LAKE MACBRIDE— I will be speaking about personal finance, the environment and nuclear abolition four times between April 19 and 24. If you are nearby, please consider attending one of these events:
April 19, 11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: Focus on Finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9 to 5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses to survive and thrive. Part of the American Library Association Money Smart Week, Solon Public Library, 320 W. Main St., Solon, Iowa.
April 19, 1 until 3 p.m.: Soap Box Speech on the environment: “Mount Tambora, Mount St. Helens and Nuclear Famine” at the Celebration of Life at Old Brick, 20 East Market St., Iowa City, Iowa.
April 23, 6:30 p.m.: “Earth Week: Climate Reality in Iowa” at 220East, 220 East Fourth St., Waterloo, Iowa.
April 24, 6:30 p.m.: “Earth Week: Climate Reality in Iowa” at the Independence Public Library, 805 1st St. East, Independence, Iowa.
11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: focus on finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9-5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses. – See more at: http://www.soloneconomist.com/content/solon-public-library-50#sthash.PGm9t3cj.dpuf
11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: focus on finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9-5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses. – See more at: http://www.soloneconomist.com/content/solon-public-library-50#sthash.PGm9t3cj.dpuf
11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: focus on finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9-5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses. – See more at: http://www.soloneconomist.com/content/solon-public-library-50#sthash.PGm9t3cj.dpuf
11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: focus on finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9-5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses. – See more at: http://www.soloneconomist.com/content/solon-public-library-50#sthash.PGm9t3cj.dpuf
11 a.m.: “Alternative Living: focus on finances” with Solon resident and writer Paul Deaton. Paul gave up his 9-5 job to focus on his writing. He will describe his creative methods of putting food on the table and how he covers his expenses. – See more at: http://www.soloneconomist.com/content/solon-public-library-50#sthash.PGm9t3cj.dpuf
Hogg Uses Science to Explain Climate Change
To the editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette
March 13, 2014
A March 8 guest column by Gary Ellis, “Global warming debunked,” suggested that state Sen. Rob Hogg had “confirmed” to the author that those who are concerned about climate change are acting based on “good intentions” not “good science.” That is not right.
I have read Hogg’s book on climate change, “America’s Climate Century,” and he carefully reviews the science that tells us that climate change is a major concern facing our country.
The book is an excellent introduction to the issue and I highly recommend it. It is available at area libraries.
I also have heard Hogg speak about climate change.
Again, Hogg does an excellent job explaining the science if you ever have the chance to hear him.
As Hogg points out, leading scientists have warned us that the effects of climate change are expected to increase substantially in the coming decades.
We urgently need to cut greenhouse gases and get ready for future climate-related disasters.
LAKE MACBRIDE— According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), January 2014 was the fourth hottest January on record. It was also the 347th consecutive month of global temperatures above the 20th century average. February is expected to be the 348th. From NOAA:
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for January was the warmest since 2007 and the fourth warmest on record at 12.7°C (54.8°F), or 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 20th century average of 12.0°C (53.6°F). The margin of error associated with this temperature is ± 0.08°C (± 0.14°F).
The global land temperature was the highest since 2007 and the fourth highest on record for January, at 1.17°C (2.11°F) above the 20th century average of 2.8°C (37.0°F). The margin of error is ± 0.18°C (± 0.32°F).
For the ocean, the January global sea surface temperature was 0.46°C (0.83°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.5°F), the highest since 2010 and seventh highest on record for January. The margin of error is ± 0.04°C (± 0.07°F).
It is too damn hot, said as a resident of earth, located in an extremely cold Iowa winter.
LAKE MACBRIDE— An article about James Lovelock was recently updated and is in the news again. “Enjoy life while you can,” said Lovelock in 2008. “Because if you’re lucky, it’s going to be 20 years before it hits the fan.” Whether enough people are listening to his admonition about the inevitability of catastrophic climate change is doubtful. Whether we should is another question.
While the U.S. has its share of doomsday preppers, by and large the potential for social unrest, like in Ukraine, Egypt, Syria and Venezuela, is discounted by most people I meet. If some are stocking up at COSTCO, it is the result of a mathematical calculation of price per serving, and how long that over-sized box of crackers will last. Preparing for Armageddon is the last thing on shopper minds. As Americans, we have a high level of tolerance for injustice… as long as we perceive that as individuals, we are being treated fairly.
Our public awareness is influenced by a media bought and sold by a few wealthy people. Corporations influence our lawmakers, agriculture, retail stores, our utilities, and anything we do that requires our participation. Seldom has there been a large scale outbreak of social unrest, nor is one likely without a wholesale breakdown of consumer society. The wealthy are smart enough to prevent that from happening unless it serves their purposes.
Perhaps the most recent American social movement was the political tide that swept Republicans out of power and inaugurated President Barack Obama. Discontent with our government increased once the abuses of presidential power became more widely known after Sept. 11, 2001. It was a peaceful movement, even if we had yet to end two wars, and continued our questionable use of drones to target people in countries with which we are not at war.
It would take a lot for wide-spread, violent protest to topple the U.S. government. For that matter, protests against drones, economic issues, taxation, the Keystone XL pipeline, nuclear weapons installations, mountaintop removal coal mining and other issues pass largely unnoticed by society. In the middle east, it took a widespread drought, a shortage of export crops from Russia and Ukraine and high food prices to activate citizens for social change. Of course now we are getting back to climate disruption caused by global warming.
Helping mitigate the causes of global warming is at the top of my to-do list. I wrote about it at this link, “climate change is real, it is happening now, it’s caused by humans, and is cause for immediate action before it is too late.” Of course, according to Lovelock, it is already too late. Climate change is not the only worry we have about survival of life on the planet.
The other threat is the lingering possibility of a nuclear weapons exchange. In our post-Cold War era, this borders on the absurd. The two countries with the largest number of nuclear weapons are the United States and Russia. The war is over, so disarm. We can’t afford the hundreds of billions of dollar we spend on the nuclear complex, so disarm.
The humanitarian consequences of a small-scale, regional nuclear war, like between nuclear states India and Pakistan, are unthinkable. Conservative organizations like the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society and Rotary International are signing on to abolish nuclear weapons for that reason. They are most active outside U.S. borders.
Americans are already looking to enjoy life more, oblivious to the tangible threats we face. It is possible to mitigate the causes of climate change, work toward nuclear abolition, and enjoy life more. Once one has read Sartre not much seems futile, and engaging in life becomes its own reason to live. Whether we can make a difference is a question the naysayers would answer for us, something we can’t let them do.
On Thursday, Jan. 16, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing entitled, “Review of the President’s Climate Action Plan,” begging the question, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
A well credentialed panel is scheduled to appear, including administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy. The hearing is important mostly to generate interest in a conversation about climate change that is on life support on Capitol Hill. (For more information about the hearing, click here). Who will be listening?
There aren’t enough votes in the 113th U.S. Congress to put a price on carbon emissions, something that is essential to slowing them. Recently, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) announced formation of a task force to revive talk about climate change in the Congress, and to defend President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
The goals of the task force are modest— introducing some small-scale bills intended to “use the bully pulpit of our senate offices to achieve (a) wakeup call,” Boxer said. She added, “we believe that climate change is a catastrophe that’s unfolding before our eyes and we want Congress to take off the blindfolds.” What will come of this year’s task force is unclear, but anyone paying attention can see the disruptive effects of changing climate on our society. However, as a writer on Daily Kos pointed out, it is another task force in another year, and legislation mitigating the causes of climate change, or dealing with its effects, is expected to be dead on arrival because the votes aren’t there.
Boxer has it right that people on the hill, and in the public, are asleep about climate change. The reason is the money spent by climate deniers. In December, Drexel University released a study of 140 different foundations funding an effort to delay action on climate change. The so-called Climate Change Counter Movement (CCCM) spent more than $900 million from 2003 through 2010. Author Robert J. Brulle wrote that the study was, “an analysis of the funding dynamics of the organized effort to prevent the initiation of policies designed to limit the carbon emissions that are driving anthropogenic climate change. The efforts of the CCCM span a wide range of activities, including political lobbying, contributions to political candidates, and a large number of communication and media efforts that aim at undermining climate science.” The efforts of CCCM have been successful, insofar as “only 45 percent of the U.S. public accurately reported the near unanimity of the scientific community about anthropogenic climate change,” according to the study.
What does “near unanimity” mean? James Powell recently evaluated 2,258 peer-reviewed scientific articles about climate change written by 9,136 authors between November 2012 and December 2013. Only one article rejected anthropogenic global warming. This may not represent a consensus, but consensus is not the purpose of science. Science is to explain the world to us, and we don’t need to strike the word “near” to understand climate change is real, it’s happening now, human activity is causing it, and scientists believe that is the case.
I am not sure whether a group of rich politicians posturing in the Congress will make a difference. However, it’s the only game in town. They are willing to take positive action to support the president’s climate action plan, which doesn’t rely on new legislation that isn’t in the cards anyway. While not hopeful of meaningful action, fingers are crossed, and the game is on.
Following is this afternoon’s press release from the League of Conservation Voters:
WASHINGTON, D.C.– League of Conservation Voters (LCV) president Gene Karpinski released this statement on the creation of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, a group chaired by Senators Boxer and Whitehouse that includes more than a dozen senators committed to pushing for action on climate change:
“Big Oil and corporate polluters have worked with their allies in Congress to prevent action on climate change for far too long. This task force is the latest sign that environmental allies in Congress are fighting back, standing up for basic science and pushing for action on climate change. This is the type of strong leadership we need if Congress is finally going to get serious about addressing the climate crisis and meeting our moral obligation to future generations. We thank Senators Boxer, Whitehouse, Cardin, Sanders, Klobuchar, Merkley, Franken, Blumenthal, Schatz, Murphy, Heinrich, King, Markey, and Booker for speaking out on climate change today and look forward to continuing to work with them to address this vitally important issue.”
People seeking scientific proof of anthropogenic global climate change are barking up the wrong tree. The goal of science is not to prove, but to explain aspects of the natural world. Following is a brief explanation of climate change.
Around 1850, physicist John Tyndall discovered that carbon dioxide traps heat in our atmosphere, producing the greenhouse effect, which enables all of creation as we know it to live on Earth.
Carbon dioxide increased as a percentage of our atmosphere since Tyndall’s time at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. As a result, Earth’s average temperature increased by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
The disturbance of the global carbon cycle and related increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is identifiably anthropogenic because of the isotope signature of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
We can also observe the effects of global warming in worldwide glacier retreat, declining Arctic ice sheets, sea level rise, warming oceans, ocean acidification, and increased intensity of weather events.
It is no wonder 97 percent of climate scientists and all of the national academies of science in the world agree climate change is real, it is happening now, it’s caused by humans, and is cause for immediate action before it is too late.
LAKE MACBRIDE— At a holiday gathering, talk was about the billionaire who came to Iowa to meet with people about the possibility of spending some of his/her fortune on environmental advocacy, and not the climate denier type. There had been a successful campaign to identify environmental voters during the recent election in Virginia, so what about Iowa and it’s first in the nation caucuses? I was told about, but not invited to the meeting.
The trouble with this kind of money is non-profits and consultants will fight over it like there is no tomorrow, especially when the prospect is seven figures as this is reputed to be. That’s been the history: a dog-eat-dog contest to woo and sway donors to support one cause or organization over others. There is no time for the parochial concerns of a few non-profit environmental groups or consultants fighting over donations. In my opinion only one concern matters most: climate change is real, it’s happening now, it’s not too late to do something about it, and we should do something about it before it’s too late. We need to stay focused on what’s most important.
My agreement with The Climate Reality Project restricts me from accepting funds for my advocacy, so in any case, I would be out of the fray. It doesn’t make me impartial, just less able to be diverted by advocacy funding and its work-products. While funding an environmental advocacy effort is an important part of an overall effort to solve the climate crisis, there is hardly agreement among Iowa environmental groups about what is the most important legislative objective, let alone consensus. It’s safe to say there won’t ever be consensus.
Some group or groups may secure funds, along with their expectations, deliverables and arc of expenditure. They’ll develop a plan, engage paid and unpaid staff, and set objectives to meet the requirements of the funder. All well and good, but tying the project to the Iowa caucuses would not be as productive as other use of the funds could be. Case in point: what ever happened to the Sensible Priorities of Ben and Jerry, the Vermont ice cream purveyors? There are photographs and memories, but the government continues to spend more money on the military industrial complex than is needed, the Sensible Priorities project notwithstanding. My fear is adding a well funded environmental advocacy group to the Iowa caucus process would be akin to adding another clown car in the parade, and Iowa doesn’t need that.
What would be better is to channel the positive efforts that are emerging on a number of fronts into a concerted, non-partisan effort, something advocacy funding seems unlikely to do.
One should be thankful that groups are working on various aspects of the climate crisis, but in the end, the recent mold of political advocacy needs to be broken and re-invented to be more inclusive. Common ground must be found with the climate deniers, whether we like it or not, and the way to do that is not by matching the Koch brothers and others, dollar for dollar. We’ll see what happens, but the conversation was a lot more interesting than the game on the T.V. screens ever could be. It mattered more as well.
LAKE MACBRIDE— Spending the weekend with 25 or so environmental organizers and activists kept me busy, and engaged. Meeting new people and matching names with faces is important to any social justice effort, and the weekend did not disappoint in that regard.
Erin Pratt and Patty O’Keefe from Minnesota 350, and Erika Thorne of Training for Change arrived in Iowa Friday night, and led the workshop Saturday and Sunday. The focus of the workshop included planning strategic actions and campaigns, leadership skills, and tools for building a local team. The logistics were well organized, but the stars of the show were the Iowans who participated for part or all of the workshop. Old friendships were renewed, and new ones initiated. It was all good.
That said, it’s Monday, and the recurring, and ever present question, what’s next, needs answering… again.
Is there anyone on the planet that believes something positive will come from COP 19, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference of the parties in Warsaw? The web page on decisions coming from the conference hopefully says, “decisions will be available shortly.” I doubt it.
In order for COP 19 to take substantial steps to mitigate the causes of global warming after Warsaw, the United States and other security council members have to lead. Ours is a country where a significant number of people are pro-life, anti-UN, anti-taxes, and tuned out to most of what the rest of the world does. Because of the influence of this small, but powerful minority view, the chances of the U.S. government leading this year are between slim and none.
A lot of the conversations at our workshop were around political influence to address climate change. Political change is important, but do we have time to implement a carbon tax and dividend, or to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United? Both seem to be good intentioned, but hopeless pursuits. Investing our time and resources in such endeavors occupies bandwidth that could be used for other needed activities, the most important of which is organizing and educating our communities about the existential threat to our way of life represented by greenhouse gas emissions. For me, some part of today will be working toward that end.
Following are prepared remarks for my talk at the Iowa United Nations Association event, “Speaking of… The Environment!” held at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Thank you Iowa United Nations Association for organizing this event, and to Prairie Lights Bookstore for hosting us tonight.
Climate change is real. It’s happening now. Just ask a farmer. There are few people as close to the intersection between the natural world and human activities as they are. Any conversation I have had with a farmer, included discussion of long term changes in our climate, and how they dealt with them.
Recently, I had a conversation with farmers about this year’s crazy weather: a wet spring that delayed planting, followed by drought conditions in July through September. It was bad, but the worse news was that we can expect more of the same during the next several years.
What does this mean? For one thing, this year’s soybean crop is in and reports from the field are that pods formed on the plants, but didn’t fill out with beans because of the lack of rain. What could have been a great year for soybeans turned into an average one because of drought conditions related to our changing climate.
According to a group of Iowa climate scientists and academicians, the consequences of climate change on farmers are easy to understand. “As Iowa farmers continue to adjust to more intense rain events, they must also manage the negative effects of hot and dry weather. The increase in hot nights that accompanies hot, dry periods reduces dairy and egg production, weight gain of meat animals, and conception rates in breeding stock. Warmer winters and earlier springs allow disease-causing agents and parasites to proliferate, and these then require greater use of agricultural pesticides.” In addition, changes in our hydrological cycle cause increased soil and water runoff, and complications with manure applications. There is also pressure on crop yields.
Everything I mentioned puts pressure on our food system. We can expect more of the same going forward.
There is overwhelming evidence that climate change is anthropogenic, or caused by humans, yet most farmers don’t accept it, even as they deal with its effects.
Scientists don’t know where the tipping point lies, but the effects of climate change on farm operations are clear, and getting worse. Yet, even as we adapt, and farmers do adapt, we can do something about the causes of global warming and climate change without changing our way of life or hurting our economy.
We could start by dealing with the fact that globally, each day we dump 90 million tons of CO2 pollution into the atmosphere as if it were an open sewer. That has to change.
I’m not alone when I say we can do something about the causes of global warming and climate change to protect our food system before it’s too late. We should. Thank you.
LAKE MACBRIDE— The news about Typhoon Haiyan is horrifying. For the moment, it is hard to determine the exact damage, but these quotes from the corporate media provide preliminary estimates.
CNN: “No building in this coastal city of 200,000 residents (Tacloban, Philippines) appears to have escaped damage from Super Typhoon Haiyan.”
USA TODAY: “As many as 10,000 people are feared dead in one city alone after Super Typhoon Haiyan— one of the most powerful storms ever recorded— slammed into the central islands of the Philippines, officials said.”
CBS NEWS: “The central Philippine city of Tacloban was in ruins Saturday, a day after being ravaged by one of the strongest typhoons on record, as horrified residents spoke of storm surges as high as trees and authorities said they were expecting a ‘very high number of fatalities.'”
REUTERS: “The death toll is expected to rise sharply from the fast-moving storm, whose circumference eclipsed the whole country and which late on Saturday was heading for Vietnam.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES: “What may be the fiercest typhoon in recorded history smashed into the Philippines early Friday morning, carrying winds that make Superstorm Sandy look like a weak relative. Even Hurricane Katrina, the modern measure of nature’s disastrous force on the United States, pales when compared to the punch and expected devastation from Typhoon Haiyan.”
Typhoon Haiyan was the second category 5 typhoon in the Pacific Ocean this year. While we consider the damage, and what it means, it’s time for a moment of prayer for the dead, and for the survivors.
LAKE MACBRIDE— I will be speaking about personal finance, the environment and nuclear abolition four times between April 19 and 24. If you are nearby, please consider attending one of these events:
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