Is it tragedy, insanity or both?

Today’s New York Times had an article entitled Carbon in Atmosphere Is Rising, Even as Emissions Stabilize, that addressed what is literally the most important unknown facing the seven plus billion Homo Sapiens and the hundreds of billions of other life forms that depend on us. And that is why is the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere continuing to rise at record or near record rates even as the emissions the world community generates have stabilized the last three years. The answer to this question will literally help determine whether life on the planet will survive in the coming decades.

And remarkably, tragically and insanely, we don’t have the $20 million needed to equip our planes with sensors here in the US to help answer this question. Our delusional President, backed up by his party, is engaged in a vengeful yet purposeful effort at eliminating our climate research capabilities. One of the semi tongue in cheek new phrases in the Climate Vocabulary of the Future is the creation of an organization by the Koch brothers and other climate opponents named ‘Friends of the Enemies of the Earth’. While no organization with that name yet exists it might as well be brought into fruition as that is exactly what the denial triad (the alliance of those for religious, ideological or economic reasons denies climate change) is succeeding in doing to the earth. This lunacy illustrates yet again what I call the central climate conundrum, which is why we collectively have more knowledge at our fingertips than ever in history by a factor of millions, yet do essentially nothing to prevent our functional extinction.

Here’s what my just published comment in response to the article says:

“No sane or even semi sane person could follow this exercise in climate sadomasochism without breaking down in tears of frustration.

Let’s all pound a wall or have a good cry for a moment and then let’s vow to write to Bill Gates or any other of the many multibillionaires society has created and demand they fund whatever is necessary – which will literally be pocket change to them – to have at the very least adequate resources to monitor the planet. Please everyone who reads this – just write that letter or do something like it. We can’t afford to simply lament the insanity in DC. And if that doesn’t work let’s organize a crowd fund the project to raise $20 Million needed to find out crucial information about the behavior of our natural land and sea sinks.

Why is it that anyone reading this wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to lift a car off of someone trapped beneath it yet all we do is shrug our shoulders as our world slowly or not so slowly disinegrates. It’s time – indeed well past time – to act.”