Pandora

A friend recently asked me, Is there hope for the world?

I said, We're fucked*.

Does anyone seriously that that Russia, Nigeria, Canada or Australia will give up its main source of revenue - while there is one cc left to sell? Will Nigeria voluntarily become a basket case by refraining from selling its one major resource? Can we imagine India and China stopping from pulling on that chain until they have reached a level of comfort common in the "first world", with all its destructive consequences?

I love the image of Pandora. I imagined that we pulled coal, oil, nuclear energy out of the box and thought they were wonderful gifts. We pulled and pulled, filling the world with cheap energy and the wonders it creates.

Now we are faced with the fact that all these miracles can't be stuffed back into box before they destroy the world as we know it.

The climate peril slipped beyond our control decades ago, yet people repeat the "if we don't do something soon" mantra endlessly. It's just too Whatever happens, it's no longer up to us and it will happen long after most of us now living are dead. 

So it is technically not "we" who are fucked.

I would say, no. Human nature is to keep pulling gifts out of the box until we are destroyed.

All things will pass - including this world. We just need to make our peace with it.

---- STOP THE PRESS ----

The Pandora image is indeed attractive. It conveys the truth of our dependence on fossil fuels, but also our habituation to energy-intensive lives, industrialization and all that we call the "modern world".

My mistake was being swept up in the panic, along with Biden, who claims climate change is an "existential threat". The Greta Thunbergs of the world have been shouting at me for so long i stopped checking the facts.

After long consideration and thought, I no longer think we are "fucked". The biggest danger now is panic.

We are headed for a 4 degree world - maybe more. That may mean more unpleasant weather, but it will also mean a greener world. In the long run, people will come to their senses (probably lead by China) and deploy nuclear technology on a large scale, along with many applications of fossil fuels where high density energy is required.

There is a lot more to this. "Watch this space".