Scripting News: We're cooked

Friday August 13, 2021; 3:42 PM EDT

I went for a walk in the noon heat and was wiped out. #
Listened to today's lame Daily podcast.#
The climate crisis is a lot worse than they were willing to say, obviously, based on facts they cited. #
Then they got all weepy about how it's the fault of boomers.#
Here's the story they should have reported.#

We have not yet started to decrease carbon emissions, in fact it's still going up.#
Even if we never emitted another ton of carbon, the next 30 years are going to be an escalating climate catastrophe. What we're seeing now is nothing compared to what we are certain to see in five years, ten years, all the way up to thirty years. #
Then in thirty years it will level off, assuming somehow in 2021 we stopped emitting any carbon. The climate will still be horrific but it won't get any worse. But (repeated, sorry) only if we turn our carbon emissions down to zero, now. #
See #1.#
So the boomers are to blame, say the host and the guest. The guest is a boomer, the host is younger. This is where their version of the story ends. #
Here's the crazy part. They're doing exactly what the boomer supposedly did and feels so guilty about. Not owning the truth of now. Softening it. Shifting to blame instead of what to do. Now, even if we got our shit together, and we aren't and won't, we're still fucked. It's already too late.#
If the new generations are so cool, why are they doing the same thing? Why are they making it sound like we're not living in a wrecked ecosystem?#
I know the answer. Here it is. It's a myth that anyone has any ability to turn the ship around, or even that all of us acting collectively could turn the ship around. #
The true story that I've yet to hear the NYT say, and today they had the perfect opportunity to say it, is that we're already over the cliff. The planet is ruined for life as it currently exists. It's done. Nothing to worry about. It's over. #

PS: Here's the true true version of the story, an excerpt from The Newsroom, which was broadcast in 2014, seven years ago.#

Last update: Friday August 13, 2021; 8:43 PM EDT.

You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)