CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #123, APRIL 17, 2023
Robert
Hunziker. “Big Heat Hits Antarctica.”
Richard Powers. Bewilderment follows up his Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, The
Overstory.
Crisis Articles from the Monthly Review.
Kelly Mulhollan.
“The Great Unravelling.”
The Shalom Report.
BIG-TIME HEAT AND 200 FEET OF SEA LEVEL RISE
ROBERT HUNZIKER.
“Big Heat Hits
Antarctica.” Counterpunch(FEBRUARY 17, 2023).
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
A recent report out of
West Antarctica is rattling scientists.
It’s all about heat,
big-time heat, encroaching upon the world’s biggest chunk of ice that locks
down a couple hundred feet of sea level rise. This kind of news is enough to
raise the hackles of smart well-informed people, as excessive CO2 emissions
spewing like crazy ever since the turn of the 21st century are
now flat-out playing with fire in a very dangerous corner of the planet. . . . .All of which prompts the question of
this decade: What’s behind this threatening rapid change of the world’s most
prominent complex ice ecosystem?
In part, the answer is
found in tail pipes of >1.5 billion cars of the world, which, in turn,
prompts: Since the start of the 21st century, global warming
has been on a breakneck pace:
1. According to NASA:
Antarctica and Greenland combined lost 82 billion tons of ice mass per year in
the 1990s compared with 475 billion tons per year in the 2010s, a sixfold
increase in only a decade.
2. According to the
Institute for European Environmental Policy: More than one-half (½) of all
greenhouse gas emissions since 1750 were emitted over the past 30 years.
3. A comprehensive
study shows the seas are rising three times (3x) faster than they were in the
1990s (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
With the
aforementioned three points in mind, what’s next? Will it be stepped-up flat-out
acceleration on top of current rapid acceleration (how about another 6-fold
increase in ice mass loss per year?) and what then for Antarctica and Miami and
does anybody really care enough to do something, anything, massively
(worldwide) constructive, assuming it’s even possible, or will the
Anthropocene run its course?
Meanwhile, regarding
this very dicey situation, what will the leading nations of the world do? A
Marshall Plan operation? Or nothing? Hmm. Based upon a 30-year trail of
unmitigated failures by nation/states to cut emissions, probably nothing! But soon it’ll
be too late to do anything other than take photos for what’s left of posterity.
Publisher’s description
Bewilderment is Richard
Powers’ followup to his brilliant, Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, The
Overstory. . It is an unflinching look at the environmental consequences of our actions
told through the nature explorations of a father and his neurodivergent son.
Astrophysicist Theo Byrnes and his son Robin live in a dystopian, not-too-distant future that feels eerily familiar:
Democracy is flailing, and the natural world is in danger. Theo seeks solace in
nature to help deal with his wife’s death and his son’s behavioral issues. As
he did in The Overstory,
Powers expertly argues for the urgent need
to halt humanity’s devastating toll on the planet. In one compelling scene,
Theo is testifying before Congress for funding he needs for his research. He
closes his presentation with a famous quote by astronomer Carl Sagan: "We
make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our
answers."
9 Climate Crisis Articles fromMonthly ReviewJuly-August 2022 (Volume 74, Number 3). July 5.
https://monthlyreview.org/2022/07/01/mr-074-03-2022-07/
2 examples:
João Pedro Stedile. “We Only Have One Planet—Defending It Will
Require Collective Measures.” As climate change and the deforestation of
the Amazon alters conditions of life across Latin America. . . planetary
defense will require an organized mass movement of all working people against
the levers of global capital.
Vishwas
Satgar. “End Ecocidal Capitalism or
Exterminate Life on Planet Earth: A South African Contribution to Ecosocialist
Strategy. “ The South African climate
justice movement presents a model for popular revolt against ecofascism.
Kelly
Mulhollan. THE GREAT UNRAVELING
Could have been born when the Mastodons roamed
When we all made do with sticks and stones
But instead, I showed up just in time
For the great unraveling. . . .
And I’m searchin’ all over for the silver lining
Mostly in the dark, but I keep on trying
Looking for the light in a world gone blind
Trying to hold on to some piece of my mind
Maybe we’ll get there just in time
For the great turning
Complete lyrics at https://youtu.be/Ybeaf6_ETTc
Here’s
a snippet from the always strengthening The Shalom Report(2-19-23). The Shalom Center welcomes
collaborations. –Dick
Today I write to you with additional opportunities to show up
for those defending the trees and forests in Atlanta, and to
announce The Shalom Center’s co-sponsorship of Third Act’s National Day of Action
on 3.21.23, calling on the big banks to move their investments out of
fossil fuels. Rabbi Nate DeGroot, Associate
Director,