The Death of Irony

I thought that this must be a joke:

Hundreds Drown In Russian Heatwave (found on Desdemona Despair).

But it’s not.  It’s real.

It’s so hot there that people’s shoes are getting stuck in the tarmac.  They’re sending water trucks to pry them out.

The eastern U.S. is now experiencing it’s own heatwave (of many, many more to come).  Washington D.C. is 104, and in that humidity, it might as well be 130 in Arizona.

Yet despite this weather (as opposed to climate), there are indications that interest in global warming is cooling off, even though “this year is on track to be the warmest worldwide since records began in the 19th century”.

Our attention span is limiting our ability to properly and safely assess the danger we are in.

Sure, it’s summer, and all that this brings weather wise, but the indications of serious climate change are all screaming code red.

Way back, I advocated underground construction, as being one of the safer methods of dealing with catastrophic climate change.  I still hold to this position by the way.  Ground temperatures can be utilized to keep your home cool in the summer and warmer in the winter, as the temperature variation in the ground is much less then in the air.

Climate Progress has a current post on this climate topic by the way, and the “worst long-range forecaster on Earth“.

On the lighter side, Monbiot has a Modest Proposal For Tackling Youth (read first).

Before you get your panties in a bunch, you might also want to read Monbiot’s The Death of Irony.

I guess he got a lot of hate mail over that one.  Reminds me of that stupid flap that happened right here with the Food Emergency, $10,000 minimum orders blog post and Savinar’s rabid reaction.  Irony is apparently lost on some people.

Monbiot goes to some length to try and clarify his intent, as did I.  But it doesn’t work, because you’re still dealing with the very first point I brought up today:

“Our attention span is limiting our ability to properly and safely assess the danger we are in.”

Do I need to remind anyone what it means when we have catastrophic weather?  Or severe climate change?  How this affects everything that we do?  Forget the “irony” of the moment, but when the skillet is hot, where are you going to go?

I guess you could drown your sorrow in booze and go jump in the lake like the Russians, or the river, creek or swamp — and drown like so many did in Russia.  How tragic!

I’m going to lay in a big booze supply… something I forgot to do.  Maybe it’ll help, not for me as I rarely drink, but for everybody else that won’t know what to do.

Ok then, let’s move on. Be sure to read how the oceans are undergoing a fundamental an irreversible ecological transformation.  I’ll get the booze ready for when you’re done.

Or have we lost your attention again?