When It’s Hot Like This: The Many Layers We Wear, of Fear, Anger, and Hope

The US has never substantively faced the reality of Climate Change. But, since the first Earth Day and Nixon, we at least had a functioning EPA. No longer. And it wasn’t too long ago, certainly before DT first came to haunt the White House, that Climate Change was on the forefront of news headlines. Even in 2019, during his first administration, I remember the excitement created when 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg told a House committee hearing, “I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists… and take real action” on global warming. But then COVID and the attempted coup, wars, and so much craziness.

 

Now, DT is doing everything to wipe climate heating from our minds. For example, he’s scrubbed any references to climate change from the websites of the Department of State, Defense, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Environmental Protection, and of course the White House. He chose Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA, who has since then been working to de-fang and unstaff the agency, and degrade environmental protections.

 

I’m not a scientist. I haven’t been involved lately in large scale efforts to safeguard our climate and environment. But I take smaller actions. And I know it’s been extremely hot. I know it’s not just the temperature, but heat wrapped in humidity making our weather so uncomfortable and too often deadly. In Europe, so many heat records are being shattered. In France for example, a top-level Red Alert was issued for most of the country, with one town recording a reading of 110.84 Fahrenheit. Since June 21,1300 deaths across Europe have been attributed to heat stress, which has been called ‘the silent killer.’

 

According to John Kennedy, head of climate information at the World Meteorological Organization, since 1976 Europe has warmed at an alarming rate of 2 degrees, twice as fast as any other continent. Kennedy added that with climate changing as quickly as this, extreme heat and other destructive weather events are expected at increasing frequency.

 

I think most of us know we humans are destroying the ability of our planet to feed, house, and sustain us. And we know such events are happening in the US, too. For the July 4th weekend, much of the central and eastern US will experience temperatures from 90-100 degrees, with it “feeling like” 110. In my rural town in the Finger Lakes of NY, this week we’re getting 4 – 5 very humid days in a row of mid 90s to100 degrees, with a heat index close to 110 degrees. This is our second heatwave this year, and summer has just begun. I’m really wishing the air-conditioning in my car hadn’t broken.

 

And we’re all in this together. Outside, I feel not only the heat and humidity, but another layer on top of that, of fear and grief, of anger over the willful ignorance and greed perpetrated by our culture, and our present leaders. The dismantling of the EPA and environmental protections as mentioned earlier not only increases the risk of extreme weather but endangers our health in many ways, for example by increasing cancer-causing pollution. Yet, as reported by The Hill, DT has delivered hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies in exchange for their political support.

 

And doing little to stop environmental destruction is also a financial nightmare. The International Chamber of Commerce reports that globally, over the last ten years, extreme weather has cost us over $2 trillion. And it’s getting worse; over the last 2 years alone it’s cost $451 billion, a 19% increase over the previous 8 years. NOAA estimates that between 1980 and 2024 the US sustained 403 extreme weather events where overall damage costs exceeded $1 billion. Lately, wildfires and harsh storms have pushed insurance costs significantly higher. And this does not include the deaths, emotional pain, and disruption of lives.

 

It’s so difficult to wear any of these layers. It freaks me out; it freaks out so many of us. It’s difficult to talk about or even think about. But the only way to slow down the excessive heat is to speed up the willingness to acknowledge the last layer; to say as often as possible in whatever ways we can, that misinformation fueled by greed is undermining all our lives. And then act.

 

There are so many actions we can take, in our homes and personal lives, as a consumer, also as an advocate and a voter….

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Natural and Human Disasters

I had planned to post a more relaxing, reflective blog, but the latest reports from Florida stopped me. The suffering I see on the news is so powerful that I can almost know what it is like for my own home and life to be threatened. I feel my heart beating more quickly, thoughts race, and the world seems darker, like the storm clouds are racing towards me, not Florida.

 

This is made worse by hearing about the fires on the West coast and memories of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. It is made worse by the political and social disasters, of the hate riot in Charlottesville, and the human disaster, the prejudices, shortsightedness, lack of empathy and caring expressed by the President’s response to Charlottesville, his actions to end DACA, and his first trip to Texas after Harvey. It can feel like the earth itself has lost its center, weeping one minute, angry the next. And yet here, right now, in central New York, it is cool and beautiful.

 

These physical hurricanes make the greed and shortsightedness crystal clear. Before Harvey, the Washington Post and other reputable news organizations reported that the President proposed cutting funding for FEMA, for long term preparedness for disasters; for HUD, which helps rebuild homes, parks, and hospitals; the National Weather Service, which forecasts extreme storms; and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), which does crucial research and applies that research to help coastal residents prepare for disasters. In the middle of August, he signed an executive order which, along with other things, rolled back standards set by President Obama requiring that federal infrastructure projects take climate change into account. During the election, he claimed, in a debate with Hillary Clinton, that global warming was a myth perpetuated by China. Despite denying later on that he said this, he still nominated climate change denier Scott Pruitt to head the EPA.

 

And all along, the number and severity of weather disasters have been increasing. According to NOAA, the number of weather-related disasters which caused a billion dollars or more in damage have increased from 5.5 per year, starting in 1980; then for the last 5 years of this study, 2012-2016, the average was 10.6. This year might exceed that. Yet, despite his denials and his proposed cuts to government services, he says to the people of Houston that he cares about their well-being. His supporters, like Rush Limbaugh, even say that the press is hyping, exaggerating the dangers of Irma “to advance [a] climate agenda” and create panic in order to sell products. And then he leaves Florida.

 

Other Republicans say “don’t bring up Global Warming” during a hurricane, don’t politicize the suffering from these natural events. I agree that our first priority should be safety. But after that, understanding why the number of natural disasters are increasing is crucial to preparing for and creating policies to slow down our deteriorating climate. We must take into account how the increased temperature and water vapor over the Caribbean and Gulf, due to Global Warming, are adding fuel to the storms. To ignore global warming is like saying don’t take facts into consideration when you think. It is like the President and his cohorts are saying: Don’t think rationally. Don’t care about others. Don’t consider the implications of our policies.

 

The timing of these hurricanes, after so many other human hurricanes and disasters, makes crystal clear just how lacking in foresight, empathy, and understanding, just how delusional these politicians are. They themselves are a hurricane wind trying to devastate the economic stability and the remnants of political power that remain in the hands of the poor and middle class. As investigative journalist Naomi Klein pointed out, they are using natural, corporate and politician-created forms of disaster to get us to feel fear and accept or ignore policies that we would never accept otherwise. But hurricanes devastate the world for everyone.

 

So, please. We all have to help the people of Florida, Louisiana and Texas in any way we can. But the best way to help them long term, and help us all, is to learn all we can of the science of global warming. Practice compassion and mindfulness to keep our thinking as clear as possible. Call out politicians to stop the policies based on hate, short-term greed, and denial of science. Give the EPA back to scientists who know what they’re doing. Give to environmental organizations and those working to end this disaster of an administration. Vote, Demonstrate. Join with others who are caring people. To recover long term from these physical disasters we will have to put aside differences and work together to end this political disaster.