The real issues:

Between climate change and ubiquitous PFA/plastic contamination leading to infertility, the human race faces existential struggles for the next thousand years at least. More likely 5,000 years. And yet no one in power is even willing to consider that simple truth.

The human outlook in the years to come (assuming that our species survives, which is by no means certain) will be very different from modern sensibilities. With a steady decline in human fertility, protecting children will be a primary social obligation. Abortion will become irrelevant except out of medical necessity. War and its concomitant environmental damage will be universally unacceptable, although I fear that we're going to see a lot of wars in the meantime for habitable land (with the zone of habitability moving inexorably towards the poles) and resources.

The food chain will be...well, if we're lucky we'll only lose an incredibly broad range of flavors. Spices and luxuries such as vanilla and chocolate will be stories of legend at best. Local production will be the primary source of nourishment. Knowledge of preservation techniques will be extremely valuable. The worldwide contamination of water supplies will boost cancer levels through the roof. Anxiety and depression will hit levels heretofore unimagined, as will suicide and deaths of despair. The average human lifespan will be shorter than it has for tens of thousands of years.

And none of this was necessary. That's the thing that's hardest to take. Things didn't have to be this way. We knew better.

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Inferno

Lately I've been thinking about heat. Particularly heat waves, because I think we're going to be seeing lots more of them - and much hotter ones - in the years to come. At the same time it's widely predicted that the power grid will be failing far more frequently, so air conditioning will not be an option for those who aren't rich enough to own and fuel their own generators. That will be the vast majority of the human race.

In the short term, I personally have water stored in the basement. We can spray ourselves with water and lie on the concrete. That should be enough to get us through a few days of intolerable heat, I hope. But longer term, I believe that our species is going to have to become at least partially subterranean. Just as in the Midwest every home has a tornado cellar, every home in the future will need a heat cellar. The rich will probably have their whole homes underground, or duplicated both above and below ground.

The one concern is food production. I'm really not sure what could be done about that. Maybe large-scale subterranean farming of edible mushrooms and fungi? I don't know enough about underground animals to know what species might be adopted into successful sources of protein. 

In any case, I expect to see tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of deaths from extreme heat within the next ten to fifteen years. And I should note for the record that predictions such as those almost always turn out to be extreme underestimates.

Looking at reality

What amazes me is that both Democrats and Republicans are united in ignoring the climate cliff that we're headed for. Oh, the Democrats pretend to "listen to the science", but Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he will not ban fracking - and has already shown that the fossil fuel industry will be heavily represented in his administration, while progressives and environmentalists will be completely frozen out.

 

Here's the thing. Climate change will pass the point of no return by the end of 2027 - and that's if we're lucky. So far every time new data has come in, the amount of time we have left has gotten shorter. And once we pass that point of no return, human civilization is doomed. The oligarchs retire to their luxury underground bunkers in New Zealand, and end up eating each other within 5 years - because let's face it, they won't survive on a dying planet without millions of slaves to support them. The rest of us will end up living briefly and dying in a post-apocalyptic world.

 

Maybe you think that's bullshit. That's your privilege, although if you have kids or grandkids they might disagree. But you owe it to them - and to all the children of the world - to take a hard look at the data. It's freely available on the Climate Clock.

 

There's no time left for political games. We have seven years at most. The only option if we want to survive is revolution. Now, that's not up to any one of us. But the elite have been creating the conditions which make revolution almost inevitable. Cops killing people with impunity. Congress serving the interests of the oligarchy exclusively. Covid-19 being completely botched while BOTH parties refuse to consider universal health care. Millions of Americans unemployed (and even more underemployed) while unemployment benefits expire. Topping things off, tens of millions of Americans will be evicted in the next several months - and again, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will do a damned thing to stop that from happening.

 

Tens of millions of desperate, starving American families in the streets. In winter. What the hell can we expect but revolution?

 

So get ready. Network with neighbors. Be ready for the mass protests and the general strikes. Stock up on essentials. Learn basic first aid, and get enough supplies to help others. Look up protest techniques and equipment. Because either the revolution is coming...or hell on earth.

Another conversation with a Biden volunteer

Martha: Hi Peter, I'm Martha, volunteering for Joe Biden and Democrats. Voting is already underway - we need your help making calls to turn out voters across the country! Can you sign up for a calls training this week?

Peter: Not until the Democrats fully support Medicare for all, the green new deal, and a ban on fracking.

Martha: Joe Biden understands that the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for tackling the climate crisis. His plan invests in workers, in infrastructure, and in communities hit hardest by pollution, creating millions of good-paying jobs and building an equitable, clean energy future.

Martha: Joe Biden and Democrats believe affordable health care is a right. Biden will protect and build on the Affordable Care Act to give Americans more choice and reduce health care costs.

Peter: Joe Biden won't even ban fracking. Have you heard of the climate clock? In 7 years climate change passes the point of no return, and human extinction will become inevitable. Biden has made it clear that he will do nothing to avert this. A climate plan that takes effect in 2050 is like a Band-Aid put on a corpse. I have a child. I will never support a candidate who offers the children of the world nothing but death.

Peter: And the Affordable Care act is a sick joke that leaves millions of children without coverage. The ACA is nothing but a gift to the health insurance corporations who act as gatekeepers and hostage takers between Americans and their medical providers. How could you support something like that?

Peter: Joe Biden gets the best healthcare, paid for with my tax money. And he has the nerve to say he'll veto Medicare for All if it ever got to his desk. That's not leadership, Martha. That's a sociopath. And the health insurance industry is giving him all sorts of campaign donations as a reward. Doesn't that bother you? Has it ever occurred to you that you are working for a candidate that is part of a two-party charade?

Peter: Not to mention Joe Biden's clear intention to attack Venezuela and Syria? What did the people of those countries ever do to you? The children of those countries?

Martha: Thanks for your time. Have a good day!

Peter: I hope you think about this. Particularly if you have children. Because our time is up in 2027. https://climateclock.world/

Take care.

A Response to the Signatories of the "Open Letter: Dump Trump, Then Battle Biden"

It comes down to this: in ten years or less, climate change will pass the point of no return. Billions of deaths will become inevitable, and human civilization will not survive. But Joe Biden won't even ban fracking.

And we don't even have ten years. The fossil fuel industry must be shut down as quickly as possible. Worldwide action on a scale never before seen in human history is an absolute necessity if we're to have even a SMALL chance for humanity to survive. The signatories of this letter know this.

We don't have time to support Biden and then protest Biden. It won't work. The media will ignore the protests. Biden will use his enhanced powers to crush protesters, just as he and Obama did to the Occupy Movement and the water protectors of the DAPL. This letter is a recipe for human extinction.

I don't know how old many of the signatories are. Maybe they're all of an age where extinction doesn't matter to them, because they'll die before it happens. But I have a child, and I care about what happens to the children of the world. As a parent, I will not accept the murder-suicide of our species.

Our only hope for human survival is revolution, beginning with a #GeneralStrike. As for the signatories of this letter, they've shown themselves to be either hopelessly unrealistic, or simply cynical and manipulative. I'm sorry to have to say that, because I've admired some of them in the past. But if they've decided to give up on humanity, it's incumbent on them to get out of the way - not to try to take down the whole species with them.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/09/23/open-letter-dump-trump-then-battle-biden

https://commons.commondreams.org/t/open-letter-dump-trump-then-battle-biden/82463/105?u=pmaranci