazon is about to reach a threshold beyond which the region's rainforest may undergo irreversible changes that transform the landscape into degraded savanna with sparse shrubby plant cover and low biodiversity. Deforestation rates ranging from 20% to 25% could turn the hydrological cycle unable to support its ecosystem."
