Category: climate change

The Kids Are Telling the Polluters: “We’ll See You in Court!”

Photo of the sixteen plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana, Youth v. Gov website. We’re not hearing a whole lot about them yet, but we will. These young people don’t see their elders doing what’s necessary to remove the blight on their future. So they are stepping up with action—legal action. In beautiful, wide … Continue reading The Kids Are Telling the Polluters: “We’ll See You in Court!” →

When the “Green Revolution” Smacks Up Against the Green of Dollars…

Photo by Leonardo Lamas on Pexels.com A front-page story in The New York Times: “Secret Data, Tiny Islands and a Quest for Treasures on the Ocean Floor.” (Diligent Times readers are excused from finishing this post, though I’ve condensed a story that was more than twenty printed pages with photos into a much shorter piece!) … Continue reading When the “Green Revolution” Smacks Up Against the Green of Dollars… →

This Radical Supreme Court Majority Is Killing US: A Call to Action

I've been working on this post on and off for weeks, trying to decide if advocating for court reform sounds too pie-in-the-sky. Since the overturn of Roe, which for the first time ever removed a Constitutionally protected right from Americans—with promises of more such decimation of established rights to follow—I’ve been eager to complete it. This week, the radical court majority’s beyond the beyond rulings moved my thinking from “too pie-in-the-sky” to “Do or die.”

“Something Is Not Right Around the Court…”: Reblogging a 2020 Post

At the hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump's ultra-conservative nominee to replace the late liberal giant Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Dem, RI) gave a remarkably clear and extremely important tutorial on the forces that are really moving the Supreme Court's decision-making in ways large and small...I hope you will view this video, which succinctly captures so much about why our government is failing to meet the needs of the American people.

The Wind and March, 2022 (With Apologies to the Literary Giants)

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com To Shelley, the West Wind brought to mind:Seasons change; Spring can’t be far behind. Zephyrus, Chaucer’s Wind-gazing god,Sweetly exhaled with a Springlike nod To me, the Wind assaults the senses—So fiercely loud, coldly relentless. Its fury caused the Oaks’ surrender,Upending blocks of florae splendor In other acts of carefree … Continue reading The Wind and March, 2022 (With Apologies to the Literary Giants) →

News About Climate Change–Some Good, Some Bad–Courtesy of Lizards…

Tiny lizards inspired biologist Thor Hanson to write a book: "Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squids." I heard him speak in yet another fascinating Alan Alda Clear&Vivid podcast. Hanson’s book, Alda says, is about “the ways plants and animals are responding as we humans are messing with their lives.”

A Millipede Has How Many Legs? (Caution: Trick Question)

And why should we care? If curiosity and learning for learning’s sake aren’t enough, I found this story suggestive of the sweep of history and millipedes’—and our—places within it. Please accompany me on this creepy-crawly journey that, despite the overly ambitious topic, I’ve tried to keep mercifully brief.

WHEN HUNTERS BECOME PROTECTORS…

This is a story of changed hearts leading to changed behavior—in the backdrop of climate change. Spanning more than 15 years, it has heroes and villains, triumphs and tragedies, and a mostly happy ending—perhaps. As I can’t do justice to the drama and complexity here, I encourage you to read it in its entirety in the Daily Beast.

A Bunch of Reasons for Which I’m Thankful…

This is long, but if you really want to get a sense of where President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are in terms of their thinking about America's place in the world--and the interrelationship between foreign policy and our nation's families--it's well-worth watching. I'm thinking not only of American readers of my blog who may not have seen this presentation, but also our many friends around the world who have been fearful and flabbergasted as they've watched the current administration over the past four years.

“Something Is Not Right Around the Court…”

At the hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump's ultra-conservative nominee to replace the late liberal giant Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Dem, RI) gave a remarkably clear and extremely important tutorial on the forces that are really moving the Supreme Court's decision-making in ways large and small...I hope you will view this video, which succinctly captures so much about why our government is failing to meet the needs of the American people.

A Tale of Two Calamities

Oh, the irony! This is the week that my husband and I were scheduled to be in Alaska. The purpose of the cruise on a small ship was to learn from expert lecturers and see firsthand the devastation of climate change on the animals and environment. We felt a sense of urgency to make this trip while the locale was still viable. Obviously, the trip was cancelled due to COVID-19. We were supposed to meet the tour guide and group in Seattle, where the air quality a few days ago was rated the third worst in the world. In the scheme of things, I’m certainly not complaining about our lost vacation. We are safe in our home. But in the larger sense…

The Sun Shines on the Railways–and Thoughts About My Carbon BigFootprint

Lately, I’ve been thinking about my carbon footprint. It began when I wrote a quick little poem about a portion of President Trump’s beloved wall being blown down by a heavy wind, which you can read here.

One of the comments I received was from blogger Willedare, whose lovely posts at amusicallifeonplanetearth invariably bolster my spirits. Will combines recordings of his songs, research and anecdotal history about the composers, beautiful photos, and interesting insights. Well worth visiting—and revisiting.

Here’s how Will raised my consciousness:

The Democrats’ Debates Were Disappointing, and Yet…

My, my my: so much drama—even attacks on No Drama Obama!

Let me state at the outset that I had never intended to become so overtly partisan in this blog. I even wrote a post a while back explaining why I wouldn’t discuss the elephant in the room (President Trump) because so much stuff was appearing elsewhere, and I wanted to focus on finding our common ground. My overarching goal remains, and in my own way, I’m still trying to do that.

When the President is an incumbent, it’s assumed the election is a referendum on him. But now that this President has made blatantly racist attacks on people of color a feature of his daily rants, I believe the 2020 election is a referendum on us. Who are we as Americans? What kind of country do we look forward to, and how devoted are we to working toward a more perfect union?...

I believe/hope...that we are seeking leadership that unites us in hope and common purpose, rather than divides us in hatred and fear.

In that spirit, I offer you my thoughts after viewing the second round of debates—and I’ll explain why I found them sorely lacking.

It’s Here, It’s Real, and We’ve Got to Talk About It Together

I know, I know. It’s the “Hysterical Doomsaying Scientists” vs the “What’s Wrong With These People? Don’t They Care About Their Grandkids?” folks. How can we ever find common ground? I’ve just discovered someone who’s devoting her life to that effort, and I’ll introduce her to you shortly...
One big change among climate scientists fairly recently is that they have better tools than previously, enabling them to speak more definitively about the association between some dramatic, never-before-seen events and climate change...
Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons today, they find, are bigger, wetter, and faster-moving than they used to be. Climate change isn’t hovering somewhere in the not-too-distant future. We’re living with it now.

Where Are the Lights of Liberty? We Are Better Than This!

I stood with nearly 300 members of my community Friday night at a candlelight vigil in protest of the horrific treatment of immigrants on the US southern border. This was one of 800 such vigils worldwide, all designed to persuade the government of this nation, a nation of immigrants, to stop using cruelty and dehumanization against children and families.

Think about that: people throughout the world gathered to register their horror at the policies and actions of the US government.

Why You and I Need to Care About Phytoplankton–and What We Can Do About Them

Despite my optimistic outlook, there’s one area where I need to search especially hard for positive signs: climate change. To me, it is the existential threat to our planet, and I am infuriated and frightened by those who willfully ignore the important lessons that scientists are teaching us.

Recently, I had an exceptional guide into the impact of climate change on phytoplankton, the tiny organisms at the very bottom of the food chain. And I’m now convinced that we really need to pay attention to the fate of these microorganisms—because our future is intertwined with theirs.