OMNI Climate Memo Mondays, #74, May 9, 2022

 

74. Climate Memo Mondays, #74, May 9, 2022
Veterans for Peace on Convergence of War and Warming.
Cynthia Kaufman. The Sea Is Rising and So Are We.
Optimism, Pessimism, Action

Averting Climate Catastrophe: No New Arms Race! For Earth Day 2022,The Climate Crisis & Militarism Project (CCMP) of Veterans For Peace (VFP) organized the webinar: Averting Climate Catastrophe: No New Arms Race!  Militarism fuels the climate crisis, as we see every day now in the war in Ukraine (and Yemen and elsewhere), yet the mainstream and alternative media remain mostly silent on the many connections between war/militarism and the climate catastrophe. The devastation to the climate and environment caused by military spending for wars and preparations for wars must be confronted, then stopped.     It is more important than ever to join us in this work.  Can you support our Climate Crisis and Militarism Project by donating today? Veterans For Peace members have been hard at work over the last few months doing hundreds of presentations to bring awareness of how militarism fuels the climate crisis.  Sign up to have CCMP do a presentation to your local organization, chapter or faith group! You can also check out these great resources: ·       NEW! Download the updated VFP's Environmental Costs of War handout ·       Distribute our half-page flyer that links to the above PDF!  Don't forget to join us TONIGHT at 7pm(EDT), 6pm(CDT), 4pm(PDT) for our webinar!  There is still time to register! Moderated by Marcy Winograd of CODEPINK, features panelists: ·         Dr. David Vine, Professor, Department of Anthropology, American University.  Dr. Vine is a widely sought-after speaker, authoritative source on militarism and Empire, and the author of The United States of War and Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. ·         Col. Ann Wright, retired U. S. Army Colonel, and former high ranking U.S. State Department official, who resigned her position in protest of the U.S. illegal invasion of Iraq and has continued to be a powerful voice for peace and the environment.  She is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience.  ·         Erik Edstrom, A West Point graduate and infantry platoon leader in Afghanistan and Presidential Escort Platoon Leader during the Obama administration. He studied climate change at Oxford University earning a Master of Science degree. Author of UN-AMERICAN: A Soldier’s Reckoning of Our Longest War. Looking forward to seeing you this evening!  And, as always, we appreciate all your activist and financial support of the Veterans For Peace Climate Crisis & Militarism Project! Contact Us Veterans For Peace 3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219 St. Louis, Missouri 63118 (314) 725-6005 vfp@veteransforpeace.org

One of the best books versus the climate crisis is The Sea Is Rising and So Are We by Cynthia Kaufman.  It’s short yet compendious, providing essential history and present action.   You want a library of important books and articles in print or online?  They’re here in her copious Notes and Annotated Bibliography (19 entries from Peter Barnes to Joseph Romm).  You want a guidebook and mobilizer for individuals and groups?  You’ll find them in every chapter, but especially in her final chapters, and without wishful thinking (The Sea IS Rising).  The Sea Is Rising and SO ARE WE is “Hope in Action.”   --Dick

 

Optimism, Pessimism, Action
“The Climate Optimist: It’s Real. We Have Solutions” By Marcy Franck.  cchange@hsph.harvard.edu

    Which is better—or worse:  visions of doom or wishful thinking?  Since 2006 OMNI’s Climate Book Forum members have read book after book that conveyed the IPCC research (inaugurated 1990) regarding the dire consequences of planetary warming, IF we did not stop it.  That is, the books were not fearmongering, but were written to give adults facts they need for effective resistance; that is, they were optimistic:  they believed the truth, the facts, would motivate the public and lead to action.  (As Greta Thunberg exemplifies, the category adult is not necessarily chronological.)  Now it’s 2022, and we are running out of time.  So, is Franck’s “Climate Optimist” case optimistic (good outweighs the bad) or pessimistic in the Anthropocene 2022? 
    OR: is this age-old question pondered in all eras the wrong one?  Doesn’t it distract us just as much as do the childish entertainments of our culture from the real question:  What have we (you and I) done and what are we doing to stop or slow the rising temperature and rising seas, the conflagrations and storms?  --Dick