22 July 2021

welcome to climate change

We are people who know but pretend to not understand, full of information but without realisation of our power, brimming with knowledge but shying away from experience. Instead we move on and on, in all our comforts and unstopped by ourselves, hoping someone somewhere will show us how it's done or better still - do it for us.

The fingers of both of my hands are not enough by now when I count the colleagues, friends, neighbours, acquaintances, here and elsewhere, who have been affected by last week's massive climate events. It's all there, from death to houses washed away or packed with mud to a merely flooded basement.

A short reminder how the global water cycle works. Water evaporates from oceans, forms clouds that drop water over land that runs back into oceans and so on. Human emissions from fossil fuel use are heating the planet. The more temperatures rise, the atmosphere gets warmer and holds more moisture which brings more rain. For every one degree Celsius increase in temperature, the atmosphere can absorb about seven percent more moisture. 

When areas of drought increase, as is the case with rising temperatures in Siberia and Western US, the water falls elsewhere, actually, lots of water falls elsewhere. More rain in a short period of time than ever recorded. Rain like a black sheet. Last week "elsewhere" was in my region. (For other elsewheres, click here.)

So what next? In the words of a young Swedish woman admired and ridiculed the world over, listen to and follow the science. We have the answers in front of us.

As citizens of the 21st century, we have inherited an almighty mess, but we have also inherited a lot of tools that could help us and others survive. A star among these tools – sparkling alongside solar panels, policy systems and activist groups – is modern climate science. It really wasn’t all that long ago that our ancestors simply looked at air and thought it was just that – thin air – rather than an array of different chemicals; chemicals that you breathe in or out, that you might set fire to or could get high on, or that might, over several centuries of burning fossil fuels, have a warming effect on the Earth.

(read more here

 On a more beautiful note and as a reminder of superior intelligence, I welcome you to watch this.

 


10 comments:

ellen abbott said...

no need for a meteor to wipe us out. we're doing a fine job of it ourselves.

Ms. Moon said...

Incredible video footage.

Barbara Rogers said...

Thanks for sharing the beautiful video. I too am saddened by our climate crisis. I hope everyone who was flooded can return to a life of normalcy soon...and that many neighbors can help them out.

Pixie said...

I read most of the article, the pop up ads kept distracting me, but I will do more reading on this. When we look backwards, patterns become so obvious. Activism I guess is one answer.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I simply cannot believe what we have done tp our one and only beautiful planet, and continue to do so. It is heartbreaking. That video is reminder of all the stunning beauty we share our planet with. It belongs to them too.

am said...

"When climate fear starts to grip, it is worth remembering that we have knowledge that offers us a chance to act."

Thank you so much, Sabine, for reminding me that living in fear is not a viable option. Of course fear is going to present itself again and again, but we can meet it together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAYCf2Gdycc

am said...

Beautiful whales making a mandala together.

Steve Reed said...

I think this is our new reality, unfortunately.

Secret Agent Woman said...

I was watching the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest and worrying about my son who works outside all day and has an un-airconditioned apartment. On the two days that it was in the 115 range, his boss let him sleep over at their house, which I am grateful for. There are so many flooding/fire/tornado/hurricane horror stories now its hard to track them. We are idiots.

Joared said...

I wondered if you, family or friends had been affected by the floods, mud slides covered in our television news and hoped you would have been spared. I'm only now realizing after reading your recent posts this catastrophe was much closer to you than I imagined. I'm so sorry for those who've lost so much, some their lives, and wish all could have been spared. I'm glad you did not experience more than just the rain you received at your home.

A 90 year old retired hairdresser I know here, has very reluctantly gone along with vaccination, mask-wearing due to the pandemic since she seems to believe some of the nonsense out there. The other day she complained to me of the excessively high temperatures here in Southern California. She observed it was just changes in the weather that happens, adding, "I don't believe in climate change." We disagree about many things but she says she doesn't want to discuss them, so I don't, because she gets emotionally over-wrought. She took this stance when she was unable to counter the facts I gave her. She believes what she believes because she believes it, so can't be wrong, I guess.