OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS #225, April 7, 2025.

 

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS #225, April 7, 2025.  Compiled by Dick Bennett

Wetlands Day?  To Wetlands!
Stephanie Elam, CNN.  Sea Lions Suffering from Domoic Poisoning caused by Warming.
Greenpeace Trial.
Lydia Wylie-Kellerman.  This Sweet Earth for the Children.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL WETLANDS DAY is Today? According to Google with a splendid photo of a beaver.
“How Beavers Are Preventing Wildfires and Fighting Drought in North America”   ©A family of beavers. Image by EBFoto via Depositphotos.   Imagine a creature that works tirelessly, shaping the landscape in ways that protect entire ecosystems. Enter the beaver, nature’s industrious engineer. These remarkable rodents are doing more than just building dams; they are playing a crucial role in mitigating wildfires and combating drought across North America. As climate change continues to threaten natural habitats, beavers are emerging as unexpected allies in maintaining ecological balance.  
[I like this; I lived next to a beaver dam and pond an entire summer once.  But let’s not forget that the United Nations World Wetlands Day is February 2.  Signed 1971, ratified 1975 under UNESCO depository.    Also see UN World Water Day March 22.   Wikipedia has a very helpful link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wetlands_Day :  UN World Wetlands Day, an official United Nations observance on February 2nd, raises awareness about the importance of wetlands for biodiversity, climate resilience, and human well-being, and marks the anniversary of the UN Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention.  And see Arkansas Wetlands Day https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1552477558588042

Q: Why is UN World Wetlands Day not at the forefront?  I have noticed the omission of UN from UN Conventions before.  Have you seen an article on that?  Fellow supporters of the UN join me in insisting on naming the UN when its Conventions are named.  And of course we should lift a glass to wetlands and the UN every day!   --D)

 

Temperature Rise, Poisoned Food Chain, Sickened Sea Lions

Stephanie Elam.   “Sea lions are attacking people in the waters off California’s coast. Here’s why.”   CNN (4-6-25).
Domoic acid toxicosis caused by toxic algal bloom disturbance resulting from rising temp, apparently.   https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/climate/sea-lion-attacks-california?cid=ios_app    Via Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, forwarded to me by Pat Snyder, my son-in-law, who keeps me up to date.

 

Convergence of Trump-Corporate Power-Court-Secrecy v. Greenpeace. Constitution, Indigenous People, and Environment

OpinionGreenpeace

Steven Donziger.   “I was an independent observer in the Greenpeace trial. What I saw was shocking.” Fri 28 Mar 2025. 
Greenpeace lost – not because it did something wrong but because it was denied a fair trial.   The stunning $667m verdict against Greenpeace last week is a direct attack on the climate movement, Indigenous peoples and the first amendment.  The North Dakota case is so deeply flawed – at its core, the trial was really about crushing dissent – that I believe there is a good chance it will be reversed on appeal and ultimately backfire against the Energy Transfer pipeline company.

I was part of an independent monitoring team of nine attorneys and four prominent human rights advocates who sat through every minute of the three-week trial, in a nondescript courthouse in rural North Dakota. Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace for alleged damages it claimed derived from the historic Indigenous-led Standing Rock protests in 2016 against the Dakota Access pipeline. Our presence in court was essential given that the company was able to shroud the trial in secrecy. There was no court reporter and there still is no public transcript or recording of the proceedings.  The North Dakota ruling against Greenpeace is a threat to free speech

Raising Children in This  Warming World

This Sweet Earth – Lydia Wylie-Kellerman.

Publisher’s description:    “In This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse, Wylie-Kellermann invites us to open to our grief and outrage as we raise our children in the time of collapse, knowing that as we suffer with a suffering world, we find the strength and resilience to act on behalf of Earth.”

About Lydia    Events    Blog    Contact

lydiawyliekellermann.com    https://lydiawyliekellermann.com › this-sweet-earth  
Google title above for a dozen reviews.  I read the substantial, commendatory review in The Catholic Worker by Amanda Daloisio, March-April, 2025.   “We  are called to find joy, even in the face of destruction. . . .with stories and poems, prayers and plans….Part of loving the children in our lives…is telling them the truth…”