Someone commented on the “How To Let Go” Movie Facebook page that they thought Josh was way too conservative on his science.  That it’s even worse than he was indicating.  And I thought,  “Wow.  I sure didn’t get that impression”    Then I thought,  “Wait,  Are the various levels of intense numbers the thing that “increase our awareness”?  Is it a case of  “the more intense the numbers, the more likely that more people will be convinced?”  I wrote a reply.

I don’t think that whatever the inaccuracies and extent of “conservatism” is going to matter. I dont think another “whatever” of parts-per-million is going to make Josh feel “worse” than he already does. He already gets that. Michael Mann also already gets that. He has said many times that we really don’t have much of an idea just how much we may be screwed. Whatever the degree of our “screwed-ness”, we still have to do the process of , like DeChristopher said, “Keep a place in our hearts for despair” even as we simply do what we think is right. When I hear news along the line of “it’s worse than we thought”, that doesn’t “further” my concerns. I’ve already let that in. And to someone who HASN’T let that in, more dire science isn’t going to change their minds. We’re dealing with a deeply ingrained psychological reality here. I’m not saying I don’t pay attention to the figures. I do. And I do, myself, get disturbed eveytime I hear how “it’s worse than we thought”. But that doesn’t put me in a different camp than where I already am (committed to doing what I can and communicating as best I can). It also won’t be “more likely” that more serious figures will be more likely to “convert” the doubting masses. It hasn’t done that so far.