A meme inspired by a moment in Guy McPherson’s lecture in Encitas California in May 2016. This will be us for those who survive long enough.

I’ve become enamored (if this is the right word) with charts of late. Charts and graphs of our current plight are easier to absorb than pictures like the above (especially when embellished with the word of an angry scientist). Graphs and charts have a nice neutrality to them–it’s easy to wish for them to represent nothing more than a Piet Mondrian painting, all right angles and spare lines.

Mondrian Composition 10, from 1939-1942.

I’m trying to keep this short. The bad news keeps on coming on climate, even as our president- elect says that Climate isn’t a big focus for him. Sadly, it isn’t as if climate were a big focus for the last guy, either. We’ve been given over to an ‘all of the above ‘ energy strategy since 2008, and a ‘drill baby drill’ strategy since, forever. Anyway, Sam Carana (who might or might not be a real person or a composite, or a pen-name for somebody) has expanded on his points from earlier this year regarding the 10 year deadline he has for humans surviving on the planet. You might recall that I wrote about this a few months ago during our distraction about grabbing p*ssy and  email servers.  

The chart is part of the latest news from the Arctic news blogspot. It’s part of a long article, one of a group of such charts, each more frightening than the next. They indicate exploding heat on the planet in the space of a few years. But this one’s important because it acknowledges the impact that increasing wet bulb temperatures will have. I wrote about this in an earlier blog and the analysis is here courtesy of Kevin Hester. Just remember that temperatures can go to a point where sweating will not save you–you’ll die of heat prostration. The longer it stays hot, the more people die. India and Pakistan had thousands dying in a heatwave in 2015 that melted asphalt. 

And here’s the chart that goes with it, from Carana and friends.

Prognosis of deaths due to climate through 2025. Please note the scale goes past the 2 billion mark rather quickly.

As I noted above (in the meme at the top of the page courtesy of Guy McPherson), the Global North has some room to play. We will be able to put on our A/C and our granaries won’t fail first (although California is not going to be able to feed the world the way it once did). People in places like South Africa (where the picture was taken) are already dealing with life and death climate issues, but we will have to wait our turn. My friend Paula (who’s doing yeoman’s work keeping the camera on McPherson in his travels) was a bit, umm, cheesed at the question she gets from us entitled white folks–” ENTITLED People ALWAYS ask, “when will we know it’s happening?” (bangs head on desk)”. It’s happening right now and the four billion who don’t have clean water to drink can tell you all about it. 

In the meantime (since I’m a good 400 words shy of my average post), I leave you with a link to Guy’s interview on New Zealand Television, where he gets a Very Reputable hard news guy to go from zero to gobsmacked in a matter of minutes. It’s ten minutes out of a life (yours) that’s already shorter than you thought, but worth your time.