Thoughts on Climate Change

Venice, November, 2019. Throughout the city waters rose six feet above normal. Tourists in what appear to be disposable over-the-knee boots took selfies in deep water around St. Marks Square, while the basilica, a masterpiece of Byzantine art, received just a little more damage in what might build up to a catastrophe. Local residents in their permanent boots despair.

Winter floods in Venice, once unusual occurrences, are now a predictable occurrence whenever storms coincide with high tides. The city, which is below sea level, has been sinking for centuries. Protective barriers, which may or may not solve the problem, are under construction but delayed by government corruption. Climate change amplifies the results of human actions. 

-- from the Washington Post (source)

Update Nov. 17: Bansky's mural as the waters continued to rise --
"Banksy's Venice artwork of a refugee in a lifejacket is now under floodwater"

A quote that captures the Venetians' reaction: "Flooded Venice had tourists taking selfies and residents in tears" --

“The reaction is to cry,” said Flavia Feletti, 77, who has lived in Venice for six decades. “I am afraid there is no solution. When I went out the day after the flooding, I met a kind of funeral in the city.”

You already know all this. I already know all this.

Midwest US, November, 2019. Winter has arrived, either one or two months early depending which statistics you read. According to the Weather Channel: "over 400 daily mid-November cold records, including record lows and record-cold high temperatures, were tied or set across the nation from Veterans Day through Thursday, Nov. 14." (source) People respond to a slightly frivolous online challenge: list cities in central and southern US that have temperatures lower than that of Anchorage, Alaska. But this is not a a game.

Here in Ann Arbor we had 11 inches of snow and record low temperatures:

In my back yard this week: piles of snow.

You already know all this. I already know all this.

October and November, 2019. California and Australia both have had especially dry and hot weather, with dangerous winds creating conditions for horrific fires. In California, the fires have been worse than those that destroyed whole towns and killed many people last year. In Australia this week, several people and hundreds of koalas died in forest fires in sanctuaries where the habitat of these rare animals was being protected. (link).

An injured koala being treated after the forest fires. (Washington Post)

You already know all this. I already know all this.

Climate and weather are different things: hot dry weather, extreme cold weather, storms in the Mediterranean -- these are weather events. However, more and more extreme weather events indicate that we have gone beyond random happenings. Though I'm not a scientist, I've been reading the results of climate research, and it's clear that we are already experiencing rising sea levels, extreme heat, unusual patterns of warm and cold air like the ones that have warmed the tundra and frozen American cities, and much more.

Does this seem inconclusive, like I don't know what to do? That's what it feels like to me. Our own government seems to be taking more and more measures to make it worse, backing out earlier efforts to reverse or retard actions that increase climate change. Iconic event yesterday: "Just moments after council members rejected measures to tackle climate change, the Veneto regional council — located on Venice's Grand Canal — was flooded for the first time ever." (source)

You already know all this. I already know all this. What do we do?

This post written by Mae Sander for maefood dot blogspot dot com. 
If you read it elsewhere it's been pirated.

Messages from the Climate Rally, Ann Arbor

Climate Strike, 2019: On the University of Michigan campus, organizers estimated a crowd of 7500. A breathtakingly beautiful day to learn what is going to be lost. The emphasis: the speakers all believe that in 11 more years, the damage will be fully irreversible.

Many of the participants were very young people, including whole classes from elementary, middle schools, and high school, as well as university students. To my surprise, the speakers were mainly very young as well, and the organizer appears to have been a high-school student. Their ages were announced: 15, 14, 13... and they spoke dramatically about how they wanted a future. For these speakers, the 11 year deadline looms in the prime of their lives.

The oldest speaker (as far as I gathered) was a graduate student who enumerated the misdeeds of the university, such as building a new natural-gas fueled power plant that will become a long-term commitment to fossil fuel energy use. He was arrested at a sit-in at the office of the university president last year, protesting the university's refusal to divest endowment funds from fossil fuel industries.

At rallies in the past, speakers have been chosen for their prominence and traditional expertise. I expected to hear from the mayor, our activist state representative, or a university professor. Not at this rally!