Draft script:
I’m not looking for it. Still, I see it every day. It’s often in my email inbox.
It used to be every Tuesday that people would proclaim I was preventing other people from acting positively on climate change. Thus, the common reference in this house to apocalypse Tuesday. Later, idiots in the corporate media and elsewhere claimed I was preventing other people from acting positively on climate change every yesterday.
That’s willfully ignorant and stunningly stupid. In addition, it’s very awkward to refer to apocalypse yesterday. As a result, we continue to use the phrase apocalypse Tuesday in this house. In so doing, we submit to the evidence regarding anthropogenic climate change.
Just to be clear, I’m not stopping anyone from doing anything. I know very few of the more than 8 billion people on Earth. If I knew all of them, my message would remain the same: Earth is in the midst of abrupt, irreversible climate change.
That Earth is in the midst of abrupt, irreversible climate change is not an opinion. It’s a fact. Indeed, according to governments of the world reporting through and concurring with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Earth is in the midst of the most rapid change in planetary history. Collectively, humans are inadvertently heating the planet faster than ever. When I say ever, I mean ever. Ever, as in much faster than when an asteroid struck Earth and triggered a Mass Extinction Event that drove the dinosaurs to extinction.
And not only the dinosaurs. Many other species were driven to extinction, too. If you’re a fan of vertebrate mammals, you’ll be pleased to know that this Mass Extinction Event is responsible for the speciation of our precursors, and therefore us. We would not be here were it not for that planet-altering asteroid.
As individuals, it’s surprising any of us are here. The odds of any of us even existing are about 1 in 10²⁶⁸⁵⁰⁰⁰. That’s 1 in 10 followed by 2,685,000 zeros. To put that into perspective, it’s estimated our entire universe has about 10⁸⁰ atoms. In other words, the probability of randomly plucking an atom from the universe is about 33,562.5 times greater than that of you even existing.
So, when I say that it’s surprising any of us are here, I mean very surprising. To misquote an old song, you got lucky, baby, when Earth created you.
How much time are you wasting? Your time is precious. So is mine. The next time you’re thinking about forwarding me comments about my foolishness, please keep this in mind: Almost every item I present is rooted in the peer-reviewed literature. Occasionally, I quote a scientist based on his or her well-informed opinion. Contrary to the nonsense I read daily, this well-informed opinion is not quite the same as quoting an anonymous, poorly informed idiot on Reddit or YouTube.
Again, how much time are you wasting? I encourage you to heed the advice of Seneca, the founder of modern Stoicism: “Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
Another important piece of advice comes from Marcus Aurelius, for 20 years the Emperor of Rome. In his Meditations, Aurelius wrote: “Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.”
I have been positively influenced by Stoicism and its modern equivalent. As one result, I have for many years encouraged people to lead full, meaningful lives.
I am asked nearly every day for advice about living. My response is included at guymcpherson.com, and I repeat it here.
I recommend living where you feel most alive and, simultaneously, where you feel most useful. I recommend living fully. I recommend living with intention. I recommend living urgently, with death in mind. I recommend the pursuit of excellence. I recommend the pursuit of love. In light of the short time remaining in your life, and my own, I recommend all of the above, louder than before. More fully than you can imagine. To the limits of this restrictive culture, and beyond.
For you. For me. For us. For here. For now.
Live large. Be you, and bolder than you’ve ever been. Live as though you’re dying. The day draws near.
I am not trying to scare people. I have nothing to gain from scaring people.
My goal is to prepare people, including mental and emotional preparations. After all, our time is short. Only by being mentally and emotionally prepared can you pursue a full, meaningful life. That’s my goal for me. It’s also my goal for you.
I find it ironic that you and by default me, get attacked for pointing out that our only home is on fire!
This culture (if you can call it that) thrives on "shooting the messenger".
If anyone can show me something that we can do that will change the trajectory we're on, I'm all ears!
I see us as being in "Hospice".
We do have agency on how we treat each other and the natural world, as we circle the drain of collapse and extinction.
https://kevinhester.live/2019/06/24/navigating-hospice-at-the-edge-of-extinction/
sigh...how old this gets (for you, Guy, even more so), that people cannot be responsible for their own thoughts and actions. For me, you have prompted me to become as car free as possible, in my very car centric city. Will it make a difference, in the big picture? No, probably not. But it makes a difference to me - and that's why I do it. Thanks for all you do!