Climate Snippets

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the environment, about climate change and the way we’ve ignored it for so long that we are now in a crisis, and the way so many are still ignoring it, placing their convenience, their profit before the future of life on the planet.  People buy the best locks, outfit their homes with security systems, alarms, cameras, keep a gun in the nightstand … all in the name of protecting their family.  But yet … those things … they cannot protect against the impending climate crisis, and they refuse to do a single thing to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land and sea from whence comes our food supply.  Why is that, I wonder?  Arrogance?  Lack of foresight?  Greed?  Ignorance?  Religion?  I don’t know, but I think we need to figure it out and act now, or it will soon be too late.

So, with that said, I thought it was time for a few environmental snippets.  I have notably not included the fires in the Amazon rainforest, for I am working on a separate post about that, probably for tomorrow.

She’s HERE!!! And She’s Speaking Out!!!

Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City yesterday.  Crowds had gathered for hours beforehand, ready to welcome Thunberg’s arrival on the unconventional solar-powered craft.Greta-ThunbergShe spoke briefly with the press before moving on … a few snippets from that speech …

“We need to stand together and take action because otherwise it might be too late. Let’s not wait any longer. Let’s do it now.  It is insane that a 16-year-old would have to cross the Atlantic to take a stand … [against] the climate and ecological crisis is a global crisis and the biggest humanity has ever faced.”

When asked if she had a message for Trump, she said …

“I say, ‘Listen to the science’. And he obviously does not do that. If no one has been able to convince him about the climate crisis and the urgency, why would I be able to?”

Ms. Thunberg will be participating in UN climate summits in New York City (September) and Chile (December).  And while she is here, she also is expected to participate in protests slated to start Sept. 20 as part of a Week of Action to pressure U.N. member states to make systemic changes that will reduce their planet-heating emissions, such as transitioning to renewable energy.

And speaking of the Global Climate Strike …

At least four major U.S. companies will close their doors on September 20 to encourage employees to take part in the Global Climate Strike in order to send a clear message that they will not conduct “business as usual” while the world’s children are demanding action to stop the climate crisis.climate-strikeBen & Jerry’s, Lush Cosmetics, Patagonia, and Seventh Generation all pledged support Wednesday for the strike, which millions of people of all ages are expected to take part in next month as part of a Week of Action before the UN Climate Summit.

“The climate crisis is a human issue—affecting all of us. We are inspired by the youth activists who have led a global movement, and Patagonia is calling for urgent and decisive action for people and our home planet. We invite the business community and all those concerned about the fate of our planet and humankind to answer with action and join us.” – Rose Marcario, President & CEO, Patagonia

Slowly but surely, some are actually getting it.  Not, of course, the fool on the hill …

The fool on the hill, the forest he will kill …

Tongass-2The Tongass National Forest covers 16.7 million acres of Alaska.  Not quite the size of the Amazon rainforest at 1.359 billion acres, but nonetheless relevant, as together with British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest in Canada, it is the planet’s largest intact temperate1 rainforest.  Well, guess what, folks?  Ol’ Donnie has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest to logging, mining and other corporate development projects.Tongass-1Under the Clinton-era “roadless rule,” construction of roads were barred in the forest, thereby restricting commercial logging, energy, and mining projects (only certain road projects approved by the Forest Service were allowed).

The rule has faced challenges over the years, including by President George W. Bush who tried unsuccessfully to reverse it. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and Senator Lisa Murkowski, both republicans, have also called for Trump to exempt the state from the rule.Tongass-3The pristine forest includes thousands of islands along with glacial fjords and old-growth cedar, spruce, and hemlock trees — old-growth trees are those that have generally grown undisturbed for at least 120 years. The area supports countless wildlife, including all five species of Pacific salmon, brown bears, wolves, and Bald Eagles.

Listen up, people!  There are not enough trees to meet the oxygen requirements to sustain life on earth into the future as it is, and you want to chop and burn them down???  Where the Sam Hell are your brains, in your back pockets???

Give me trees over ugly buildings any day of the week.  The folks we have sent to Washington seem not to understand that the economy is not going to amount to a hill of beans if they don’t aggressively protect the environment.  Stupid people.

1 Temperate rainforests are cool, as opposed to tropical rainforests like the Amazon that are warm and moist. 

Last night, my friend Herb sent me a video clip by the Parody Project.  I had never heard of this, but according to the website …

The Parody Project was founded in August of 2017 by Film-maker/composer Don Caron, as a means of surviving the current political and social mire by laughing and helping others to do the same.

Others are more humorous, but this one is most relevant to the topic of the day  Please take just 3 minutes to watch it … you won’t regret it, I promise!

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37 thoughts on “Climate Snippets”

  1. I just don’t know how to fight stupid anymore. And we aren’t talking about uneducated people. This is ignorance at its most refined. Ignore-ance. Too stupid to listen, too stupid to care, too stupid to try. They will be the ones clamboring at the door of the ‘ark’ when the proverbial floods come again. And the flaming hot cheetoh head and his cronies will be zooming into the vastness of outer space while Earth smokes and dies. Watch out ET. He’ll be right there. Can you say, “Ouch”?

    Liked by 1 person

    • You’re right, this isn’t the stupidity born of uneducated ignorance, but rather willful ignorance. No concern for future generations, but only for their own pleasure. The world is becoming hedonistic, and there is a price at the end of the day. Sigh. Like you, I don’t know how to fight it anymore. We need to be protesting in the streets like they are doing in Hong Kong. Even the Brits are protesting Boris’ latest autocratic move. But here in the U.S., we’re grilling out and shooting off fireworks for Labour Day, while the world burns around us. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Because we are ‘civilized’. Ha! I keep telling my hisband we are reverting back to the Old West days and then it will be territory wars. Our language and intelligence is digressing in the name of “equality” which is a cover for apathy. This IS Atlantis, I tell you. In the tale, Atlanteans became so enamoured of their technology, roads, systems and progress that they forget to honor the earth, replant the fields and care for that which gave them life. And so they were destroyed by their own neglect. Hmmmmmm….

        Liked by 1 person

        • Yep, that sounds pretty familiar … “so enamoured of their technology, roads, systems and progress that they forget to honor the earth, replant the fields and care for that which gave them life. ” Add to that the greed element that seems to dominate our political systems today, and … destiny. Sigh. And yet … we must keep fighting anyway … you just never know …

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  2. Uh, for those climate deniers, just open your jaded eyes. Hard evidence is all around us, water temps been rising steadily since the last century, water levels rising globally, nasty hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, forest fires, animal extinction increasing at an alarming rate year after year. And this is happening all over the world, it doesn’t take a genius or scientist to point out the obvious. Yeah… don’t believe ur lying eyes! *Sigh*

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  4. Jill, we are at a point where if the adults in leadership continue to fail to address major concerns, then they need to get out of the way. At the same time this hero was stepping on the shore, the US president was reducing limits on methane. While she was in transit, he was blowing off a G7 meeting on climate change and burning Amazon forest. But, at least he is going to build a wall that will solve nothing. Keith

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  5. How many christians and muslims are there in the world. Some 5 billion or so. Two thirds of the population of this planet? They are all relying on their god to see them through, or possibly, to be moved ‘en masse’ to heaven/paradise leaving behind a stinking dead world, so who cares. By the time they realize no one is coming for them, and their god is not going to make things right, it will be too late.
    Whatever happened to the old meme, god helps those who help themselves? I doubt that meant ‘help themselves’ as in grab as much as you can while you can. No, it meant taking steps to save yourself and your world while those steps could still be taken. While it is too late to take some steps, still we have to try to help ourselves save the world.
    OUR FUTURE DEPENDS OF IT!

    Liked by 2 people

    • I think that for the most part they all believe in different gods, for they all say different things … else they just make shit up as they go along. Yes, our future depends on it, but if we’re going to act like we have been (people in general, not you or I) then maybe we don’t deserve a future? However, the other life forms don’t deserve what we have brought upon them. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I think we have become very good at ignoring problems (denying them, even) because they are unpleasant. Our goal is to make our lives as pleasant as possible and climate change demands that we alter our behavior and do things (such as putting on a sweater rather than turning up the thermostat) that we find inconvenient. It’s part of the larger problem of self-absorption. People will eventually have to take notice of climate change when the prices of groceries in the stores start to rocket up. It’s inevitable. But until then, not.

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  7. Too few of our ruling groups exist in this world. Luxury golf courses, chauffeur driven, mansions, walled off private areas. Our leader sees the wild as a place where the poor live, a place to exploit for its oil or shale gas, or a giant hunting theme park. Sadly he is not alone. Souls like Greta are the future. It’s our job to get off our backsides and join the fight. At the very least rise to protect the likes of Greta from the crap which will get chucked in their direction. Do we really want Donald and Boris to win.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Hell NO we won’t let Donnie & Boris win! You’re right, though … the time to make our voices heard is now, not tomorrow or next year, but now. And, our voices are a lot more effective if we are doing our own part … most of us haven’t changed our habits much, but it’s time we started. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. I am convinced that we have passed a point of no return on Climate change.

    The recent large scale forest burns in Canada, US, Russia, Indonesia and Amazonia, are taking pristine tree cover at an unrecoverable rate. The earth stopped it growth of ‘green spaces’ 20 years ago and is shrinking rapidly. Yet another summer Cyclone hit the Arctic further breaking up the rapidly thinning ice. Methane is bubbling up all over the world. The permafrost is melting, snow disappearing and glaciers sliding into oblivion.
    These cycles cannot just be reversed with a few light bulbs switched off, or a solar installation on your house. This isn’t about recycling a few plastic bottles or committing to a street clean-up. This is about a wholesale life change. It is getting rid of the polluting technology, it is getting rid of the life destroying chemicals, it is getting rid of materialism. Even then, we must work like *uggery to plant trees, restore ecosystems and create a more sustainable food system to even hope of riding through the temperature increases, the devastating weather disasters and the extinctions that will come.

    But hey, most of you will think I am exaggerating. You will change your mind when infrastructure fails due to heating. When electrical lines melt, when road surfaces and tyres melt, when railway tracks buckle and twist beyond repair.

    It doesn’t take much for your job to be worthless, for your home to lose access to power and water, or for the food to run out. Does that sound apocalyptic? It is already happening in some poor nations. It won’t be long until it is yours too.

    We are living on the tiny crack of an opening chasm. You need to get your climbing gear because it is a long climb back to stability. Without it, you’re dead!

    Anyone in Forida (Mary Plumbago), please stay safe. Hurricane Dorian is headed straight for you and strengthening. The results won’t be good.

    Nick Humphrey is a great weatherman (and climatologist) to follow on Facebook.

    https://m.facebook.com/pg/wxclimonews/posts/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0

    Liked by 6 people

    • Too true, modern utilities have kept us clean, healthy and warm/cool. On top of that we have access to an enriched life with the arts available to all through radio, television and cinema – but what is all this based on?

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      • We have lived in a comfortable, decadent ‘nest’ but it has been at the expense of life support systems. The ‘nest’ is running out of replenishment and will surely fall to the ground if we do not get out of it and repair everything beyond it!

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    • Oh thank you, Colette…
      Yes I’ve definitely been pre occupied with Dorian. I’m smack dab in Central Fla, but inland about 60 miles. It is indeed daunting. I joke to myself, if my home is destroyed, I’ll get the insurance money, buy an RV and travel the rest of my life before the earth is too unsafe for that.

      I agree 100% with your comment. I also think it’s too late unless some amazing technology is invented and the corporate greed doesn’t take hold of it as leverage. I can even feel myself withdrawing from all the stress trump and his cult have created in the world for normal people. He and his cult are the destroyers for sure along with Bosolarno and a few others. Also I believe, religion and their lust for the end times,plays a big part. Trump is not religious. He pretends to be and knows how to throw the red meat at them to lap up, but he uses them and they don’t even get it.

      Anyway, I won’t be around much for awhile as my focus has shifted to survival of a hurricane and not trump and co. In some ways it’s a structural relief for my brain and heart.

      Thanks for your thoughts…

      Liked by 1 person

    • I do know that you’re right, that it is going to take more than the things that I and others have suggested, but … everybody has to start somewhere. I still think it’s better to create awareness, to convince people to give up the single-use plastics, adjust the thermostat, drive less, buy electric cars, etc., than to have them contribute nothing. Much of what you suggest will need to be done by corporations that, I suspect, will let the world burn down around them before they will sacrifice a penny of profit. I suspect it will require a catastrophe to open the eyes of everyone and get them working together. Question: Have you read the series by William R. Forstchen that began with One Second After? I highly recommend it, if you haven’t. I did not review the book, but I did write a brief summary of it back in 2017 https://jilldennison.com/2017/01/01/another-russian-hack/

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        • I am living in a warmer world this weekend! Not by choice, sadly, but the a/c went out, the maintenance dude spent 3 hours on it Friday afternoon, but finally concluded he needs to order a whole new unit. I shan’t complain, but it means I cannot breathe very well. I’m spoiled like the rest of the western world. Sigh. Hugs!

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  9. Really, we have known a lot of this for over fifty years – Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ sounded the first warning that many of the public ever heard – I read the book in the 1980’s and was absolutely shocked. As a result of that I began to look at what went into our food in those days; just as one example, a permitted food colourant was one of the active chemicals in ‘agent orange’ which many will recognise as a defoliant the US sprayed on Vietnam during the war. And although the science is now out there, and intelligent people are shouting this to the four corners of the Earth, Many choose to ignore it because that way they can stay a little richer.

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    • We read Rachel Carson at school in Australia 1968 or 69 – I have never used so much as slug pellet since, or had any respect for the USA. But when I looked up the book a while ago I discovered she has also been blamed for many malaria deaths with people reluctant to spray mosquitoes. Whether that is true or not, does not alter the fact of the terrible damage we have done.

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    • This is true. I think most of us, myself included, ignored it for a long time, for despite Ms. Carson’s book (which I only read a few years ago), it wasn’t well-publicized (Gee, I wonder why), and I simply didn’t think about it. Today, however, there is simply no way to ignore it … unless one makes a conscious effort, that is.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. For a long time we did what we did in blissful ignorance of any effects upon the environment.Those days are gone. We now do what we do in full knowledge of the damage and destruction we cause. There is enough proof to satisfy the leaders of most countries, and even if it doesn’t satisfy them, it does satisfy a majority of the population. There are leaders who, like Trump, who disregard the science and the people and just follow profit or out of sheer spite go ahead and start new ventures which further destroy the environment. We have to let them know that it’s not acceptable. The will of the people must be taken into account and this purposeful damaging on an already fragile environment will be reflected in the elections.. National parks and virgin forest should be sacrosanct from pillage for profit.
    Cwtch

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    • The thing that most people tout as the beginning of modern times, the Industrial Revolution, was actually the beginning of the end. You’re right that most world leaders are intelligent enough to bother to learn the facts and agree that something must be done. They walk a fine line, though, trying to save the environment and yet appease their technology-loving, money-loving populace. And then, you have the likes of Trump and Bolsinaro who not only disregard the warning signs, but actually seem intent on hastening the end of life on planet Earth. We have been trying to let them know that this is unacceptable, but there are the other elements who have louder voices and more money, so they do not fear us, not even at the ballot box, for they have already rigged that. Sigh. Short of a few well-placed EMPs that would change life as we know it, but at the same time likely save us from ourselves, I don’t know the solution.
      Cwtch

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  11. Most countries are guilty of destroying trees in the past – those iconic bleak Scottish landscapes were once forests. To misquote Handel’s Messiah ‘For we like sheep’ – for millenia people have enjoyed eating and milking sheep and cows and I guess it didn’t make much difference for most of that time. The indeginous people of the Amazon obviously managed without sheep – it’s heartbreaking to see them losing their whole world.

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