Plain Speaking About IPCC's Second Part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Summary for Policy Makers (signed off by 195 member nations). Clarification by Dr. Charlie Gardner of University of Kent, and Clare Farrell of Extinction Rebellion UK

Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.

March 20-22, 2022 Update -- Fiona Harvey at The Guardian reported "Heatwaves at both of Earth’s poles alarm climate scientists." The article noted "Antarctic areas reach 40C [70 degrees Fahrenheit] above normal at same time as north pole regions hit 30C [50 degrees Fahrenheit] above usual levels" and "Startling heatwaves at both of Earth’s poles are causing alarm among climate scientists, who have warned the 'unprecedented' events could signal faster and abrupt climate breakdown." Alarmist-averse Michael Mann was quoted, "[. . . ] extreme events are exceeding model projections." The article added, "James Hansen, former NASA chief scientist and one of the first to warn governments of global heating more than three decades ago, told the Guardian the heating of the poles was 'concerning' [ . . . ]" Harvey wrote climate "scientists warned that the events unfolding were 'historic' [ . . . ] and 'dramatic'."

In a related matter, possible collapse of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier ice shelf within five years has been widely reported. 

Thank you to 426 visitors the past three days. Here is a poem I wrote this morning walking my dog about disconnect between climate reality and many people living as if everything's okay.

Law of Unintended Consequences

You collected dog poop in small bag,
tossed it over fence near garbage.

Your wife’s howl meant she thought
it was a package from Amazon

like buying her a new Camry and
flying to Hawaii for her birthday

or hiking in Columbia Gorge
wildflowers instead of nonviolently

bringing down oil companies that
at this rate will kill her someday

and everything you love.

Three Sockeye in the Columbia River, Oregon

The first had no eyes.
The second no tongue.
The third fungus gills.

“Salmon people have spoken,”
said the fisherman
to others who stared in disbelief.

Finally, someone asked,
“What did they say?”
Water is too hot to survive,

and you're next.
Unless you listen and change,
the curse you put on us

will be on you, and your children.

* Click here for a video of the dying salmon.

I'm grateful to Windfall, A Journal of Poetry of Place for publishing this poem in the Spring 2022 issue along with work by noted writers Amy Miller, Steve Dieffenbacher, Mark Thalman, Bette Lynch Husted, Penelope Scambly Schott, Marilyn Johnston, Gary Lark, Carlos Reyes, Barbara Drake, Clemens Starck, Charles Goodrich, Dianne Stepp, James Dott, Kim Stafford, Paulann Petersen, Andrea Hollander, Lisa M. Steinman,  Tim Gillespie, Pepper Trail, Luther Allen, Joel Savishinsky, Tom Wayman, Eleanor Berry, Michael McDowell, and Bill Siverly.

Regarding threats to Pacific salmon, I saw NPR reported today "A 7.3 magnitude earthquake hits northern Japan." I wrote about the Fukushima issue in 2013 here, here, and here.