XR Co-Founder Joint Statement

   Extinction Rebellion co-founders made a joint statement Thursday, October 19th, 2023 to address the spiraling temperatures - being above 1.5c for so many months this year.
   “Some of us have attempted over the years to responsibly communicate the extreme and cascading risks, and the severe consequences of not taking emergency action. Despite founding the movement on the precautionary principle we found ourselves being ground down. For years we were moderated, and moodsplained by experts from narrow disciplines who demanded we change our press releases, our lectures, and play down the reality and potential speed of catastrophic consequences. As we pass into the horrors of a 1.5 °C plus world, at least 10 years earlier than the worst official expectations, we realise we should have made a firmer stand. As we observe some top climatologists claiming we need to wait decades before accepting that the planet is 1.5 °C warmer, we also realise that silence about our disagreements is no longer an option for us, or the climate movement.”
   The statement goes on to warn of the dangers of allowing the media to moderate, and moodsplain our actions.
   The Statement ends with, “We are entering a new era for humanity and the prospects are terrifying. We committed five years ago in October 2018 to live in truth. Our movements need to look directly at that truth and act according to reality. That means being in resistance, standing for peace, justice and freedom.”
   For the full statement, go to XR Global

Asphalt Amplification

   Young climate activist, Anna, with Last Generation Italy brought traffic to a standstill along with a handful of other supporters, when she affixed herself to the concrete.
In this case, the glue was so powerful that part of the road had to be removed to extract her.

   The full meme, not pictured above, translates, “What can push a person to glue themselves to the ground on a highway? Gluing to the asphalt is the only way left to make myself heard”

On Radiative Forcing

   Many great scientists have tried to inform on this in the past decades (e.g. James Hansen, James Lovelock, Paul Crutzen and Veerabhadran Ramanathan). This is bigger than any one of us. We need specialized scientists to assess what this means for changes to monsoon systems, others that look at how ocean and atmospheric currents (might) change and how that could impact melting ice and sea level rise.

   We need politicians, legal experts and social scientists to learn what is at stake and debate the effects of unintentional and intentional emissions on climate, not just health and the environment. There are no easy choices in this.

   How much warming will the world except? And how fast can the rate of warming be until we are unable to adapt? When will we learn how high our dikes really need to be? How extreme will droughts get? How many people will lose their homes and need to move to greener pastures? Be it a locally overflowing refugee camp or to another country? Will we have the stability of global governance to face these accumulating challenges? Uncertainties are very large, which might be the main problem. We don't know how bad it will get, and anyone who tells you one way or another is lying.

   The precautionary principle tells us we have the duty to act. For ourselves, for our children and for strangers we will never meet. We are the most adaptable species known to ever have existed. I believe that with a more thorough understanding of our planet, humanity could become a beneficial force to life on Earth- if we soon acquire collective will to do so.

paraquoted from Leon Simons, via @LeonSimons8 on Twitter

Editors note: Leon Simons responded to the Oracle: 

To be sure, forcings and Earth's Energy Imbalance are not the same thing.

— Leon Simons (@LeonSimons8) October 20, 2023