Part of me hopes that this summer is catastrophically hot because fuck you, and fuck them. It is just that I want you, I want them, to wake up to the unfolding reality of climate collapse. I am not an accelerationist, but sometimes I get profoundly frustrated.
Of course, in my better moments, actually the majority of the time, I do not think the above. But it does not matter what I think. According to James Hansen et al, who is usually proved right, 2026 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with 2027 being even hotter. Sure, this is confused and compounded by a Super El Nino, but that is no reason for complacency: the Super El Nino itself is suspiciously strong, shaping up to be the strongest we have had in 140 years, apparently. How will this affect so-called climate tipping points? Nobody knows for sure, but it does not look good.
Some climate scientists, I have observed, have started to dispense with academic formalities in their science communications, in an attempt to get through to the indolent masses, and make it clear that they don`t share the consensus of the tepid climate science mainstream, which often underestimates or underemphasizes the extent of the climate threats now facing us as a planet. James Hansen is a good example. His scientific papers are these days peppered with irreverant swipes towards the climate science establishment as well as some daily English expressions of the sheer mind-boggling severity of the unfolding climate catastrophe. Bill McGuire is another good example. Bill, a socialist activist as well as climate scientist, recently released The Fate of the World.
Every kind of communication on the severity of the climate crisis has been tried by scientists, activists and social movements, from the scientific, to the optimistic, to the brutally honest and deliberately shocking (hence the title of this post). None of it seems to work, The global population in general isn`t ready to hear it, or is generally either too economically comfortable or too mired in socio-economic problems to which climate collapse is closely related. Consequently, we drift towards various unpalatable futures: war, civilizational Collapse, or bloody coups and revolutions. None of these outcomes are welcome, but we may have to deal with all of them, to varying degrees at different stages of our lives, depending on where we live in the world and how old we are.
Yet, there will always be pockets of humanity committed to thriving and helping others to thrive. This has become my strongest vision and my most important work.
Centre of the Web 