Collapse Is A Form Of Adjustment

I keep having the sinking feeling that we are getting this climate change wrong; that we do not really understand what is happening; that it is bigger, faster, and more out of control than we suspect. Every time there is news on the subject, it is that the effect is happening faster than was predicted.

And the illogic runs rampant, even within the ranks of supporters. A major snowstorm blankets the East Coast and they are quick to point out that no single weather event is indicative of global climate, but when tornadoes devastate Joplin and the Southeast they hasten to use it as an example of global warming.

We talk of moving to electric cars, wind farms and solar panels but no one ever suggests that there might be a need to adjust our basic lifestyle. We assume that the form of social living the we enjoy can continue forever. I suspect the Anasazi thought so too. We don’t know with certainty why that ancient society is gone, but by far the most common postulate is that it outgrew its environment and collapsed.

And yet we never look at the astonishing population growth of planet Earth and wonder if we are doing on a global scale what the Anasazi did locally.

Update, Tuesday morning:
After writing that yesterday, in the evening I came across this little gem.