Awakening From Your Anger

Category: Global Warming

  • Climate Truth

    PostTruth2This post presents a number of the links I have recently encountered, articles I think are important in speaking truth to what I perceive. And as usual, I am hesitant to post them — it is so easy to be overloaded with too much information these days.

    I find also that the climate conversations are evolving. I attended a webinar a few nights ago by Smart Politics (https://www.joinsmart.org/) — overall I was impressed. It is American, based mainly in California (I think), and presented a good process for engaging, followed by a good discussion — certainly I would recommend to anyone in the States. It is different from yet similar to the process I will be leading with the Suzuki Elders at the end of this month (Climate Change Conversations: How To Have Them Without Everyone Walking Out Of The Room, Vancouver, 20190228).

    On the positive side —

    The Transformative Power of Climate Truth (20190204)

    An excellent summary of the power of speaking the truth, especially in the nature of climate disruption. As readers of this blog will know, I am an advocate of The Climate Mobilization; momentum for this organization and its partners is evolving.

    Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal Is a Product of Youth Uprising (20190208)

    The need for major overhaul of the political situation is being recognized. Perhaps it is the beginning of transformation of capitalism and neoliberalism. Perhaps. Will we do so in time to avert disaster?

    On the other side —

    When Europeans Colonized the Americas, They Killed So Many That the Earth’s Climate Cooled (20190203)

    A fascinating interplay between colonialism and global warming. Sad.

    There’s a Big Hole in the World’s Most Important Glacier. Yes, It’s a Problem. (20190205)

    As usual, things are worse than we thought.

    The World Is on the Brink of Widespread Water Wars (20190211)

    Another way in which things are worse. We are so close to collapse. As noted above, will we create a new cultural process in time to make a difference?

    Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’ (20190211)

    Yet another. What else can I say?

    Predominantly neutral (is anything neutral in this theme?) —

    How the greenwashing campaign works (20190212)

    How can we measure the climate risk of methane gas emissions- (20190212)

    What the methane industry doesn’t want you—or lawmakers—to know (20190212)

    This series of articles on methane, the principle component of natural gas, speaks to the complexity of assessing data as well as the interpretation of data, some of which is almost certainly disinformation.

  • How Then Shall We Live?

    CogDiss01In my reading today I encountered a truly outstanding description of how one man chooses to live with Climate Change, something that will affect all our lives. Dahr Jamail’s commentary As the Climate Collapses, We Ask: “How Then Shall We Live? (20190204, the first of a series) touches me deeply, both for his honesty and for his depth of knowledge and understanding. He is one of a small group of journalists in whom I have a deep sense of trust as to his integrity. (Joe Rohm is another source that I trust for his knowledge and his integrity.)

    Jamail writes for TruthOut on climate issues and I recommend all his writings. I have recently ordered his book The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption (20190122). I will undoubtedly be reporting on this in a later blog.

    As I write these words, I also have a moment of profound cognitive dissonance. I am slowly reading Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken, a very well-researched description of 100 substantive solutions to reverse global warming. I also think of the DVD Tomorrow (2015) that I watched a few weeks ago, a video that deeply impressed me with its hopeful message of creative responses to climate issues.

    Thus I simultaneously hold the honest searching and sadness of what we have done and do to our planet together with the incredible creativity that is available. All this with the recognition of how powerless we are to deal with the insanity of capitalism and neoliberalism, the power dynamics that run our system.

    It truly reminds me to be humble of the limited yet important ways in which I can contribute.

    Other articles worth reading:

    Jamail writes a regular series of articles for TruthOut, many of which can be found under Climate Disruption Dispatches or his website http://www.dahrjamail.net/.

    The most dangerous climate feedback loop is speeding up (Joe Rohm, 20190117)

    And on the flip side:

    Opinion: Our house is on fire, and many Albertans want more lighters (20181229)

    A very clear presentation of the options for Albertans. What I find fascinating is the number of ad hominin attacks in the Commentary section, an indication of the amount of toxic discourse (as noted in the past few posts).

  • I’m Right!

    How we polarize!

    The past three blog posts have been fueled by James Hoggan’s book I’m Right, And You’re An Idiot[1]. In conversation with Hoggan, David Suzuki (Canada’s leading environmentalist) asked: Why aren’t people demanding action on environmental issues? To address this question, Hoggan set out to interview a large number of some of the world’s leading thinkers, specifically individuals who study human communication, to gain their perspective on this failure.

    As mentioned in Ways To Contribute, I am involved with the Suzuki Elders in exploring how to use this information in the management of difficult conversations. In Finding Common Ground and How Conflict Escalates, I proposed a simple (perhaps difficult?) methodology for this. Yet I also want to give credit to Hoggan for the immense amount of exploration he undertook.

    The following are some of the major points with which Hoggan grappled. Most are from his Epilogue, and all are direct quotes, with the interviewee named (JH denotes Hoggan’s commentary). [Square brackets are minor changes I have added, hopefully without changing the meaning.]

    • Few of us are truly evil — and good people sometimes [strongly disagree] for good reasons. (JH, p. 215)
    • Democracy works only if reasoned debate in the public sphere is possible. (Jason Stanley, p. 98)
      • While contention lies at the heart of democracy, it must be constructive contention. (Marshall Ganz, p. 115)
      • [People] don’t need not agree on the solution or on the problem. They don’t need to understand each other, trust each other or even like each other. But they do have to recognize that the only way to move forward is together. (Adam Kahane, p. 123)
    • It is through narratives . . . that people learn to access the moral and emotional resources we need to act with agency in the face of danger, challenge, and threat. . . . [This] is one of the most important lessons set out in I’m Right. (Marshall Ganz and JH, p. 174)
      • At its most basic level, I’m Right is about how we tell stories and how we treat each other. (JH, p. 115)
      • To create powerful persuasive narratives, our starting point must be rooted in an attitude of empathy, respect, and compassion. (The Dalai Lama, p. 211).
    • People don’t start out mired in hostility. The situation evolves. . . . Our defense mechanisms kick in . . . and this provokes . . . eventual gridlock. (JH, pp. 214-215)
      • It is hard to know who and what to trust. (JH, p. 216)
      • An important key is to hold our beliefs lightly [so that we are open to new possibility]. (JH, p. 215)
    • Facts and reason are fundamental to healthy public discourse, but in our overheated adversarial public square, facts are not enough. (JH, p. 217)
      • The initial strategy . . . must be inquiry, . . . [exploring] what truly matters to people [the emotional energy]. (JH, p. 218)
      • We must appeal to people’s values and speak from a moral position, . . . encouraging debate about matters of concern. (JH, pp. 217-218)
    • A well-crafted . . . narrative helps tear down barriers of propaganda and polarization. This theme of emotional communication is grounded in the Golden Rule of treating others the way we want to be treated. (p. 219-220)
      • If we seek change, we should learn to use speech for its highest purpose — moral discourse. (JH, p. 222)

    I propose that the methodology I suggested in earlier posts satisfies what Hoggan has identified, especially in providing narrative and compassion, and provides constructive contention.

    [1] Hoggan, J. (2016).  I’m right, and you’re an idiot: The toxic state of public discourse and how to clean it up. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

  • What’s It All About? Part 2

    Meaning2This is my second post about meaning, it being the essential driver of human behaviour. We are meaning-makers, story-makers, and if we do not know “what it’s all about,” we will not move into action. At the same time, the creation of our meaning is complex and sophisticated.

    Not only is the creation of meaning complex, but often the information itself is complex. This is especially so with all the information available concerning global warming.

    I said last post that I would give some updated information regarding global warming. Here it is.

    First, I want to draw attention to a brilliant presentation by Jeremy Rifkin on The Third Industrial Revolution via UBC Connects (20180316) — it is a fairly long video, and a quick summary is available as The Zero Marginal Cost Society (unfortunately both present the information too rapidly to allow good processing). Rifkin identifies that every industrial revolution in the past has occurred with and requires new innovations in communication (management), energy (creation), and transportation (movement). We have that now with the internet (communication), renewable energy (energy), and electronic vehicles plus 3D printing (both logistical), and thus we are now capable of a new industrial revolution. However he remains hesitant because he does not trust that we have the maturity as a culture to undertake this — we must learn to cooperate and collaborate. processes are underway, and are in a race against the impacts of global warming.

    Unfortunately, all this has been my primary emphasis throughout this blog.

    And given all this, what do I trust? And, what to do? Especially in relationship to global warming. I trust the following links — they are also potentially troublesome — they offer meaning, likely painful! Yet, within the assessment of what I can do regarding global warming, they offer much; they are my attempt to offer appropriate meaning.

    Climate change: An ‘existential threat’ to humanity, UN chief warns global summit (20180515)

    The current Secretary-General of the UN notes “Everyday, I am faced with the challenges of our troubled and complex world. But none of them loom so large as climate change. If we fail to meet the challenge, all our other challenges will just become greater and threaten to swallow us. Climate change is, quite simply, an existential threat for most life on the planet — including, and especially, the life of humankind.”

    Degree sparks necessary debate (20180517)

    David Suzuki is often blunt in his critique of the societal issues of climate change, something I appreciate. Yet, as he notes, his bluntness often is subject to ad hominem attacks, rather than depth of dialogue — unfortunate, and part of the distortion that occurs in transfer of information to meaning.

    Climate Reality Check (2016)

    The Uninhabitable Earth (20170709)

    Good information in both. Also scarey!

    The Climate Mobilization Living In Climate Truth Guidebook

    A draft document developed by The Climate Mobilization, presenting many good links as to the nature of the pending catastrophe as well as practical tips for self-care.

  • What To Do?

    Acedia1
    It’s all too much.

    A number of links that I have found especially powerful in my recent perusing of the issues of global warming. The final two links emphasize what to do, both for your own contribution and how to respond to others; they give a semblance of hope. Paul Gilding especially emphasizes “follow your passion” and resolve your own grief — be honest with yourself and others.

    Climate Change In The American Mind, March 2018 (201804)

    The graphs says it all. And if more than half of Americans are certain global warming is a major concern, what is it going to take for action? I imagine the data for other countries is similar. Action, not just talk, is needed.

    Global warming has changed the Great Barrier Reef ‘forever,’ scientists say (20180418)

    I love snorkeling, having been to the Virgin Islands many times, yet I no longer do so; I have been so disheartened by the devastation I have seen in my lifetime. One of my ambitions used to be to go to the Great Barrier Reef — another dream I have let go. Sad!

    The entire island of Puerto Rico just lost power again (20180418)

    A preview of what will happen, especially in those areas and countries with limited resources.

    Kinder Morgan pipeline controversy proves need to shift course (20180419)

    The insanity of politics.

    A Smorgasbord of Solutions for Global Warming (20180425)

    A discussion of the many great solutions that are emerging, summarized by Paul Hawken’s Project Drawdown.

    Paul Gilding discusses “The Big Picture” with Margaret Klein Salamon (20180427)

    An excellent video discussion of the many issues of global warming, and how they might come together in effective resolution. Worth watching in its entirety (66 minutes). I am a strong advocate of the work of The Climate Mobilization organization.

  • The Sustainability Of Injustice

    Acedia3

    In this post I reflect on the sustainability of injustice, especially our inability to resolve the many issues that are destroying our species and our Gaian world. All of the links that follow represent our failure to come to terms with the consequences of global warming.

    As I have previously suggested (especially in my book Acedia, The Darkness Within, and the darkness of Climate Change), I believe this is due to the huge cultural issue of acedia (especially our laziness and fearfulness) and the smaller issue of evil (especially the augmentation of our cultural self-righteousness). And I hate harping on the issues, part of my own acedia. Yet I am committed to raising awareness in whatever way I can.

    A comment from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations of yesterday (20180412) is especially pertinent for me. His concern in this particular meditation is the issue of racial discrimination, but it applies the whole of our civilization, a civilization based on power dynamics. As usual, Richard formulates it in a Christian framework, yet I suggest the message is independent of culture.

    [quoting from Holmes, Joy Unspeakable, 2017] One cannot help but wonder why the same battles for justice must be fought by every generation? Certainly, there were enough sacrifices, martyrs, and legislation during the ’60s to ensure justice for all. Yet . . . “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and the rulers of darkness in high places” [Ephesians 6:12]. The powers or systems do everything they can to resist change. In response to the demand for justice, systems morph and adjust while maintaining the status quo.

    So public hangings end and the murders of unarmed black folk rise. Slavery ends, but the mass incarceration of minority populations increases. Jim Crow practices are no longer openly discriminatory; they reappear as educational and economic disparities, voter suppression, and aggressive police actions against people of color.

    [Richard’s commentary] Power never surrenders without a fight. If your response to today’s meditation is to retort, “All lives matter!” I invite you to take a closer look at your own fears and biases. Of course, all lives matter! Yet until black and brown lives matter, no lives truly matter. Jesus spoke into specific lives, into particular circumstances of oppression, saying, “You, an outcast Samaritan woman, you matter. You, a leper rejected by society, you matter.”

    Until we choose to have power over power and live into true justice, it is likely that our time on this planet is severely limited. We will move to extinction — the end-points indicated by Malthus[1] (starvation, plague, and war) are on the horizon.

    Significant Links

    Lessons from Cape Town’s water crisis (20180315)

    Cape Town is the harbinger of what may happen to many modern cities, the issues being “related to climate change, population growth, waste and mismanagement. Depleted supply is only one result” (see also What You Need to Know About the World’s Water Wars)

    We’re drowning in seas of plastic (20180329)

    The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be sixteen times larger than previously assessed.

    The Great Lakes Are Filling Up With Giant Green Blobs (20180403)

    Harmful algae blooms occur mainly because of nutrient run-off from land usage (fertilizer), resulting in toxic water as well as high methane production (a major greenhouse gas).

    Can the Paris Agreement save us from a climate catastrophe? (201804)

    An editorial in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet does not say much, but the title in itself is significant of questioning what we are doing as a culture.

    Audit exposes Canadian climate failures (20180405)

    As someone living in the British Columbia Lower Mainland, I am very aware of the duplicity of the Canadian government, especially in its support of the tar sands and the Kinder-Morgan expansion.

    The oceans’ circulation hasn’t been this sluggish in 1,000 years. That’s bad news. (20180411)

    A good article on the nature of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and its possible implications.

    Reports emphasize urgent need to reverse biodiversity decline (20180412)

    Yet more warning of how serious the issues are!

    [1] Malthus, T. (1798). An essay on the principle of population. London, England: J. Johnson, in St. Paul’s Churchyard.

  • What Are We Thinking?

    DroughtSeveral articles have recently struck me as indicators of where we currently are with respect to global warming. Some of the articles focus on the impact; two focus on the insanity that drives us. What are we thinking!?

    I remain convinced that the major issues underlying global warming are those of:

    • acedia — our laziness, fearfulness and self-righteousness that prevents us from engaging in the most important issue of our species. There are, of course, reasons (good reasons, many of which were addressed in my earlier blogs), but reasons don’t count! Results count.
      • it is our acedia that stops our cooperation, the attitude that: “I’m willing to work hard on these issues if to my advantage, or if you are!” We see this with our international agreements — Russian, Turkey, and the United States (accounting for about 30% of the greenhouse effect) not engaged in the Paris Agreement. And the Paris Agreement is only an agreement to do something about the problem; if Canada’s duplicity is any example, we are a long way from actual results.
    • evil — this is not a topic we as a culture want to address, yet it is undeniable to me that evil exists. It shows up in greed and in the disinformation processes that feed our inactivity.

    Many small positive actions occur, many, but we still have not reached our own tipping point as to when we will move rapidly to resolution. Perhaps we will do so in time to prevent catastrophe for our civilization, perhaps for our species. Perhaps not.

    I almost need to laugh, perhaps cry!

    Cape Town water supply near ‘point of no return’ as reservoirs run dry (20180118)

    A number of articles within this link point to the impact of global warming. Cape Town (South Africa) is considering mandatory limitation of water usage. China is refusing to be the dumping ground for plastic waste, especially plastic bottles, thereby forcing other countries to deal with their recycling products.

    Who is Guilty of Climate Crimes? (20180216)

    The basis answer is that we are all guilty. However, some aspects stand out: the extreme right, the fossil fuel industry, the media, and the major industrial countries (Canada, my country, included).

    Arctic temperatures soar 45 degrees above normal, flooded by extremely mild air on all sides (20180222)

    The highest weather station in the world, about 400 miles for the North Pole, has warmed to 43°F in the dead of winter! In addition to feedback loops that further increase Arctic warming (and loss of more ice), thus impacting the entire weather system of the northern hemisphere (the jet-stream impact), there is also the massive release of methane from permafrost and seabed melting, the rise of sea level (as the Greenland ice field melts), and the slowdown of the global ocean conveyor belt effect. These are just some of the effects; we simply do not know what tipping points will be reached and when.

    Coral reefs will transition to net dissolving before end of century (20180223)

    Another factor in loss of both beauty and a basic food chain component — in addition to warming being destructive of coral, the acidification also is weakening the underlying sedimentary structure of the reefs. Our world food supply is thus at risk.

    Climate science deniers’ credibility tested (20180301)

    This is the greatest crime — the controversy created by the massive disinformation processes we have unleashed in the past 50 years!

  • The Issues Of The Day

    Trauma2As noted previously, I am not posting a lot, but it seems time. So, some posts on what I think are the issues of the day: political insanity, the impact of consumerism and neo-liberalism, and the fears (generally hidden) concerning the coming trauma to our planet.

    One definition of trauma is “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.” I often think of trauma as physical injury, yet if I reflect on one of the most common expressions of the day — post-traumatic stress disorder — the trauma is more often not the direct result of injury; rather it is the psychic impact of impending injury. I suggest that these three issues are sign-posts of the impending injury.

    They are the unnamed indicators of distress. I have yet to see significant advances that will shift the issues of the day.

    The presidency survived the Watergate, Iran-contra and Clinton scandals. Trump will exact a higher toll. (20171221)

    The article is for me a good summary of the similarities and differences amongst various presidencies. To quote the article, “The expectation of integrity has given way to a cynical acceptance of deceit. As much as anything Mueller uncovers, this is the scandal of our time.”

    Consumer society no longer serves our needs (20180111)

    As usual, David Suzuki presents a reasoned argument, in this case, “How can we have serious discussions about the ecological costs and limits to growth or the need to degrow economies when consumption is seen as the very reason the economy and society exist?”

    How Do I Reassure My Children About the Future When the Future Is Terrifying? (20180113)

    An excellent summary of the fears of a parent, reflecting my own fears for my grand-children, and the many children of this planet. I am currently working part-time in a homeless shelter, and thereby see the cost of what we have already created on our planet — the coming costs will be immensely greater.

  • Witnessing The Process

    nvcd2I’ve just returned from a planning session on how to resist the Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion in the Vancouver area; typical of me, in my uncertainty as to how to contribute, I was mainly witnessing the process.

    For those unfamiliar with the Kinder-Morgan project, it is a $7.4-billion construction project of pipeline expansion over a 1,100-kilometer route, and will increase pipeline capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of oil per day. It will end at Burrard Inlet at the northern edge of Burnaby and Vancouver, and will require construction through both cities. The fuel will then be transported internationally via the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland (an environmentally sensitive area). It also represents a major addition to the fossil fuel load created by Canada, although that carbon source will then be transported to other Pacific countries, and thus does not appear as a direct load on Canada.

    The pipeline passes through many indigenous lands (actually unceeded territories since for the most part no “treaties” have ever been signed) — many or all of which communities object to the project. The cities of Burnaby and Vancouver also object. To my knowledge, the federal and provincial governments have approved the projects despite these objections, and many court challenges are current. For my part, I was deeply disappointed by the duplicity of the Liberal government which initially promised major revision of the issues of global warming — as such there has been far more talk than action.

    I believe that there is a huge need for non-violent civil disobedience in these kinds of issues, but I am also somewhat discouraged by this. For the most part, although we have advanced in many ways as to how we value human beings (feminism, racism, education, et cetera), most of the advances have only been on the surface — we have not done the deeper shift in maturity that will be necessary to overcome our latest challenge, that of world degradation as manifest by global warming, let alone the other issues. I have long been impressed by David Suzuki’s honesty in naming the fundamental failure of environmentalism, although I imagine others have written equally honestly about our other failures.

    In my discouragement, I believe that much of non-violent civil disobedience merely serves to provide a mechanism to release the emotional tension felt by the oppressed. For the most part, the interplay between oppressed and oppressors simply becomes a game of chess as each party maneuvers to achieve advantage in a never-ending game of duplicity. Certainly on the part of the oppressed, there are many well-intentioned and intelligent persons, but I am not convinced that we achieve a great deal. Meanwhile the bulk of people stand back in apparent apathy. Sad.

    Carlos Castaneda, a “cult” writer of the 70s, once presented a great concept (amongst others) for me: A warrior stands in the middle of the road, waiting. By that, I believe he meant that we each must do our personal best, and then let life do what it will. I’m learning to just trust that — in my language, if Creator wants me to do other than Witness, the opportunity will come. Despair, for me, then becomes a waste of energy, attempting to push the river – it flows by itself.

    Some interesting links for the week:

    The Transformative Power of Climate Truth (201710)

    A comprehensive and important document from the only organization (to my knowledge) truly committed to cooperative mobilization on the scale necessary to resolve the issues of global warming.

    U.S. climate report leaves little room for doubt (20171109)

    As David Suzuki points out, the report did not receive much attention — presumably, simply another report as to the state of the disaster — a non-issue in the current political scene. Sad.

    America is facing an epistemic crisis (20171002)

    Initially this article is confusing, but it then presents a fascinating study of the question: “What if Mueller proves his case, and it doesn’t matter?” Another suggestion in support of the theme that civilization is about power, and who wields it.

    100% renewable electricity in reach by 2050 (20171108)

    We are capable of resolving the issues. Will we?

    Paleo Politics (20171101)

    An interesting link supporting the contention that “civilization” is fundamentally an issue of power dynamics, something I have written about in other posts.

  • The Clock Is Ticking

    CO2Clock2What to say this week? The clock is ticking, in many ways. Certainly the news is dominated by the political scene in Washington DC, with the criminal allegations associated with the Trump-Russia morass. It seems that Mueller is operating with very sophisticated skill, creating massive anxiety. Essentially this is as it should be — an ineffective investigation would do more harm than good. But it is certainly complex.

    The major difficulty is that such an investigation is slow, and the climate clock continues to tick. The report by Dahr Jamail is excellent and comprehensive (as usual), documenting the many ways, the increasing ways, in which we are in trouble. Meanwhile the Trump administration continues to dismantle the efforts to respond — sad. And all the more reason to sort the Trump-Russia muddle.

    And on the lighter side, some interesting links concerning the complexity of our culture.

    All of the this complexity would be fascinating, if the consequences were not so painful.

    Global Warming

    Dahr Jamail – Scientists Warn of “Ecological Armageddon” Amid Waves of Heat and Climate Refugees (20171030)

    Jamail is a very reliable source, and here provides a summary of the current status of our planet. It is not good news.

    New science suggests the ocean could rise more — and faster — than we thought (20171026)

    Three new studies that indicate the dangers of continued fossil fuel usage, more and faster if we continue our present course. As usual, each report portrays more and more danger as we get better and better data.

    The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health (20171030)

    Global warming is having major impact now, as well as in the future.

    Trump to auction off a vast swath of the Gulf of Mexico to oil companies (20171024)

    Continuing our present course, and a reminder of the BP disaster.

    The Political Scene

    The Daily 202: 10 takeaways from Mueller’s shock-and-awe gambit (20171031)

    A comprehensive summary of the revolving issues as of 20171031. Overall, I find the issues difficult to follow, but this is fairly good in keeping me up to date.

    Manafort and the Dominoes: Here’s Why Donald Trump Is Losing Sleep (20171031)

    Fascinating the ways of shifting evidence and the intricacies of investigation.

    Miscellaneous

    Rabbi Sacks on Leonard Cohen and parsha Vayera (20161118)

    Fascinating description of the last song by Leonard Cohen, and the search for love and peace.

    The Improbable Origins of PowerPoint (20171031)

    A fascinating history. I was very surprised to learn that PowerPoint was originally an Apple product.

    A Very Old Man for a Wolf (20171030)

    The complex story of mankind and wolves; sadly the wolves usually lose.