Monday, February 17, 2014

Nov. 2013: Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene - NYTimes.com

Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene - NYTimes.com

"Now, when I look into our future — into the Anthropocene — I see water rising up to wash out lower Manhattan. I see food riots, hurricanes, and climate refugees. I see 82nd Airborne soldiers shooting looters. I see grid failure, wrecked harbors, Fukushima waste, and plagues. I see Baghdad. I see the Rockaways. I see a strange, precarious world."

2 comments:

Frank Walters said...

Whoever is writing this is watching a science fiction movie.

I'm over 80 years old, have worked as a development economist in 16 countries for over 40 years and am still doing so.

Not in my lifetime or before I was born have so many people enjoyed so much peace and prosperity.

Never has agriculture been so productive nor industry so efficient.

Compared with when I was young never has there been such strict controls over pollution, at least in the developed countries and in efforts (not yet successful) in developing countries.

The distopian view of the NY Times writer is based on ignorance and lack of experience in the real world.

The real problem in most of the developing countries are political and institutional: rampant corruption, military dictatorships, archaic laws and legal systems.

P.S. I have a fairly recent M.S. degree in Earth science from a US university and have studied climate for decades. Currently working in South Asia for an international organization.

Frontiers of Faith and Science said...

This NYT editorial will rank with their coverup of Stalin and their dismissal of Robert Goddard's rocket because they knew that rockets can work with no air to push against.