No offence meant, but I don’t take advice or recommendations from anybody, least of all from people who have been taken in by business propaganda and who use words like ‘alarmist’ to describe climate change.
Just to be clear, I have not, and never have been alarmist. Unlike 99% of the population, I am highly objective. My own feelings do not come into the equation. Nor am I easily influenced. To quote from a doctor who told me after a five-hour IQ test (I did it in 90 minutes) that I was off the graph. “Tessa shows an exceptionally high level of intellectual functioning. She obtained a balanced profile in the sense that both analytical and integrative functions are highly developed. She shows a tendency to synthesise new information into already existing information structures and therefore acquires new knowledge with ease. She tends to work with detail and precision, consistently looks for logical evidence to verify her conclusions and follows her arguments through in a disciplined manner. Although she also shows the potential to use language creatively, logic usually takes priority. The most outstanding characteristic of her profile is the ability to work with conceptual clarity in a completely fuzzy, vague, or unfamiliar environment.”
So, please, don’t expect me to be taken in by the same ‘stuff’ that you are.
Now we let look at your claims. “the likelihood of dying from natural disasters today is over 95% lower than it was a century ago and 360x lower than dying from heart disease. Yes, there is always some disaster somewhere around the world, but the big picture says these disasters have an almost negligible effect on civilization as a whole (0.6 annual deaths per 100000 people and 0.2% of GDP). https://ourworldindata.org/natural-disasters.”
Well, yes, up until recently, that was certainly the case. That is now changing, and what held true for the past few thousand years will no longer hold true in the future.
Next, the reason that only 10% of the population have a decent living standard has to do with first world theft of third world commodities and labour. It also has to do with the for-profit motive. The reason that business is scared of ‘alarmism’ is because they are going to lose a lot of profit. If they were so concerned with the poverty in third world countries or anywhere else, they could give up their profits and lower their prices.
Yes, you’re right, extreme responses will have little effect on climate change until mid-century, but no response or limited response will ensure absolutely and utterly that civilisation will be lost at the very least. Once the electricity grid goes down, there is no more civilization. However, if we can eradicate the for-profit motive, we can start building protective structures and focus on getting rid of as much pollution as possible.
I don’t give a holy s**t about business profits, and that is the only thing that is affected here.
I truly doubt that with my intellect and education that I am, in any way, alarmist. I may certainly be wrong in some instances, and when that is proven, I accept that. I am known for that as well. As the good doctor said, I check every fact over and over again. I am actually known for it. One guy said to me some years ago, “Tessa, I have never agreed with a single thing you have said in the five years I have been following you. I check it all out, and I have never found you wrong.” Another said to me (and I’ve heard it more than once), “Tessa, I find it hilarious that everybody came down on you six months (or a year) ago for saying something, and now everybody is saying it.”
I do not make statements without studying them thoroughly. I’ve also studied climate change for 50 years, so please, cut me some slack. I’ve read both sides of the story many, many times. At this point, I am not interested in continuing to read anything further. I’m 71. I read a book a day. I read a good dozen international news sources each day. I continually read abstracts (the latest research) as well. I am not American. I am not brainwashed. I have lived in multiple countries and three continents.
I also do not appreciate someone coming to my stream and telling me I’m alarmist. Feel free to believe whatever you will. I don’t care. I am most certainly not interested in converting you to my way of thinking. At this point, I don’t’ see any hope for humanity, and nor does anyone with my level of intellect.
Good day.
