Friday, June 8, 2012

Welcome to Uprage!

Welcome to my new blog, which by coincidence invents a brand new word in the English language. Well almost -- after writing the blog I found there is a www.uprage.com, which turns out to be simple and complementary.

(There is a short video at the end that reflects my intention).

You see, outrage, outraged, outrageous, enraged, furious and infuriated were not available blog titles. Actually UPRAGE is a perfect name for what I want this blog to be about. It's about me uploading my outrage at what is being done to the world and about inviting you to do the same.

The final emotional tipping point for me was the outrageous advert put out by the criminally despicable Heartland Institute, which I shall be having a go at for sure. How can you not be totally over the top enraged at the 20 year long (launched in 1989 as the Global Climate Coalition) corrupt corporate conspiracy campaign of lying manipulative dangerous climate change denial -- that just keeps getting worse!? I can feel my blood boil just mentioning it.

OK relax -- breath. I have been involved in many social justice issues over many past years. It came quite naturally to me as a family doctor. Like anyone who gets involved in humanitarian and social issues, I got hooked through the emotional heart connection. Surely the greatest attribute of being human is our natural facility for empathy and compassion.

I am now retired and find myself spending my time on the issue of all issues of all time, which is atmospheric greenhouse gas pollution -- causing ever increasing global warming, climate change, and ocean acidification. 

This has now become the mother of all the great humanitarian and human injustice issues. This is why many years ago, global warming was termed The Great Multiplier.

Twenty years after the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed at the Rio Earth Summit and after a constant stream of  negotiating meetings and conferences, we are still making next to no progress. In fact, the current UN Rio +20 sustainable development summit commemorative conference (which barely has climate change on its agenda) is putting climate change progress into reverse (along with all the other 1992 agreements). The Guardian has noted this is enough "to make a sane person mad."

It can get disheartening, so perhaps this blog is therapy,

How on Earth can a conference on sustainability not have climate change high on its agenda? It is only the greatest threat to our survival along with most life ever, but the idiot Rio +20 managers say that is too problematic for a successful international conference.

It impossible to do justice to humanity or our planet Earth or the future without putting atmospheric greenhouse gas pollution at the top of the to-do list.

This is not to say that I do not feel outraged about the recent escalation in many other social injustices from the local to the global level, and I will be writing with some passion on these.

Nor is it to say I do not have great respect for all those organizations doing the humanitarian work, and indeed the best of them like OXFAM, the Red Cross and Christian Aid are engaged in global climate change.

There is a great deal of research being published on global climate change. What is missing is passion. What is now the greatest threat to the survival of humanity and of life on our wonderful, extraordinary planet is addressed without passion -- as if it was just another problem. In fact, climate change scientists and climate change NGOs have a policy of excluding passion from their global climate change work.

When I have found myself allowing my passion to creep into my climate change communications, I have been advised by listserve moderators that passion on climate change is not permitted, which made me feel furious.

I believe that on big global issues, only head and no heart is inappropriate and inhuman, and does not work. I mean, after all we are all for compassion -- but the word means with passion.

I know that a great many great people have strong feelings about global climate change. I want to express my feelings about this terrible situation with you and invite you to express your feelings in blog articles that I will publish here.

I already find that the putting down this introduction in writing is not an easy medium for communicating outrage, and so I will be trying out a focus on video blogs.

As it is, I do have a way of communicating how I feel about our world situation for this first UPRAGE blog.

As I recall, "everyone" went to see the 1976 movie Network. I know that's why I went to see it. It starred that great English actor, Peter Finch, won 4 Oscars and its popularity was around the quote "I'm mad as hell...."

So watch this youtube of the key scene -- and you'll know what to do. I will be listening.

Passionate pissed off  Peter (ppo Peter)


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