I’ve been away a lot in the past six weeks, and have not been doing blog entries. And now that I am back, it is time to reflect on the state of the world.

• First I am deeply saddened by the US election results — it almost certainly means the end of our civilization, if not the end for our species. Given the political situation, the likelihood for resolving global warming is poor.
  • As a result, I find it very difficult to write much at present. I’m still processing, mainly at an other-than-conscious level.
• I encourage you to look at two YouTube videos, both rather dry and factual, but with up-to-date good data:
  • Peter Carter’s State of the climate and oceans Nov 2016, outlining the current scientific data.
  • Reese Halter, The Climate In Crisis: Epitaph Earth?, outlining the current environmental disasters across the planet.

To reiterate, although it seems a small change, the danger of exceeding 1.5°C is that of run-away positive feedback loops, the risk rising as the temperature rises. As Peter notes, we must start eliminating fossil fuels NOW — we have delayed too long already.

And if the campaign promises of the US election hold true, the US will continue on a course of action that spells disaster, socially and environmentally (see Here’s Everything Donald Trump Has Promised to Do on His First Day as President, for example). Even the present Paris Accord is inadequate; for the US to exit from this (likely), we will have many more years of argument rather than moving in a safer direction — whether or not even that would actually be safe is very uncertain.