Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Watching Earth Burn

I have a pastime, one that used to give me considerable pleasure, but lately it has morphed into a source of anxiety, even horror: earth-watching.

Let me explain.

The earth from space is an incomparably lovely sight. I mean the whole planet, pole to pole, waxing and waning and rotating in that time-generating way it has, and not the views from the International Space Station, which is in a low orbit about 200 miles up and gives us only part of the whole.

My earth-watching, made possible by NOAA and Colorado State University websites, originates in three geostationary weather satellites parked in exceedingly high orbits above the Equator. Despite their seemingly static positions, GOES-16 and 17, two American satellites, and Himawari-8, a Japanese one, are actually whizzing through space at 6,876 miles per hour. They do so to remain suspended imperturbably over the Ecuadorean-Colombian border, the Eastern Pacific and the Western Pacific respectively. At 22,236 miles above sea level, they are in effect falling around earth at the exact pace it turns...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/opinion/climate-change-earth.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Off-Grid

Man Living Off-Grid in His Incredible Self-Built Cabin

https://youtu.be/ZZmWfvLGjVw


Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu
👣Solvitur ambulando
💭Sapere aude

Monday, December 21, 2020

Deep time

Just had my 50th birthday picnic lunch sitting up in the branches of a 1000-year-old yew tree in an Oxford churchyard with my family, reconnecting with the long cycles of deep time. https://t.co/ZI1alPG8AP
(https://twitter.com/romankrznaric/status/1341027898212446218?s=02)

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Too much stuff

As of 2020, the weight of all the man-made stuff on the planet passed the weight of all the living stuff on the planet.
That seems worth just meditating on for a little while.
https://t.co/7BjJcpFqe3
(https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1339377074981789701?s=02)

Monday, December 14, 2020

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Al Gore: Where I Find Hope

The Biden administration will have the opportunity to restore confidence in America and take on the worsening climate crisis.

"...The cost of batteries for electric vehicles has dropped by 89 percent over the past decade, and according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, these vehicles will reach price parity with internal-combustion vehicles within two years in key segments of vehicle markets in the United States, Europe and Australia, followed quickly by China and much of the rest of the world. Sales of internal-combustion passenger vehicles worldwide peaked in 2017.


It is in this new global context that President-elect Biden has made the decarbonization of the U.S. electricity grid by 2035 a centerpiece of his economic plan. Coupled with an accelerated conversion to electric vehicles and an end to government subsidies for fossil fuels, among other initiatives, these efforts can help put the nation on a path toward net-zero emissions by 2050..."


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/opinion/sunday/biden-climate-change-al-gore.html?smid=em-share

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Responsibility

generations
by Lucille Clifton

people who are going to be
in a few years
bottoms of trees 
bear a responsibility 
to something 
besides people... WA

And maybe those are good closing words.

Good luck, all. "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

A Message from the Future III

 

As I sit and reminisce on the past with my grandchildren, I can’t help but focus on a particular time that most would have never believed would happen before it did. It was in the late part of 2019 when a virus called COVID-19 would be discovered. A few months later in the early part of 2020, the world becomes infected with it. This very contagious virus originated in China and was transmitted throughout the world through travel. Most countries took the situation seriously, however, The United States of America was led by a President that thought he knew it all. In his mind, it was nothing severe nor was it a threat. Eventually, the governing bodies of America decided that masks and social distancing would help slow the spread. What we thought would be a few months of quarantine and mask-wearing turned into nearly a year.  Under this President’s administration, a vaccine was dispensed to those in need in December of 2020. While the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t the only bizarre thing to happen in 2020, it was one of the most significant.

However, one of the most important things to happen in my lifetime was the world-wide deal to follow the Paris Agreement. This was put into place in May of 2021. Luckily, the United States elected a President in November of 2020 that would take office in January of 2021. He took the climate crisis seriously and put forth the effort to decrease the damage we have created on the planet we inhabit. This accord was revised to project a plan that lowered the use of fossil fuels to .01% of the usage of before it was agreed upon. Without it, the Antarctic ice sheets were going to melt far sooner than anyone would have predicted.   The sea levels would have risen drastically and many states and even countries would have been swallowed whole by the seas. People’s homes, businesses, and the world’s overall way of life would change drastically. With the advanced technology that we have now, we can look back and see that we were so uncomfortably close to the verge of self-destruction with our nonenvironmentally friendly ways.

To allow those of a younger generation to understand just the slightest bit of what we were doing to the planet, I referenced the fire in California was named “The Camp Fire”. It was the most fatal and extreme wildfire the state ever had was in November of 2018. The climate change we were experiencing in this era was linked to warmer, dryer days and caused fires. November is actually supposed to be a rainy time for northern California. At the time, my husband lived about 20 minutes south of where they finally got the fire under control.


                                


 

Through lots of digging and research, I found some old pictures to show my grandkids of what they predicted North America would look like in 2040 if we didn’t change our environmental impacts. That was only 20 years from the time they created the image. They obviously know the cities and states that make up the US and which ones would have been completely wiped out. Also, the snow and ice towards the north pole are nonexistent in this illustration. The polar bears and penguins would have become extinct.


 

I can say, looking back 45 years now, I am so thankful we changed our ways and joined an accord that put the earth and the lives of our future families first. We finally got hard at work, starting in 2021, and created technology that allows us to leave the earth undisturbed. While mt generation might have not been able to do much for the first 20 years of life, we changed direction and it wasn’t too late. My grandchildren tell us all the time how thankful they are they get to experience Disney World in Orlando like I and their parents did. While Disney World is drastically different now, that is just one small example of something we wouldn’t have been able to pass down if the world kept going in the direction we were previously.

Big Oil weakening

Truly staggering win in New York this a.m.: the state will divest its $226 billion pension fund from fossil fuels. That's the biggest pension fund yet, it comes after a decade of great activism, and it underlines the weakening power of Big Oil
https://t.co/6Yw2NlP0tG
(https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1336664599630852097?s=02)

Message From The Future III

 The other day, one of my kids asked for some help with their homework. It was for their history class. Their assignment was to pick one of the many movements/events/tragedies that occured in 2020 and to present it to the class. My child said to me, “I am not sure what to choose because there is so much that happened I can't even remember it all!” and then they proceeded to ask me what I remember from that year. Unfortunately, I remember it all. 

It started with wildfires and possible wars with other countries, then from an extra week of spring break, to getting involved with the Black Lives Matter Movement, to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, to still not being able to go about “normal” life in December because America couldn't get it together. This goes for Covid-19, politically, environmentally, everything really. But thankfully, we have moved on from that time to be where we are today. 

Covid-19 took the world by storm. Killed millions of people and sadly, America was the last to get their act together. Unfortunately, what started as a deadly pandemic, somehow turned political. It was sad to see so many people be so careless when it came to keeping others safe. People having to be laid to rest in refrigerated trucks in parking lots while others decided it was okay to go to brunch. It was also so sad to see the government practically ignore the millions of people who were hurting from the pandemic. Many lost their homes, couldn't feed their families all while the government was just concerned about the economy. Luckily, after over a year of having to go through that, the government gave the people what they deserved. We finally went into a proper lockdown, people were given a correct amount of stimulus from the government in order to afford not going to work, no one was allowed to be evicted, and we all were able to wait patiently for a vaccine that luckily has proven to be effective. All of this was no thanks to the Trump administration however. 

After Trump finally acknowledged Biden's victory of the 2020 elections, he vanished. Never to be heard from again. Although Biden was not what many of us had hoped for in the beginning of the election, he still was a move in the right direction from what we had previously had to deal with. After Biden we finally had our first female president, President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She really helped to get us to where we are today. Although the Green New Deal did not get the support that was needed, it however led to The New Green Deal which has helped our environment greatly. It is often hard to think back to a time when we all took the Earth for granted the way we did. I am sure to remind my kids that we are fortunate to have been given the opportunity to live somewhere so wonderful. 

Along with environmental movements, after a while we finally started to rebuild a better system overall. Our previous system oppressed too many people. People of color, people of certain socioeconomic status, people of certain genders, overall just too many people. After a long hard fight that in reality lasted hundreds of years, we are finally moving in the fight direction. I have shown my kids some photos of what those times were like, specifically what fighting in 2020 looked like. I have included some in this letter to hopefully ignite something in you, whoever is reading this. A part of me is glad I had the opportunity to have seen that year for myself. As it was a turning point in the world's history. I once read a quote by Nikola Tesla that said, “you will live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension” That quote embodies what 2020 was like for so many and it reminds me of what humans have overcome. 

I would like to end this letter by sharing a bit of advice to you. The future that is. 

Love. That is the answer. It really is quite that simple. Whatever it is you or someone else is facing, that is the answer. And I know it sounds cheesy, but it has never seemed to fail me. Love those who surround you. Love the earth for what it has given to you. Just love.


A look into 2020:










Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Message from the Future III

 

 How would I describe 2020? Well several things come to mind. We had a president who denied climate change, pulled out of the Paris Accord, withdrew from WHO during a global pandemic, didn’t condemn white supremacy, who encouraged hate and violence, and a man who divided the American people. 

Coronavirus plagued the world and the United States saw more deaths of COVID than any other country in the world. (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality )

We had no other option than to close schools, shut down businesses, and live with a scary new normal. Not only did people lose their jobs and homes, they also lost loved one to a virus that could have been under control before it got out of hand. Many people stayed quarantined in their homes for over a year and only going out when needing food. Most businesses required masks and this became the new norm.


 Climate change had been talked about constantly and the next president Biden had made climate change among his top priorities. Entering back in the Paris Accord was just the beginning. After Biden won, it took awhile for people to understand the extreme impacts of climate change and what it means to take action. Within a few years, I went from hearing barely anyone talk about the seriousness of climate change, to it being a topic that was apart of daily discussion. 



Biden takes office in beginning of 2021 but his presidency is largely a return to the status quo. As a country it’s going to take time to move in a progressive direction but we achieved what you probably thought not possible. People are now actively working towards fixing problems instead of maximizing profits. Making peoples lives collectively better instead of the privileged few. 


The past narrative in the country is divided but you should have high hopes. Hope that we can come together and overcome this inability to come together and solve these colossal problems that have been here for so long. We have overcome so much and we will continue to. 

Message from the Future III

 The start of my life as a twentysomething was defined by periods of political, social, and environmental unrest. Even before my first vote in the 2016 election there was a building movement in the younger generation to find our place and speak ourselves into existence as a looming force with ideas and a need for change. The momentum from years of human rights attacks found its release in the farce that was 2020. As everyone is learning in school now, the events of 2020 uncovered the worst in us as a country, from the broken police systems to the inability to care for others in both the present and the future. All of this came to the surface in time for the election. With the president’s support of white supremacist groups  and trigger- happy police and his refusal to protect citizens from a plague, his loyal followers were beginning to lose the misplaced faith they held in him in the beginning of his term 

At the same time the president’s supporters were beginning to stray from him, my generation flocked in waves to show up and show that we would be the future. We were seen as some sort of novel at first, like all of us were impressionable puppets who heard an idea and latched onto it and would soon move onAnd some of us would. Plenty of people claimed to support a cause because that’s what was the next cool thing to do. Others, though, were endowed with special power to turn concerns into ideas, ideas into movement. There was no chaotic upheaval of government like so many of us would have liked. It was a slow process, waiting for older politicians to cycle out of power so we could replace them.  


When our government finally figured out how to properly separate church and state and our leaders were an accurate representation of the general publicwe could begin to rewrite our ideals as a country and find ourselves on equal footing with each other. We could offer the then-existing police the option to receive specialized training in psychology and de-escalation so there was always the right person with the right training to care for the community.  


All the deaths we saw with the pandemic didn’t stop our population growth, so America, previously a country of citizens who loved to grow grassdeveloped programs to support more community farms, reducing environmental effect from transport and constant heavy machinery. There was backlash when it was suggested that we switch and replace building horizontally with building vertically in order to make space for solar power, maybe because America was founded by men whose pride was measured in acres. 


In 2023, after the rest of the world had moved on and no one in the US had legally left the country for two years, there was a shift. Perhaps it was the fact that inter-country travel was finally allowed for everyone except us. Perhaps when the entire world, excluding us, had gone a month with no recorded cases people started to believe in the science of disease spread. Up to that point, no amount of policy or attempted police enforcement of social distancing worked. Perhaps our newfound commitment to quarantine came from America’s aching need to have the good thing someone else had first.


Later that year, after a month of no new recorded cases globally, it was finally time to rejoice. 


My hope as an old lady who survived the plague is that anyone reading this finds comfort in the types of communities that we tried to create despite underestimating how low a years-long pandemic could find you. Some of us always wanted to implement those environmental plans that would uproot everything and just start over, but perhaps it was never realistic to convince a tradition-loving country to make such an extreme switch. Please do not let our folly discourage you to keep pushing for yourselves and each other.  

Message from the Future III

 

To the citizens in the world of the future: 


I say this with great optimism; it’s currently 2020, and more many of us, now more than ever, are planning for your arrival. The year we assumed would welcome us with open arms has changed in ways we could have never imagined or adequately prepared for. Many of us have suffered losses of close family and friends that will forever be engrained in our hearts. Others have experienced frustration due to canceled ceremonies, celebrations, and annual traditions. The financial instability faced in 2020 has led to the uncertainty of the future for all industries. The sudden switch in our society has created a new reality that has pushed us to realize the importance of life and how we all must continue to adjust and keep fighting for it. Long-term planning or even thinking ahead at this time can seem like a luxury seeing as how we are engulfed in the Pandemic known as Coronavirus or COVID-19. Although we are dealing with a lethal virus spreading throughout the entire world, changing the dynamics of how we operated within our society, I believe we have witnessed some changes for the better good of humanity and your future generation to come. 


During this time, we’ve dealt with poverty, injustice, climate disruption, and difficult government/ political matters including the measures they took to control the spread of the virus causing a slowdown of economic activities. That slowdown had a pretty notable effect on the environment, both positive and negative. One of the positive things that came from the end of 2020 was within the campaign of President-elect Biden campaign, he announced his plan of a $2 trillion climate plan that will aim to reach net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by the year 2050. His entire campaign connects the need to reduce pollution by reducing the negative health impacts from the coronavirus, especially respiratory symptoms. With great efforts such as these, the foundations of family, church, community, nation, and profession will continue to prosper and grow in this new era.


My final word to you all is this; if you look around and you cannot find change, of any kind, create one. The uncertainty of the future will always demand that we recognize opportunity within ourselves by utilizing the creativity and critical thinking skills that will ultimately solve some if not all of the new challenges will come or even the challenges that will continuously need to be worked at. “Life is a journey, not a destination” - Ralph Waldo. This basically means that there is no final point in life because there will always be room for growth and elevation. Everything we working towards now is for you and I hope that the future generation will not only be able to see and enjoy the harvest from the seeds being planted now but also continue the marathon. How you shape, create, and nurture the environment around you will determine reality for those after you.


“This is a past just as exotic as the future” 

Message from the Future III

 Making the Auto Industry green

To think that all it took for a brighter tomorrow, all we had to was to get politics out of the way.  For instance, the tax credits that the government issued when they started raising taxes to help offset the effects of raising taxes for the small business owner, who then went and sold said credits to large corporations for a big profit was somewhat a two-sided sword.  I say that because while the small business people were able to make large profits, the large sum of tax money that the government hoped to collect from the large corporations wasn’t there either.  On the other side though, the private individual also saw a tax increase which created unease among the population.  Of course, what really got things moving was the compromise between the two parties to instead start limiting what private individuals or corporations could import into the country, which set off a chain reaction around the world that destabilized the world economy.  No longer could a corporation just move manufacturing jobs into somewhat third world country and continue business as usual.  Also, in terms of the American motorist both commercial and private the tax incentives to go to greener cars really gave the country the push it needed to start thinking in terms of renewable energy sources for both fuel and power.

The easiest way forward if we want to solve the current environmental crisis is by using the current framework provided by our society mainly, capitalism.  To start with I think that the government could start by giving out tax incentives for corporations and small business to start using more greener technology.  The most pressing issues regarding electric cars are the price tag which could be solved using tax rebates to encourage the purchase of such vehicles, otherwise it most likely takes our society too long to transition naturally.  Another thing, that the government can do to cut down on the number of non-green cars is to offer a tax incentive for citizens and business to switch over to greener cars like hybrids and electric vehicles like charging private citizens and businesses for having gasoline or diesel engines.  Of course, the transition time between business and private citizens will be different, considering that a private business owner is more likely to transition sooner than private citizen to cut down on costs.  For instance, the agricultural sectors of our economy already have green alternatives, but there are few barriers that keep them being used unilaterally.  According to Lindsay Campbell in her article, Dr Roger Hoy said that everything except the batteries was good and that the only thing holding it back was that the technology for the batteries had not been developed yet.  Also, in terms of commercial trucking a number of companies have already gone green and are trying to make the environment stable, and this list contains some very recognizable names like UPS.  Ultimately though agriculture and commercial transportation are somewhat easier to solve than some of the other problems we are facing in the coming years, but I do believe that we will survive the coming storm one way or another.