We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism

Product Information

You’re fine, my love.” Sirius cooed and placed a kiss to the side of his head. “Let’s go get some fresh air, okay? You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”

She’s not supposed to leave her house, her parents want her staying home. They said she can have friends over though! I don’t see the issue.” Now suppose we don’t manage that. It’s 2030 and emissions have only fallen a little bit. We’re staring at 2°C in the second half of the century. I can’t…” Remus waved his hand around pathetically before dropping it into his lap. “I can’t…not tonight, please…not…” As for whether WSC actually uttered the statement attributed to him, we may never know, but I suspect the librarians working in the institution dedicated to his work probably came the closest (Ref 3):They most definitely do not hate you. They’re thirteen. You should’ve seen Harry at thirteen, the mouth on that kid. James and Lily are very patient but even they had a few breakdowns over the intensity of it all. Teddy will come around though; they won’t even remember why they were mad tomorrow.” Teddy cried harder into Remus’ shoulder at this, practically curling themselves into Remus’ lap like they did when they were a little kid. Remus wanted to apologize for making the wrong decision, for leaving them behind, but he couldn’t get himself to speak the words. Instead he held Teddy tightly and kissed the top of their head, mumbling gentle, soothing words in a weak attempt to get them both to calm down. He didn’t really remember standing up or walking over to the bin, but he was hunched over and vomiting on top of the trash the second he arrived.

Sirius…” Remus sat at the kitchen counter while Sirius opened the fridge, eying it as a meal would magically appear. They had been putting off going to the store, surviving on the ends of the bread loaf and whatever leftover veggies they had. The signs are already there for those willing to see them. When the habitat becomes degraded such that there are fewer resources to go around; when fertility starts to decline; when the birth rate sinks below the death rate; and when genetic resources are limited—the only way is down. The question is “How fast?” The pact Guterres has in mind would require big economies to do more on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and to provide poor countries with a financial lifeline. This was needed to restore “trust”, he said. First, we have to notice. We have to raise our heads from the all-consuming business of daily life and pay attention to what is wrong with today’s “normal”: notice who in our society is being failed and which of our human activities are damaging our communities and natural spaces. See the opportunities in what needs to be fixed. Understand not just intellectually, but emotionally what we face as our world heats. And then actively choose to imagine an alternative, a future that is livable. Be pragmatic: how do we get to this future from our current reality?Taki Theodoracopulos, a columnist and publisher of Taki's Magazine, commented, "Just when you thought there was nothing to American conservatism but a bunch of blue-blazered fuddy-duddies who talk about global democracy, here comes John Derbyshire, who reminds us all of the place of pessimism and skepticism in the Western tradition. Not a moment too soon." [3] A “historic pact” between rich and poor would involve clear new pledges on finance and for rich countries and emerging economies to strengthen their emissions-cutting targets, Guterres said.

They stayed until both their bodies ached and then decided to actually get changed into something cozy and call it an early evening. They still hadn’t had the talk, but it would happen soon. There is no way we can avoid a catastrophic situation, if the two [the developed and developing world] are not able to establish a historic pact,” he told the Guardian in an interview on the eve of the summit. “Because at the present level, we will be doomed.” You tell them anyway, love.” Sirius stood in front of Remus, bringing a finger to lift up his chin so they were eye to eye. “You don’t have to tell them anything today, yeah? We need to talk first and you have some decisions you need to make. Figure all of that out before telling them. You know they like structure, I think it’ll go smoother if you tell them exactly what’s going to happen instead of dropping the news when there’s still so much to figure out.” The doctor was silent for a moment longer than Remus would’ve liked before he cleared his throat and gave him a small nod. “The tumor will spread, most likely up your body towards your pelvis, which can cause paralysis and bladder issues. You’ll start to lose control of certain things, you’ll grow weak, most likely will need to be in a wheelchair. There is less than a 20% survival rate with no treatment, Mr. Lupin. Your chances are slim to none that you would survive this, as brutal as that sounds. Your body already has to work extra hard to fight off infections and the tumor will consume you. It will be a slow and painful experience; one I really don’t recommend taking. Research states about 5% of patients live to two years with no treatments, but 50% of patients don’t make it past six months.” As we progress into another realm of the new digital age, more institutions are resorting to metaphorical book burning by reducing the physical storage space allocated to old works perceived as outdated or irrelevant to today's life. Sure, some will claim that they will scan selectively important works to be preserved 'for prosperity' in digital format but the very nature of culling the number of printed works for scanning according to allocated budget is akin to modern day censorship.The scale and size of the anthropogenic matter is alarming. Take the case of plastic – the birth of the modern plastics era came only in 1907, but today we produce 300 million tons of plastics every year. Further, the realisation that after water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth is beyond comprehension. Is there any hope? Are we all doomed? I write books about the climate crisis, so I am often asked fearful questions like these. But I’m being asked them more and more often and by younger people, an alarming trend not unconnected to the number of scientific reports detailing how humans are pushing the Earth’s systems to dangerous extremes. Recently, though, various comforting yet fundamentally idiotic notions of political correctness and wishful thinking have taken root beyond the “Kumbaya”-singing, we’re-all-one crowd. These ideas have now infected conservatives, the very people who really should know better. The Republican Party has been derailed by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks. Remus?” Remus finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to Sirius with widened eyes. How long had he been calling his name?