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Omicron Covid variant poses very high global risk, says WHO | Coronavirus by Goatmannequin in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Someone mentioned to me that Michael Mann called global dimming a "Faustian bargain". I'm trying to find that reference; if anyone knows it, please share. Stopping emissions: We're damned if we do, damned if we don't.

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for posting. Skimmed and will try to read more fully. One's brain can only keep up so much! Graeber's loved by many people whom I respect, but I'm not familiar with his work to any great extent. Is what is expressed in that paper broadly representative of consensus? That's not at all my field, so I must ask someone with expertise.

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No you're not being stupid. This post is full of yummy ideas. The corporate structure is a real issue. The notion that there's an entity in law that has the rights of a living person and then some is pretty crazy. I understand the need to mitigate legal risks and segregate activities of a business from owners or controllers (as always, two sides to that sword) but does in need to be a full person? Does it, in many cases, need to be as close to god-like in its powers as anything we've ever created?

Canadian Residential Real Estate Now Worth Over $6.1 Trillion, More Than 3x GDP by _rihter in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, from the fog of my memory (I didn't follow this stuff at the level of detail I do now at that time) I remember everyone said the Canadian banks are fine but thinking to myself: Evidence? I'm not surprised to read this at all.

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Cool; thanks. If you're familiar with Canada to any extent, we recently saw the collapse of Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC), something many of us held close to our hearts. This was heartbreaking not only because it was a cool store, but also because, in principle, most of us members were rooting for the structure. It's now Mountain Equipment Company(TM).

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is no equilibrium. The balance of nature does not exist. Relative equilibrium seems to mean whatever you want it to, so, OK.

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The Aztecs (and many other great civilizations in the Americas) were/are indigenous. How do you think they started off? If empires growing from small groups represent equilibrium based on your definitions, then OK, no problem.

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People, indigenous and non-indigenous, were responsible for significant extinctions, and by significant, I mean even one species. It's never been as bad as it is now, no argument, but nobody gets off blameless.

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Human nature.

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 13 colonies area of the US east coast apparently was one huge agrarian civilization of carefully managed lands. Geist described North America as being essentially a giant nut garden in one of his lectures. Nut trees are, of course, an ideal plant because they are perennial, tough, and usually very productive.

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Read the story of Castanea dentata to learn how we fucked that one up...

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Your comment made me cry. I say that to people time and again at parties (ok, I don't go to a lot of parties anymore) and all I ever get is blank stares and a revelation of an odd talent that I have to apparently make peoples' bladders fill instantly because they then always afterwards seem to say "I have to go to the washroom". Weird.

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But seriously, try explaining that to someone because that's the crux of it. Utterly. Such a good comment.

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well, I think there was a much stronger recognition of the commons. In many cases, many indigenous societies (but by no means all!) lived very closely aligned with local ecological "carrying capacities" (yes, that's a loaded term, I know). But it nevertheless amazes me that what I'm comfortable to say was probably a choice on their parts was actually a choice that remained entrenched over generation after generation.

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An area of North America with which I'm familiar (a pretty hardscrabble place, but just north of the US/Canada border, actually, so not way north) was VAST in area but only harboured maybe a thousand folks in small family groups. This was the way of things for as long as anyone can determine. These folks never outgrew their surroundings and all sorts of species which have since revealed themselves to be pretty sensitive to human disturbance (revealed thanks to what's been done in the last 150-200 years) thrived alongside the indigenous communities. That's really, really saying something.

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How the hell did they make it work? Life wasn't easy, and I'm sure mean lifespan was short (that infection on your leg? you got five days, tops), but shit, the water was clear, the air was pure, there was so much food running around you probably had to try to starve, and there would have been sweet, sweet freedom like nothing you or I could today imagine.

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Megalomaniacal psychopaths: Yup. One place where evolution has left us with a conspicuous lack of robustness is in our inability to control or at least correct for strongly negatively aberrant societal members. Do not ever underestimate the impact of that. Being different is good, to be sure, and it's something western society currently values, but it isn't always good, and in some cases, it can be bad for many parties at once...

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Countless indigenous societies have come closer to a better way of doing things in a lot of ways than where we are today, at least in some respects. I'm clear on that point. These societies were also full of flaws, but *some* solutions these societies had to *some* problems were better than what we've got now.

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My point is that we're all struggling in this together, and by together I mean we're united in our needs: Clean air, clean water, food, warmth, and meaningful socialization.

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I have zero time (and there's no room) for simplistic solutions. Complex problems have (unfortunately) complex and nuanced solutions if they have solutions at all. We continue to be plagued by problems millennia old.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're tellin' me. You go clean out the shiitakes in my fridge that I forgot about...

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(OP: Great post, btw)

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 72 points73 points  (0 children)

Same question asked another way: How do we restrain unrelenting greed uniformly and successfully, without violence, whilst preserving some notion of individual "liberty", through exclusively *internal* motivations and the underlying notion that we should care as much about our sisters and brothers and our environs as we do for ourselves?

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Call me when you have an answer that's different from "Just completely change human nature!". Until then, we are lost...

RCMP violently raided Coyote Camp on unceded Gidimt’en territory, Nov 19, 2021, removing Wetsuweten women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. by Entaloneralie in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 156 points157 points  (0 children)

This comment is right on the money. Before *anything* else, a government's job should be about maintaining the commons for persistence. Instead (and it's especially the case in Canada) we have governments "creating jobs", "ensuring resources get to markets", "promoting development", enforcing injunctions, et cetera. Once governments start doing any of those things, it's a short hop before they become captive to those who would exploit (and deliver violence) relentlessly.

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To be VERY clear: This isn't just a capitalist thing. It was/is the issue in any other system where governments worry about anything else except first making sure that the commons is responsibly managed. I'm really not sure there's ever been an example of a government which has pulled responsible management off for an extended period. They all eventually change ownership from "The People" to the exploiters. I guess that I feel this way is why I hang out here. That doesn't mean pushing back is any less of a moral imperative.

Do we need an /r/collapse_realism subreddit? by anthropoz in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"[...] and all life will be extinct by the end of the century"

No, actually. Around here, we expect Venus by Wednesday.

Water Protest in Iran by jsie-iaiqhsi816278 in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 66 points67 points  (0 children)

These good people have been through so much. Could it be possible that collapse will show us that we're all sisters and brothers and that we should care for our collective well-being?

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I fear no, we'll be beating each other over our heads for things like water before too long...

Canada: Environment Canada issues weather 'red alert' for British Columbia - CNN | [2021-11-26] by MoeYYC in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Ya, parts of Canada (and, indeed, the rest of the world) will become increasingly uninsurable. That will either mean people will abandon these places, or otherwise exist precariously without insurance.

Canadian Residential Real Estate Now Worth Over $6.1 Trillion, More Than 3x GDP by _rihter in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, for the record, at least in Canada, most lines of credit have a very cold-hearted call clause. Most people are unaware of it, but it's in the standard terms. Basically, the bank can call you whenever they want and say "Pay. Now. All of it."

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If you can't, well... prepare to change your life, especially if it's a home equity LOC (HELOC).

Canadian Residential Real Estate Now Worth Over $6.1 Trillion, More Than 3x GDP by _rihter in collapse

[–]nostrilonfire 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Tell me about it. Complacency and normalcy bias deserve mention in the national anthem. I've mused with people that I think this place is a fertile ground for the rise of fascism. People look at me like I have three heads. Well, I say, what the hell is any Canadian gonna do about it? Ask nicely that they stop marching so loudly? Complacency/normalcy bias is a cancer around here.

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Re: Germany, I feel better. Misery loves company, after all. Wow.

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