I discuss how we need to think about. and prepare for, major systemic-level changes that are beginning to manifest on Earth due to the escalating global environmental crisis.
This episode was recorded on August 28, 2023 and it was published on August 30, 2023 at 1:46am EDT.
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Episode transcript:
Greetings, all.
Welcome to Aquarian Diary. I’m your host, John Irving.
It is August 30, 2023. I am recording this on August 28.
Many people I know right now are really struggling with inflationary pressures.
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If you’ve been listening to my recent episodes, you will have noticed that I have been quite heavily focused on the global environmental crisis. As I have stated before, I do an awful lot of reading on this. I only share via social media a very small portion of what I read. It’s a subject I have followed very closely for many, many years.
Today I want to address that from a slightly different perspective, and that is, how should we be personally thinking about the implications of this situation in our own lives?
Because of my very lengthy exposure to this subject, I am able to parse through the information that’s coming out and infer from that significant implications.
Based on my many years of engaging with other people on the topic, for whatever reason, it seems to me there are not that many people who are able to actually connect all the dots realize what all those implications mean or imply.
Recent events have been indicating very strongly that the situation is accelerating and that it has very broad, profound, and significant implications for society and humanity.
This morning I was debating whether or not to record this, and then, around 12:15 p.m. Eastern time, there was a report by Bloomberg that Exxon, the fossil fuel company, was projecting that we would exceed the 2C limit due to rapidly industrializing and developing countries, that their growth would offset efficiencies gained elsewhere.
Now you may be thinking, who cares what Exxon thinks? They’re biased. However, their climate projections have been eerily accurate going back to 1977, and especially one they produced in 1985, which was much later found to be 99% accurate. That is an incredibly remarkable feat, technically and scientifically. They have scientists that work for them that are very skilled. These are separate divisions from management and public relations and that kind of thing.
So when I read that article, and it’s not very long, I said to myself, well, that’s basically what I wanted to say in this recording, so here I am.
What the vast majority of people don’t understand is that these systems, whether we’re talking about our economy or the environment are extremely complex, and every time there is a major event or change in one area, it can trigger a cascading effect that ripples through the whole system.
So whether it’s wildfires on an unprecedented scale or scope, or extreme weather events, whatever the case may be, it affects all aspects of society and the economy. And our economy, as I have argued before, is much more fragile than people think.
An easy way to think about this might be to think of a house of cards. If you pull out too many cards, the whole thing collapses. That’s how I view the current status quo.
So what I want to convey here today is that I think people need to start thinking about how they prepare for these cascading effects as they start to unfold, and I believe they already are.
To be clear, if we go above the 2C threshold, that is considered to be extremely dangerous because it will trigger positive feedbacks that will then run on their own outside of our control, whether or not we make any adjustments or changes, won’t matter, or it won’t matter as much. So that’s the demarcation line we are not supposed to cross, because the situation will spiral out of control.
Could be things like methane release from melting permafrost, or the desertification of the Amazon rainforest, or rapid melting of ice sheets such as Greenland or Antarctica, or record low sea ice extent.
Technically, right now, we’re only at about 1.2 C of average global warming, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you look at what’s happening in the world, as I’ve stated before, we have regions that are on the precipice of being too hot for humans to survive in already.
We have unprecedented wildfires, we have unprecedented droughts, and so forth. So going from 1.2 to 2 is a massive change.
As I have already stated, I do not see how it is possible for the status quo to persist, with respect to things like the economy.
All sectors are going to be hammered by this, whether it’s agriculture, tourism, the loss of coastal properties to sea level rise, and extreme weather events, utility grids that fail because they can’t meet the supply of energy needed for people to cool their homes, people unable to work outside, I could go on and on for hours.
So what I want to get across to you as my listeners is that you have an advantage because you’re aware of this.
The vast majority of people may be starting to get very concerned about all of these extreme weather events, but I can assure you they haven’t thought through all of the implications of these, like I said, cascading feedbacks.
Right now we have thousands of people, for example, who had to abandon areas in Canada’s Northwest Territories, or Hawaii, or Greece, and they’re not living in their homes, they’re living in hotel rooms, or wherever, and, you know, people just aren’t prepared for that.
The government support that has been offered to these people is not sufficient. If someone loses a home due to extreme weather or fire or whatever, and they don’t have insurance, they lose all of the equity in that house that may represent their life savings. They may be responsible for removing what’s left of the home from the property. They may have to rebuild, and they’re still on the hook for the mortgage. I mean, you know, think this through.
And then there’s agriculture and our food supply and our water supplies. There are water use restrictions right now in Texas and California, for example, and that is going to be a recurring issue going forward.
So you’ll hear some people say that we’re going to get through this somehow and that everything’s going to be okay, but the empirical evidence is diametrically opposed to that position. If you hear opposing opinions on this topic, both can’t be true simultaneously. They are mutually exclusive. I personally favor objectifiable facts and reality.
There’s no way that eight billion people are going to get through this situation unscathed. And, like I said, I fail to see how the economy can survive all of these unrelenting hits. It just, to me, seems impossible.
Now the irony of all this is that we should really be downsizing our lives, our consumption, our expenditure of energy to the greatest extent possible. The people in the developed world, by far, use vastly more energy than people in the the rest of the world.
And cumulatively, going back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, America, for example, has still generated more greenhouse gas emissions than any other country on the planet. Even though countries like China are catching up, they still have not produced as much pollution as America has over the past couple hundred years. And China’s population is three or four times bigger than America’s. So on a per capita basis, it’s not even remotely in the same ballpark. Also, many of the goods they produce are consumed by people in the developed world, so in a sense we are offshoring our emissions.
Personally, I have had periods of my life that were very simple in terms of my energy consumption and lifestyle. I did that out of choice because I wanted to keep my life really simple so I could do things like focus on my spirituality. And those were some of the best periods of my life. My footprint is really small compared to the average person, I can assure you, relative to this part of the world at least. But my life has been very rich, so that doesn’t intimidate me at all.
What I would advocate that people do is they do that to the greatest extent possible. If you’re still relying on income from a job, for example, or from other sources, I would minimize your expenses and your overhead as much as possible, because like I said, I don’t see how we’re not going to start to see systems around us collapse in the economy and in finances.
The irony of all this is that that’s exactly what we need to do to deal with this situation. The problem is that we’re not doing it by choice. Nature is going to force us to do that because we’re just not being responsible about our environmental impacts.
Just for an example, if everyone lived like an American, it would take four Earths to support them in a sustainable manner. I don’t mean to pick on America. It’s just a statistic that’s readily available.
So because we’re not doing this willingly, like I said, we’re not going to have a choice. We’re going to be forced into this situation. Humanity is going to have to dramatically downsize its environmental footprint, probably by force. Even Exxon is basically saying that in their forecast that was just reported on today.
If you think things are crazy right now with respect to the environment, you haven’t seen anything yet. It’s going to get way, way worse. And it’ll be relentless.
So those of us who are informed and aware can make decisions now that will make it easier. For example, you know, people who live in like McMansions, you know, five, eight, ten thousand, fifteen thousand square foot homes, that’s like the worst possible scenario. So get rid of stuff you don’t need, simplify your life, reduce your overhead and expenses.
And also I would suggest that most of us be in a position where we can mobilize really quickly if we need to leave or move, that we don’t have a lot of stuff that we have to drag with us. Like things that you have in storage, for example, that kind of stuff has very little value under these kinds of circumstances.
Because there’s going to be different kinds of things happening in different places that are likely going to force many, many people to have to relocate, if not permanently, they will have to do that temporarily. This is already happening, it’s just at the beginning stages, and it’s mostly affected people in the developing world so far.
So I see what’s happening as a precursor to what will be happening later, but on a much larger scale as we go through this. If you don’t have a lot of stuff and a lot of financial pressures, we’re still going to have to go through a lot of difficult things. But you won’t be as stressed out as other people are.
Like someone who loses their home and all of their equity, for example, in a fire or something, or a flood or something like that. Or someone who lives in southern Florida, which is only three feet above sea level, and who doesn’t have insurance. These people are going to be in a state of shock, plus they’re going to be financially ruined.
So I’m suggesting that you position yourself to be as flexible and mobile as possible, to also have as low a carbon footprint as possible, and it will make it easier to get through these periods.
Also, if you can, you probably want to get out of areas that are prone to dangerous heat, for example. There are certain areas that are just going to get much hotter than they already are.
You know, the whole Mediterranean has been going through extreme heat and drought and wildfires like Greece. It’s been horrible. That whole region, including the Persian Gulf, is getting extremely hot and dry. So for example, all of the olive crops have failed and some of these orchards are centuries old. You know, so you have to think these kinds of things through.
But if you’re light on your feet, generally, it’ll be easier for you to get through this because this is going to be unfolding for decades and beyond.
For example, even if we stopped all emissions today, sea level rise is going to continue for a very long time because there’s so much energy built up in the oceans. These are vast.
The oceans absorb 90% of the excess heat that is generated as a result of human activity. It takes a long time for something on the scale of the oceans to warm up, and it also takes a long time for it to cool down.
So even if by some miracle humanity gets its act together, and it hasn’t for decades, and emissions are continuing to grow every Well, like I said, we’re going to see things worsen for a long time to come yet. And again, Exxon’s predictions have been extremely accurate.
You can’t really compare this situation to something like a recession or a depression, because those only last a few years, typically. But these circumstances will unfold for decades, if not indefinitely. And we don’t even have a plan for this unwinding. We are way off the mark.
So barring some kind of miracle, and I mean a global scale miracle, there’s no way out of this situation that I am aware of at this point in time, realistically, not even close.
A couple years ago, when a lot of people had to stay at home, and there was a lot less human activity in coastal waterways and things like that. A lot of people misunderstand that and they think that suddenly the Earth’s environment changed almost overnight. But that is not the same thing as dramatically curtailing our emissions on a global scale, which is what we need to do.
There’s a lot of misunderstanding about that, probably due to social media. Yes, there were cases where humans weren’t stirring up waterways, and wildlife came back into certain areas because it was quiet.
Emissions have been going up every year. There was a slight dip during that time, a 1% change, that’s it, 1%, but it was not on the level that is required. I’ll put some links in the episode description that prove my point. And there’s also a graph on the screen right now that demonstrates this.
But back to what I was discussing, the irony is that that’s what we should have been doing decades ago, is dramatically downsizing our ecological footprint. But we didn’t. So humanity made a collective decision to carry on with business as usual, despite all of the risks and warnings.
On the right, it’s very clear that they don’t want to even acknowledge this problem, but the left is responsible as well because they basically didn’t do anything about it, not even remotely close to what needed to be done. So there’s blame to go around everywhere.
And that’s important to realize too, is that we haven’t done anything that is close to adequate given the implications. This represents a systemic failure of truly historic proportions. No amount of tinkering around the edges will solve this problem.
As I’ve said before, we have chosen a disorderly retreat. And that means that there’s going to be quite a bit of chaos and unrest.
There is no way that eight billion people are going to be living like we do right now. It’s technically not possible without absolutely catastrophic outcomes.
And the rest of the world is not going to sit there and let us continue doing what we’re doing and living the way we’re living while their societies are being destroyed. Why should they?
In fact, there was a recent paper that was published that was talking about the imminent collapse of civilization due to what I’m describing here, and this is a peer-reviewed paper.
I shared it on my community tab. I share a lot of things there, but not many people pay attention to that. Thank you to those that do. Since Threads opened up their web-based interface, I have started to post there more frequently. I don’t want to post too much on my YouTube community tab, it just doesn’t seem to be designed for that. So I will be posting more of what I read that I find really important on Threads under AquarianAgeDiary. I couldn’t get Aquarian Diary, so my Threads account is AquarianAgeDiary.
So that’s my advice. Be light on your feet. Reduce your overhead. Think about your economic situation. Is your source of income sustainable under these kinds of scenarios?
It sounds rather grim, but I think what I’m suggesting is just realistic. I can assure you most people are not even thinking like this yet. So, like I said, you have an advantage.
Pluto transiting Aquarius, and I’ve talked a lot about that here before, and I also did an episode about Pluto at 29 degrees of Capricorn, where it has been and will be transiting again soon, as being a very karmic cycle, and if you look at what’s happening recently, that’s very clear.
Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, in mundane astrology, represents the foundations of our civilization or country, and those in position of authority or power. As we can clearly see, these foundations have been rocked during the transit which commenced in 2008.
As Pluto finishes its transit of Capricorn, developments accelerate very quickly.
Pluto in Aquarius, on the other hand, is going to show us how our world is profoundly unequal and unjust. And that is going to be a twenty-year period where there is going to be a reckoning.
Justifiably so, there are going to be many countries that are going to look to those who are primarily responsible for this crisis, and they’re going to be seeking social justice.
Now the way Pluto tends to work is that you can’t really win if you try and fight it. So I expect that this whole theme that I’m discussing here now and that I’ve talked a lot about before is going to be a major, major issue.
What right does the developed world have to trash the planetary biosphere, reap all the benefits or so-called benefits of that, and then leave it up to the rest of the world to deal with the consequences. It is morally and ethically irresponsible.
Aquarius is all about social justice. Think about it.
Pluto will resume its transit of Aquarius on January 20th of 2024 for a much longer period of time. So while we’re all focused on politics and our crazy politicians, the rest of the world is going to be worrying about their survival. We need to come back to reality, and there’s going to be a tremendous amount of karma to deal with during this period.
When Pluto moves into Pisces in 2044, we’re going to be dealing with all of this on a much higher, much more spiritual level. But between now and then social justice will be the main theme. And there will be difficult lessons if we try and avoid taking accountability for our actions over the last 200 years. That’s a lot of karma.
And there will be a lot of people who will lie and try and shirk and evade responsibility. But that will be a losing game. You can’t run from Pluto. If you try and hide, you will get whacked really hard.
We know exactly what we need to do, or what we should have done already. We have refused to do what we needed to, no amount of magical thinking is going to get us out of this problem. It requires tangible action and change, period.
It’s as if in your life you have some kind of problem or issue you refuse to deal with or change or correct and you think you can pray your way out of being responsible, But that’s not how the universe works, right?
The universe doesn’t reward you for, say, for example, continuing with some addiction. The solution is to change. The universe isn’t going to enable you in your self-destructive behavior.
So people need to knock it off with the spiritual bypassing and magical or wishful thinking and get real. That’s what Pluto is going to do to humanity in the next 20 years.
The United States of America is unquestionably the current world superpower, and many assert that it is an empire.
It has not escaped my attention that this incredibly important and historic inflection point is occurring just after the Pluto return of the United States of America passed its zenith. I have done episodes on that topic as well.
Is this possibly just coincidental? In many respects, events that occurred in America were a significant contributing factor to these circumstances. And the country is wracked by incredible levels of polarization and political dysfunction.
If it’s a coincidence, it is a remarkable one that will be noted in history books.
I want to say one other thing too, and I have said this before as well. I tend to be prescient, but I tend to be quite a bit ahead of my time. What’s happening now I saw coming probably starting in the 1990s, so it’s possible that that is true here too, although things are accelerating dramatically right now, so the timeline of this could be shorter than that. Caveat emptor.
On another note, I recently did a reading for someone looking at their transits because they they had to make a major decision.
And it’s another one of those examples where it just proved the usefulness of being able to access this information because the person in question didn’t realize that they had certain transits coming up in the next year or so that might alter their situation quite a bit.
And it was very useful to be able to provide that person with those kinds of insights. So think about that if you’re in some kind of situation and you want to get a lay of the land in terms of the conditions of the future for yourself.
It felt really good to be able to help this person, and I think it materially altered their decision-making in a positive way.
I’ll put links in the episode description to any related content, and if you’re interested in a reading with me, I’ll put a link to that as well.
Many sincere thanks to everyone who supports me, especially my YouTube members.
Thank you very much.
Take care, all the best, and I’ll talk to you again soon.
Bye for now.
End of episode transcript.
Other episodes of mine referenced herein:
Our Paradigm is Literally Untenable and Hardly Anyone will Admit it
Humanity is losing its War on Nature. Are we too Dumb to Stop it?
The Era of Mass Migration Has Begun
Pluto in Aquarius – Dawn of Global Consciousness
Pluto at 29° Capricorn – A Karmic Reckoning
USA Pluto Return 2022 – Civil War or Transformation?
Other articles and resources referenced (in order of appearance):
Exxon Sees CO2 Emissions in 2050 More Than Twice Paris Goal
The tropics could get so hot that all leaves on rainforest trees die
Scripps CO2 Program – Mauna Loa Observatory
Hot-tub-like Persian Gulf fuels 158-degree heat index in Iran
Greece wildfire declared largest ever recorded in EU
’Crisis situation’: N.W.T. declares territorial state of emergency over wildfires (note title has changed)
America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow
Various charts
Various charts
How many Earths do we need?
Americans Are Bailing on Their Home Insurance
Olive oil prices soar as climate-related catastrophes shrink Mediterranean harvests
10,000 Years of Carbon Dioxide
Global Temperature Report for 2022
Chart: IPCC climate report: Profound changes are underway in Earth’s oceans and ice – a lead author explains what the warnings mean
Climate change: Covid pandemic has little impact on rise in CO2
Emissions rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic
‘Off-the-charts records’: has humanity finally broken the climate?
Dramatic climate action needed to curtail ‘crazy’ extreme weather
The Indian economy’s burning question
The Human Ecology of Overshoot: Why a Major ‘Population Correction’ Is Inevitable
We Are Witnessing the First Stages of Civilization’s Collapse
Humans Face Major Population ‘Correction’ This Century, Scientist Warns
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