I could wish everyone a merry Christmas, if I was only sure of the politically correct, green meaning. Here in the southern hemisphere, as the summer heat wilts and kills the plants, I celebrate that the summer will soon peak and cool down. Its holiday time, to take refuge from this years incremented global heat, with time off work for those still employed in the global waste economy. Time for social renewal.

The Age Of Stupid

I just watched the movie "The Age of Stupid". I had downloaded it by bit-torrent of course. It had a strong emotional impact.

It takes a viewpoint from our potential and likely future, when global warming has ended most of human civilization and asks why we did not try to save ourselves, when we still could. The narrator looks back at our time, at the early obvious warnings, of extreme weather events. It pushes all the hot buttons. There is consumerism, the wasteful transport and production, requiring massive energy and material resources from developing nations, particularly Africa. Nigeria and its people are smitten by the "resource curse", where raw resource income corrupts their government, while its people and environment are impoverished and destroyed, so that developed nations can waste more.

Was it that we do not think we are worth saving? Yet the stories of people and characters in the film were quite positive. They each were working towards having a better life, and improving the lives of others. Example, the businessman starting up new Airline for low cost flights in India. The Nigerian women fighting to survive economically, to get trained as a medical doctor, by selling black market diesel fuel. The wind farm engineer, failing to overcome the opposition of local residents, for whom a wind farm would spoil their landscape views. Yet these same local residents would say they supported doing something about global warming.

We all want to do something, but it seems that our best efforts to consume less, or build infrastructure that would enable us to consume less, is met by resistance at every turn. The film comments that this is time we should be rapidly increasing our efforts to wean off fossil fuels, yet we are going too slow. The concept of the global cap in total carbon emissions, necessary to keep under dangerous levels of global warming, was well explained. By 2060, total global emissions have to be at least below 20% of 1990 levels. We can be allowed to emit each year what earth can reabsorb each year without being changed. The alternative is uncontrollable, prolonged, insufferable global warming. As close to Hell as human can devise. Maybe it cannot be avoided. The only why to prove it cannot be avoided, is to try as hard as possible to avoid it.

Deadlines Passing

"The Age of Stupid" was made in 2009, before the Copenhagen Climate conference. We know what did not happen then. The film associated website at "notstupid.org", looks both nostalgic and dead. The film itself was not meant to anchor a climate action movement. We are. It notes that Australia committed to emission reductions of 20% on 2000 levels by 2020. The Australian federal and state governments are not trying hard enough to achieve real cuts of this magnitude. Current plans are consistent with total domestic and exported carbon emission increases. This is absolutely not acceptable.

For a nostalgic view of hope and regret -  http://notstupid.org

George Monbiot passes along similar wishes - http://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/