Kevin Anderson Hits the Target About Academics "Running Scared"

Kevin Anderson is to some global leaders and many academics what Tiresias was to King Oedipus in the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 27 performed by Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Frankie Faison, David Strathairn, Corey Hawkins, and Nobel Prize-winning scientists, including Elizabeth Blackburn and Harold Varmus among others. In another performance of Sophocles' Greek tragedy, starring Michael Pennington & Claire Bloom, Tiresias says, "You compel me to speak. [ . . . . ] You are the man, the unclean thing [causing the plague . . . .]"  There are obvious differences in that Anderson, a previous Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, is a top climate scientist relying on best available data to warn about effects of a possible 4 C [above 1850 preindustrial baseline] Earth, while Tiresias uses intuition to warn about the continuing plague in Thebes until Oedipus accepts responsibility. The suffering is similar in that possibly 4 billion humans, or more, face early death in a 4 C world, that may, or may not, happen depending on action primarily among top CO2 emitting citizens of Earth, and historically top CO2 emitting nations of the U. S., China, India, Russia, and Japan. 

Anderson, in a May 13, 2021 interview by Dan Miller (posted May 23, 2021), makes several excellent points. When I watched his interview May 24, it had 84 views. Based on Anderson's integrity (he hasn't used an airplane since 2004), clarity, and honesty, it deserves 84 million views. For example, the interview notes he took an 11-day train trip to China, one way, instead of boarding a plane when he was required to attend a ceremony as Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. It reminded me of when my students said "We know you wrote books about climate change, but what else have you done?"

In the Anderson interview, starting at 11:07 on the timeline, he says about the Paris Climate Agreement, "So it then talks about the sort of levels of emissions that need to be achieved at certain times during the century, take 2030 and 2050, but in doing that it is sort of hiding the fact that it is relying on huge amounts of [ . . . ] negative emissions technologies, or carbon dioxide removal, actually some way that we can remove carbon dioxide. [ . . . ] When I say 'we,' [ . . . ] I mean our children and our children's children. So we're already passing that burden to another generation. Can remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the future, and that allows us to [ . .  ] paint a relatively politically palatable picture for the nearer term [ . . . . ] That part is highly misleading. [ . . . . ]  But actually, if you played out the temperature thresholds themselves, and [ . . . ] were not to rely rather on our children deploying these huge numbers of technologies in the future, then the political challenge is an order of magnitude different than what most people would interpret from the Paris Agreement."  

At 18:50 on the timeline, he continues, "There are no non-radical futures. The future is radically different to the present either because we make huge rapid shifts in reducing our emissions with profound shifts in our society or we hang on to the status quo for a few more years while we lock in huge impacts from climate change. [ . . . . ] The climate doesn't respond to targets. The climate only responds to less CO2 emissions, and other GHGs [Greenhouse gases]. [ . . . . ] If you assume there is an increased number of commitments after 2030, but not the dramatic levels that would be necessary, then I think it's fair to say that the [Paris Climate Agreement] NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions] are somewhere between 3 to 4 degrees centigrade of warming [above 1850 preindustrial baseline] so a different planet [ . . . . ] It's occurring so quickly [to a 4 C rise] that human systems, ecological systems, can not evolve that rapidly in any sort of stable form so [ . . . ] you could not adapt to that level of change and still hold a moderately organized civilized, if we are civilized, [society . . . ] You couldn't live in the sort of reasonable levels of security that we have today. [ . . . . ] And it also wouldn't be stable so you wouldn't be stopping at 4 degrees centigrade. [ . . . . ] I regularly say in talks that I would like to see significant funding of negative emissions technologies, and some of the other carbon dioxide removal techniques, and deployment of them if they meet strict stringent sustainability and equity criteria. But to rely on those, rather than actually reducing our emissions today, that is the moral hazard. [ . . . . ] It's the reliance on these [carbon capture] technologies being deployed at global scale. [ . . . . ] If you look at most of the scenarios that are informing governments on reducing emissions, and if you look at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group Three, [ . . . and] if you look at all the scenarios in the IPCC, virtually every single one of them, they're awash with some sort of way of removing huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the future at a scale that is not that dissimilar to the size of the current oil and gas industry. [ . . . .]" 

Two nights ago I watched Merchants of Doubt, one of Anderson's favorite films, which complements my note two posts below about evidence "fossil fuel companies have known this [climate distaster] would happen since 1959." While fossil fuel companies are primarily responsible, Anderson makes it clear some cowardly global leaders, and many cowardly academics are also to blame. Specifically, a June 16, 2020 press release about a paper led by Anderson in the journal Climate Policy noted he "draws a damning conclusion from the research: 'Academics have done an excellent job in understanding and communicating climate science, but the same cannot be said in relation to reducing emissions. Here we have collectively denied the necessary scale of mitigation, running scared of calling for fundamental changes to both our energy system and the lifestyles of high-energy users. Our paper brings this failure into sharp focus.'” Bull's-eye. 

Steven Koonin vs Climate Reality

It would be wonderful to discover NASA scientist James Hansen's June 23, 1988 warning to the U. S. Congress about climate change, and his 2016 video "Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms [ . . .]," were wrong. I could change this fishing/climate blog into just a fishing blog. I could write about many other social justice/nonhuman issues that need attention. I could breathe more deeply, relax, sleep better. Unfortunately, each new IPCC report shows Hansen was right, and it would be wise for global leaders and citizens to listen to him and others like him. 

Steven Koonin's new book Unsettled argues, as his publisher's page suggests, various climate-concerned "statements are profoundly misleading." Dean Myerson wrote a helpful Amazon review: "As more scientists look at Koonin's work, it is not faring well. Global fire decreasing? Apparently he is using figures that mostly measure manmade fires set by farmers, which are decreasing. Wildfire is increasing. Greenland not melting faster than 80 years ago? Well it is melting faster than 60, 70, 90 or 100 years ago. But there was a brief heat wave 80 years ago, making the statement true but irrelevant. It goes on an on like that." A May 3, 2021 Climatefeedback.org article edited by Boris Bellanger gives more details, noting "Twelve scientists analyzed the [Wall Street Journal] article [praising Koonin's book] and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be very low." Bellanger's article further refutes the Wall Street Journal April 25, 2021 article by Mark P. Mills. 

Mills' wrote "Mr. Koonin makes clear, few areas of science are as complex and multidisciplinary as the planet’s climate." I must disagree. As I wrote in one of my most recently-visited posts, "What is the Best Way to Explain the Climate Crisis?," "astronaut and former Director, Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Piers Sellers says 'the ice is melting, the Earth is warming, the sea level is rising – those are facts.'" Sellers continues,  "Rather than being, 'oh my god, this is hopeless', say, 'OK, this is the problem, let’s be realistic and let’s find a way out of it'. And there are ways out of it. If we stopped burning fossil fuels right now, the planet would still keep warming for a little while before cooling off again.' At the time he says this, he has 'pancreatic cancer, stage four,' and dies December 23, 2016, about two months after the film [Before the Flood was] released October 21, 2016.  I observed people close to death get rare perspective and honesty, and Sellers gives both."

Mills' comments "the right response is to debate the science" and "basis of claims that are so unsettled" are the same tired arguments oil giants made long enough to turn a treatable disease, to use the metaphor of a human body, into a possible terminal illness. More recently the tactic, according to Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, has been to reframe/redefine responsibility away from oil companies to consumers. Derrick Jensen in a video Forget Shorter Showers, based on his 2009 Orion essay, showed why this oil company ploy is ridiculous. 

Supran and Oreskes wrote in the May 13, 2021 paper "Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications" at One Earth, "Smerecnik and Renegar have shown that subsequent BP branding activities similarly 'plac[e] participatory emphasis on consumer conservation behavior as opposed to corporate responsibility.'”  In a related matter, BP, Koonin's former employer where he was Chief Scientist "from 2004 to early 2009," notoriously "featured a TV ad 'We will get this done. We will make this right.' as oil gushed 87 days [in the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill], and highly toxic dispersants were used to hide devastation from the public.  Tim Wall of news.discovery.com noted December 3, 2012, in an article “BP Oil Highly Toxic When Mixed with Dispersants,” “When the oil was combined with the dispersant, the mix became up to 52 times more toxic than the oil alone, according to the study Martinex conducted at Georgia Tech.” I wrote about this, and more, in my 2014 "Manifesto from Poet on a Dying Planet" at Split Rock Review. 

Similarly, Naomi Klein wrote at pbs.org July 1, 2010, expressing concerns about geo-engineering "Steven Koonin [ . . . . was] the man who [ . . . ] was overseeing the technology behind BP’s supposedly safe charge into deepwater drilling." Jim Thomas noted June 28, 2010, at theecologist.org, "Koonin was intimately acquainted with the very technologies that have failed so spectacularly on the Deepwater Horizon rig in his former job as BP’s chief scientist. While his current employer, Barack Obama [was] trying to figure out 'whose ass to kick’ over the spill, he [may have found it] instructive to zip back to a presentation by Koonin at MIT in 2005, in which we [saw] Koonin-as-oilman boasting of his company’s technological prowess in taking oil exploration and production into the ultra deep waters of the gulf.[ par break]  In particular, he [said] that $50 million to bore a hole in the gulf’s seabed [would] yield a million barrels a day, describing the technical challenges of depth and pressure. A small note on the bottom of his slide [read] ‘marine environment creates integrity challenges’ - engineering-speak for ‘accidents likely’. [ . . . .] Koonin’s much lauded role at BP was precisely to apply cutting-edge science to the problem of declining oil reserves and growing climate crisis. Koonin led a team of researchers that would allow for the more economical extraction of hard-to-get oil (e.g. tar sands, deep water drilling)." As I noted in my aforementioned "Manifesto [. . .]," "Maybe BP could have prevented The [BP] Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill if it would have bought acoustic oil switch cut offs like those required by law in Brazil and Norway." In short, when it comes to transparency, Koonin has proven unreliable.

Given all this, how do I explain the popularity of Koonin's book with some readers? One answer is Merchants of Doubt Movie CLIP - Hard Pill to Swallow (2015).

Thoughts and Prayers for Thousands of Klamath Falls, Oregon, Farmers/Ranchers, Facing Water Shut Off for "First Year in History" as "Millions of Migrating Birds" Suffer and "70% of [ . . . Downriver Salmon Smolts Are] Already Dead in the Traps Used to Collect Them"

My all-time best fishing buddy was my second cousin Gary Starbuck who lived in Kamath Falls, Oregon, so I made visits there the past five years.  I had dinner with ranching families, and found them hardworking, honest, with an uncommon joy in life.  So, my thoughts and prayers go to the thousands in Klamath Falls, Oregon, facing, for the first year, complete water shut off, and all that means for their farms, ranches, children, bank loans, crops, livestock, futures, and culture. I can't in good conscience criticize these people for wanting water to survive. I won't criticize upriver or downriver Native peoples for wanting to survive either, or "half-dozen wildlife refuges that harbor millions of migrating birds each year," or estimated "70 percent of the fish [ . . .] already dead in the traps used to collect them and 97 percent [ . . . ] infected by the bacteria known as C. shasta" according to Yurok fish biologists cited by The Associated Press on May 14, 2021.

"[Oregon] state climatologist [Larry] O’Neill said mounting evidence suggests [ . . . this is] the driest 20-year period in the past millennium" according to Bradley W. Parks's May 13, 2021 article at opb.org. A similar drought situation happened in 2001 according to Eric Bailey's Los Angeles Times article "Water War Pits Farms Against Fish." The article noted "[Rob Crawford] and the 1,500 other farmers and ranchers in the Klamath Basin, a productive agrarian region straddling the Oregon border, have been denied water [in 2001]. They are casualties of a drought and efforts to save endangered fish. In the long history of Western water wars, it is the first time a community has been forced to stop farming, experts said. [ . . . . ] Many face bankruptcy or outright ruin." The article continues "Crawford drives by a reminder each day. Just up the road from his modest home, the farmer points to a big clapboard house. It’s a lovely spread, but the farmer who lived there, he says, committed suicide last year. Couldn’t pay his loans."

Bailey also wrote "On the road into Tulelake, population 1,000 and shrinking, signs have been erected by angry farmers. '73 Years With Water . . . Until Now!'  [ . . . . ] At Tulelake Elementary, Principal Patty Reeder [ . . . . ] said, 'kids went home crying': ‘I’m going to move. I’m going to move.’ [ . . . . ] Venancio Hernandez [ . . . . ] worked up from farm hand to manager to his own crops on leased land. [ . . . . ] He said 'I like to stay here for the kids.' [ . . . ] He turns his back, raises his head to the dusty heavens. The tears come forth. [par break] 'For someone to just come and say you can’t have water,' he sobs, 'it just feels like they cut you in half.'”

In a related climate liability matter, on April 8 I participated in Coastal Shores Specialist Meg Reed's excellent presentation "Preparing for Sea Level Rise in Oregon" in the Lower Nehalem Watershed's Speaker Series. Reed, according to tillamookcountypioneer.net, is based in Newport, Oregon, "for the Oregon Coastal Management Program, administered through the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development." The tillamookcountypioneer.net announcement quoted Margaret Treadwell, the Program Coordinator for Friends of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve, "A certain amount of sea level rise is unavoidable, even if we were to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. "Adapting to sea level rise can feel like an overwhelming problem, so I think it will be very interesting and heartening to hear about the ways that it’s being planned for in Oregon and around the world.”

After that presentation, I emailed Reed, and Clatsop County Commissioner Pamela Wev, who also participated, "[ . . . . ] I asked the question about legally making fossil fuel companies pay for sea walls, raising roads, etc. I mentioned fossil fuel companies have known this would happen since 1959. [ . . . . ] I hope Astoria and other Oregon/Washington coastal cities will join together to make fossil fuel companies pay." The same concern obviously applies to the aforementioned "driest 20-year period" in a thousand years causing human and nonhuman disaster in the Klamath Falls, Oregon, area. 

In my 2015 book Industrial Oz, I wrote about the 2001/2002 drought in the Klamath Falls area:

My friend says 5 ranchers near Klamath Falls
shot themselves when water was cut. [ . . . . ]

"I knew them.  They were all good men.” 

Looking at Mr. Steelhead in our raft,
I think of 30,000 salmon, mostly chinook, that died in 2002 

from suffocation and disease brought by drought.  [ . . . . ]

Floating on summer silence, casting below alders,
I say “We have to do better for ranchers and salmon.” 

and think, but don’t say, it will take uncommon vision,
sacrifice, and planning this world has never seen. 

Massachusetts Review Accepting Work Until June 15 About "climate refugees, environmental migrants, and others who are experiencing the disaster firsthand"

Thanks to Alaskan Writer Ken Waldman who endorsed my new book for this:

http://massreview.org/node/9564

Here are "General Guidelines." In a related matter, one of my top posts is "Schellnhuber: 'Rising Seas Could Affect 1.4 Billion People by 2060'" with a 2017 film trailer for Ai Weiwei's Human Flow about "massive human migration."

Climate Emergency and Harlan Howard's "three chords and the truth”

It has been widely reported Harlan Howard defined country music as “three chords and the truth,” and it could also be a motto for the climate emergency. In 2019 Johan Rockström, one of the climate scientists I most respect, claimed he was misquoted by Gaia Vince's May 18, 2019 article in The Guardian regarding effects of a 4 C world above preindustrial 1850 baseline. Vince first wrote Rockström said "It’s difficult to see how we could accommodate a billion people or even half of that." The Guardian, at Rockström's request, changed that to "It’s difficult to see how we could accommodate eight billion people or maybe even half of that." The correct number could have reasonably been a billion based on founding director of the Potsdam Institute Hans Joachim Schellnhuber's quote by Paddy Manning in a July 9, 2011 article in The Sydney Morning Herald: "in a 4 degree warmer world, the population ' . . . . carrying capacity estimates [are] below one billion people.'"  Are we to believe this different analysis between the founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research -- Schellnhuber --  and current director Rockström? Maybe, but it looks suspicious.  With stakes this high, and soon to get much higher, this inconsistency is unhelpful, even if it was 100% honest.  

In other words, the urgency will be interpreted differently if a 3.2+ to 4 C world zone, with 3.2+ noted as "most likely scenario" by 2100 at Datawrapper citing  "warming predictions according to Raftery et.al, 2017," means a billion humans survive at 4 C [above preindustrial] Earth versus 4 billion. It's important because of speed of change, and scale, needed to remove carbon emissions. Dave Borlace, citing a 2019 IPCC report, noted below "It's actually more like about 5 degrees Celsius higher [ . . . . ] within 80 years or so at our current trajectory."

The site worldometers.info notes Earth's current population is nearly 7.9 billion. 

This was not the first time Schellnhuber was silenced. In my August 25, 2018 post I praised his YouTube presentation as "clear-thinking," "revealing," and "wise." In the "revealing" part I quoted him, "It's all about agency, about who could turn this crisis into a solution. [ . . . .] The CEO of Shell once told me 'The climate problem is real but it is completely intractable. You can not solve it. So, let's get rich quick before the world ends, huh?'" After I wrote this, YouTube noted "Video unavailable."  Was this video removed because of what Schellnhuber said about a CEO of Shell?  I don't know.

Anyway, out of respect for Rockström, I posted updates on the four times I used the original quote about a 4 C world, "It’s difficult to see how we could accommodate a billion people or even half of that.":

Two Charts Showing What 2 C, 3 C, 4 C, and 5 C Mean. Global Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) Agreed to in Paris in 2016 Were 3.5 C (6.3 F) Over Pre-Industrial Levels, and Global Emissions Are Still Rising.;

Climate Equity Graph from Meinshausen et al. 2009, and Aerosol Killing / Cooling Double Bind;

Two Items from New IPCC Report, "Sky Whale" Poem, and New Book (Dave Borlace, citing the September 24, 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, notes "It's actually more like about 5 degrees Celsius higher [ . . . . ] within 80 years or so at our current trajectory.");

Welcome to the Future -- Thoughts and Prayers for Those in Dorian's Path

President Biden's April 22/23 Climate Summit (also called "Leaders' Climate Summit"), and Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28

I watched most of the first day of President Biden's April 22/23 Climate Summit, and participated in the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28. There were some tech glitches in both, but overall I'm glad I watched/attended. 

I respect U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry's visit to China before President Biden's Summit, and I appreciate Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping's attendance where he said "China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality [by 2060] in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinary hard efforts from China." Hyung-Jin Kim reported April 18 at apnews.com "'For a big country with 1.4 billion people, these goals are not easily delivered,' [Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng] said during an interview with The Associated Press in Beijing. 'Some countries are asking China to achieve the goals earlier. I am afraid this is not very realistic.'" Cooperation was noted in the April 17 "U.S.-China Joint Statement Addressing the Climate Crisis."

U. S. President Biden said at his Summit "the United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gases in half — in half by the end of this decade."

These statements are important because it has been widely reported the U. S. is the biggest historical emitter, and China is the current largest emitter on an annual basis. India is third, and Russia is fourth.

India's Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said "[ . . . . ] we are among the few countries whose NDCs are 2-degree-Celsius compatible [ . . . . ] India’s per capita carbon footprint is 60% lower than the global average. It is because our lifestyle is still rooted in sustainable traditional practices."

President of Russia Vladimir Putin said, through a translator, "Compared to 1990, Russia reduced its greenhouse-gas emissions in a bigger volume than many other countries. These emissions were reduced by half - starting from 3.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent to 1.6 billion tonnes. This was the result of a drastic restructuring of the Russian industry and energy sector, conducted over the past 20 years. And as a result, today they constitute low-emission energy sources mentioned in this connection that make up 45 percent of our energy balance, including nuclear generation. [ . . . . ]  In connection to this I will note that in one of our regions - in Sakhalin Oblast - we are working on a carbon pricing and trading system in carbon units. When accomplished, it will result in carbon neutrality of this region already in 2025."

Other highlights of President Biden's Summit, regarding sincerity and delivery, were from Fiji's Attorney-General and Minister for Climate Change Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (Fiji was not invited as the U. S. claimed the Summit was for the top emitters, but Sayed-Khaiyum was allowed to speak.), and 19-year-old climate activist Xiye Bastida, Mexican-Chilean climate activist, member of the indigenous Mexican Otomi-Toltec Nation, and a lead organizer of Fridays for Future with Greta Thunberg.  

Sayed-Khaiyum said "In 2016, Fiji was struck by the strongest cyclone to ever make landfall in the Southern Hemisphere, Cyclone Winston. It wiped out one third of the value of our GDP in 36 hours [ . . . . ] We are relocating communities, with six already safely on higher ground. More than 40 others must be moved. Our Climate Relocation and Displaced Peoples Trust is designed to harness multilateral support to bring security to these communities [ . . . . ] [E]ven if the global economy became carbon-neutral tomorrow, we would still have to reckon with a range of water-related crises, from super-storms, to the risings seas, to the changing weather patterns that kill-off crops and steal livelihoods of our farmers [ . . . . ]  Today it is Pacific communities on the frontlines of this emergency. Tomorrow it will be New York City, Houston, and Miami. This crisis is shared, as must be our solutions [ . . . . ] "

Xiye Bastida also spoke at the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28. At President Biden's Climate Summit she said "You need to accept that the era of fossil fuels is over [ . . . .] [M]ost importantly, all of these solutions must be implemented with the voices of frontline black, brown, indigenous communities as leaders and decision-makers. You will often tell us, again and again, that we are being unrealistic and unreasonable, but who is being unrealistic and unreasonable with unambitious, nonbold, so-called solutions? You are the ones creating and finding loopholes in your own legislation, resolutions, policies and agreements.You are the naive ones if you think we can survive this crisis in the current way of living.  You are the pessimists if you don’t believe we have what it takes to change the world."  Regarding her last point, I recall Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research that was a partner of Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28) said May 4th, 2018 in a video no longer available, "It's all about agency, about who could turn this crisis into a solution. [ . . . .] The CEO of Shell once told me 'The climate problem is real but it is completely intractable. You can not solve it. So, let's get rich quick before the world ends, huh?'"

The award for best humor in President Biden's Climate Summit goes to U. K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson: "[ . . . . ] it’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct green act of ‘bunny hugging’ or however you want to put it. Nothing wrong with ‘bunny hugging’ but you know what I’m driving at."

The award for biggest disappointment goes to Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison which is expected given Australia's fossil fuel resources, and ironic since 2019-2020 fires there killed or destroyed habitat for nearly three billion animals. Prime Minister Scott Morrison stuck "to the country’s 2030 target of a 26%-28% cut compared with 2005 levels" as reported by The Guardian's Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton on April 22. 

At day 1 of the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28, Jason Box, who I worked alongside at Playa in Oregon, said Greenland is losing "10,000 cubic meters of ice per second. So is Greenland lost? Evidently, it is" [Climate.nasa.gov and nature.com note losing Greenland's ice would mean about 23 feet of sea level rise in a thousand years unless, of course, the process speeds much faster than predicted, which seems to be the trend, and ice melt from the bigger problem of Antarctica is added.]. Johan Rockstrom, a top climate scientist at my 2020 post "Updated Best Practices for Climate Crisis," said we are in a "climate emergency" but added "Window for a safe landing is barely open [ . . . . ] I am an optimist due to cooperation [ . . . . ] We can act with speed at scale.'  U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said "Six banks just pledged 4.16 trillion dollars into a renewable economy [ . . . .] 2050 net zero [carbon emissions] is the goal." 

In "Closing Remarks on Day One of [President Biden's] Summit on Climate" Kerry added "As I mentioned earlier, even if we get to net 50 – net zero by 2050, [ . . . ] we still have to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. A lot of people don’t focus on that. And that means we need the innovative technologies to do that, or to be able to know that we can store it and – or turn it into something. We haven’t discovered that yet." His last point sounds eerily similar to Abby Rabinowitz and Amanda Simson's December 10, 2017 Wired article "The Dirty Secret of the World’s Plan to Avert Climate Disaster" in which they noted, "without emissions cuts, global temperatures are projected to rise by 4°C by the end of the century. Many scientists are reluctant to make predictions, but the apocalyptic litany of what a 4°C world could hold includes widespread drought, famine, climate refugees by the millions, civilization-threatening warfare, and a sea level rise that would permanently drown much of New York, Miami, Mumbai, Shanghai, and other coastal cities. [par] But here’s where things get weird. The UN report envisions 116 scenarios in which global temperatures are prevented from rising more than 2°C. In 101 of them, that goal is accomplished by sucking massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—a concept called 'negative emissions'—chiefly via [ . . . . ] “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage” [also known as . . . . ] BECCS. And in these scenarios to prevent planetary disaster, this would need to happen by midcentury, or even as soon as 2020. Like a pharmaceutical warning label, one footnote warned that such 'methods may carry side effects and long-term consequences on a global scale.'" This plan seems like building and deploying a huge net at the bottom of a cliff after many have jumped. You must be smart, fast, and able to do this at scale. 

Day 2 of the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28, it was great to see actor Bill Murray and actress Frances McDormand in the Greek tragedy Oedipus which I taught for about 25 years. Three points: 1) Many scholars believe the character Oedipus’ tragic flaw is hubris (pride) similar to some modern political leaders; 2) Tiresias' character as the “intuitive introvert” is spoken about in an interview with Carl Jung about how this is a real personality type based on Jung's patients, not just fiction; 3) Two ways to explore Oedipus’ emotional/intuitive blindness vs Tiresias physical blindness/reality vision are to ask students to place Oedipus, Creon, Jocasta, and Tiresias on a scale from strong intuitive power to weak intuitive power and 2) ask student groups to imagine what people a thousand years from now will say about us (if humans survive the climate emergency). Students have  always enjoyed these exercises. The film versions I used were here and here. 

Participants enjoyed an interview with with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Here is his prayer at the end of a Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1989.

Day 3 of the Noble Prize Summit -- OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE April 26/27/28 I attended "Roots of Change: Empathy as a Collective Responsibility" hosted by DICCE, GenZGirlGang, and ProjectLets. The session began with a guided meditation followed by "speed friending" to create  a sense of community among the approximately 90 participants.  Next, the excellent moderators Phoebe Omonira, Lyne Odhiambo, and Zoe Jenkins, were supported by speakers Julie Fratantoni, Peggy Mason, Joy Buolamwini, Ed Diener, Gary A. Hoover, and Natalia Kanem. Gary A. Hoover, Executive Director of the Murphy Institute and Professor of Economics at Tulane University, spoke about the problem of looking only at data without meeting those affected. Julie Fratantoni, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Center for BrainHealth, part of the University of Texas at Dallas, suggested activist work requires "healthy boundaries, self-care," teaching the right vocabulary, mindfulness, and showing how empathy can be taught by modeling it for students and others. I could write more about this session, but it is best to let the moderators and speakers show you at a future conference. 

Documenting a Vanishing Pacific Northwest Ecosystem and Culture

April 30, 2021 Update -- Yesterday apnews.com reported "California officials will again truck ['more than 16.8 million'] young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the state’s Central Valley agricultural region to the Pacific Ocean because projected river conditions show that the waterways the fish use to travel downstream will be historically low and warm due to increasing drought."

I'm grateful to MoonPath Press in Oregon for publishing my new book documenting vanishing Pacific Northwest salmon culture. Previously I posted about this from a historical perspective, and this book continues that theme, except it is based on people I met, places I fished, and climate emergency we are experiencing.

The book's MoonPath Press Website reports "a Metro Vancouver BC study noted unless carbon emissions are quickly reduced, 'Vancouver [BC] would be warmer than present-day San Diego by the 2050s' as reported [by Larry Pynn] in the Vancouver Sun in 2017 ." What will that mean for salmon and salmon people?

It mentions my 2016 “Letter” at The Columbian daily newspaper in Vancouver, Washington: "[In 2015] the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife trucked salmon up low rivers to spawn, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife trucked salmon out of Central Oregon due to warm waters, and California trucked smolts to the ocean."  Similarly, "an email from Bob Lackey, Professor of Fisheries at Oregon State University, [noted] 'In a 100 years wild salmon runs south of Canada will be reduced to remnant runs.'"

In response, my book reflects some of the water magic before it may be gone. I wrote about my fishing buddy Slim Bracken, other fishermen, fellow whale watching and charter fishing captains, my time fishing out of Depoe Bay, Oregon and Washington people, "The Wolf in Estacada’s Safari Club," "Wild Trout," "80-year-old sturgeon/cruising river bank" -- in short, many scenic gifts of the Pacific Northwest for 10,000 years.  

The back cover of my previous book Hawk on Wire noted "the INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) agreed to in Paris in 2016 of 3.5° C (6.3° F) over pre-industrial levels are insanely irresponsible to present and future generations of all species." As I wrote before, "Amanda Erickson noted in the Washington Post October 11, 2018, 'Few countries are meeting the Paris climate goals.'" and, according to Datawrapper and  Raftery et.al, 2017, a "4 C + WORLD" means "Deadly heatwaves every summer, hundreds of drowned cities, devastation of the majority of eco-systems, more tipping points are crossed, leading to intensified warming." More people are aware of this than ever before, as shown in U. S. President Biden's April 22/23 Climate Summit, but each year the CO2 numbers keep rising.  

The book's MoonPath Press Website notes my "Manifesto from Poet on a Dying Planet" which includes a Robert Bly quote "It’s a poet’s job to defend nature.” My activism and poetry are part of that.

The MoonPath site mentions Robert Wilson’s essay “Will the end of the world be on the final exam?” in the book Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities. One of Wilson’s “teaching assistants [led] a discussion section about climate change: ‘My soul is crushed’ she began. ‘I thought we were going to have this fabulous conversation about framing arguments, the role of science, finding allies and figuring out how to effectively communicate [climate science to the public]. The class – and I don’t just mean two or three vocal people – basically came up with this: all of Bangladesh could die, the temperature could increase six degrees, tons of species could die, and people in other places could suffer from drinking water and crop shortages, and we wouldn’t care at all [ . . . . ]’” This means in addition to making fossil fuel companies pay for mitigation and adaptation, and colleges/universities and pension funds divest, we must also find ways to increase capacity for caring in developed nations before many more human and nonhuman inhabitants globally will be forced to migrate and/or die early and awfully.

Oregon author Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion) wrote a 1993 letter to Allen Ginsberg: "Ancient Advice Left in cave by Wise French Caveman: 'When Bigbad Shit come, no run scream hide. Try paint picture of it on wall. Drum to it. Sing to it. Dance to it. This give you handle on it.' So Twister is my try."

Endorsements for my book are below.

"Mindful of environmental degradation, Scott T. Starbuck's poetry offers those needed songs of redemption, rising from his love of forests, water, and fish. He has composed some of the finest fishing poems I've ever read-vivid, pulsing, and honest-with humble, understated humor and insight expressing great wisdom. Exploring the dynamics between the shared and owned, poor and rich, young and old, ghosts and the living, Between River & Street mediates our divisive, troubled times. Like the mythological Raven of the Northwest, Starbuck is a 'Flamekeeper, ' and his poetry a bright beacon for the wild and sacred."-Henry Hughes, Oregon Book Award-winning poet and author of Back Seat with Fish

"Trust a contemplative fisherman of Northwest rivers to give us a wise poem collection like Between River & Street. Scott T. Starbuck brings the tender respectful eye of the naturalist; the nudge of the environmentalist; the long thoughts of the tribe; the brush of a painter sending exquisite lines of ink down paper. He also has an ear for a good story, scattering characters throughout-not the 'suits' in the street who'd never know 'what the salmon said' or what the ancients knew, but people met or recounted at riverbanks, little bookstores, out-of-the-way cafes, bars. My favorite is 'the woman behind the counter, ' or is it Crazy Lucy and her roller rink in the barn or Maynard who loved his cow more than most? You'll read this book more than once and find your own."-Florence Sage, author of Nevertheless: Poems from the Gray Area and The Man Who Whistled, The Woman Who Wished: A Polish-Canadian Story

"With Between River & Street, Scott T. Starbuck is deep listener, ace observer, shape-shifting storyteller. He's historian, philosopher, climatologist, ecologist, lover, rememberer. He's salmon, and salmon fisherman. Those who know Northwest rivers will want to pass this passionate book to friends. Those streetwise to our environmentally-challenged world will catch these smart, tough poems in order to release as seems right. Like the late Oregon poet, William Stafford, Starbuck writes of place with integrity, authenticity, humanity."-Ken Waldman, author of The Writing Party and Leftovers and Gravy

"Scott T. Starbuck's poems are Oregon poems-humble yet heartfelt, all the way to the bone. Like filets of rosy salmon flesh, cooked on bonfire coals; these words lift easily from the carcass of felt sense. Between River & Street is a collection of mostly short but never simple poems, reflecting a life lived with daily presence and purpose. Starbuck's poems attend to fish and to fish stream-the moss and fern, salal and spruce, wet stone and rivulet-but also the hominids, on the shores and in the quik marts and cafés of classic hometowns from Astoria south to the Siskiyou. These pages honor Oregon existence: good folk whose unfettered reverence plays potent role in the annual cycle of lives lived out in place. Readers, be ready; pull on your waders, step into the stream. Starbuck casts words like caddis flies; these poems hit the heart, like a trout hits the hook, lies briefly in careful hand, caught-and released into gratitude and requisite grief. Travel down the coast and up tributaries of the inland soul. These are poems of a citizen who is denizen, engaged in each damp day, and witness to those moments when clouds part and sun shimmers with 'shadow on the once-magic-waters.'"-Nancy Cook, author of Siltwater, a collection of essays. She teaches writing in Astoria, where for eight years she also served as the editor of RAIN Magazine.

"If you're not concerned about the imminent collapse of the ecosystems of earth, then you should be. Such is the overarching theme of Scott T. Starbuck's Between River & Street. Awareness is a call to action, to give up our citified car culture and rediscover our original home. About that home, Scott celebrates the natural world of fish (especially fish), birds, animals, and the manifold flora of his local ground, the Columbia Gorge and Pacific Coast. Scott's poems tell of some people unaware of that world, while other encounters yield insight on how we really live on earth. Scott's brief poems carry hope for the human future."-Bill Siverly, author of Nightfall, co-editor of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place

Biden, Putin, Xi Jinping, and Obama Should Fish Together Before Biden’s April 22/23 Climate Summit

April 20, 2021 Update -- According to dw.com in Germany, President of Russia Vladimir Putin will attend U. S. President Joe Biden's April 22/23 Climate Summit. Sustraitstimes.com in Singapore reported Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping will also attend.

It was widely reported U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has been in China trying to collaborate on what 34 nations, Scientific American, the United Nations Environment Programme, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer  (D-ORE.) called a "Climate Emergency."  With six days before U. S. President Biden's April 22/23 Climate Summit of possibly "40 World Leaders," invitations to President of Russia Vladimir Putin and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping resulted in a maybe from Putin, and unknown from Xi Jinping. The Climate Summit, according to whitehouse.gov, will be "live streamed for public viewing" with a live video to be posted by clicking here.

Vladimir Putin is a serious angler who fished with U.S. President George W. Bush, Xi Jinping enjoys eating fish, and former U.S. President Barack Obama likes to fish, so why not ask them to fish together?  The fate of island nations, Arctic tribes, and eventually all of us, could depend on it. I understand my plan may get as much traction as when I suggested to "require by international law fossil fuel emissions in all countries be immediately colored purple [nearly white purple to increase albedo] the same way rotten egg scent is added to natural gas to alert homeowners to danger of leaks," but stranger things have happened.

I know some good fishing spots.

In a related matter, congratulations to Jeff Goodell, author of The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, for one of the best climate articles I have read in months, "‘This is it. If we don’t amp up, we’re goners’: the last chance to confront the climate crisis?" in today's issue of The Guardian.

87 year-old Social Scientist Dr. Mayer Hillman's Warning to Humanity in October 2020

Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.

A 2018 article in The Guardian by Patrick Barkham noted "[Dr. Mayer Hillman] is anxious we are not side-tracked by his best-known research, which challenged the supremacy of the car."  

The article quoted Hillman, "With doom ahead, making a case for cycling as the primary mode of transport is almost irrelevant [ . . . ]. We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels. So many aspects of life depend on fossil fuels, except for music and love and education and happiness. These things, which hardly use fossil fuels, are what we must focus on.”

Unfortunately for us, Dr. Hillman has an impressive track record of predictions. Barkham wrote, "Over nearly 60 years, his research has used factual data to challenge policymakers’ conventional wisdom. In 1972, he criticised out-of-town shopping centres more than 20 years before the government changed planning rules to stop their spread. In 1980, he recommended halting the closure of branch line railways – only now are some closed lines reopening. In 1984, he proposed energy ratings for houses – finally adopted as government policy in 2007. And, more than 40 years ago, he presciently challenged society’s pursuit of economic growth."

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.'"

Oregon and Washington Win Big

Congratulations to many activists who helped stop, for now, the Jordan Cove LNG terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, and proposed world's largest Kalama, Washington methanol refinery. According to Ted Sickinger, at The Oregonian/OregonLive, Pembina Pipeline Corp. can reapply to build the LNG terminal, but recently "Federal regulators deliver[ed] [a] potentially fatal blow" to their plans. According to Troy Brynelson (OPB), "NW Innovation Works, the company behind the [Kalama refinery] project, has 21 days [from January 19, 2021] to file an appeal." He quoted Laura Watson, Washington Department of Ecology Director, who said "At the end of the day, we know with certainty that this proposal would result in significant, new greenhouse gas emissions.” and it "would not benefit the environment, like some people are claiming.” 

 I, and 88 others, attended the Kalama Methanol Pre-hearing Rally and Comment Workshop organized by Sierra Club, and I wrote an Open Letter to Director Watson and Washington Dept. of Ecology to Please Do a Climate Analysis of Northwest Innovation Works’ (NWIW) Proposed Fracked Gas-to-methanol Refinery in Kalama. Columbia Riverkeeper reported "a broad coalition of over 30 community organizations representing tens of thousands of people from across the Northwest urged the Washington Department of Ecology and Governor Jay Inslee to deny the refinery." 

Next, I hope we can help orcas and salmon by legally removing the lower four Snake River dams.

Regarding the above photo, there are few things sadder than when your wife chooses a lure "because it is pretty" and outfishes you.

Tahlequah's Baby by Dakota/Salish Artist Robert "Running Fisher" Upham

Order here.

Dakota/Salish Artist Robert "Running Fisher" Upham wrote "Tahlequah is an orca, part of the 'J Pod' which spends part of each year off the northern coast of Washington State. Her story became known to the human community in 2018, when she carried her calf for 17 days, refusing to let her baby go to the Spirit World. There was something about her life and her baby’s death, which spoke to human hearts. Particularly women were moved. It felt at the time, that there was a collective grieving with her. Anyone who’s ever lost a loved one that you did not want to let go of can understand this mother’s grieving. Especially a young, sacred one, who has died too soon. It felt that she was calling heart to heart. The story brought attention not only to her child’s death but also to the very difficult times in which her nation has fallen. The imbalance which pits orcas and sea lions and salmon for the same resources is a microcosm of ecological disease. The human nation, particularly those who see our mother earth as merely a source of 'resources' is under indictment by the simple act of love of a mother for her baby. This drawing, 'Tahlequah’s Baby' is the moment when she finally allowed her beloved to move on to the Spirit World. There are many helpers assisting her to lift her baby to its final moments in this world."

Upham continued, "I had heard of Tahlequah and her baby, and several people asked me to do a ledger of her story. But it wasn’t until a young woman understood the meaning and intent behind the signatures on my ledgers, and she sparked my creativity by saying, 'You should do a piece honoring the names of all the orcas who have died.' And, just like that, the idea for this piece was born."  Other examples of his ledger art and paintings are here.

Upham's art brought focus to learning from the nonhuman world. He gave me permission to include his art and text above. Tahlequah, noted by scientists as a Southern Resident orca, showed the importance of real grieving before moving on. National Geographic authors Lori Cuthbert and Douglas Main wrote August 13, 2018, "The death of another calf is a significant blow to J Pod, which hasn’t seen a successful birth in three years. Combined, the three pods have 75 members, and time is running out to maintain its viability. Ken Balcomb, founder and principal investigator at the Center for Whale Research, gives it five years [ . . . . ] to have viable offspring [ . . . . ] 'We have long demonstrated that these fish-eating whales are getting skinnier and skinnier, and the death rate is increasing,' [Balcomb] writes on the center’s website. 'Whales in this endangered population are dependent upon Chinook salmon for their primary food source. Unfortunately, Chinook salmon are also endangered.'"  

My May 2, 2019 post "Epic of Gilgamesh and Climate Change" cited a report from The Guardian, "The Lummi Nation is dropping live salmon into the sea in a last-ditch rescue effort" to save starving orcas. I included the Dammed to Extinction Trailer, about a minute long, showing the best way to help orcas, as Dr. Deborah Giles said, "is to breach the lower four Snake River dams." The post links to the anthology FOR LOVE OF ORCAS. Editors Andrew Shattuck McBride and Jill McCabe Johnson noted "proceeds from sales of the book will benefit the SeaDoc Society's efforts to restore the Southern Resident orcas and their extended ecosystem."