Mayer Hillman says “we are doomed”

From an Article by Julia Conley, The Guardian Newspaper (Common Dreams), April 26, 2018

“What legacies are we leaving for future generations?” asks the influential expert. “In the early 21st century, we did as good as nothing in response to climate change. Our children and grandchildren are going to be extraordinarily critical.”

Dr. Mayer Hillman, the influential social scientist known for producing research that has successfully led to policy changes to improve road safety, has declared humanity “doomed” due to its reliance on the burning of fossil fuels and the capitalist economic system that ensures that dependence will continue.

“We’re doomed,” Hillman told the Guardian in a recent interview. “The outcome is death, and it’s the end of most life on the planet because we’re so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. There are no means of reversing the process which is melting the polar ice caps. And very few appear to be prepared to say so.”

While green campaigners and some politicians call for a reduced dependence on fossil fuels and a shift to sustainable energy, like wind or solar power, Hillman warned that such contributions by individual governments are essentially “minute.”

“Even if the government were to go to zero carbon it would make almost no difference,” Hillman said.

According to the Guardian, the only solution is moving “to zero emissions across agriculture, air travel, shipping, heating homes—every aspect of our economy—and [reducing] our human population too.”

But Hillman expressed grave doubts that this hope would be realized, as global leaders are unable or unwilling to lead a movement away from fossil fuels.

“I don’t think they can because society isn’t organized to enable them to do so,” Hillman said. “Political parties’ focus is on jobs and GDP, depending on the burning of fossil fuels.”

The warning of the senior fellow emeritus of the Policy Studies Institute comes as scientists raise alarm over the accelerated melting of the ice in Antarctica, driven by a “feedback loop” of warmer water melting glaciers, and as experts estimate that global warming has pushed one-third of the world’s bird species closer to extinction.

“We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels,” he said. “So many aspects of life depend on fossil fuels, except for music and love and education and happiness. These things, which hardly use fossil fuels, are what we must focus on.”

In his interview with the Guardian, Hillman indicated that he was giving his final word of warning to the world population, calling his statement his “last will and testament.”

“I’m not going to write anymore because there’s nothing more that can be said,” he said.

For decades, Hillman’s warnings to policy-makers have resulted in changes that many now take for granted. He urged British politicians to stop the spread of sprawling shopping centers outside city limits due to their environmental impact—eight years before planning rules were changed. He also pushed for energy-efficient ratings for buildings and homes—adopted in the U.K. in 2007—starting in 1984, and for 20 mile per hour speed limits in urban areas.

Now, Hillman is recommending world citizens think past 2100—the year when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns the Earth’s temperature could rise up to 10.44 degrees Fahrenheit—when they think of the effects of the man-made climate crisis.

“Scientists warn that the temperature could rise to five degrees Celsius or eight degrees Celsius [nine degrees or 14.4 degrees Fahrenheit]. What, and stop there? What legacies are we leaving for future generations? In the early 21st century, we did as good as nothing in response to climate change. Our children and grandchildren are going to be extraordinarily critical,” said Hillman.

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“So many aspects of life depend on fossil fuels, except for music and love and education and happiness. These things, which hardly use fossil fuels, are what we must focus on.” —Dr. Mayer Hillman

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The Madhouse Effect – How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy | Columbia University Press

The Madhouse Effect — CSPN Interview of Michael Mann

Scientists from around the world are warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward irreversible change. This planet-wide tipping point would have destructive consequences unless adequate preparations and programs for change are instituted.

UC Berkeley professor Tony Barnosky tells how an increasing human population, coupled with climate change, could irreversibly alter Earth’s ecosystem in a video produced by Roxanne Makasdjian.

“It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,” warns Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of the review paper appearing in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature. “The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations.”

The Nature paper, in which the scientists compare the biological impact of past incidences of global change with processes under way today and assess evidence for what the future holds, appears in an issue devoted to the environment in advance of the June 20-22 United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The result of such a major shift in the biosphere would be mixed, Barnosky noted, with some plant and animal species disappearing, new mixes of remaining species, and major disruptions in terms of which agricultural crops can grow where.

This work by 22 internationally known scientists describes an urgent need for better predictive models that are based on a detailed understanding of how the biosphere reacted in the distant past to rapidly changing conditions, including climate and human population growth.

In a related development, groundbreaking research to develop the reliable, detailed biological forecasts the paper is calling for is now underway at UC Berkeley. The endeavor, The Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology, or BiGCB, is a massive undertaking involving more than 100 UC Berkeley scientists from an extraordinary range of disciplines that already has received funding.

Currently, to support a population of 7 billion people, about 43 percent of Earth’s land surface has been converted to agricultural or urban use, with roads cutting through much of the remainder. The population is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2045; at that rate, current trends suggest that half Earth’s land surface will be disturbed by 2025. To Barnosky, this is disturbingly close to a global tipping point.

“My view is that humanity is at a crossroads now, where we have to make an active choice,” Barnosky said. “One choice is to acknowledge these issues and potential consequences and try to guide the future (in a way we want to). The other choice is just to throw up our hands and say, ‘Let’s just go on as usual and see what happens.’ My guess is, if we take that latter choice, yes, humanity is going to survive, but we are going to see some effects that will seriously degrade the quality of life for our children and grandchildren.”

Related information:

• Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology
• Scientists core into Clear Lake to explore past climate change