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Monday, February 3, 2020

Honors Lecture: "There is a tomorrow"


Climate change honors lecture from Osopher











Dean Fischer (Basic and Applied Sciences) thought I may have been too optimistic. My response:

I often share a deep pessimism about the future, reflecting on the lapses of the recent past. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to encourage young people to "panic" in the face of the daunting obstacles before them. I'm a devotee of William James's "will to believe" idea, the notion that in dire circumstances requiring a heroic response - the climate crisis is certainly that - it's crucial that agents believe in their own ability to effect change. That's why I cited Michael Chabon's confident response to his little boy's query about the future existence of humans. But you were right, those of us who came of age in the 70s have plenty of cause for a lack of confidence... I side with Mark Twain: “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.”  (So I don't call myself an optimist, but a meliorist.)


https://mtsunews.com/honors-lecture-series-climate-change-2020/
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4 comments:

  1. Makayla BarrettFebruary 3, 2020 at 3:48 PM

    Currently sitting in your lecture right now and I had chills through the entire thing. I really think it is important to focus on climate change and it is scary how little time we have left to fix our mistakes. I love the point you were speaking about how religion and science need to come together to save "the creation". Also the scary facts that the hottest years have all happened since 2015. Yikes. That is frightening.

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  2. PhilFebruary 3, 2020 at 7:23 PM

    Thanks for coming.I added the "Don't Panic" slides to lighten the unbearable lightness of being human in the Anthropocene, but it's clear we're entering a pivotal moment when the survival of life as we'd like to know it is very much at stake.

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    1. Edwin GarciaFebruary 4, 2020 at 4:39 PM

      Many events show how serious the topic of climate change really is. I moved to Murfreesboro TN in 2015, and the winter season now compared to then shows great difference. I wanted to ask you (Dr. Phil), will the summer seasons become hotter as the years pass?... Reason why I ask is because of the "winter" season passing by us, it seemed more like fall season to me.... I wish I was able to be there in the presentation you gave, I would of enjoyed it.

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  3. PhilFebruary 4, 2020 at 11:52 PM

    The planet has consistently, gradually warmed over the past several years and there's no sign of that abating. We don't want to conflate weather and climate, but it's my understanding that the climate change we're seeing will indeed cause a long-term spike in summer heat as well as average annual temperatures.

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