INTERVIEW
March 15, 3019
Dan Bloom on climate future: ‘People should try to understand that in fact we have 30 more generations before 'Game Over,' so there's time to prepare and warn future descendants via novels, movies, self-help guides to learn how to prepare to lie down and die with grace and dignity in some 500 years or so. Now it the time for global action to slow down runaway global warming, but the prognosis does not look good. Cheer up, face facts. We're okay for now, it's the distant future that faces the worst scenarios of mass die-offs and the end of the human species on Earth....’
The 70-something retired journalist and blogger has claimed climate change will render the world uninhabitable 3o generations from now, in say, some 500 to 1000 years from now, leading some pundits to say he’s telling the terrifying truth and critics to brand him an overly-generous climate activist. Why is he so generous with his time frame? Edna Cenario talks to him to find out...
Edna Cenario: You have written a controvesial blog on all this. See LINK: Are you deliberately trying to upset people in 2019 about the climate?
Dan Bloom: Not at all. My hope is first of all just to tell the story as I see it. This has a couple of components. One is to show the crisis is happening much faster and is more all-encompassing than people think. And then also to explain that we have at least 30 more generations of Man before it's curtains for the human race. I’m not scared. I accept what is going to happen but I see long time frame and counsel people today to live good lives and take action in whatever way they see as important to try to slow runaway climate change down. But in the end, we have 30 more generations and then it's over.
Your sense of a long and generous time frame, where does this come from?
The best way to explain this is be reading my blog post here. There are already some good and useful comments by readers in the comments section, so take a look here.
Your blog post aboit this is based on a ten-year over view of the climate situation, beginning in 2006. It's now 2019. Has anything changed in your outlook? Are you prepared for the criticism that might come your way for speaking out like this?
My outlook has not changed since 2006 and it's become even more pronounced and certain. It's how I ''envision'' the future. I am trying to help people and show compassion for our descendants in the far distant future. People today don't need or want my help. There are plenty of experts out there to advise them. I am not an expert. I am a visionary.
In your blog, you say some pretty outrageous things. How can you sit here and look so relaxed and comfortable even as you publish such ideas?
It's my DNA, my personality. I've thought a lot about this, for over ten years. I still think about it every day. What I have said on my blog post is all I have to say. I hope it reaches a few readers here and there. I don't expect any support for what I've said. But that's okay. A people will ''get it'' now and a few more there and there, generation by generation. The ideas I mention in the blog will grow and gain acceptance later, generation after generation. We have plenty of time to wrap our heads around what I've said. Of course, I'll be dead soon, so others will carry on with this after me.
Some critics say your blog post is “hyperbolic” and “exaggerated”, and your vision of the future is as irresponsible as climate denial. But you say ''the facts are hysterical” and the only way to address them is with the language of visionary thinking. Are you Armaggeddonizing a way to reach new audiences and break down barriers?
Yes, and to activate people who now in 2019 are only casually engaged. To me, that is the most important messaging mission.
You have not ''freaked out.” You seem very calm and relaxed, comfortable in your own skin and with what you have said.
I am comfortable in my own skin, and at the age of 70 I can afford to take a long view of things.
I don’t believe fear and alarm are the only options; there is a place for hope and optimism. There is also a place for visionary Jeremiads. Compassion for the distant future is what animates me. I'm a 21st century empath. I've been building up to this my entire life. Now in retirement (although I am online 24/7 on Twitter and Facebook and email and social media and Google Search) I can set the table as I wish and see who wants to come to dinner and sup with me.
What strikes me in your blog post is that you try to shake the reader up and say, “Look, wake up, the world is not going to end soon, and we have 30 generations to prepare!” How can you say such a thing?
I think my blog post also does a fair amount of hope-giving. Read it again, slowly.
In the past year, we have seen more radical action such as student strikers led by Greta Thunberg and protests by Extinction Rebellion. Do you think groups like this are useful?
Very. I love Greta and have been in touch with her on social media and she has replied as well. I am amazed at how much media attention Extinction Rebellion has generated in 2018 and 2019. But I am going my own way. I don't join groups, never have.
Do you fly these days?
Personally, I don’t feel that flying is my thing. I admire people who like to fly around the world for business meetings or pleasure trips, vacations and all that. But I don't like to fly now. I did all my flying in my 20s and 30s, visiting over 15 countries. I will never step foot in an airplane again. I love trains. And bicycles. And I have not taken a vacation in 25 years. My life is a vacation. That's how I see things.
I see. So one more question: will it be moral for people around the world to have children in the 2020s and 2030s and 2040s?
Sure. Kids make the world go around. I love kids. Nothing wrong with having children. After all, my parents Bernie and Sylvia Bloom had me and my 4 siblings. My uncle and aunt in St. Louis had 9 children, two of them twins. Kids are important. I am not worried about the immediate future. My vision is focused on 30 generations of kids from now.
No comments:
Post a Comment