writeaboutwarming

December 25, 2015 - We saw the movie The Big Short today; I highly recommend it.  It's surpassingly sad that we, i.e. American society, have allowed the compilation of lies accumulated during the Bush/Cheney years to go so long unaddressed.  This movie takes an important step in the direction of redressing these omissions.  I readily confess I didn't understand all parts of the movie, though the delightful "asides" provided throughout did help.  Though I wouldn't characterize the movie in general with the word delightful, it has its moments. To what degree were the actions of our government, the banks, real estate companies, and investors set in motion the day Bush/Cheney were permitted to steal the 2000 election?  Permitted by an apathetic and confused electorate, aided and abetted by the Supreme Court of the United States, the patently nefarious intentions of the Republican candidates proceeded as planned.  Speaking for myself, I argued silently that my...

January 7, 2015 – I want to tell you about a book I just read, by Naomi Klein, called This Changes Everything .   Klein’s book is about climate change, and how very close we have now come to exchanging our world for a place that’s nearly unlivable. She begins with dogged conjecture regarding why we appear to want to change our world in such a manner.   We don’t, of course, so we engage in various degrees of climate change denial.   I’ll interject here that looking away and pretending everything will be just fine is essentially mandatory, at least from time to time, if we’re to continue living in this world without going mad.   Draconian measures are required, as all non-Republicans are now aware.   In the words of Angelica Navarro Llanos, “We need a Marshall Plan for the Earth.”   All good Republicans know what that means: the United States will get stuck with the bill.   And that terrifies them. Except that now, China has admitted that it mus...

April 8, 2013 – Today’s article will not be everybody’s cup of tea.   This particular pot has been brewing for quite some time, however, and I’m realizing that if I don’t say anything, I’m not being faithful to the person I am.   Comments are always welcome; share your reaction, if you care to. Perhaps it’s people’s lack of imagination that perplexes me, at least in part.   But no – that’s fudging.   If I’m going to be honest with you – and I am – it’s people’s faith in anything but God that has me stymied.   Here we are, in the hottest water (hmm, this tea theme seems to have a life of its own) humanity has ever gotten themselves into, but we still fail to see how destructive and chaotic climate change will eventually become.   We talk about nature, as if It were the thing in charge.   Nature does not love us, even when we fail.   Nature is not determined that we will learn our lesson, no matter how many times we fail.   Nature does not...

The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change is Al Gore’s twelfth book, his fourth since having lost the presidential election of 2000.   I guess I always knew the former vice president was a pretty smart guy, but his burst of productivity since that epochal event has surprised both cynics and supporters, I suspect.    An academy award and the Nobel Peace Prize - in the same year, no less?   A fortune valued at $300 million, grown from $2 million in 2000?   Co-founder of Generation Investment Management and Chairman of the Climate Reality Project?     To re-iterate: four books? DIVORCED FROM TIPPER?? Talk about your late bloomer!   Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by The Future , but I do think it stands apart from his previous work.   Where Gore seems   to have “toned down” his prior attempts at impressing his audience with the seriousness of climate change (I am purposely avoiding use of the term “dumbed down,” because I...

March 18, 2013 – This is interesting:   as many as 41 of the 50 states will soon be teaching science that includes climate change.   Up until now, the approach to teaching climate change in our public schools could have been described as “helter-skelter.” A rigorous approach to the subject was frequently impossible, because the personal beliefs of teachers, administrators, and/or parents got in the way.   Coupled with the fact that the last set of science education standards did not include teacher input, science teaching and teachers were in a bad place.   No more! Next Generation Science Standards were developed by the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nonprofit Achieve, and more than two dozen states.    The 26 states that worked to develop the standards include 7 of the ten most populous.   These 26 committed time, personnel, and financial...

April 23, 2012 - Forty percent of something.  Is that a lot, or a little?  Let's see - a third of something is 33%, half of something is 50%.  A small amount, in my opinion, is less than 20 percent.  Any sale that offers less than 20 percent off just doesn't interest me.  A third off, on the other hand, interests me quite a bit.  Forty percent off is what I consider serious savings (half off makes me think there must be something wrong with the merchandise). So 40% is a substantial amount of something, a lot.  If someone is discussing 40 percent of something, I take that seriously. Which means that the fact the U.S., along with Canada, Mexico, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Sweden, has launched an initiative to reduce emissions of soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, is a serious effort to clean the air and mitigate global warming.  Research indicates that these gases may have contributed as much as 40 percent to global warming.  Were these gases...

March 26, 2012 - Here in Loveland (Ohio), Spring started about March 1.  That's actually the beginning of meteorological Spring, but much earlier than Spring typically begins in southwest Ohio.  We actually had over a week of temperatures in the low- to mid-80's.  Needless to say, everything is in bloom, forsythia blooming simultaneously with redbud trees, which is highly unusual.  Since I already had my cool-weather vegetable seeds, I quickly got them stuck in the ground.  I planted potatoes yesterday.  We've had substantial rain, though no gentle showers.  The rain comes down heavily, sometimes for hours at a time.  The Little Miami River - the one closest to my house - is running higher than usual right now because of heavy rain last week.  I understand the pollen count is very high.  Fortunately, I don't suffer from hayfever, and have only sneezed a few times.  My husband has suffered from allergies in the past, b...

August 29, 2011 - I was reading today that birdwatchers in California are disturbed because of the deaths of six Golden Eagles that collided with wind turbines. Some of the most enjoyable hours of my adult life have been spent birdwatching, and my concern regarding birds' plummeting populations has gone on for a long time now. Certainly the loss of these majestic birds hits home for a number of reasons: 1) the dead birds were found and accounted for, which had to be unnerving because 2) they are extremely large birds, as American birds go; 3) wind turbines are still a relatively new technology with which we are only beginning to grow accustomed; and 4) all of us in the birdwatching community realize there are lots of other accidents that can and do happen to birds every day, particularly the young, inexperienced birds. The reason I mention the fact that the birds were seen and identified is that so, so many of "our birds" winter in Central and South America, where loss...

June 6, 2011 – When should I have realized? Should it have been when Reagan wanted global warming studied more? If someone had said to me then, “No, it’s Reagan’s Friends (FOR?) – you know, his Fortune 500-business owning friends – who want it studied more” I was definitely naïve enough that I would have shaken my head in disbelief. I was convinced the man was simple-minded, as were the people who supported him. It never occurred to me that he was owned by American business, that he had handlers, that he was a mouthpiece. Looking back, I suppose I was halfway to having it figured out: he WAS simple-minded. That’s why he bought it when they told him, “You’re just the man for the job.” He’d never dreamt of playing a major role in history, until it was suggested to him. Say what you will of Reagan, I don’t think hubris was one of his faults. Their plan fell into place so beautifully; he was thrilled, they were thrilled. Eight years went by, and he held the line. Global warming may have b...

May 31, 2011 – Hope everybody enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend. It was and is majorly hot and sticky here in southwest Ohio, so I spent a lot of time indoors reading over the weekend. Gardening has become an evening pastime, accompanied by a lot of perspiring and panting. My reading included the latest issue of Permaculture Activist. I always look forward to receiving PA, because it’s absolutely packed with highly relevant information. They outdid themselves this time, however: Designing for Disaster was this issue’s theme. If food storage is something you’re still just considering, take my advice and purchase this issue ( www.permacultureactivist.net ). There’s a lot you need to know about what, where, and how, and Matthew Stein’s article will give your confidence a huge boost. I intend to copy it, and post the copy on the basement closet door, close by my stocks. (Perhaps Stein’s most interesting suggestion? Don’t forget the mouse traps and rat poison!) Peter Bane makes a suggestio...

February 2, 2011 – Cyclone Yasi is raking the northeastern coast of Australia with wind gusts of 183 miles per hour. Rainfall accompanying this storm is predicted to amount to 28 inches. A blizzard stretching from New Mexico to New England is wending its way toward the Northeast, after dumping in excess of two feet of snow in some locations, an inch of ice in others. Meteorologists are warily eyeing a gathering storm in the southwestern United States which may well deliver a second body blow to the middle of the country next week. Elsewhere, Europe has endured blizzards of its own this winter. Twenty-eight thousand people in England have died so far because of hypothermia – my guess is they were members of the underclass who couldn’t afford heat. Temperatures in the Arctic have been on the plus side of average by 40 degrees Fahrenheit, thereby pushing cold temperatures further south for a second time, last year having been the first. Flooding is rampant in Australia, Sri Lanka, Colombi...

December 23, 2010 – Climate disruption is becoming a reality for more and more people. It’s become a bit personal, too – my son is in Southern California. He flies out today, thank goodness. Here’s a brief rundown of what the Golden State has been contending with: · 17 feet of snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada mountains · Some locations have received their entire annual rainfall · 20,000 homes are without power · Roads and bridges have been washed away · Mudslides are numerous because of wildfires that decimated vegetation on hillsides It remains to be seen whether and how the rest of the United States will be affected by this treacherous storm. Meanwhile, Western Europeans stand amazed as snow, ice and freezing temperatures bring airports and rail terminals to their knees. Millions of holiday travelers have been affected by the unusually harsh weather, with flight cancellations and long delays at rail terminals being the rule. Thousands have s...

December 20 – The Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, has issued a very powerful issue of their periodical, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A, entitled “Four Degrees and Beyond.” The Royal Society A is a British organization that has been in existence for 350 years. Its website can be accessed at http://royalsociety.org/ . I’d like to direct your attention to what I believe are the more important aspects of one of the articles comprising this issue. This may or may not be an educational experience, because I’m rushing in where angels fear to tread, i.e., I’m going to try to make sense of a pretty high-toned scientific paper. Because I don’t have a background in climatological science, I’d like to issue a disclaimer. While I will make every effort to simply ignore the parts I am unable to understand, it is entirely possible that unintentional errors may make an unwanted appearance. I’m not going to attempt to claim that this will be the firs...

August 2, 2010 – It seems a barrage of earthshaking information is being loosed upon us these days. First the report of the International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference, in which Arctic scientists state that a feedback loop has been established that allows climate change to perpetuate itself. Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued their annual report. I haven’t read the report in its entirety; it’s 218 pages long. Realizing that lay people would find the whole report onerous to read, the NOAA was kind enough to issue an executive summary of the report simultaneously (what they refer to as “Highlights”). It is a vitally important document – too late in coming, critically important nonetheless. I’d like to point out what I view as constituting the very core of the report, the information around which the rest of the report revolves. On page two of The State of the Climate, 2009: Highlights, the authors (of which there are more than 300, from 48...

July 12, 2010 – Stephen Leahy, of Inter Press Service, does a great job of reporting little known, yet highly significant, stories. While just a short time ago his job consisted of warning people that climate change would soon be causing irreversible, self-perpetuating changes to earth’s climate, his job has now become telling us what those irreversible changes are. Yes, feedback loops have been established, and no, none of the news is good. His most recent foray into climatic whistleblowing takes place as a result of the International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference in Norway. Attended by 2,300 polar science researchers roughly a month ago, the message delivered by this organization’s unanimous members was: the changes in the Arctic are now irreversible. Leahy is not blowing the whistle on these researchers, but rather on their – and our - do-nothing governments. Remember the very cold, snowy winter we just experienced? We need to make up our minds to like that type of weather, bec...

February 8 – I’m drawing inspiration from the Diane Rehm Show last week. As some of you may know, this program can be heard on National Public Radio; here in Cincinnati, I listen to it on WVXU, 91.7 FM. It’s on from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm, Monday through Friday. I listened to the podcast the next day. Half of the February 2nd show was about water. The three panelists – Steven Solomon, Geoff Dabelko, and Julia Bucknall – are each, in their own way, experts regarding the current world water situation. They are, in addition, professionals who are capable of predicting what the world water situation could be in 15 to 20 years. Keep in mind that, both now and in the future, global warming is and will be having a significant impact on this very fluid (!) situation. Here are some things I heard that I hadn’t heard before: countries in the Northern Hemisphere will have to deal with more rainfall than they currently receive, in 15 years there will be 3.6 billion people in the Middle East...

December 31, 2009 – Time to take your brave pill. Why? Because today it’s time to talk taboo’s. Don’t kid yourself; that’s a hard thing to do. We’ll try to approach this taboo openly and honestly (which is what I always try to do). It’s time to talk about Overpopulation. The first question is, why talk about it? What does too many people living in the world today have to do with global warming? There are, by the way, 6.7 billion people living in the world, right now. All the forecasts I’ve read predict a global population of 9 billion by 2050. We aren’t spread across the globe evenly, of course. Some countries are very densely populated (think China, India, and some other countries in Asia - and Africa), while others could support more people (think Russia and Canada). The simple-minded approach would be to insist that, by moving people from one place to another, the imbalance could be corrected. Problems arise, however, when you tell people they must leave all that is familiar to th...

December 22, 2009 – The post-Copenhagen verdict runs the gamut from “By George, we’ve got it!” to “The sky is falling!” depending upon whom you believe. My hope and my prayer is that it is a beginning, one upon which we will shortly build. One note to readers: when you hear that the United States is advocating a 17% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, be mindful that we use 2005 emissions as our starting point. The rest of the world uses 1990, as stated in the Kyoto Protocol. When we convert our reduction to a starting point in 1990, the reduction works out to be 3 – 4%. Call it what you like. It’s not enough. That’s why Copenhagen must be considered a beginning only. My hat is off to the thousands of delegates who worked tirelessly to bring us this far. One attendee came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. Perhaps you heard: George Soros, the billionaire investor, has proposed that developed countries lend money they received in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the Intern...

December 8, 2009 – It’s funny. The size of the group of people who are impassioned about the need to do something about climate change has, I suspect, reached critical mass. The fact I only suspect our numbers have reached the tipping point is attributable to our not all being together in one place (other than cyber space). That makes it hard to tell. That’s also the reason we’re not doing anything. We don’t have the impetus provided by hearing someone yell “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” What ARE we doing? Sitting in front of our computers and nodding in agreement. It’s awful when you realize that’s exactly what the politicians are hoping we’ll do. The number of global warming experts who are now genuinely frantic about the need for us to change our behavior seems to be growing. Maybe that’s the missing piece of the puzzle: when they begin holding up signs and protesting, that will be the signal for the rest of us to join them. Until then, we seem to be left s...