A decade ago, it would have been easier to address anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance, but a manufactured debate and our nation’s No Regrets strategy, the cavalier policy propagandizing human munificence through environmental inaction while ignoring the energizing climate, derailed an effective proactive strategy. Today, the risk of failure for any project continues to intensify day by day, splaying our band-aid class of solutions for all time, while branding the pages of history with a chronicle of ineptitude, fear, corruption, and stupidity. Meanwhile, the suite of climate events continues to evolve through a set of non-deterministic, non-linear inputs setting the stage for unprecedented damage and cost. That suite of climate events, the ones in popular focus, includes items like sea level rise, drought, intensified storms, damaging hail, rogue waves, larger hurricanes, more tornado clusters, flooding, species migration, disease migration, economic disruption, ocean acidification, food crop damage, potable water issues, and defense problems. So much for No Regrets–how long will it be before we hear about the replacement for No Regrets?
To Wit:
“…In the case of sea level rise, one proposal getting the most traction is called the JTC (Jubilation T. Cornpone ) strategy. Named after a character created by Al Capp in the comic strip, Lil Abner, the leading edge JTC strategy, many declare, will define America’s response to our changing climate for the near future. “Capitulation is a far less radical solution than you might think,” says an unnamed source. “JTC is a real world strategy. Unlike No Regrets, which pandered to a mythical market, JTC focuses on surrender to planetary forces, as well as an admission that we cannot cope with the gluttony of our leadership. Retreat has not been a centerpiece of United States policy, but it has been used quite successfully by other nations–including the Japanese and the Germans–and their defeat has rendered some appealing long term corporate returns.” The unnamed spokesperson went onto say. “Many nations have employed surrender in the past, and we think JTC is the beginning of a whole new set of corporate programs here in the US that center around a maturing environmental attitude towards the power of our planet.”
A test case for JTC is underway at a west coast city. The test case centers on giving up a five-mile section of the Pacific coastline, leaving a highway, city infrastructure, homes, and a number of small businesses for nature to reclaim. And while there are no funds to support misplaced families and businesses–a very important precedent–there will be a bicycle path. The project manager, Adam Smith, says, “We are very excited about this shift in environmental awareness. Returning to nature heals the planet. It saves money and we believe that JTC will replace No Regrets as the cornerstone of America’s plans to deal with the changing climate.”
How the project proceeds will be closely watched. The state has tried many other strategies, including piling boulders in front of the beaches, dredging sand to the beach, and installing oil wells off shore. Returning parts of the city to the planet is practical environmentalism at work,” says another spokesperson for the JTC proposal. “Or to put it another way, JTC declares that when the solution is too costly, too complicated, or it requires social maturity, punt.”
Said one wild-eyed environmentalist: “JTC is a fool’s game. Solutions solve problems. They do not create problems. Capitulation misses a key feature of anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance: It all gets worse if we tell ourselves myths about the climate. Our civilization will suffer set backs because of JTC just as it has suffered from No Regrets. Suggesting JTC solves problems is like saying death is a cure-all for disease. I give JTC a decade at most.”
A levelheaded think tank researcher responded, “The problem is not just the rising seas along our coast. The problem is overall sea level rise around the planet. To address the problem of anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance we need worldwide non-partisan cooperation. That’s not going to happen. Shire will not help shire. So before anyone calls this strategy defeat, consider that ignoring troubles is growing as a method of shelving problems in America, and around the world. We have already proven that problems can be shoved into the assets of the next generation with our national debt. We ignored financial reality for years. Why not ignore climate mechanisms as well?”
In response, another environmentalist has said, “We are witnessing clarity that the suite of events from the changing climate is becoming real to the population. I see JTC as truth cloaked in spin. These days, that’s the best we can expect. So for now, and on into the future, we will cope with accelerating tribulation hoping our resource pool remains viable and our maturation as a species meets the challenge of our time.”
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