They are rapid but not instant.
The Ten Days of Christmas Awareness, a collaboration by Deep Green Resistance (the book, not the group), and me; a primer on the integral, intersectional nature of existence with particular emphasis on this time, now.
“The media report on these crises as though they are all separate issues. They are not. They are inextricably entangled with each other and with the culture that causes them. As such, all of these problems have important commonalities, with major implications for our strategy to resist them.
“These problems are urgent, severe, and worsening, and the most worrisome hazards share certain characteristics.”
“They are rapid, but not instant. These crises arose rapidly, but often not so rapidly as to trigger a prompt response; people get used to them, a phenomenon called the “shifting baselines syndrome.” For example, wildlife populations are often compared to measures from fifty years ago, instead of measure from before civilization, which makes the damage seem much less severe than it actually is. Even trends which appear slow at first glance (like global warming) are extremely rapid when considered over longer timescales, such as the duration of the human race or even the duration of civilization.”
Ecoshaman.org 