What's wrong with this picture?

The Guardian's Naaman Zhou reported today in "Sydney Anglican and Catholic schools system won't back student climate strike" "While [the NSW Government is] thrilled to see our students passionate about the environment, the best way for young people to really make a difference is to receive a quality education. This will provide them with the skills and knowledge to positively change the world as adults.”  The article continues "Students across the country are planning to walk out of school on Friday 20 September, to protest government inaction on the climate crisis."  The NSW Government seems to be saying the climate crisis is not severe enough to justify one day of global unity with other students concerned about their futures.

In early August it was widely-reported in major news media, "The [UN's IPCC] report, prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and released in summary form in Geneva on Thursday, found that the window to address the threat is closing rapidly. A half-billion people already live in places turning into desert [. . . .]" Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times added "some authors of the report warned in interviews that food shortages could lead to an increase in cross-border migration. [par break] A particular danger is that food crises could develop on several continents at once, said Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the lead authors of the report."

In a related matter, Bill McKibben's Twitter page today has a quote from the Sunrise Movement about the DNC's recent refusal to allow "2020 candidates to participate in climate change debate": "Our generation is taking this crisis seriously — we wish the adults in the room were too."

Roger Hallam's Emotional and Intellectual Honesty

I posted the above video because I respect Roger Hallam's emotional and intellectual honesty. I heard him interviewed by Stephen Sackur at BBC Hard Talk and wanted to know more about this co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. I was also curious about the British public and police response in April 2019 while, according to The Guardian, "thousands of protesters use[d] roadblocks and glue to paralyse parts of central London [.. .] in civil disobedience protests, blockading four landmarks in the capital in an attempt to force the government to take action on the escalating climate crisis." It reminded me of when I went to hear  "the Pope's advisers" on climate change March 2, 2018 at a UCSD panel called "Climate Change. What Can Be Done About It?" attended by about a hundred students, professors, and concerned citizens. At the event I asked  Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Dr. Richard C.J. Somerville, and California’s 52nd Congressional District Representative Scott Peters what they thought about nonviolent civil disobedient climate action as a useful response to world governments' inaction on the crisis. Their answers are here.

In the approximately 25-minute BBC Hard Talk video Hallam, a Wales organic farmer and former PhD student in Civil Disobedience at Kings College warned "This October thousands of people will come to the streets of London, and they'll stay in the streets of London. How long I don't know because it will be up to them. But you'll see mass disturbances. It will be nonviolent. It will be respectful. And it will be disruptive. And that's the methodology that we're using. [, , , ,] [Teenagers have] got another 50, 60, or 70 years to live on this planet. By that time there could be only a billion people left. I mean that's 6 billion people that have died from starvation or been slaughtered by law. [. . . .] Journalists are not emotionally connecting with what's happening. The elites and the governments aren't actually going to do anything. They're not going to fulfill their primary responsibility which is to look after the people."

Hallam's concern about only a billion humans surviving mass starvation and being legally blocked from fleeing increased heat was shared by Dahr Jamail in one of his truthout.org articles and in the introduction to my book Carbonfish Blues: "I’ve spoken to prestigious scientists both on and off the record who believe that sooner rather than later, global population will be reduced to around 1 billion humans."  Jamail, winner of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, is author of The End of Ice (The New Press, 2019).

Look to Iceland for "Rude Truth" About Climate Crisis

The site of the former Okjökull glacier, photographed in 2018. Photo by Ragnar Antoniussen.

The memorial for the former glacier Okjökull. Words by Andri Snær Magnason. Photo by Grétar Thorvaldsson/Málmsteypan Hella.

July 22, 2109 Jon Henley in The Guardian quoted Iceland's memorial "unveiled in August" to Okjökull, "the first of Iceland's 400 glaciers to be lost to the climate crisis." The memorial notes "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. Agu´st 2019, 415 ppm CO₂” Photos above were used with permission.

Here is a film trailer about the lost glacier. According to Jon Henley in the article above, "the film was made by former mayor of Reykjavik Jón Gnarr" and researchers Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer of Rice University in Houston, Texas. In a related climate matter, I recall Houston was the target of Hurricane Harvey. To be clear, scientists stated climate change does not currently cause hurricanes to form, but it can make them more damaging in three ways: 1) sea-level rise means higher storm surges are possible; 2) increased moisture produces higher floods; and 3) storm intensity increases from added heat energy. It all adds up to say humans knowingly melting glaciers, which is what governments are doing, is a bad idea.

August 18, 2019 Harmeet Kaur at cnn.com also wrote about the lost glacier, and why exactly it's a problem.

Regarding words on the memorial, Iceland showed similar courage in 2010 when it refused to bail out banks on unreasonable terms, and in 2018 when it guaranteed equal pay for women by law for companies with 25 employees or more. I reported on the bank issue as a "Friends of William Stafford Scholar" at a 2014 FOR Seabeck Conference. I wrote "A favorite part of the conference for me was a song Iceland, 2008, by David Rovics.  Regarding background of the song, March 6, 2010, Sarah Lyall of the New York Times reported "With all but 2,500 of the 143,784 votes counted, the authorities said, 93 percent voted 'no' [on the Icesave 'Repayment Plan'] and 1.8 percent voted 'yes' in the first public referendum ever held on any subject in Iceland. [ . . . .] The vote shows the depth of Icelanders’ rage." I added "The news story quoted Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson who reportedly said on Bloomberg Television, 'Ordinary people, farmers and fishermen, taxpayers, doctors, nurses, teachers, are being asked to shoulder through their taxes a burden that was created by irresponsible greedy bankers.'  Sound familiar?"

Emerson wrote "speak the rude truth in all ways" in his essay "Self-reliance" (1840), and Iceland seems to do this much better than most countries. On this blog I try to follow the same advice. Thank you to readers in 90 countries listed on the right.

17-year-old Hardware Store Worker Gets 118.4 Fahrenheit [48°C] While Wealthy Get A/C in Iraq

David Wallace-Wells' (The Uninhabitable Earth) Twitter page linked this story today which, according to Richard Hall of independent.co.uk, "offers a troubling glimpse into a future where only the wealthy are equipped to escape the effects of climate change."

Regarding climate injustice against the young and unborn, judges Murguia, Hurwitz, and Staton have not ruled on the June 4, 2019 case 18-36082 Kelsey Rose Juliana v. USA (Children's Trust Climate Lawsuit Permission to Proceed to Trial Against USA) even though it has been about nine weeks and The New Yorker reported on June 15, 2019 in "The Right to a Stable Climate Is the Constitutional Question of the Twenty-first Century,"  "The judges will take a few weeks to issue their decision." Judges, the world is waiting.

Zoe Sayler at grist.org wrote a good overview of the case July 22, 2019 and noted "It’s looking pretty good for the kids right now — courts typically allow reasonable cases to go to trial, so parties can present their full slate of legal claims, according to University of Oregon environmental law professor Mary Wood."

In a related matter, Ann Carlson, Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA School of Law and faculty co-director of UCLA Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment, has a great op-ed in the August 12, 2019 Los Angeles Times, "Op-Ed:  Why Big Oil fears being put on trial for climate change." Her article notes "A recent study by the Center for Climate Integrity found that coastal communities in the U.S. must spend upwards of $400 billion at a minimum in the next five to 10 years alone to protect property from sea level rise."

Trees, Ghost Fish, and Dreams? Bristol Bay Watershed's Feared Pebble [Gold and Copper] Mine May Proceed after EPA Removes Salmon Protection Overruling "Top Scientists" According to CNN

This morning I saw the Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay area may proceed if Alaska Governor Dunleavy gets his wish. If you click the link, you will hear republican, former New Jersey governor, and "under President George W. Bush, [. . .] EPA [Chief]"  Christine Todd Whitman say "It's mind-boggling that it's still being considered at all." The video notes "Roughly half the world's sockeye salmon come from here [. . . .] EPA scientists [wrote] a mine would result in complete loss of fish habitat that was irreversible."

For years, "No Pebble Mine" round stickers have been on trucks all over the Pacific Northwest. savebristolbay.org notes "Pebble mine threatens one of the world's last great salmon fisheries."  The website adds "February - June 2019: The Army Corps of Engineers released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), launching a key public comment period." and "Close to 700,000 comments were submitted in opposition to Pebble’s plan."

"How It Is [in Greenland]"

August 16, 2019 Update: According to Jon Henley in today's The Guardian "Donald Trump may have expressed an interest in acquiring Greenland for the US, but Denmark thinks the idea is frankly insane and Greenlanders have pointed out their home is not actually for sale." The article continues "'It must be an April Fools’ Day joke … but totally out of season,' tweeted the former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen." See this Sept. 20, 2018, Greenland Melting (360°) | FRONTLINE interactive video for a "360-degree documentary" report of the melting ice.

Seth Doane at cbsnews.com reported "Søren Espersen, a member of Denmark's parliament joked Friday [. . .] 'Maybe we should buy California.'"

This week Greenland melting is in major news headlines, on video news, and on the radio. Bill McKibben's Twitter page linked a story from DW noting  "The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Twitter that this year's July had 'rewritten climate history books.' And what's more, it came after the hottest-ever June [in Europe]." News media including The New York Times, euronews.com, reuters.com, nationalgeographic.com, and cbc.ca (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) reported that heatwave moved north over Greenland. Jason Box spoke about this August 2, 2019, on Democracy Now! 

As a reminder, President Niinistö of Finland said in a Joint Press Conference with President Trump, August 28,2017, “If we lose the Arctic, we lose the globe.” Scientists report a loss of Arctic ice means "less than 1 million square kilometers" [or 386,102 square miles] "because it is very difficult to melt the thick ice around the Canadian Arctic Archipelago" according to Wiki. Loss of Arctic ice brings concerns of rapid global heating and less food production short-term, and increased risk of sea level rise and more climate refugees long-term.

Below is a repost of my poem from my 2015 book Industrial Oz.  As you can see, I was more hopeful in 2015. Below that is a repost of Ludovico Einaudi - "Elegy for the Arctic" Video (1,797,334 views as of August 2, 2019).

In a related matter, here is a video for my friends and students misled to believe sunspots cause climate change.

How It Is

“For several days this month, Greenland’s surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations.”

—Maria-Joseé Vinñas, NASA’s Earth Science News Team, July 24,2012, at www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/greenland-melt.html

Sometimes you forget Greenland exists

like two pages stuck together in a novel

or a speed sign missed on a dark highway.

Then it melts and Holland disappears.

At this point everyone wonders,

“Will humanity survive?”

and I think of Butterfield Concrete Company

when I was a boy, and how,

even in the harshest neighborhoods

with metal bars on windows,

words in sidewalks were mostly about love.

"Deep adaptation is just really a set of four questions . . ." -- Jem Bendell's talk at European Commission published May 30, 2019

In my post "Arctic Methane Debate Rages On" (February 7, 2019) I wrote about conflicting views between Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership and Founder of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria (UK), and Carolyn Ruppel, Ph.D, Research Geophysicist at Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, and leader of the USGS Gas Hydrates Project. To Bendell's presentation, I add my desire for a Planet Passport for Climate Refugees advocated by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber,  Director Emeritus of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Professor for Theoretical Physics at the University of Potsdam, Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).