This piece of the quote: ”
“After the political shift, however, the window seemed to be slamming shut. Not on all of life, not on the earth, not necessarily even on our species. But on historic human civilization as it flows into its future. ” is the best articulation of the answer to those who keep repeating the meme : “No, the world is not going to end in 12 years”, which began not after the “12 years” cited by the Climate science community re: how much time we have to get serious about responding, but after it came out of the mouth of @AOC as she referred to what is known as a social shorthand since that report came out : (aka “!2 years”).

Time, our time, the time of human civilization, appears to be running out. The science of climate has been unhysterically, relentlessly, increasingly signaling: not that time will run out but that if we stay on present course … So it had seemed, at least before the acceleration expressed in the 2016 U.S. election, we had a fighting chance of changing course within the narrow window of time that climate change allots. After the political shift, however, the window seemed to be slamming shut. Not on all of life, not on the earth, not necessarily even on our species. But on historic human civilization as it flows into its future. Yet it is precisely so-called civilization that had brought us to this moment of self-contradiction, at which point we would be too busy responding politically to immediate threats to vulnerable human populations—of black lives, of immigrant, uninsured, or sexually abused lives—to mind the matter of the earth.

Keller, Catherine (2018-10-29T23:58:59). Political Theology of the Earth (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture) . Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.