“… “I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.
“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.” …”
“… “I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.
“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.” …”
Homo Sapiens will suffer a die-back in the next thirty years. Make your plans around that central event.
Hurricane Maria is now a cat. 5 storm. A state of emergency has been issued in many islands. Puerto Rico is going to be hit harder than they have since the 30’s tomorrow morning. Stay safe.
“… “I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.
“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.” …”
This is the latest weekly column written by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan. Read the full column on democracynow.org here.
“In recent weeks, a polar vortex blew across the U.S., killing at least 20 people. At the same time, U.S. government scientists reported that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record, with the five hottest years occurring in the past five years.
A huge hole in one of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is causing accelerated melting there, while across that continent, large lakes of meltwater are bending, buckling and threatening to collapse these vast ice sheets — all leading to rapidly increasing global sea level rise. Glaciers melting in the Himalayas threaten tens of millions of people downstream with flooding and the disruption of water supplies.
As evidence that the planet is experiencing what has been called “the sixth great extinction,” a recent review of scientific data concludes that 40 percent of the world’s insects are on the brink of extinction.
President Donald Trump’s response? During the polar vortex, he tweeted: “What the hell is going on with Global Waming? (sic) Please come back fast, we need you!” Yet there are signs of hope. Two Democrats, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, have submitted a resolution to Congress recognizing “the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.” House Resolution 109 had a remarkable 67 co-sponsors in the House, all Democrats, and has been distributed to 11 different House committees for consideration.
“Today is the day that we truly embark on a comprehensive agenda of economic, social and racial justice in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said, announcing the effort. “Climate change and our environmental challenges are one of the biggest existential threats to our way of life, not just as a nation, but as a world.”
The Green New Deal is named after the original New Deal, the massive government program launched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help the United States recover from the Great Depression. In addition to imposing a slew of regulations to constrain the big banks that were largely responsible for the financial collapse, FDR’s New Deal empowered the federal government to directly hire millions of workers to do everything from building roads and bridges to writing poetry. The Social Security system was created to protect the elderly from the ravages of poverty. In the decades since, the New Deal has become synonymous with successful government intervention on a grand scale to solve massive, seemingly intractable problems.
The parallel Senate and House resolutions put forth by Markey and Ocasio-Cortez — known as “AOC” to her supporters — are a call to action to Congress to craft laws that implement a true Green New Deal, rapidly shifting the U.S. economy to one that is powered by renewable energy, and to do so in a fair, equitable and just manner.
When asked on “60 Minutes” by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “Are you talking about everybody having to drive an electric car?” AOC replied: “It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now. What is the problem with trying to push our technological capacities to the furthest extent possible?”
Cooper also challenged her on the cost of a Green New Deal, which, in part, AOCwould pay for with an increased marginal tax on the super wealthy — a 70 percent tax rate on income earned in excess of $10 million, for example. Several national polls suggest strong support for such a tax.
While almost every Democratic presidential hopeful has embraced the Green New Deal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi casually derided the plan, saying, in response to a reporter’s question about its legislative chances: “It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?”
After Sen. Markey submitted his Green New Deal resolution, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, “We’re going to be voting on that in the Senate to give everybody an opportunity to go on record.” He and the Republican Party are calculating that a vote in favor will politically damage incumbent Democrats come re-election time.
But McConnell is wrong. A majority of Americans believe that climate change is real, poses a threat to humankind, and that something must be done. It is time for the dinosaurs in Congress and the White House to wean themselves off fossil fuels and support the Green New Deal, or face extinction.”
The Trump administration ended DACA. It’s now in the hands of Congress, but Trump tweeted (yes, tweeted) that he will “revisit” issue if Congress doesn’t legalize DACA in six months. You can donate to help some Dreamers whose permits are expiring prior to March 5, 2018 here.
Animal production is the leading cause of climate change today.
The world is facing a pivotal moment in its history. Humans are on the brink of a “game over” situation, as NASA scientists have said if the US government moves forward on the Keystone pipeline. There is no going back and the world as we know it cannot be saved if drilling the Canadian tar sands goes forward. Part of me believes that…
Hello to all activists and acti-curious peeps, as well as everyone else who cares about the planet. Last weekend I went to Cornwall as part of XR (Extinction Rebellion), where the G7 summit was taking plact, to protest world leaders’ complacent inaction on the climate crisis. Sadly, G7 leaders are failing us on climate change, and we are #DrowningInPromises.
This video is a collection of highlights from those two days. There are bits of talks by activists including Marvina Newton, as well as mini-interviews with rebels that I filmed myself. If you are curious what an XR protest is really like and/or want to learn more, check it out!
Recent news have reported that a Russian town had to declare a state of emergency as large numbers of polar bears invaded the town in search of food. As ice melts and it becomes harder for bears to find food, human-bear conflict is becoming more and more frequent. here’s the story of such conflicts on Greenland.
Living with polar bears
Dine steps outside the incineration plant early in the morning to smoke a cigarette. Flicking on his lighter, he finds himself looking into the eyes of a polar bear standing by his ATV four meters away. The bear moves straight towards him. Dine races for the corner of the building, and fortunately, the bear chooses to move in another direction.
Mikkel, who works at the weather station, goes to launch a weather balloon at 22:00. As he walks towards the building, he hears the ice crunch behind him. He turns around and sees a polar bear three meters away. He runs inside, and the polar bear takes off down the slope at the dump and swims towards Storesten.
The hard work of the polar bear patrol
Throughout the Arctic, conflicts between polar bears and humans have risen as summer sea ice shrinks due to climate change. In some areas, bears are now forced to stay on land for longer periods than before. In their search for food, they are often attracted to nearby villages.
In Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland, the problem is particularly severe as a deluge of bears created life-threatening situations for both bears and the villagers.
In 2007, nine polar bear conflicts were registered in all of Greenland. By 2017, there were 21 conflicts between August and December in Ittoqqortoormiit alone. In almost all of the 21 cases, the local polar bear patrol was called to ensure that the bears were scared away from the community and kept under observation.
WWF provided support for the community to establish a polar bear patrol in 2015 to protect the town’s 450 residents from dangerous encounters on their way to school or work, and to reduce the number of bears killed in self-defense. During peak polar bear season in autumn, the patrol is particularly active just before school opens each morning.
“The community members tell us that the patrol gives them greater peace of mind, and we prevent a lot of polar bears from being shot in self-defense”, says Bo Øksnebjerg, Secretary-General of WWF-Denmark. “So on the one hand, we’re glad that the polar bear patrol is working so well. On the other hand, we regret that the patrol is so busy. Everything indicates that the problem of hungry polar bears in communities will continue to grow as the sea ice shrinks.”
WWF supports similar polar bear patrol projects in Alaska and Russia. These community projects aim to prevent unintended and potentially fatal encounters between polar bears and people, keeping both towns and bears safe. Deterrence tools such as noisemakers as well as better lighting near public places, bear-proof food storage containers, and warning plans for when bears enter communities are further effective means of protection.
The village of Wales, Alaska—the westernmost town in mainland North America— started a polar bear patrol in 2016. Now, they are embarking on an expedition to six other villages in the region to tell their story, listen to the concerns of other villages, and see if a polar bear conflict avoidance/deterrence program might be a good fit for them. WWF has committed to helping two additional Alaskan villages initiate polar bear patrol programs in 2019.
Y'all, these are a couple of pictures from my hometown in west Tennessee. The Tennessee River has flooded and is expected to crest at 400ft by Tuesday. In Savannah alone, at least 100 roads are washed out, some houses are completely underwater. Parts of northern Alabama are also effected by this, as well as many other counties along the TN river.
Also, the city in which my sister resides was hit by a tornado last night, and I don’t have any information regarding the damage other than that she and her family are safe, thankfully.
To top it all off, parts of Ontario have experienced 70mph sustained winds today thanks to the SAME system that hit the southern states.
So if y'all could send like, some good vibes, light a candle, say a prayer, whatever, it would be GREATLY appreciated.
Hey y’all, The Wife kindly asks for some good vibes, good juju, good candles, good what-ever-the-shit y’all wanna do. Her hometown, and her sister’s home are getting hit with some serious weather. So here’s a signal boost <3
Yessss! Finally, I get to share the illustrations I did for Casey Youngflesh and his Ph.D research! Go check out Youngflesh et al. 2022 for the details, but in short, he used a whole lot of bird banding data (from The Institute for Bird Populations’ Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship program) to demonstrate differences in wing shape and body size within species, and how those things are actually changing in response to climate change (as the world gets warmer, birds get smaller). Crazy stuff!
“… “I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.
“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.” …”
Every single denialist depends on the idea that big brother government and climate scientists are on the same side so how do they even begin to fit this into their delusion?
Antarctica (September 21st, 2005). The terrain and cloud cover are taken from images in 2004 and 2002 respectively.
The Antarctic is in some ways the opposite of the Arctic. The Arctic is an ocean basin surrounded by land, whereas the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by water.
In the Northern Hemisphere, sea ice can extend southwards to a latitude of 45°N (along the north-east coasts of Asia and North America), but most of the ice is above 70°N. In the Southern Hemisphere, the ice doesn’t get that close to the South Pole. It fringes the continent, and extends northwards to 55°S at its greatest extent.
Because of this, Antarctic sea ice coverage is larger in winter than in the Arctic, but smaller in summer. Total Antarctic sea ice peaks in September (beginning of spring) to a historical extent of 17 – 20 million square kilometres. The minimum extent is in February (end of summer), at about 3 – 4 million square kilometres.
Antarctic sea ice is distributed around the entire fringe of the continent, a much broader area than in the Arctic. It is also exposed to a broader range of land, ocean and atmospheric influences. Because of this geographic and climate diversity, the Antarctic sea ice is more variable from year to year. Climate oscillations don’t affect all areas in the same way. Therefore, it is more difficult to make overall generalizations about the influence of climate patterns here.
The Antarctic Oscillation involves a large-scale “see-sawing” of atmospheric mass between the pole and mid-latitudes. This oscillation can intensify, weaken, or shift the location of low- and high-pressure weather systems. These changes influence wind speeds, temperature, and the track that storms tend to follow. Any of these things can influence sea ice extent.
During a “positive phase”, the westerly winds circling Antarctica strengthen and move southwards (inwards). This can change the way ice is distributed among the sectors. It also isolates much of the Antarctic atmosphere.
These stronger winds have an overall cooling effect, but also cause a dramatic warming on the Antarctic Peninsula. This is because warmer air above the oceans to the north is drawn southwards (inwards). In general, these winds can lessen sea ice in some areas and increase it in others, because it can drive the ice further away from the coast or closer towards it, depending on the region.
I heard about a pipeline protest, what’s going on?
There is a proposed pipeline expansion being currently constructed that will bring nearly 1 million tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin.
It’s known as the Line 3 Pipeline. Indigenous ppl have been protesting it with the help of allies. As of recently though the situation has escalated to police brutalityand suppression of rights, including treaty rights.
Why is Line3 so bad?
Good question. A brief peek at this map makes it very clear to see why the Ojibwe ppl would be upset.
Pipeline 3 violates several treaties with the Ojibwe people. Treaty rights surpass the authority of even the constitution.
But that hasn’t stopped police from breaking those rights and making over 600 arrests since the protests started.
The placement of it puts at risk the water that 18 million humans and wildlife rely on. That’s 23% of all of public freshwater, nearly ¼ of our entire supply.x
It also will be carrying several kinds of tar sands crude. which is a carbon intensive oil which contains 37% more carbon than conventional oil, meaning worse for our environment than normal oil.
The pipeline would have the climate cost equivalent to 50 coal power plants
The company in charge if it is infamous for it’s spills. They’ve already spilled drilling fluid more than 5x. x
Theyre even abandoning their first attempt at the pipeline once the replacement is constructed because of all the issues it’s had (that’s right, they’ve failed once already) x
As such, Water Protectors have been protesting against it. Going so far as locking themselves to equipment, crawling in pipes, and getting arrested. Anything to stop construction.
Not only that but the pipeline has given cause for concern that there would be an increase in MMIW2SG (Missing and murdered Indigenous Women, 2 Spirit, & girls, a national crisis) The concern is not unfounded.
In March, the anti-violence and anti-human trafficking nonprofit Violence Intervention Project requested reimbursement from Enbridge’s public safety fund for anti-human trafficking efforts associated with the project. x
Recent Timeline of Events & Escalation
July 27th it was found Blue Lives Matter was going to start organizing to “help” the police. x
July 28th the White Earth Nation ordered a 48 hour cease & desist, which Enbridge ignored. x
July 29th HR- 1374, a bill that would allow foreign corporations (like Enbridge) to publically hire state officials to brutalize/kill protesters that disrupt “critical infrastructure” (like pipelines) passes the House and goes on to the Senate. x
July 29th police started using rubber rounds & pepper spray. x
July 30th A vehicle swerved into Water Protectors. x
July 30th Additionally, Enbridge spilled drilling liquid again (called a frac-out) on the same day. x
July 30th 2 Enbridge workers are found in a sex trafficking sting x
August 1st we learn Water Protectors have not been allowed to change out of the clothes covered in the chemicals law enforcement used, their dietary needs have been ignored, and they’ve been treated poorly while in custody. A call to action is posted x
Follow Indigenous creators/media. A good place to start are the ones I’ve linked through out this post & going through the #StopLine3 tags
We’re having a very hard time trying to spread awareness due to media suppression so please spread this like wildfire
Leave comments under (big) creators that pride themselves on being green or eco-friendly asking them to raise awareness.
Answer the call for action and contact the Pennington County Jail and demand humane treatment of Water Protectors. Read the script too if that’s easier:
I am calling today to demand that water protectors are treated humanely and fairly, that their dietary needs are respected and their medications be given properly.
Tweet their accounts as well. Demand humane treatment
@/govtimwalz
@/ltgovflanagan
And contact your state representatives & tell them you WILL NOT vote for them again should this HR-1374 pass. That this bill is against your interests as a constituent & NOT a reflection of your states values.
Different camps have different security practices. Some camps welcome you to come directly there, some want to have you vetted first to protect themselves and their work.
Join Us in The Fight to Protect Our Water
8-2-21
My other posts are getting long and confusing with all the updates. Please reblog thispost.
