Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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182 S far<strong>the</strong>r horizons<br />
did not have a liking for human fl esh. Optimism, however, is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r like a Yankee fan believing that <strong>the</strong> team can win <strong>the</strong> game<br />
when it’s <strong>the</strong> bot<strong>to</strong>m <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ninth and <strong>the</strong>y’re up by a run with two<br />
outs, a two-strike count against a .200 hitter, and Mariano Rivera<br />
in his prime on <strong>the</strong> mound. That fan is optimistic for good reason.<br />
Cleveland Indian fans (I am one), on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, believe in<br />
salvation by small percentages (if at all) and hope for a hit <strong>to</strong> get<br />
<strong>the</strong> runner home from second base and tie <strong>the</strong> game. Optimists<br />
know that <strong>the</strong> odds are in <strong>the</strong>ir favor; hope is <strong>the</strong> faith that things<br />
will work out whatever <strong>the</strong> odds. Hope is a verb with its sleeves<br />
rolled up. Hopeful people are actively engaged in defying <strong>the</strong> odds<br />
or changing <strong>the</strong> odds. Optimism, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, leans back,<br />
puts its feet up, and wears a confi dent look, knowing that <strong>the</strong> deck<br />
is stacked. “Hope,” in Vaclav Havel’s words, “is not prognostication.<br />
It is an orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> spirit, an orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> heart;<br />
it transcends <strong>the</strong> world that is immediately experienced, and is<br />
anchored somewhere beyond its horizons . . . Hope, in this deep<br />
and powerful sense, is not <strong>the</strong> same as joy that things are going<br />
well, . . . but, ra<strong>the</strong>r, an ability <strong>to</strong> work for something because it is<br />
good” (1991, p. 181).<br />
I know <strong>of</strong> no purely rational reason for anyone <strong>to</strong> be optimistic<br />
about <strong>the</strong> human future. How can one be optimistic, for example,<br />
about global warming? First, as noted above, it isn’t a “warming,”<br />
but ra<strong>the</strong>r a <strong>to</strong>tal destabilization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> planet brought on by <strong>the</strong><br />
behavior <strong>of</strong> one species: us. Whoever called this “warming” must<br />
have worked for <strong>the</strong> advertising industry or <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Siberian<br />
Bureau <strong>of</strong> Economic Development. The Intergovernmental<br />
Panel on Climate Change—<strong>the</strong> thousand-plus scientists who<br />
study <strong>climate</strong> and whose livelihoods depend on au<strong>the</strong>nticity, replicability,<br />
data, facts, and logic—put it differently. A hotter world<br />
likely means:<br />
• More heat waves and droughts;<br />
•<br />
More and larger s<strong>to</strong>rms;