What should be the topic of discussion in the news' media is not the fiscal cliff.

[Cleita]

It should be climate change, global warming or whatever you want to call it. The fact the the planet is reaching critical mass in how much heat it can sustain before we and the majority of other species are no longer able to live here is the only thing that our talking parrots and our elected leaders should be talking about.

http://priceofoil.org/2012/12/03/world-faces-4-6-degree-temperature-rise/

The daunting size of the challenge facing world leaders at the Doha talks has been laid bare by new research that shows that, unless radical action is taken, we are on course for 4 to 6 degree warming by the end of the century.

According to the latest analysis for the Global Carbon Project by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, emissions from burning fossil fuels are projected to rise by 2.6 per cent on last year’s levels to a high of 35.6 billion tonnes.

This means that global emissions have jumped 58% between 1990 and now.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

<snip>

But the decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India, the new figures show. Coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is growing fastest, with coal-related emissions leaping more than 5 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year.

Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project, a network of scientists that tracks emissions.

Yet nations around the world, despite a formal treaty pledging to limit warming — and 20 years of negotiations aimed at putting it into effect — have shown little appetite for the kinds of controls required to accomplish that goal.

,snip>

Yet, there was barely a blip about this during the elections and no one is talking about this now. Instead, they are talking 24/7 about taking away social insurance from senior citizens, insurance that they paid for all their lives and will continue to pay even when in retirement.

When we get kicked off the planet because our food supply, water, shade and other things we need to survive are no longer available and should a few of us survive that, we will be boiled away with the water and atmosphere. I suppose that will more than solve the problem of the so-called fiscal cliff, slope, curb or whatever you want to call it.

[NoOneMan]

1. People are being distracted by this trivial bullshit

And I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but in contrasts to the calamity climate change is bringing, 99% of political bickering is distracting, trivial bullshit. Climate change will soon render the pedantic politics of the 20th century moot and irrelevant.

[Cleita]

4. The problem is, it will be too late to celebrate that.

[dballance]

2. Climate change is too hard and requires belief in science

It's too hard for politicians grasp or explain how we're dooming ourselves through climate change.

It is much easier for them to shout "they want to take away your benefits" or "they want to raise your taxes." The math involved in those statements is simple enough for the electorate to understand.

Trying to communicate how the increasing melting of the permafrost releases more greenhouse gasses or that the melting of the ice in Arctic regions allows the oceans to warm and supply energy to storms like Sandy is not something most politicians want to tackle. You can't do it in a 30 second commercial trashing your opponent. And most people don't even realize they are already experiencing effects of climate change. I'd bet most of those people in the drought ridden "fly-over" states don't think climate change has anything to do with their current plight. Certainly the majority of their representatives and senators are so anti-science they don't believe climate change is real or caused by man. Many of them haven't come to terms with evolution yet.

Climate change is not something people understand they feel on a daily basis. They can see on their paycheck deductions increased so their take-home pay is less and, therefore, can internalize and be hostile to that.

[Cleita]

5. This is where the media is not doing their job. They should be explaining the science to

the public on a daily basis. It's what the media used to do. They sure had us scared of nukes back in the day and we should have been concerned about the possibility, now they need to scare those fly-over country Americans about this. It seems the fact that in those same states crops are failing would be a good jumping off point to start educating them, but no let's talk instead about how Social Security and Medicare is causing the deficit which is leading to the fiscal cliff, which is of course all lies.

[oldhippie]

6. The media's record in trying to explain science ....

... is only marginally better than the Church's. ( I pine for the days of the old Mr. Wizard.)

[Cleita]

7. Obscure cable channels like Currant, Free Speech TV and Link TV have

tried, but access to those channels is really marginal. It's not like you can walk into the gym and there is someone on CNN or CBS devoting some time to it. It needs to be repeated daily in small doses but daily.

[dballance]

9. The Media are absolutely doing their Current Job

They are doing their best to maximize corporate profits for shareholders and CEOs.

It's not about actual journalism anymore. That's not terribly profitable. The "news" corporations obviously saw that with the ascent of Limbaugh.

It's about feeding a segment of the viewers/readers/listeners with a constant stream of what they want to hear so they keep tuning in. Adding numbers to the ratings so the corporate media can charge ever higher advertising rates.

[Cleita]

10. And because of this they are ruining our country and our planet. n/t

[Louisiana1976]

3. Well said. K&R

[Mojorabbit]

8. I totally agree and it scares me to pieces that the media

is barely acknowledging the problem exists if at all.

[Cleita]

18. If they don't recognize their responsibility in this, somehow somebody

has got to get the message out? Movies? Songs? Any ideas?

[limpyhobbler]

11. K&R

I really agree with this.

[Fumesucker]

12. ...

[Cleita]

17. That's cute but timely. n/t

[raouldukelives]

13. It's a choice between supporting Wall St or supporting a healthy climate for their children.

Most people choose the street.

[99Forever]

14. Honestly.

I think we've passed the tipping point already. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be our top priority. It should by any real measure. But it isn't and won't be and even if I'm wrong, we will not stop killing the Planet that gives us life, till long after it's too late.

[Cleita]

21. Woe is us if we have passed the tipping point, but according to the

scientists we are getting very close and it's happening more and more rapidly as time goes on.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. I read somewhere (probably here) that evolutionary biologists consider 100,000

years to be about the average lifespan for any given species on Earth.

If that is true (and I may be mis-remembering), I'd say homo sapiens has pretty much tapped out its supply of cosmic good will and is now pretty much ready for the dust-bin of history (to quote Marx out of context). And, you know what? The universe doesn't give a flying fuck about whether homo sapiens beats the average species lifespan.

150 years ago, Charles Dickens nailed it in Great Expectations when the child-narrator Pip looks up at the night sky:

"And then I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude."

[Cleita]

16. OMG no. Some species have been here for more than a million years

particularly the reptilian ones and sea turtles for millions of years.

[coalition_unwilling]

22. Yeah, I know. Evolutionary biology is def. NOT my forte. However, I think

the key word was 'average lifespan'. If any species were going to last for millions of years, I'd definitely be voting for sea turtles. I'm also partial to jelly fish. Actually, I'd support almost any species other than homo sapiens beating the average Well, I could do without roaches and scorpions, but please mark that up to personal prejudice.

[stevenleser]

19. Gay marriage going to SCOTUS via two cases

I think that is the big news right now.

[Cleita]

20. Yes, and it's important news. Not to detract from it.

Yet climate change is being ignored altogether and it's much too important to brush aside. Let's face it, if there is no planet to live on, what is the point of any kind of marriage.