01 April 2020 – April Fools!

1^st story – bleaching of Great Barrier reef

2^nd story – The cycle repeats itself. Tobacco. Climate CO2. Coronavirus. Trusted messengers.

Some sources to help push back against the polarization of our politics.

• • Gnomi – How the media manipulates your emotions and what you can do about it.
  • The Flip Side https://www.theflipside.io/
  • Better Angels

3^rd story – warmest winter in Northern Hemisphere

4^th story – Boiling the frog – gradual change sneaks up on us – the coronavirus shutdowns are revealing the possibilities for new truths.

• Venice streets are flowing clear,
• China/India can breath.
• The Economist reports this. But can we act on that information? Will people in India or China (or the US) be able to point to this experience to justify more regulations? In India? In China? In CA?

But our focus today … April Fools!

• Lincoln. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
  • 1850s, PT Barnum may have borrowed the phrase, but he certainly made money off of the idea.
  • [1936] Thurber said “You can fool too many of the people too much of the time”
    https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question58275.html
    • If you can fool policy makers (some of the people) they may lead us in the wrong directions. Right hand distracts while left hand picks pocket.
      • Big Tobacco fought against the science of cancer causiation – to protect their income
      • Big Oil fought against the science of global warming – to protect their income.
      • Even the coronavirus pandemic is seeing tribal push back even though the math is quite clear.
• It’s changed before … which is half true in a dangerous way.
  April Fools!
  We’ve changed the way it is changing – think of the first time you went from calmly driving until … Black Ice!
  Suddenly your understanding of the way the world worked changed!
• O2 is only 404ppm – up from 330 in the 50s – how can such a little change make such a big difference?
  April Fools!
  Small amounts can lead to big effects. Think trim tabs on an airplane wing.
  But Boomers grew up in that world, are they now the geezers saying “back in the day – winters were much worse, why … [Okay Boomer!, say the young]
• Leading thinkers on the left think that capitalism may be the cause of climate change, and that to save the planet the system needs fundamental reform.
  https://www.eco-business.com/news/markets-cannot-solve-the-climate-crisis/
  And THIS is the challenge for free-thinkers and Liberty-minded individuals – to prove that we can tweak the free-market rather that just kill it. Carbon fee and dividend is one way to make that freedom supporting point.
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