Our only chance at survival!

According to Pew Reserach, “Amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, people around the world are still concerned by the threat of global climate change. A median of 70% across 14 countries surveyed say climate change is a major threat to their country. A similar median, 69%, say the same of the spread of infectious diseases. Sir David Attenborough sees them as one and the same problem.

According to Sir David, “An estimated 1.7 million viruses of potential threat to humans hide within populations of mammals and birds. We are only just beginning to understand that there is an association between the rise of emergent viruses and the planet’s demise…The more we continue fracturing the wild with deforestation, the expansion of farm land and the activities of the illegal wildlife trade the more likely it is that another pandemic will arise…”We are going to have to live more economically than we do…Nature would flourish once again when “those ( nations) that have a great deal, perhaps, have a little less”.

In the words of Jeremy Leggett, “we are squarely in the middle of the greatest energy transition in history”. The era of fossil fuels is over and the only question is when the new era will be fully upon us. Economics make its arrival inevitable: Clean energy is less expensive. The wind energy potential in just three states, Kansas, North Dakota and Texas would be sufficient to meet electricity demand from coast to coast. ( “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” )

This photo shows the distance, ( ~ 106 meters/ 115 yards ) about the length of a football field, from the front of our Florida condominium to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The sea level around Florida is up to 8 inches higher than it was in 1950. The increase is mostly due to ice melting into the ocean but it’s complicated by the porous limestone upon which Florida is constructed which also causes major flooding.

Scientists now forecast that in just the next 15 years, the sea level will rise by another 6 inches. In the next five years we’re likely to see the sea level in front of our condominium rise another five inches.

This sea level rise may not sound like much except when you consider the composition of the soil in Florida. It’s mostly limestone which is extremely porous so…