Professor Eliot Jacobson (bio here) runs climatecasino.net and is a prolific user of social media (Twitter and BlueSky) to communicate the true depths of our climate predicament. He kindly agreed to an email interview, printed in full below.
1. Do you remember when and how you first heard about “the greenhouse effect” and what your initial response was?
It was in College in about 1976 when I was taking freshman physics. At the time I learned that we were about 1/2° Fahrenheit above pre-industrial with predictions of going 1° above by the turn of the century. My response at the time was that of course it was real but that it was not yet of great significance. Nevertheless, I was an environmentalist at the time and by 1977 I was attending Earth Day. It’s been on my mind ever since, especially since Reagan took office in 1981.
2. When and “why” (e.g. was there a particular impetus) did you decide to devote serious time to educating other people about climate change?
I’ve always done this as an academic. I try and find things that are true and publish them for free so that everyone can see the information and do their best with it. My philosophy has always been that knowledge serves the greatest good in the public domain. Publish research in journals – free. And when I was in the casino industry, my motto was always to give it away for free. So that’s what I did in retirement when I first came upon climate data in about 2019, I just did what I always do, think about ways to present the information that sheds some new light and give it away. It was just a continuation of what I’ve always done, only the topic was new.
3. What posts/activities have you been proudest of?
If you were to ask my wife her reaction to this question, she would tell you that I strongly dislike the word “pride.” I am not proud of anything. I consider that to be purely self-serving and not at all what I am after in my life. However, I do have goals. For example, one of my goals was to appear on mainstream media and give an honest opinion about the future of civilization in a way that hasn’t been said before. I’ve now been on CNN international 4 times and have been able to do just that.
4. You write “However, my intention is to continue writing about the fall of global industrial civilization and the sad times that lie ahead. I hope to educate as well as to move people towards positive action within themselves and in the world. Yes, I support action, not complacency. I don’t expect to make a difference with those who deny science. Banging my head against a wall is not an activity I find worthwhile. For those who have at least one toe in the real world, I hope what I post here makes a difference.”
What do you think have been some of the most effective positive actions over the last few years, either in the usa or globally?
I have no interest in trying to maintain civilization or prolong it through green energy, solar, wind, electric vehicles, or any other mechanism that keeps civilization growing for just a few more years. At this point in the story, there is no such thing as sustainable. Humans are a cancer on this beautiful planet, and the most positive action will come when we stop ransacking it for just a few more years of growth. Positive action means doing everything we can to maintain what we can of the planet for whatever comes after humans. For me personally this means feeding critters, walking instead of using any vehicle of any type, volunteering for non-profits whose mission is consistent with this view, and sharing information to help others make decisions along the same lines.
