Sir David Attenborough's Warning to Humanity at UN Security Council Feb. 23, 2021

Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.

Michelle Nichols at reuters.com reported "Attenborough, 94, the world’s most influential wildlife broadcaster, addressed a virtual meeting of the 15-member council on climate-related risks to international peace and security, chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.'If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security: food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains,' Attenborough said. 'And if the natural world can no longer support the most basic of our needs, then much of the rest of civilization will quickly break down,' he added."

Nichols gave delegates' responses. "Russia and China question whether the Security Council is the right forum to be discussing climate change. 'We agree that climate change and environmental issues can exacerbate conflict. But are they really the root cause of these conflicts? There are serious doubts about this,' Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said. China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua described climate change as a [sustainable] development issue. [ . . . .] Kerry said: 'We bury our heads in the sand at our own peril. It is time to start treating the climate crisis like the urgent security threat that it is. This is literally the challenge of all of our generations.'"

The article noted the need to halt global temperature rise "as close as possible to 1.5C," but, as I wrote below, and Dave Borlace clearly explained, that may not be possible. 

Nichols added, "U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed countries, companies, cities and financial institutions to make ambitious commitments to cut global emissions. China and the United States are the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. [ . . . . ]"  She wrote "the United Nations will stage a climate summit in November in Glasgow, Scotland."

It May Be Too Late for Paris Climate Conference Goal of 1.5 C Meaning "a further 70–90%" of Earth's Coral Reefs May Be Lost According to IPCC

Dave Borlace, noted as best "explainer" in my "Updated Best Practices for Climate Crisis," posted a helpful video on 1/27/21 Is it too late to avoid 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming?. His video notes on 1/8/21 "the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) published a climate update [ . . . . ]." Borlace says we may reach 1.5 C above the year 1850 baseline "as early as the 2030s, and almost certainly no later than the 2050s." This fits the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) post Why are we talking about 1.5°C? noting "If the current warming rate continues, the world would reach human-induced global warming of 1.5°C around 2040."

In my post Two Charts Showing What 2 C, 3 C, 4 C, and 5 C Mean [ . . . . ], I wrote the "IPCC report noted 'Coral reefs, for example, are projected to decline by a further 70–90% at 1.5°C (high confidence) with larger losses (>99%) at 2°C (very high confidence).' I have seen pushback claiming humanity is not in a climate crisis, but tell that to the estimated 500 million to 1 billion people depending on those coral reefs for food and/or jobs that will clearly be lost unless some miracle science, not yet invented, saves them."

Police officers and dancers in "Updated Best Practices for Climate Crisis" received increased Web traffic on my site which they deserve. 

Why We Won't Just Leave -- What Alaska Is Telling the World About Climate Change, Virtual Opening and Curatorial Talk by Lindsay Carron on February 27th at 4:00 PM PST Presented on Zoom by Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Los Angeles

 

Artworks (Left to Right): Keri Oberly, Photograph of Quannah Chasinghorse Potts and Jody Juneby Potts, 2020 (Partial View); Bill Hanson, ​Broken Blue Ruins at Low Tide​, Digital Image from series “Southeast Alaska: Changing Climate, Changing Landscapes, Changing Life” (Partial View) and; Apay’uq Moore, ​Gram and Girl​, Acrylic on Canvas, 2020 (Partial View).

Text and images require permission.

Please consider attending the above Zoom event. You can RSVP here until the the Zoom room reaches capacity, then it will be streamed on YouTube and Facebook. The event will be presented by Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Los Angeles and features

work and testimonies of 20 artists, community organizers and activists.  It debuts with a curatorial walk-through on Zoom on Saturday, February 27th, 4pm PST. 

The event announcement notes "Alaska is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and climate change impacts range from melting permafrost releasing methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, infrastructure eroding into the ocean, compromised survival of animal species, and changing subsistence patterns affecting food security. Changes in Alaska’s landscape have a global impact. Why We Won’t Just Leave: What Alaska is Telling the World About Climate Change is a virtual exhibition curated by Lindsay Carron [ . . . ] that highlights the responses of Alaskans to their rapidly changing environment. This exhibition delivers messages that are key for us all if we are to reverse climate catastrophe and cultivate a healthy, vibrant future for generations to come. Why We Won’t Just Leave features portraits, paintings, photography, stories, and video profiles of 20 artists, activists, researchers and community organizers responding to climate change in Alaska. From activists delivering testimonies in D.C. and artists revealing truth with beauty, to scientists studying methane released from melting permafrost, Alaska has a message for the world."

I found curator Lindsay Carron's work in an interview at American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) sharemylesson blog, and asked for permission to include part of it below along with five of her art pieces. The site about her ART FOR HUMANITY : ART FOR THE EARTH notes "She travels to remote areas of the planet to document wild lands and human relationship to them. Her intricate ink drawings offer viewers an opportunity to connect to their own wild hearts. [ . . . . ] Carron has empowered communities with murals, portraits and arts education in Kenya, Mexico, and Alaska." She has served as an "artist in residence with US Fish and Wildlife Service" and "partnered with [ . . . ] The Whale Museum of San Juan Island."

The interview, a Kindred Spirits guest post, notes: 

"KS [Kindred Spirits]: Sometimes when considering the toll humans have taken on the environment, when cataloging damage to land and sea, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or as if one person can’t make a difference. Do you ever feel this way? How would you advise others to push through such feelings?"

"[Lindsay Carron]: All the time! Yet my experiences have taught me that even through the greatest destruction, life persists. Nature has an incredible way of remaking herself and persevering, just as humans do. My greatest lessons have been from the simplest experiences in nature. For instance, while traveling with a group of artists in Kenya, we hiked outside a remote Maasai village in the middle of the desert. We came upon a field that was literally shimmering in the low sunlight. As we approached, to my horror, the shimmering was coming from the light on thousands of plastic bags caught on branches of shrubs blowing in the wind. So the next morning, we decided to simply start picking up the trash that was all around us on the ground. Within minutes, the kids of the village caught on, and joined in the new fun game of picking up trash with the mzungus. Instead of being solely devastated by the reality, we took action, and it caught on! Home in Los Angeles this week, I rescued a tiny baby bird, still featherless and completely helpless, that had fallen from a nest in high winds. It cracked my heart wide open, put a halt to any other work I may have been doing, and tamed my focus for that night and the following day on the survival of that tiny being. The bird survived, and I was left with the simple lesson that all life matters. So when I feel debilitated from the weight of the devastation of our environments, I remember to simply do the kindest thing in the moment. It doesn’t have to be a big, heroic feat, but sometimes it may be. Environmentalism is not a competition. I learned through both of these experiences to come back to the present moment and the immediate environment and put my skills to work. I use my unique talents and gifts to sing my soul alive. Innately, I begin to see that from this state of being I impact my environment around me in positive ways and begin to see the magic that is present even in the destruction." 

Five of Lindsay Carron's art pieces are below:

Tundra Woman (Yup’ik Eskimo Elder Sophie Sakar Berry Picking on Alaskan Tundra)

Ink and Colored Pencil on Paper, 4.5 x 7 feet 2019

North 1.3: The Gateway

Ink and Colored Pencil on Vintage 1952 Alaska Topographic Map 23 x 30in

Raven

Ink and Gouache on Paper, 12 x 12″ 2017

North 3.1: Medicine

Ink and Colored Pencil on Vintage 1951 Alaska Topographic Map 23 x 30in

“The Arctic Miracle of Life” 2017 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Featuring Betty Brower and Isaac Akootchook of Kaktovik

Representative Mike Simpson's (R-Idaho) Plan to Remove Four Lower Snake River Dams

Thanks to Columbia Riverkeeper for an email about "Representative Mike Simpson ['s] (R-Idaho) historic proposal to remove the four Lower Snake River Dams and create jobs and prosperity throughout our region. Rep. Simpson’s proposal would save Snake River salmon from extinction; protect the rights of Tribal Nations; help starving orcas; and re-invest in infrastructure, agriculture, and clean, reliable energy throughout the Northwest. [par break] There are pieces of this proposal that we will work to improve, but we can’t let this historic opportunity slip through our fingers. With Snake River salmon approaching extinction, the communities and species that depend on them are also at risk. It’s time to act."

As I wrote in my post below, "Next, I hope we can help orcas and salmon by legally removing the lower four Snake River dams."

Regarding the salmon issue, I'm grateful to fisher/writer Henry Hughes, Alaskan fiddling poet Ken Waldman, and Oregon poet Florence Sage for endorsing my forthcoming book Between River and Street (MoonPath, 2021). I was outfished by Hughes in 2016, and greatly enjoyed his recent Harvard Review fishing story "Rocky and Rose." After reading it, I wrote him the story reminded me of my "social awkwardness due to my obsession with reading water and chasing fish—even when fishing partners, men and women, were troubled, ill, or had enough fishing for the day as I was just getting started with many holes, runs, undercut banks, etc to explore before dark. I’m grateful my wife, Suz, who was raised fishing the Molalla and Clackamas Rivers, fishes with me, and tolerates my fishing obsession. I may have told you about my friend Slim Bracken’s fishing bud who was late to his own wedding because fishing was good that morning. 'Don’t make Suz a fish widow' Slim warned me, explaining his friend was soon divorced after his wedding because he made his bride 'a fish widow.'"