A new UN climate report reveals that human activity is a main cause of global warming – the odds look higher and more certain than ever, as reported in the New York Times . Despite a front page story, it doesn’t sound like breaking news – five degrees higher and we’re looking at “…melting land ice, extreme heat waves, difficulty growing food, massive changes in plant and animal life, and probably a wave of extinctions.”
There are doubters, but every major scientific association now warns that it’s a big threat, and may endanger some great cities — including New York, London, Shanghai, Venice, Sydney, Australia and New Orleans. The prospects sound potentially dire, but the real consequences from most windows can still feel removed – otherwise, why hasn’t there been dramatic change?
Saw-kill, a Dutch term for Sawmill Creek (a 1620’s sawmill on Manhattan island) also expresses an environmental and social reality, and is a response to wishful thinking that we’re putting the warming trend on ice, or to greenwashing, which misleads consumers by playing fast and loose with terms like ‘eco-friendly, sustainable and green’. Photo: NY Times.
“What is laid upon us is to accomplish the negative; the positive is already given.” – Franz Kafka