submitted by a CASF Member
Why is Schwarzenegger running around like a headless chicken?
Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning a conference on how to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He is inviting Australia, Canada, China, EU countries, India and Mexico to a meeting prior to international climate talks scheduled for December in Poland.
Schwarzenegger wants to follow the example of other world regions that have taken steps on limiting emissions independent of their slow-acting federal governments.
“We know that Washington is asleep at the wheel. We cannot look for leadership there … We are not waiting for the federal government.” He told San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club marking the second anniversary of California’s state legislation to cap emissions and venture in carbon credits. Reuters reported.
Schwarzenegger also reiterated his opposition to offshore drilling in the coast of California, shortly after the Congress passed legislation that allows a national ban on offshore drilling to expire in October.
What are the problems?
1. Exponential Growth Economy. California, a subset of planet Earth [really!] is a finite entity with finite resources. The blind, brainless monster of exponential growth economy, a creature of the US political economy and Calif politics, demands infinite resources, especially energy, and services, especially carbon sinks, to continue its malignant growth. Whether Calif is governed by Arnold Schwarzenegger or a super-intelligent android back from the future, it makes very little difference in the ultimate outcome—a major crash.
2. Centralization. As the rate of increase in the complexity of Calif socioeconomic “model” [therefore its governance and decision-making processes] accelerates, the region becomes more vulnerable and susceptible to violent oscillations against even the slightest of changes in its “equilibrium state.” [Visualize the chaos that would occur on a crowded, fast-moving 8-lane highway, when even one vehicle goes out of control.]
3. Complexity. The disastrous impact of hurricane Ike on the power grid earlier this month, which left up to 5 million people without power, was a stark remainder and yet another a wake-up call to how complex systems, the centralized power grid, could collapse “suddenly” and with disastrous consequences. There will be many more instances of systems collapses, some more paralyzing than the others, in the country, especially in those states that are burdened with higher levels of socioeconomic complexity, in the coming weeks, months and years.
4. Information flow. To identify the exact nature of problems that beset a complex system, build an accurate picture of interconnectivity that exists between those issues, and create long term [syn: sustainable] applicable solutions, the decision-makers require:
- Accurate, detailed, up-to-date information – currently NOT supplied!
- Thorough knowledge of how each component of the system works – presently NOT available!
- Deep understanding of how those components operate [or don’t operate] in interconnection [syn: unison] – NOT on the menu, right now!
5. Personal stake, 2nd-home mentality. The decision-makers must understand the consequences of a major crash [societal or ecological.] When a major crash occurs in any country, or large geopolitical region, there would absolutely be no guarantee of containment. The knock-on effect of any major crash [or multiple smaller crashes] would render most “survival insurance plans,” for example, 2nd homes, or hideaway cabins in less populated states, or in “safer” countries futile.
6. Radical Changes. Desperate problems require “radical” solutions. California suffers from socioeconomic gangrene. Cosmetic dressing only hides symptoms of the disease temporarily, but delaying the cure may kill the patient. Unfortunately, deep-seated fundamental changes to save the community of life at the expense of GDP growth are not allowed.
The authors can see what’s coming, how come the other guys are so blind?
Related News Links:
- Schwarzenegger: Any president better than Bush on global warming
- California invites countries to carbon cap meeting
Related Links:
Fire Earth 