OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #123, APRIL 17, 2023

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   Excerpt.

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 21^st 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 21^st 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 from Monthly Review July-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,