My friend Kent brought this link to my attention, an article in The Guardian by Tad DeLay.  The Guardian does a passing fair job of staying on top of climate change issues. 

 

Of course, if denialism isn't enough to make you slit your wrists, McGoey's favorite, Vaclav Smil and his doomsday writing will push you over the edge.  Pablo recommends wearing leather wrist protectors when you read things like https://e360.yale.edu/features/beyond-magical-thinking-time-to-get-real-about-climate-change.  The idea is that by the time you can unbuckle the wrist protectors, the suicidal urge will have passed.  (Let me know how that works out for you.) 

 

Something similar is happening in politics.  Many Democratic stalwarts (Caro among them) are just burned out, having dealt for so long with the MAGA party in general and The Former Guy in particular.  Doing everything we can to make sure TFG and his ilk aren't elected is critically important.  Voting is not denialism, although it would be by DeLay's definition.

 

Meanwhile, it's true that there is no individual action that can make a difference when it comes to global warming, taking individual steps do have an effect, even if not separately measurable.  And I don't call those steps "denial."  Virtue signalling can inspire others to make small lifestyle changes and they are cummulative.  My docent work at the BG lets me personally interact with and educate large numbers (well, about 600 per year) of visitors each year.  The Garden also has me plugged in to the conservation work at the BioPark, which in turn has me involved with State of NM endangered species activities.  Spurred on by Nirankar and Ty, Caro and I are diminishing our meat consumption and trying to stick to sustainable foods.  I am reminded of the parable about the hummingbird and the forest fire.

 

Capitalism is not as hopeless a case as DeLay would have you believe.  One of the biggest drivers will be the insurance industry.  Coastal flooding (I'm looking at you, Texas) intense hurricanes (hello, Louisiana), derechos, tornados, wildfires (Ruidoso this week), and all the rest will eventually make obtaining insurance prohibitively expensive or unavailable for risky rebuilds after disasters.  Hurricane and flood insurance in Florida is fast approaching that point.  When FEMA can't keep up, Congress will be forced to take action (hard to believe). 

 

Thanks for listening to my TED talk.  

The type specimen illustration of Stegnosperma for the photo tax.