The bears at the Zoo in Helsinki woke up from their hibernation, due to the noise of a leaking waterpipe. This means that their uninterrupted hibernation was only three full weeks, because their early phase was plagued by too warm weather, making them get up and wander a little.
Wouldn't it be nice if the crypto bear markets were only three weeks long?
Markets aside, it is going to be interesting to see what actually happens as the weather starts changing at an increasing rate. As I have said earlier, it doesn't really matter if it is naturally caused or human activity that has changed it, we as humans can only live in a thin set of conditions. If it gets too warm, or too cool, too much of this gas, too little of that, we are unable to adequately adjust to survive. It seems silly that we spend so much of our effort and resources on what is effectively going to make our ability to survive harder.
I was trying to explain to Smallsteps the other day about averages, which she understands, but never remembers what it means. We were talking about average weights using she and myself as the sample, and how we weigh on average 55 kilos. But if we both actually weighed that, I would look very sickly, and she would be enormously overweight. It was a good way to explain the lie of averages.
And I think a lot of people don't factor this in when talking about the average change in temperatures in the climate, where a degree or more higher doesn't sound like much. But what it does is fundamentally shifts what is a pretty sensitive ecosystem, making weather conditions far more volatile, with more storms, more drought, and more freezing temperatures. And volatile and unpredictable weather affects our ability to grow food for ourselves, or build adequate housing.
The average shifts, create extreme changes.
And I think this is one of the things that worries me about the world today, as I reckon most of the averages that are important to human experience, are changing for the worse, and we are becoming more affected and more volatile because of it. Our health, whether looking at physical, mental, emotional or social health is falling. Our weight is going up, our ability to concentrate and pay attention is going down, our feelings are turning more negative and our societies are disconnecting.
And while the averages might not seem to matter that much to an individual, all of these things compound and create a lot more volatility. For example, mental health might not be a huge problem for most people, but when a small subset become extremely volatile, their behaviours will impact on everyone else, creating a knock-on effect. Someone who is extremely overweight might get their "do what you want", but they too have effects on others too, as concessions for inclusion are made. Everything has a knock-on effect, good and bad.
Are any of us really islands?
Of course not, as the adage goes. But, we seem to keep raising individualism onto a pedestal and acting as if we each live in a vacuum, our actions separate from everyone else. But I don't think "live and let live" is sustainable, when the way we are living keeps changing our averages for the worse. It is like a bank account that has incoming funds, but the outgoing are draining it faster - and we didn't have very much in the bank to begin with.
We are bleeding our potential.
But, we keep buying into the idea that we as individuals don't make a difference, even though there are eight billion individuals making us worse on average. Even if the global population was much lower, we would still be bleeding our potential out, just at a slower rate. But most likely, we would consume more. It is just like getting a pay rise, where the first month we are happy, but after that, it just gets absorbed into our expansion of lifestyle.
But we can't keep expanding by using our natural resources.
Yet, this is what we keep doing and rather than finding ways to slowdown through innovation, there is more and more pressure to keep consuming in order to make more wealth for those who have already become wealthy, screwing us over. And they will screw us over again and again, because we as individuals keep on choosing to bend over for convenience.
It won't end well for any of us.
But unlike the bears who wake up early when disrupted by changes in their environment, we just keep finding new ways to dampen reality so we can stay asleep.
Taraz
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I agree with this. Whether it is purely cyclical or something is happening that is man made, it is happening. People are going to have harsh wake up call if they keep putting their heads in the sand. On so many levels, not just the climate.
And this is the massive issue. It isn't just the climate - so many things are piling up and when the last straw falls, we are under the camel.
Little things always goes unnoticed. Be it efforts or changes brought in by the mankind. By the time we figured it out it get too late to recover. We talk a lot but noone is bothered for correction.
Correction requires seeing something wrong. I think most people don't actually spend much time working out what is wrong, but they feel that something is.
I saw some old climate predictions that Alaska will have climate that is like Florida by 2050. I wonder what happened to those predictions, was it a lie also?
This prediction was in New York Times as well in 2014: https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6838859/climate-change-alaska
And US hockey is playing Canada for Gold on Sunday ;)
I don't care about the predictions of when, it is about the trend of what is happening. Things are changing everywhere and I think that extreme weather events are going to keep increasing.
I hope Canada wins. And I hate Canada Hockey.
The US and Canadian players seem to all be wankers.
It will be an NHL game :)
Would most definitely be incredibly concerned about both of you if you both weighed 55kg O_O lol XD
On the bright side (at least for me with my insignificant sample sizes) I've been encountering a lot more people who are doing small things (small enough that on an individual level they make exactly no difference whatsoever to anything other than their own personal microcosms but enough people doing them is definitely going to start/shifting things) than people who shrug and smile sheepishly and loudly say OH WELL in that tone of voice of I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE SO I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU BECAUSE I WANT TO KEEP PRETENDING THAT WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE WHATSOEVER IN THE MATTER AND THAT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WE CAN DO AND YOU TELLING ME OTHERWISE MAKES ME FEEL BAD AND ME FEELING GOOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER.
At my sickest, I dropped down to 53. It was not pretty.
I wonder if I can use an AI generator to visualise 55kg Smallsteps :D
I encounter people making changes too - but I think it is too little too late for the average, unless something bigger starts pushing them. Maybe they are trying to be the something bigger.... :D
That sounds like a hospital trip D:
Or at least the "social proof" that most people want to see before they'll ever attempt anything.
It' is simple to miss how even small changes in temperature can result in serious effects on our ecosystems and health. We must have a collective realization before it's too late, as our survival relies on our planet.
Anyone would think it relies on our ability to be entertained.
I been here for quite long time(Since 2017). So I have seen some ups and downs. But this bear bullshit feels like it has been going forever. It is almost like I dreamed those nice times.
I just want one HP to be worth dollar-5 dollars.Is that so much to ask for...5 dollar HP would do me for life :)
The convenience we keep bending over for is exactly what’s making us less resilient. We’ve disrupted the quiet of the natural world so much that even hibernation is becoming a struggle.
We will hide away in climate-controlled homes, until they burn down.
I also keep thinking about the volatility part. It’s not just climate. It’s moods, markets, health, attention span everything feels more reactive and less stable. Like the system is under tension all the time. And when tension builds, it only takes one small trigger for things to snap.
And more and more people are snapping.
It is definitely the extreme weather that will be a pervasive issue in the future. In New York City, it has been a huge struggle to deal with the more extreme rain events happening in recent years that have caused billions of dollars in damage to NYC's vital yet archaic subway system.
For some, it is the best of a bunch of bad options. Reality is getting increasingly worse here in USA and it feels like affairs are slipping further out of control. I'm going to lose my mind if these Epstein Files don't turn into Epstein Trials sooner than later!
Thank you