“It is clear that we need
Is it possible? 
to act fast
We have been hoping for this such a long time… 
to reduce greenhouse gas
Is it possible? 
emissions to avoid
Do it quickly, then, quickly, 
the worst
but is it even desirable? 
outcomes of global warming.”
We no longer know… 
CLARIFICATIONS re the intertext
— “It is clear that we need to act fast to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst outcomes of global warming.” A statement (a well-intended slow statement reduced to avoidance) by Xin (Lindsay) Lan, a CIRES scientist in NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) who leads the reporting of greenhouse trends. Dr. Lan specifies: “The acceleration of atmospheric nitrous oxide growth in 2020-2022, as seen by NOAA’s global greenhouse measurements, are particularly concerning in this critical time when global greenhouse gas levels need to plunge.” (Do gas levels have needs? I do find plunge a compelling word! There's hope!) June 12 2024 NOAA News Release
— Is it possible? We have been hoping for this such a long time… Is it possible? Do it quickly, then, quickly, but is it even desirable? We no longer know… — Henri Michaux from the prose poem “Space of the Shadows” in Facing the Locks (Face aux verrous, 1954) trans David Ball. Michaux continues: Watch out. You'll hear from me later. I have to watch out. The hyena-shadows are ceaselessly searching in the night.
— Images: No False Shadows sur/faces photos by DB aka this TBV blogger recalling Michaux, once again: Even if it's true, it's false.
CODA
We are not what we are. Our tragedy is that we don't even know it. The world is not what we think it is. It is fathomlessly alive. None of us is a single entity, we are many-formed, polytropos. Everywhere, all the time.
— Kapka Kassabova, from Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time (2023)
