Friday, July 20, 2012

What "Wake Up and Smell the Permafrost" Means

 "Some say the world will end in fire. Some say ice..." - Robert Frost
 "Permafrost" is the layer of ice that's been keeping large amounts of the earth's dormant carbon safely frozen in the arctic tundra. As temperatures have risen, the permafrost has started melting, causing all that ancient plantlife to start seeping carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. This creates more warming, which in turn creates more thawing: a feedback loop we'll soon be absolutely powerless to stop.
 What good does putting signs on freeways do? Admittedly, compared to the size of the problem, not much.  Although it's raised some awareness and gotten a lot of west coast motorists to start googling "permafrost" and "wake up and smell the permafrost", unless it inspires someone incredibly smart to come up with a solution, it's obviously not going to change things much.
 What putting signs on freeways does do, however, is present an aberration. It gives an immediate impression to large numbers of people that things are not entirely normal. And right now an appearance of normalcy is one thing we can no longer afford.
 Berkeley
 Sacramento
 Santa Cruz
 Thousand Oaks
 San Luis Obispo
 Ventura
 Los Angeles
 Castaic
Gorman
YTD - 609

10 comments:

YleXot said...

Thank you for expending the time and energy to raise the consciousness (to borrow a phrase from the last "revolution"} of our overwhelmingly oblivious populace. I shudder, though, as I swear I can hear your words echoing in the blog chambers while the voices of destruction scream at us at brain-numbing volume levels from every public medium every minute of every day. Our corporate masters relentlessy deluge our senses with mesmerizing images of beauty; with sweet promises of power and glory, acceptance and redemption; with the allure of riches and honor. And all of it is nothing but lies caringly tailored to keep the 1 percent's hands firmly on the tiller of the machine whose sole purpose is to ensure their continued well-being and plow the rest of us into the ground.
That is quite the machine you have chosen to tilt at. I salute you.

Anonymous said...

I saw the sign on the freeway in Seattle the other day,. I thought it was a reference to the local strain of medical marijuana that is so popular.

Anonymous said...

Just saw a "wake up and smell the permafrost" sign on the 101fwy S in North Hollywood

Anonymous said...

There's one in Richmond also. Just saw it.

Anonymous said...

Saw 2 signs this weekend on way from SF to Napa

Anonymous said...

Saw this today in SF. Spread the message to sj!

Anonymous said...

Love these signs!Sighting on the 14 fwy in Canyon Country.Most people don't realize the implications of all this,they are more concerned with big screen t.v.'s and the latest technology that will put them further in debt.

Anonymous said...

Global Warming is a hoax.

Anonymous said...

Just saw sign 55 north at 91 in orange county, ca

Anonymous said...

global warming is a scam, and it is believed with religious fervor