Things which concern me today

[cupidsbow]

My concerns about eating

It genuinely gives me a sense of creeping horror that so many people are still so invested in denial of climate change.

I see numbers like this, going ever upward for most of my adult life. I see reports of the effects of these increases in reputable journals, not only in terms of abrupt and disastrous localised weather

Comments

[amnisias]

Human Rights restrictions and violations are common in China, an estimated half a million people are currently in prison without charges or trial. Also I am not sure what the Chinese Law position is on publishing pronographic material - in some contries this is still a punishable offense. Unfortunately the TWO article is purly sourced, it only links to a copy of a Chinese Paper, without any direct Translation or further lilnks to non-Chinese papers or AI. If you want to find out what happened to these people your best bet is to contact Amnesty International, with links to your sources

[cupidsbow]

Thanks for the info. Once the semester break comes around, I'll try to contact Amnesty.

And yes, I'm aware of how little "Western" fandom intersects with fandom practiced by other communities. It saddens me too. I think we'd all be richer for building more connections.

[amnisias]

I guess what upsets me most is if people are utterly ignorant to fact that we/they are only represent a 'slice' of humanity (not just in fandom, in general). As to the actual interaction I'm a bit more ambivalent - I worry that western cultur (for a lack of a better short hand) can be rather domeneering, sudictive and invasive, and having different cultures retaining some independence and developing in different directions might be better. I also cut me/us some slack, because language barrieres are more insurmountable than walls and mountains. Good luck with AI, though.

[cupidsbow]

*nods* I agree with all your reservations. Ambivalent is the perfect word for it really.

On one hand, when we're in a culture which always reflects itself, endlessly, there's no impetus to develop a more complex understanding of different ways of being, and doing so respectfully. But at the same time, other peoples shouldn't have to bear the cost for the West learning those lessons.

I do think we'd live in a better community if we collectively learned them, though.

[dfordoom]

It genuinely gives me a sense of creeping horror that so many people are still so invested in denial of climate change.

I'm afraid you'd have to put me in the skeptic's camp. I believe that climate change occurs regularly for perfectly natural reasons.

[cupidsbow]

So do I. That's totally not the issue.

[dfordoom]

So do I. That's totally not the issue.

It is the issue for me. If climate change is natural then there's no way we can stop it, and there's no reason why we'd want to. It's a sign that the planet is healthy.

Adapting to periodic natural climate change would only cost a fraction of the money currently being spent on attempts to stop a purely natural cycle.

[drhoz]

except the current change is not natural. We're in what under natural conditions would be an interglacial period at the moment.

The effect that CO2 content has on the thermal insulation of the Earth's atmosphere was demonstrated over 100 years ago. How could raising the CO2 levels of the atmosphere by burning fossil carbon, liberating methane, and removing vegetation on a massive scale, NOT have an effect?

[taraamber]

There is so much I want to say in response to this, that it might be wiser to wait until I can respond from my computer instead of my phone, but I've already waited some time and haven't managed to, so I will try this way.

The climate change numbers boggle my mind too.  I never cease to be shocked when I hear people claim that we have nothing to speed up climate change, or to make it worse.  I know some of it is just willful blindness because people don't want to have to change how they live.  The use of "God wouldn't let that happen" coming from my fellow Christians is what really gets me frustrated.  The idea that God would not let us deal with the consequences of our actions is contrary to scripture.

Now I'm just ranting, and seem to have lost my point.  In any case, I feel your frustration.

[cupidsbow]

Sometimes ranting helps. When it comes to climate change, it's like people have stuck their hands over their ears and are going blah blah blah, I can't hear you. As though that will make it go away.

I can kind of understand it when people do it for things like sexism or racism, because they usually stand to benefit from ignoring or denying it. But with climate change, no amount of denial will grow more food.

It's just boggling. We can be boggled together, you and I. Maybe it will make us feel better.