Bridges To Knowledge: A Blog by Barry Camson

The Pursuit of Wellbeing

A fascinating theme amongst the many efforts focusing on responding to Global Warming is that of wellbeing. Wellbeing is different than the pursuit of pleasurable experiences though we often equate the two. Actually, these can be contradictory impulses and equating the two sometimes has tragic consequences. Perhaps, the pursuit of pleasure at the expense of wellbeing has led to the current predicament of Human Sapiens.

The Many Responses to Global Warming

There are many different individual and organized responses to Global Warming. Each individual, country or group of countries (in the case of the EU) has its own approach. This post describes a number of them.

The individual responses are equal to the number of people on the planet. For purposes of this article, I will capture many of these reactions on the part of those remaining inactive in the representative figure of a very intelligent friend of mine. This person who says whether Global Warming is happening or not, humans did not cause it. The idea here is let's just get on with life as it is and hopefully a decent life. The conscious and unconscious motivations for such an approach vary.

Sadly, this is not the extreme point on the side of inaction. The extreme point is represented by the current President of the United States and his business and political allies. This approach is to deliberately oppose and obstruct action to respond to Global Warming and to support the fossil fuel industry.

There are a variety of approaches where people and groups are taking action though in different ways to respond to the challenges of Global Warming. This post will describe some key ones.

My Opinion on Current Efforts to Fight Global Warming

 

From "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell.

 

Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love's day.

 

 

 

 

Dis-ease in the Body Politic

Notice to Readers: This post discusses the grave dangers to humanity from Global Warming.

In a touching video that I recently watched, Joanna Macy commented: "What is falling apart is a demented system - political, economic, corporate capitalism." She said this in the context of a discussion about the deep danger that our Planet is in as a result of human action.

Sustainability and Human Evolution

Are human beings, H. sapiens, genetically disposed to being unsustainable in the current ecological situation of our planet? This is a question raised by William Rees in a 2010 article, "What's blocking sustainability? Human nature, cognition and denial."