The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[santafe2]

Scientists have been concerned about this issue for decades. It appears this may be reaching a tipping point as the ocean continues to uptake ~40% of the CO2 we create each year. That is, the ocean has been moderating terrestrial climate change. Good for us, not so good for the world's oceans.

If/as we lower CO2 output and sequester CO2, the ocean will eventually begin releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. I have little hope that severe issues are not already baked into the atmospheric and oceanic systems as the collective we, slowly emerge from the argumentative stage but continue to fiddle as the world burns.

In a less dramatic but related story, the western Monarch butterfly may be all but extinct. There were millions of these migrating to California each winter from all over the western US but by 1997 there were just over 1MM. By 2017 there were 200,000. This last year there were less than 2,000. Pacific Grove CA refers to itself as 'butterfly town'.

The coastal city of Pacific Grove in Monterey County, California is known as "Butterfly Town, USA" for the annual migration of the Monarch butterflies. The town's Monarch Butterfly Grove Sanctuary is one of the oldest Monarch over-wintering sights in California, but in recent years their numbers have been dwindling rapidly.

In November 2020 volunteers counted exactly zero Monarchs in butterfly town.

My point with that story is that system collapse or species collapse is often gradual until it reaches an unsupportable level, then it's sudden. We humans are well wired to organize and stop a clear and present danger but not so well suited to solve slow, cumulative challenges.