We are in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Continue reading “Markers on Planet Earth”
Tag: climate change
Earth Day and a dusty day
Earth has seldom been in more need of its Day. Continue reading “Earth Day and a dusty day”
Good things are starting to happen
The civil war in Yemen is the most intense current humanitarian tragedy. Continue reading “Good things are starting to happen”
XR
Extinction Rebellion should be classified as an organized crime group, according to the British prime minister and home secretary. Bad joke. It is a non-violent grassroots movement of people seriously concerned about the burning of fossil fuels that is threatening to make our planet intolerable for humans and many other beings.
Today we joined our first Extinction Rebellion protest. It was in the Jubilee Garden, a pleasantly curvilinear small park between the Thames bank and a towering plain-faced concrete building, the headquarters of Shell.
The large and friendly crowd was sprinkled with yellow: the yellow jackets of the police and the yellow banners with the Extinction Rebellion symbol. Half a dozen police paddy wagons, ready to carry off criminals, waited like a defensive wall in front of Shell.
The organization was a little amateur, as is perhaps fitting. The criminals are not as hardened as criminals should be. The speeches were clear, earnest, and sometimes poetic. But it is not enough to say we must cut our own use of oil and plastic. A little nearer to the solution was “We’re going to sue Shell, bankrupt them!” But Shell and other such corporations are by nature unable to do otherwise than maximize profit, and use their financial power to defend themselves. They enrich a relative few (executives and shareholders) at the expense of a majority that will eventually include themselves. They fit some reasonable definitions of an organized crime group. (It was good that their murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa was remembered.)
What we need to do is not just call on government to act but create governments that act: vote into power those who will have the guts to triple fuel taxes, stop subsidizing airline fuel, invest massively in renewable energy, ban import of the products of tropical deforestation, and more.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
Astronomy is interesting and beautiful
And so are poetry, Continue reading “Astronomy is interesting and beautiful”
Trees to the Rescue
Planting a trillion trees would remove from the atmosphere two thirds of the emissions put into it by human activity. Continue reading “Trees to the Rescue”
Bad News (Overwhelmingly Good to Follow)
A few more of the points I’ve been noting: Continue reading “Bad News (Overwhelmingly Good to Follow)”
The end of human rights?
All through the years of working for Continue reading “The end of human rights?”
The courage to tax
I sent this to several newspapers and politicians: Continue reading “The courage to tax”
Goodbye Miami, Venice, Calcutta, and the atolls
Yet another warning
Continue reading “Goodbye Miami, Venice, Calcutta, and the atolls”