Are a majority of we humans fiddling while Rome burns? Don't know the meaning to this phrase? Read on.
The definition in broad terms is: To occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Fiddling while Rome burns'?
The source of this phrase is the supposed story that Nero played the fiddle (violin) while Rome burned, during the great fire in AD 64. However, there are two major flaws with the story. Firstly, there was no such instrument as the fiddle (violin) in first century Rome. If Nero played anything during the Rome fire, it was probably the lyre.
Secondly, the story may be completely false and Nero may very well not have neglected his duty at all. Nero died four years later, and we should remember that history is written by the victors. The historian Suetonius records the Nero was responsible for the fire and that he watched it from a tower while playing an instrument and singing about the destruction of Troy. Others record this story merely as a rumour.
By modern-day standards Nero certainly appears a bizarre character, but that doesn't make this story true. Roman scholars differ over interpretations of events surrounding the fire. The rivalries and conflicting accounts, even those in contemporary reports, make the 'fiddling' story uncertain.
In modern times, a majority of us inhabitants of planet Earth are occupying ourselves with trivial matters, neglecting the important issue:GLOBAL WARMING!
The past five years have been the five warmest since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. The Earth has experienced 42 straight years (since 1977) with an above-average global temperature, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Based on five separate data sets that keep track of the Earth's climate, the global average temperature for the first 10 months of 2018 was about 1.8 degrees above what it was in the late 1800s. That was when industry started to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Australia experienced record summer heat in January of this year. The town of Port Augusta reached the hottest day since record-keeping began in 1962 with a temperature of 121F or 49.5C. The heat was so intense it caused bats to fall from trees, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases being released into the atmosphere by industry, transportation and energy production from burning fossil fuels are enhancing what's known as the planet's natural greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent among all greenhouse gases produced by human activities, attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.
The atmospheric carbon dioxide level for March was 411.97 parts per million and continue to rise. It has now reached levels in the atmosphere not seen in 3 million years.
That's an increase of 46% from just before the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, when CO2 levels were around 280 parts per million. Levels began to rise when humans began to burn large amounts of fossil fuels to run factories and heat homes, releasing CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Scientists say to keep a livable planet, we need to cut the level to 350 parts per million.
A consequence of higher temperatures is the melting of the polar ice caps, which is causing sea levels to rise. The world's oceans have risen about an inch in the past 50 years due to melting glaciers alone, a study published this month in the journal Naturefound.
The Earth's glaciers are now losing up to 390 billion tons of ice and snow per year, the study suggests. Global warming has caused over 3 trillion tons of ice to melt from Antarctica in the past quarter-century and tripled ice loss there in the past decade, another study, released in June 2018 revealed
Where do we go from here? Maybe. See the following link.
https://www.drawdown.org/
The definition in broad terms is: To occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Fiddling while Rome burns'?
The source of this phrase is the supposed story that Nero played the fiddle (violin) while Rome burned, during the great fire in AD 64. However, there are two major flaws with the story. Firstly, there was no such instrument as the fiddle (violin) in first century Rome. If Nero played anything during the Rome fire, it was probably the lyre.
By modern-day standards Nero certainly appears a bizarre character, but that doesn't make this story true. Roman scholars differ over interpretations of events surrounding the fire. The rivalries and conflicting accounts, even those in contemporary reports, make the 'fiddling' story uncertain.
In modern times, a majority of us inhabitants of planet Earth are occupying ourselves with trivial matters, neglecting the important issue:GLOBAL WARMING!
The past five years have been the five warmest since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. The Earth has experienced 42 straight years (since 1977) with an above-average global temperature, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Based on five separate data sets that keep track of the Earth's climate, the global average temperature for the first 10 months of 2018 was about 1.8 degrees above what it was in the late 1800s. That was when industry started to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Australia experienced record summer heat in January of this year. The town of Port Augusta reached the hottest day since record-keeping began in 1962 with a temperature of 121F or 49.5C. The heat was so intense it caused bats to fall from trees, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases being released into the atmosphere by industry, transportation and energy production from burning fossil fuels are enhancing what's known as the planet's natural greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent among all greenhouse gases produced by human activities, attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.
The atmospheric carbon dioxide level for March was 411.97 parts per million and continue to rise. It has now reached levels in the atmosphere not seen in 3 million years.
That's an increase of 46% from just before the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, when CO2 levels were around 280 parts per million. Levels began to rise when humans began to burn large amounts of fossil fuels to run factories and heat homes, releasing CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Scientists say to keep a livable planet, we need to cut the level to 350 parts per million.
A consequence of higher temperatures is the melting of the polar ice caps, which is causing sea levels to rise. The world's oceans have risen about an inch in the past 50 years due to melting glaciers alone, a study published this month in the journal Naturefound.
The Earth's glaciers are now losing up to 390 billion tons of ice and snow per year, the study suggests. Global warming has caused over 3 trillion tons of ice to melt from Antarctica in the past quarter-century and tripled ice loss there in the past decade, another study, released in June 2018 revealed
Where do we go from here? Maybe. See the following link.
https://www.drawdown.org/
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