You know, I was gonna wait a bit before talking about this on Hubski, but I have a semi-relevant rant here.

So, on the recommendation of a friend of mine, I started reading a book called Eaarth by Bill McKibben. I'm not super far into it yet, but what I've read is pretty interesting. McKibben does a really amazing job painting a picture and it's not just bleak, it's alarmist, it's apocalyptic, and his writing is dripping with as much cynicism as it is citations. The very first chapter alone speaks at length to how fucked things look, environmentally speaking, and does so with 129 citations. This guy did his homework.

While I'm not far into the book yet, I'm hopeful the tone changes, and articles like this are the reason why. If you read a lot of environmental stuff the doom and gloom in McKibben's book is pretty much par for the course and people seem to believe that things are irreversible. That world view is both lacking in imagination and faith in the capabilities of science and of our fellow man. Our attitude to the planet today, and our ability to heal it, is on par with our attitude to physical health a thousand years ago, and our ability to heal ourselves. Back then, concepts such as vaccinations, organ transplants, etc. were absolutely beyond the scope of imagination, because we didn't know enough about ourselves or science in general. Today, in regards to the ecosystem, we're just really starting to discover how things are interconnected and how to explain them accurately and scientifically. What we have on our side this time though, and will hopefully help speed up the restoration process, is a better understanding of science and better tools at our disposal.

We are just beginning to scratch the surface with concepts such as restoration ecology, carbon capturing, sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy, animal reintroduction projects, and so much more. That's not even bringing to attention a gradual change in social attitudes towards the environment as well.

To be fair, there's a decent chance that geo-engineering glaciers might be a dead end. But also to be fair, there's an equal chance though, that even if it's not successful, we learn something from it. I like seeing articles like this, because they show me two things. One, that people out there are trying and there is a lot of hope we can turn things around. Two, and more importantly though, they serve as reminders that a lot of environmental doom and gloomers have tunnel vision, and while their messages and warnings are important and need to be taken seriously, they're not the whole picture and we can't let ourselves fall into a futile mindset.

Sorry b_b, I was stewing on that for days.