Mastodawn

@dougendersbee Aug 7, 2023

Bread and Circuses

A perfect (and perfectly scary) title from Jessica Wildfire (@jessicawildfire) —

"If a Cactus Can't Survive This, Neither Can You"
____________________________

You might’ve seen recent headlines about saguaro cacti keeling over in Arizona after spending nearly a month above 110° Fahrenheit (43°C).

Not even a week later, The Washington Post ran this absurd story: “Your body can build up tolerance to heat. Here’s how.”

I’m not linking to it. That’s how bad it is.

It’s not just getting a little hotter. It’s getting so hot that saguaro cacti are deflating in the desert. They evolved roughly 20,000 years ago. They’ve spent millennia adapting to a hot desert environment. They live up to 200 years in the hottest, driest environments on the planet. These cactuses are saying, “I can’t take it anymore,” and sagging over dead.

And we’re being told we can adapt.

I got curious about what temperature the human body can actually withstand, and it’s somewhere around 108°F (42°C). That’s when your proteins start to denature. A wet bulb temperature beyond 95°F (35°C) can kill a person in about six hours. No amount of heat tolerance can save anyone from that.

It strikes me as just a little ridiculous that out here in reality, parts of the world are becoming absolutely uninhabitable, and wellness writers are just now telling us to start building up our heat tolerance.

It feels like we’re being prepared and conditioned to start blaming heat deaths on someone’s “low heat tolerance,” as if it’s just another precondition that helps them rationalize indifference in the face of mass death.
____________________________

FULL ARTICLE -- https://jessicawildfire.substack.com/p/if-a-cactus-cant-survive-this-neither

#Arizona #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

If a Cactus Can't Survive This, Neither Can You

On the absurdities of "personal heat tolerance."

OK Doomer

Marc "ACAB" Godin Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

Just gonna use the power of positive thinking to prevent our *proteins from denaturing*

2xfo Aug 7, 2023

@quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
"Imagine a healing white light inside your body, bringing all of your rhythms into sync."
"My muscles don't work anymore"
"Well now that's too bright, dial it back"

Michael Porter Aug 7, 2023

@RnDanger @quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire We’re working on that
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wants-bring-light-inside-the-body-to-kill-coronavirus-2020-4?op=1

Trump wants to bring 'light inside the body' to kill the coronavirus

Trump added that he wasn't a doctor and was "just here to present ideas" after a reporter suggested he was spreading "rumors" that might be dangerous.

Insider

MordMeisterin Aug 7, 2023

@quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire I wish the Power of Love would save us all, just like in Anime

Court Cantrell does not comply Aug 16, 2023

@mordmaister @quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Or Huey Lewis & the News.

WarmasterPalak Aug 7, 2023

@quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

If we all just do our part (like we've been doing for the last 30 years) we can all be dead in the next ten!

Badger AF (he/him) DEMOCRACY Aug 7, 2023

@quietmarc @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire A good book to check out: Brightsided by the late, great Barbara Ehrenreich. The toxicity of positive thinking.

O=C=O Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses

Rich people can adopt to low income, too. They must reduce their capital stok every day a little and a little, and a little, ... and then they can live as a normal one with normal income. It's easy!

@jessicawildfire

Hiker Geek 🌲💻🌲Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Thoughts and prayers for the cacti.

Grandpa Don Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses

And to those idiots who respond "But we have air conditioning," that AC is powered largely by the fossil fuel burning that creates the problem. And high cooling water temps are threatening nuclear power plants.
There.
Is.
No.
"But."

A devasating several decades are already baked in even if we take drastic steps as fast as possible. How much worse do we want them to be? Do we want the mass extinction event currently happening to include us?

Petesmom *has moved*Aug 7, 2023

@dbc3 @breadandcircuses
And let me add, to those well meaning folx saying “plant trees!” Ummmm trees need certain temperatures and …water. If Saguaro Cacti are dying in AZ - what trees will you plant that can survive?

Maggie Maybe Aug 7, 2023

@dbc3 @breadandcircuses the people who scream “ But we have air conditioning”, those people must have never lived anywhere but their own ZIP Code.

Are they aware that there are states in this country with rolling blackouts? Do they not remember all the people who died in Texas a couple winters ago because they actually couldn’t use the heat without electricity?

@dbc3 @breadandcircuses allowing humanity to continue is not profitable -👴🏻💰

Mar :🌻Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses I agree. The body needs to have a cool down, it cannot survive in constant heat. @jessicawildfire

Robyn Montgomery Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire It’s the American way. If you can’t overcome then it’s your fault

Phogna Bologna Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Boy that last graf had a twist!

Nathan Weil Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire As someone who has grown up in Phoenix and is acclimated, it’s FREAKING HOT. It’s so much hotter than it was 25 years ago and it’s hotter for longer. We’ve always had hot days, but the whole freaking month of July was non-stop.

The weather is changing faster than any evolution can account for. No, our bodies will not adjust to these temperature changes and people are dying. Third degree burns from just touching the asphalt…it’s dangerous.

derzeitreisende Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @weiln @jessicawildfire It’s definitely NOT a problem only for the next generations. And as insane as it it - there is a sense of justice in this. Climate disaster will hit us, NOW. And bc it’s global it knows no borders nor geographical or political. Or of ages.

We are in this boat, all together. No plan B world to run to.

mathew Aug 7, 2023

@weiln @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire I've been in Texas for 20 years. It is definitely hotter. Sure, it used to be too hot to go out in July and August, but last summer it was too hot to go out most days from mid June right through to the middle of October.

This year we've had deadly heat (>40C) pretty much every day since the middle of June, and now we're getting wildfire warnings too. Hottest July in recorded history. Highest heat index in recorded history. And as someone else mentioned about Phoenix, it no longer gets cool overnight — minimum temperature is 27C every early morning.

I've talked to other people who've been here longer than me, and as one person put it, "This is not what I signed up for".

What should really concern people is that if you look at data like Atlantic ocean temperatures, they've gone completely off the charts — it's all non-linear now, past trends no longer apply, and things could get a lot worse very quickly.

« Gregory C. Johnson, an oceanographer at NOAA, said sea surface temperatures have soared this year. “What we’re seeing is a massive increase. It’s about 15 years worth of the long term warming trend in a year,” he told CNN. »

Michael Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Root cause = #capitalism.

Kim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷Aug 8, 2023

@mykl @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Not exactly. The root cause is government corrupted by capitalism so that the checks and balances no longer work. And that’s our fault for electing the wrong people. For fuck’s sake, we’ve had criminals running both the US and the UK, and people still support them. (As in Israel, Italy and many other places too.)

Michael Aug 8, 2023

@KimSJ @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Nope. Cart before the horse. If capitalism corrupts the government, capitalism is the root cause.

Maggie Maybe Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire unbelievable. I mean, I believe it, I just never thought I would see the cactus dying like this.

If everything in Joshua tree dies and people stop going there for tourism, will our government start to care or no?

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@maggiemaybe @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Forget tourism. Wonder instead where the millions of climate refugees will go when these cities are abandoned.

@batyalee 🌿Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @maggiemaybe @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

Political "Conservatives" who say they want nothing to do with those "coastal elites" might even start flocking to the bluer cities on the coasts to escape their unproductive farms and suffering communities. Maybe we (on the coasts) need to put up walls and checkpoints to keep them out. /s (sort of)

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@batyalee @maggiemaybe @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Don't worry, they're already working on that. Gated communities, bad public transit to limit where riffraff can go, redlining, jails.... As the homeless population expands, expect bipartisan pushes for legislation to establish concentration camps under some kind of pretty, ironically helpful-sounding name.

KikoKate Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Ahem … point.

शिवदम् Ⓥ Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses Thank you. As a native of the SW US deserts, I can tell you for sure: You cannot "adjust" to heat. In fact, many people who don't know how to take care of themselves, or who don't have adequate resources, die in the heat every year. This summer has been especially bad, including on wildlife and plants like our otherwise resilient saguaros.

TisTree Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire It would be more helpful if the photo from this article showed what is currently happening to the saguaros. That image appears to be a green, thriving desert ecosystem with a saguaro in the foreground that appears to have died long ago.

Aleggra Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

Having lived in Palm Springs, I know why Saguaro cactuses are collapsing.
I remember a few days of 120 degree temperatures and that was many years ago.

I remember walking from my car to the market when I felt the soles of my sneakers sticking to the parking lot asphalt. They were actually melting.

The thing about saguaros is that they live in the high desert where it used to be cooler.
Guess that’s changed.

WarmasterPalak Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

I keep telling people that its too late to change our course. We passed the PONR 14 years ago, according to the most recent studies. We're going to see temperatures rise until we reach the new equilibrium point, which will be far hotter than anything modern life on this planet is prepared to accept. Capitalism has killed us. It cannot and will not save us. Business as usual is what will end all life on this planet.

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire We can always change our course. Can't reverse it, obviously, but we can still affect WHERE that new equilibrium point ends up, how much worse things will get and how long it will take to start to get better-- even if we're now talking in terms of not just how many generations, but how many millennia. There's no fucking point in just tossing up our hands and giving up. We've got to build topsoil everywhere we possibly can, with wartime urgency. It matters.

WarmasterPalak Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

I just watched a lovely video from Climate Scientist Dr. Peter Kalmus, whose closing comment was "This is the hottest summer of your life and it's also going to be the coolest summer for the rest of your life." He agrees that our course is irreversible, and since I know, sociologically speaking, that there is no willpower to stop fossil fuels and find better ways to produce the meat we require to live, we're doomed. #ThinkHappyThoughtsIfYouLike

Anton Hunter Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire when you say "build topsoil" - could you expand on that?

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@HunterAnton @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Certainly! Standard agricultural practices (plus elimination of most beavers, the draining of wetlands, deforestation etc etc) have been degrading soil all over the world-- reducing its capacity to hold and store water, causing desertification, and worsening climate change. Very large-scale landscape rehabilitation is possible. With techniques from practices such as permaculture, holistic land management, regenerative agriculture etc, we can sequester carbon, clean and store vast amounts of water (in the ground, not reservoirs), improve community resilience and reduce fossil fuel usage by increasing local food production, prevent floods, reduce local temperatures, reduce the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers, reduce pollution, and more. Look up projects such as Greening the Desert-- the before and after images are shocking.

This documentary has some great examples:
https://youtu.be/bLdNhZ6kAzo

Hope in a Changing Climate - by John D. Liu (2009)

YouTube

WarmasterPalak Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @HunterAnton @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

Possible, but, as I said, we lack the willpower to make it happen. By that I mean that the politicians, business people, and money will not be there to bring these to fruition. Politicians will regulate it into a standstill, businesses will withhold support, meaning there's no money in saving the planet. Without that, the manpower will be directed towards destruction, rather than salvation.

#ShortTermProfitTakingGotUsHere

Anton Hunter Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire thank you! I wasn't sure if you were being metaphorical or not, thanks for taking the time. I'll definitely watch that documentary. I'm familiar with the #SaveOurSoil campaign in the UK but hadn't considered desertification before. https://www.soilassociation.org/causes-campaigns/save-our-soil/

Save Our Soil | Soil Association

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@HunterAnton @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire We can make it metaphorical too but yes, I'm talking actual dirt. Allan Savory claims in his TED talk that 30% of the world's desert area has been created in the last 200 years or so. Areas used as the "cradle of civilization" such as the Tigris & Euphrates river valley used to be extremely lush but now are practically wasteland-- we assume the change was natural, but it is likely driven by much the same processes that caused the Dust Bowl in the US. Those areas are easier to change back while natural, ancient deserts should be left alone-- although now that global weather patterns are disrupted a lot of bets are pretty much off. Even in urban areas though, every patch of living earth can noticeably improve the quality of life in the neighborhood around it. I'm glad the UK has this program, it's sorely needed.

ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘Aug 8, 2023

@violetmadder @HunterAnton @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

You might be interested in the methods of Peter Andrews, an Australian farmer who has transformed arid country into green pastures without reticulated water. His book is " Back From the Brink" or Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Andrews_(agricultural_pioneer)

Peter Andrews (agricultural pioneer) - Wikipedia

Zeke 🇨🇦Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Agreed, but, where are the signs of any positive movement to change our course to destruction? We’re on a very slippery unstable slope.

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@mediocratese @WarmasterPalak @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Any real signs of positive movement are hidden under the waves of corporate-run propaganda and conspiracy chaff designed to keep us feeling hopeless, confused, and complacent while the robber barons loot everything they can get their grubby paws on before they retreat to their private islands behind their private armies and leave everyone else to tear each other to pieces when the water/food/shelter runs out and the illusion of calm finally breaks. We won't hear about hope or solutions on the "news"-- just endless pro wrestling style storylines about bad orange men and LARPing neonazis vs the neoliberal toadies pretending to "fight" them.

For real news and progress, look to independent podcasts, organizing groups, local causes-- real information from anywhere far away is very difficult to verify or truly understand, so our best bet is in our own communities where we can get to know people and try to figure out who's full of crap and who isn't. Meaningful accomplishments at the grassroots level look different than the big, climactic victories that TV has trained us to expect. It looks more like a basket of surplus produce on a neighbor's porch, or a person in distress receiving comfort.

WarmasterPalak Aug 7, 2023

@violetmadder @mediocratese @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

The Transatlantic Oceanic Conveyer is breaking down.
Cacti that have adapted to the harsh environments of the SW deserts are dying of dehydration because of the sustained heat.
And proteins denature at sustained temperatures of over 110F.
You can't grassroots your way out of that. It's time to stop pretending we can fix this and start figuring out how to survive it. Survival mode got turned on. Time to focus on what's important.

foresterr Aug 7, 2023

@WarmasterPalak @violetmadder @mediocratese @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire You are right, in that we should have gone into survival mode yesterday, and if capitalism was serious about doing anything, it would have to go to full-on war economy overnight (which it won't do because it would cOsT mOnEy of course).
But grassrooting is still important. Maybe not necessarily because it will change a lot on its own, but it builds connections and a basis for further organizing. I don't know if we still can survive this, but I'm pretty sure if we do, we'll have to do it together, not as a mass of alienated and atomized consumers.

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@foresterr @WarmasterPalak @mediocratese @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Grassroots is where it has to come from. A lot of energy has gone to die in the honeypots of superficial "reform". The revolution won't be televised, or indexed by the algorithms. People cooperating, figuring out how to get along, learning how to exchange value fairly and without money, learning to recognize the value in small accomplishments that nourish the soul (instead of obsessively chasing the gold idols pimped in the modern myths of marketing), relentless culture jamming, building proof of concept examples that show there's a better way to live-- that's the real work. We won't see it on the surface. I keep imagining literal roots, tiny hairs pushing and growing until cement buckles and crumbles.

Despair is a weapon. The CIA studied Martin Seligman's research on learned helplessness and applied it to their torture program. Keeping us feeling isolated and like we're "failing" is the status quo's first line of defense.

Violet Madder Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire Just bootstrap your way past wet bulb weakness-- what are you, some kind of organism with physiological limitations?? Bah!

JohnW Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

Seeing a cactus wither over and die really hits an emotional trigger for me. I'm afraid I don't have anything else to say.

Edelruth, PBS Passport Holder Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire

I suspect 'denature protein' is science for 'cook meat'.

Sjaak K. 🇳🇱🇪🇺🍋Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
No cactus survives my wife…
Ergo?

Mariel Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire @sjaakkeuvelaar You are really well adapted

Guiri 🌈Aug 7, 2023

@sjaakkeuvelaar @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
She's really hot?🤪

Sjaak K. 🇳🇱🇪🇺🍋Aug 7, 2023

@Guzman @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
She always throws cacti at my head?

Guiri 🌈Aug 7, 2023

@sjaakkeuvelaar @breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
Poor cacti🥺

Jonathan Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses that cactus did not think positively enough

Prayag Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire I'd hate to play devil's advocate over something so serious, but.... If "[a] wet bulb temperature beyond 95°F (35°C) can kill a person in about six hours", then how am I still alive?

Last summer, I experienced a week in India's brutal pre-monsoon heat, when "Feels Like" temperatures were over 110°F every single day. [continued in a reply because of character limit]

Prayag Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire I stayed with family in a house with NO A/C except for a single room. We were all eating hot lunches and dinners in that heat. We were entertaining guests in that heat, watching TV in that heat. My grandparents, who were IN THEIR 80s, were NAPPING in that heat. I'm pretty confident all of that takes up more than 6 hours each day, and nobody was dying then! [continued in next reply]

Prayag Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire There is no excuse for not acting on climate change, and having to put up with such intense heat is extremely painful. And I have no intention of denying that climate change is deadly—after all, India recently faced a number of deadly heat waves.

But, I'd like to suggest it's an overexaggeration to say that we can't adapt at least somewhat, merely as a short-term measure. "If a cactus can't survive this"—but we're not cactuses, are we?

Draken BlackKnight Aug 7, 2023

@breadandcircuses @jessicawildfire
Just a reminder: WaPo is owned by Jeff Bezos, the former Amazon owner who is notoriously anti-bathroom break.