Althouse: "Having constructed a civilization capable of observing our still paradisiacal world from objectivity-inducing distances..."

August 18, 2013

"Having constructed a civilization capable of observing our still paradisiacal world from objectivity-inducing distances..."

"... we need to set aside our squabbles, recognize that we face a species-wide threat, and use our scientific-technical genius to protect the only known home of life in the universe."

(Amazing photos and videos at the link, accompanied by chiding narrative.)

17 comments:

Michael K said...: Mot of the events I saw are due to forces other than modern civilization. Slash and burn is millenia old. Dust storms are likewise. The Arctic has the coldest summer in recorded history this year.; 8/18/13, 4:02 PM
Mark said...: The Anthropocene is well under way.

Meanwhile we are supposed to worry about the debt limit and deficit spending say the Republicans, ignoring the fact we are kicking ourselves out of garden God gave us.

The concerns of boomers, of the tea party, of the Second Amendment advocates all pale when looking at the big picture and they will be remembered like the cigarette execs testifying before Congress.; 8/18/13, 4:20 PM
The Godfather said...: "President Obama should . . . challenge China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and other major greenhouse-gas emitters to [give up their plans to develop their economies to allow their people to enjoy a quality of life equal to what Americans enjoy]. And to show that he's serious, he and his family will give up taking vacations around the world that probably generate more carbon than all the Amazonian Indians combined.

Don't make me laugh.

The pictures are pretty though.; 8/18/13, 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: It's becoming farce.

The western intelligentsia rejects principals that will reduce the pollution in the hearts of men and women, then come at the problem starting at the furthest reaches from the root.

A generation intent on depleting its strength and resources attempting to fix problems by chopping at the outermost branches.

Closer to home for the New York Times, I noted the article that model income disparity in New York City.

Another problem about which the New York Times and its readers have fulminated for past decades, and in attempted aid of which the left has built up vast impenetrable bureaucracies.

And, as the New York Times documents today, the problem is virtually untouched.

Our self proclaimed American elite would have snored through the sermon on the mount, but they'll labor like scholars over the width of bark rings on a pine tree.; 8/18/13, 4:43 PM
David said...: Problem is, I don't even believe that the photos are accurately described. They have earned that dismissive skepticism by their decade plus of exaggeration and misstatement.; 8/18/13, 4:51 PM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: Pollution, which is being greatly reduced in America every day, is bad. Global warming is not a threat and there is nothing in this article that demonstrates the threat. Thw "world" should do what is can to get the Chinese and the Indians to stop polluting and stop this insane fixation on carbon dioxide, which is not and never can be a pollutant.; 8/18/13, 5:05 PM
Hagar said...: Only get a blank page at the link.

I wonder how come it is that the "warmists" insist that we should immediately and without question accept these dubious computer models predicting AGW meltdown, while resolutely ignoring all the very visible, and sometimes indeed tangible, evidence of damaging pollution of various kinds that we can - and should - do something about.; 8/18/13, 5:24 PM
n.n said...: What is the value of preserving Eden if humans are to become extinct by choice or is this the rhetoric of a select minority which has convinced lesser people of their obsolescence?

In the words of his mortal gods: this is a phony scandal; a deception for selfish interests, which defies objectivity.; 8/18/13, 5:49 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Only get a blank page at the link."

Try it now.

The video is really fabulous... worth the lecture. You don't have to believe it.; 8/18/13, 6:11 PM
Marty Keller said...: The real challenge facing humanity is the widespread misanthropy that has found its political home on the Left. This very real psychospiritual phenomenon from which most of us suffer in varying intensities can only be healed with love and compassion--and not the sickly sweet "let me take care of poor little you" variety but the "tough love" type. I see little evidence that we are up to the challenge when aspersion-casting is just so much fun!; 8/18/13, 7:04 PM
RiverRat said...: Total monkey see monkey and do purported fellatio and Cunnilingus.

Try this: The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand; 8/18/13, 8:44 PM
Wince said...: From reading the reactions in the NYT comments: Good thing that cavemen didn't have satellite photography -- we'd still be cavemen!; 8/18/13, 9:31 PM
Gahrie said...: What the hell do the Greens want? The U.S. has already meet the Kyoto Treaty targets set for it. No other nation has. So Shut the hell up until you have dealt with India and China please.; 8/18/13, 9:43 PM
Gahrie said...: Re: the slide of Southern California in the 1970's.....we have millions more people and millions more cars in Southern California now, and our air, while not perfect, is much cleaner than it was in the 1970's.; 8/18/13, 9:44 PM
Carl said...: The modern left has the most depressingly unimaginative and boring form of millenialism in recorded history. At least earlier generations painted a glorious picture of the Paradise to be gained by present sacrifice and goodthinking.

Here all we're asked to serve is the crawlingly pedestrian cause of life itself. Not wonderful life, not life achieving wonderful things, not even life with wonderful rewards like seven virgins apiece and bacon-trees. Just...mere existence, on and on. A thing to which nematodes can reasonably aspire.

No wonder they are losing the battle for hearts 'n' minds globally. It pleases me to know that to my great-grandchildren this philosophy will be as quaint a dead curiousity as the Aztecs holding back the end of time by sacrificing virgins. Indeed, less so, as at least the religious obsessions of earlier generations were titillating, outrageous, or colorful. That of the modern left is just really, really dull.

Believe in...belief! Live in order to...er...live some more!; 8/18/13, 10:38 PM
heyboom said...: @Gahrie

Couldn't agree more. When I moved here 28 years ago, one rarely ever saw the L.A. skyline. Now it stands out proudly in the clear air on most days.; 8/18/13, 11:43 PM
heyboom said...: @Gahrie

Couldn't agree more. When I moved here 28 years ago, one rarely ever saw the L.A. skyline. Now it stands out proudly in the clear air on most days.; 8/18/13, 11:43 PM