Yesterday a team of international researchers confirmed that human-caused climate change is driving the life-threatening heat waves in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. has broken more than 2,000 high temperature records in the past month, and it looks like July will be the hottest month on Earth since scientists have kept records.
Again, thank you, Heather. You write what every newspaper, tv news channel, and pundits should be reporting. Instead, they continue to harp on such things as Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s age and poll numbers, and the useless rants of Congressional Republicans. They don’t speak of how well our economy is doing under Joe, or his efforts to help all Americans, or to address climate change, gun control, and oh so much more. Joe is doing a miraculous job given the severe headwinds of MAGA politicians and the incompetent media.
Thank you for always reminding us of the important things happening in our country and world.
I've been keenly interested in climate change for two decades and have read a lot on the subject. Among the hundreds if not thousands of models, those predicting dire outcomes have proved the most accurate. Yet as a nation we are mostly blind to the scope of what's happening at a rapidly accelerating rate. And far worse is yet to come, barring overwhelming corrective action or scientific breakthroughs to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Republicans are now indirectly advocating death and suffering on a massive scale. This is not hyperbole. Let's hope the Democrats become much more bold in confronting what increasingly looks to be an existential threat.
We have hit the climate tipping point visible on both the global and intimately local scale. I have lived in my home for 45+ years and enjoyed the presence of a beautiful brook that drew wildlife and provided a comforting susurration to my outdoor time. The brook now floods with every thunderstorm, its banks scoured and widened, its gentle curves eroded, the huge oaks on its banks leaning and dying, tangles of denuded roots visible. Its whispering has been silenced as its flow has morphed into stagnant puddles between storms. Dead ash trees, killed by invading borers, have naked branches raised in supplication. The herd of deer are gone, ravaged by a gnat-born disease. There are no butterflies and only a pathetic few lightning bugs left, no longer making summer nights magical. Rampant wisteria are choking out much of the native species.
The earth, my earth, is no longer recognizable except in dreams.
I was recently in France and I met up with my cousin who lives in Toulouse. We haven’t seen each other in 5 years, so lots of catching up. In the course of our conversation, I mentioned that my car was 23 years old, she said that in France, the government requires that everyone drive an electric or a hybrid car. And no one can have a car as old as mine.
All of France is like this. Cars are banned from central Paris. Bike lanes everywhere.
Food is fresh, portions are smaller, buses and trucks are not gasoline-powered. Everybody recycles. Food markets don’t have vast arrays of processed foods, bags and bags of chips and snacks, sugary drinks—just fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, cheeses, wines, staples. Very, very little processed food.
Houses aren’t 10,000 square feet for 2 people. People have just what they need. No more, no less. No overconsumption, no excess. The US would do well to take Europe’s example.
Not perfect, by any means. But we cannot keep going on the way we are, for that will surely end in disaster.
The combination of greed and willful ignorance are killing the planet. Just as tobacco companies did all they could to delay, confuse, and undermine studies related to the correlation of cancer and respiratory illness to product use, Big Oil and Coal use the same playbook. While tobacco companies diminished the quality and length of life on an individual basis, the fossil fuels industry are accomplishing the same at a global/societal scale.
As the American political system has been subverted by the corrupting influence of lobbyist money, societal imperatives such as climate action, healthcare, gun violence prevention, wealth inequality, and education are stymied by corrupt politicians, and of course, certain members of the U.S. Supreme Court and their spouses.
At a time the country must embrace a core of facts, evidence, science, and reason, 40% of the country seek to abandon democracy, knowingly or not. I work to help all people understand what is happening and why with hope that people will stop clinging to Fox News talking points before it becomes too late for the next generation and generations yet to come.
As always with gratitude to Heather Cox Richardson and the Letters.
Professor Ian Lowe of Australia’s Griffith University told The Guardian that he recalled reading the 1985 report that identified the link between greenhouse gasses and climate change, and worked to draw public attention to it. “Now all the projected changes are happening,” he said. “I reflect on how much needless environmental damage and human suffering will result from the work of those politicians, business leaders and public figures who have prevented concerted action. History will judge them very harshly.”
The bigger problem is that these changes are accelerating, likely resulting in the fact that there will be no human history to record the judgement.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. Fifty years ago, I was living in Maine, and wound up with a job in the High Arctic, with the US National Weather Service. I have seen, firsthand, in my lifetime, the catastrophic effects of human and industrial activity. The damage at higher latitudes is now extending to lower latitudes where most of humanity lives. I am not optimistic. The only answer IMHO is a drastic reduction in the earth’s human population. I pray that natural processes (reduced fertility, lower rates of marriage etc) will produce that result. The only other alternatives are far more painful. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is a fossil. Unhappily, it is turning America into a fossil as well. Unless Americans can reject this new Know-Nothingism, we deserve our fate.
The ocean circulation disruption is ominous. It is just one of a slew of specific tipping points that are MODELED to occur sequentially as temperatures continue to rise. When one reads what they are, the scary scenarios makes sense, and made even more scary when one realizes that those models have been more right than wrong. A good layman's summary is provided in the following link:
Of course the models have a range of uncertainty that we should endeavor to resolve with more detailed data (for instance a global grid of measurements of ocean temperatures, currents, and salinity). However, there is enough technical knowledge upon which we could act now. Biden's policies support just that (though I would add more nuclear power). That the Republicans are resisting and promising to dismantle efforts to curb human'-caused climate change is stupid snd criminal. And hopefully toxic to their chances for election success...
Actually we knew about climate change back in the 70’s and the Carter Administration took it seriously at a time where we could do something about it. Reaction to this brought on the Regan Revolution...where a McCarthyism approach to science and facts started the NYT Sunday edition in 2018 covered this. I don’t have it handy but should be read by all. Thanks Heather!!!
Mike Pence is typical of the fundamentalist Christians. They believe what they believe and don't bother them with facts. I first learned about the beginnings of global warming in an ecology class in 1970, at that time the professor "thought" we would have at least 100 years to fix 'things'. Now, 50 years later, from what I read, we may already have passed to point of no return. Some people argue, well we deserve what we get as we have only ourselves to blame. But that isn't true. We are taking down millions of other organisms with us. We used to joke in biology about cockroaches surviving anything. Well I hope they suddenly develop intelligence. But then again we are the most intelligent species to evolve so far and we certainly haven't used that intelligence well.
I'm normally not a militant person, but I wish thunderbolts and lightning would strike down those obstinate and incorrigible repubs - first tfg was publishing his plans for a dictatorship, now his former sidekick announces that he would do away with the EPA and other urgently needed remedies Biden has announced which are dealing with climate change. Obviously, these stupid people don't see or feel the heat that's building up across the globe, while they are sitting in their airconditioned super yachts. I trust that Nature will take revenge on them first, and that the younger generation will not tolerate this nonsense to become reality.
This was a hard read…it brought back so many memories. Back in the late 60’s my then husband and I did a pinky-swear to be child-free given a long planetary/humanitary view we held. We kept our promise. Being acutely concerned about this for so many decades, but feeling powerless to effect change on my efforts alone (did them anyway), discussing this with others they often shut me down as being too depressing, or not the right moment, too scary, etc. Thing is, and I’ve long known this, until the “ruling class” (corporations/business interests/governments) step up BIG TIME, nothing will change. We are seeing the prelude to the big show that is unfolding and many (big exception to ostriches who still hide) are starting to wake up (um, “woke”??) to how this will affect THEM and their loved ones. Seems to me there will be, really, no place to hide from this. Humans, despite our incredible gifts, have descended like a swarm of locusts upon the earth to feast….not, I think, intending to ravage it…but will nonetheless.
"Professor Ian Lowe of Australia’s Griffith University told The Guardian that he recalled reading the 1985 report that identified the link between greenhouse gasses and climate change, and worked to draw public attention to it. “
The problem is how most of us process risk: actual v. perceived.
Unless and until it's a problem in our daily lives, most of us don't perceive these things to be an actual risk. Once we get forest fires kind of flood and oppressive heat all of a sudden. It's a problem period but it's not a crisis.
The crisis, if there is one, has to do with human inability to accurately perceive, analyze and mitigate risk period
The Republicans in Congress should have a junket to discuss climate change and show it is just a hoax. The perfect place is Death Valley. They could even do it night when it is cooler. No A/C.
Again, thank you, Heather. You write what every newspaper, tv news channel, and pundits should be reporting. Instead, they continue to harp on such things as Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s age and poll numbers, and the useless rants of Congressional Republicans. They don’t speak of how well our economy is doing under Joe, or his efforts to help all Americans, or to address climate change, gun control, and oh so much more. Joe is doing a miraculous job given the severe headwinds of MAGA politicians and the incompetent media.
Thank you for always reminding us of the important things happening in our country and world.
I've been keenly interested in climate change for two decades and have read a lot on the subject. Among the hundreds if not thousands of models, those predicting dire outcomes have proved the most accurate. Yet as a nation we are mostly blind to the scope of what's happening at a rapidly accelerating rate. And far worse is yet to come, barring overwhelming corrective action or scientific breakthroughs to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Republicans are now indirectly advocating death and suffering on a massive scale. This is not hyperbole. Let's hope the Democrats become much more bold in confronting what increasingly looks to be an existential threat.
We have hit the climate tipping point visible on both the global and intimately local scale. I have lived in my home for 45+ years and enjoyed the presence of a beautiful brook that drew wildlife and provided a comforting susurration to my outdoor time. The brook now floods with every thunderstorm, its banks scoured and widened, its gentle curves eroded, the huge oaks on its banks leaning and dying, tangles of denuded roots visible. Its whispering has been silenced as its flow has morphed into stagnant puddles between storms. Dead ash trees, killed by invading borers, have naked branches raised in supplication. The herd of deer are gone, ravaged by a gnat-born disease. There are no butterflies and only a pathetic few lightning bugs left, no longer making summer nights magical. Rampant wisteria are choking out much of the native species.
The earth, my earth, is no longer recognizable except in dreams.
I was recently in France and I met up with my cousin who lives in Toulouse. We haven’t seen each other in 5 years, so lots of catching up. In the course of our conversation, I mentioned that my car was 23 years old, she said that in France, the government requires that everyone drive an electric or a hybrid car. And no one can have a car as old as mine.
All of France is like this. Cars are banned from central Paris. Bike lanes everywhere.
Food is fresh, portions are smaller, buses and trucks are not gasoline-powered. Everybody recycles. Food markets don’t have vast arrays of processed foods, bags and bags of chips and snacks, sugary drinks—just fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, cheeses, wines, staples. Very, very little processed food.
Houses aren’t 10,000 square feet for 2 people. People have just what they need. No more, no less. No overconsumption, no excess. The US would do well to take Europe’s example.
Not perfect, by any means. But we cannot keep going on the way we are, for that will surely end in disaster.
The combination of greed and willful ignorance are killing the planet. Just as tobacco companies did all they could to delay, confuse, and undermine studies related to the correlation of cancer and respiratory illness to product use, Big Oil and Coal use the same playbook. While tobacco companies diminished the quality and length of life on an individual basis, the fossil fuels industry are accomplishing the same at a global/societal scale.
As the American political system has been subverted by the corrupting influence of lobbyist money, societal imperatives such as climate action, healthcare, gun violence prevention, wealth inequality, and education are stymied by corrupt politicians, and of course, certain members of the U.S. Supreme Court and their spouses.
At a time the country must embrace a core of facts, evidence, science, and reason, 40% of the country seek to abandon democracy, knowingly or not. I work to help all people understand what is happening and why with hope that people will stop clinging to Fox News talking points before it becomes too late for the next generation and generations yet to come.
As always with gratitude to Heather Cox Richardson and the Letters.
Professor Ian Lowe of Australia’s Griffith University told The Guardian that he recalled reading the 1985 report that identified the link between greenhouse gasses and climate change, and worked to draw public attention to it. “Now all the projected changes are happening,” he said. “I reflect on how much needless environmental damage and human suffering will result from the work of those politicians, business leaders and public figures who have prevented concerted action. History will judge them very harshly.”
The bigger problem is that these changes are accelerating, likely resulting in the fact that there will be no human history to record the judgement.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. Fifty years ago, I was living in Maine, and wound up with a job in the High Arctic, with the US National Weather Service. I have seen, firsthand, in my lifetime, the catastrophic effects of human and industrial activity. The damage at higher latitudes is now extending to lower latitudes where most of humanity lives. I am not optimistic. The only answer IMHO is a drastic reduction in the earth’s human population. I pray that natural processes (reduced fertility, lower rates of marriage etc) will produce that result. The only other alternatives are far more painful. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is a fossil. Unhappily, it is turning America into a fossil as well. Unless Americans can reject this new Know-Nothingism, we deserve our fate.
The ocean circulation disruption is ominous. It is just one of a slew of specific tipping points that are MODELED to occur sequentially as temperatures continue to rise. When one reads what they are, the scary scenarios makes sense, and made even more scary when one realizes that those models have been more right than wrong. A good layman's summary is provided in the following link:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/08/world-on-brink-five-climate-tipping-points-study-finds (the 5 tipping points are what could happen in our lifetimes. Many more are listed.)
Of course the models have a range of uncertainty that we should endeavor to resolve with more detailed data (for instance a global grid of measurements of ocean temperatures, currents, and salinity). However, there is enough technical knowledge upon which we could act now. Biden's policies support just that (though I would add more nuclear power). That the Republicans are resisting and promising to dismantle efforts to curb human'-caused climate change is stupid snd criminal. And hopefully toxic to their chances for election success...
Actually we knew about climate change back in the 70’s and the Carter Administration took it seriously at a time where we could do something about it. Reaction to this brought on the Regan Revolution...where a McCarthyism approach to science and facts started the NYT Sunday edition in 2018 covered this. I don’t have it handy but should be read by all. Thanks Heather!!!
Mike Pence is typical of the fundamentalist Christians. They believe what they believe and don't bother them with facts. I first learned about the beginnings of global warming in an ecology class in 1970, at that time the professor "thought" we would have at least 100 years to fix 'things'. Now, 50 years later, from what I read, we may already have passed to point of no return. Some people argue, well we deserve what we get as we have only ourselves to blame. But that isn't true. We are taking down millions of other organisms with us. We used to joke in biology about cockroaches surviving anything. Well I hope they suddenly develop intelligence. But then again we are the most intelligent species to evolve so far and we certainly haven't used that intelligence well.
I'm normally not a militant person, but I wish thunderbolts and lightning would strike down those obstinate and incorrigible repubs - first tfg was publishing his plans for a dictatorship, now his former sidekick announces that he would do away with the EPA and other urgently needed remedies Biden has announced which are dealing with climate change. Obviously, these stupid people don't see or feel the heat that's building up across the globe, while they are sitting in their airconditioned super yachts. I trust that Nature will take revenge on them first, and that the younger generation will not tolerate this nonsense to become reality.
This was a hard read…it brought back so many memories. Back in the late 60’s my then husband and I did a pinky-swear to be child-free given a long planetary/humanitary view we held. We kept our promise. Being acutely concerned about this for so many decades, but feeling powerless to effect change on my efforts alone (did them anyway), discussing this with others they often shut me down as being too depressing, or not the right moment, too scary, etc. Thing is, and I’ve long known this, until the “ruling class” (corporations/business interests/governments) step up BIG TIME, nothing will change. We are seeing the prelude to the big show that is unfolding and many (big exception to ostriches who still hide) are starting to wake up (um, “woke”??) to how this will affect THEM and their loved ones. Seems to me there will be, really, no place to hide from this. Humans, despite our incredible gifts, have descended like a swarm of locusts upon the earth to feast….not, I think, intending to ravage it…but will nonetheless.
"Professor Ian Lowe of Australia’s Griffith University told The Guardian that he recalled reading the 1985 report that identified the link between greenhouse gasses and climate change, and worked to draw public attention to it. “
The problem is how most of us process risk: actual v. perceived.
Unless and until it's a problem in our daily lives, most of us don't perceive these things to be an actual risk. Once we get forest fires kind of flood and oppressive heat all of a sudden. It's a problem period but it's not a crisis.
The crisis, if there is one, has to do with human inability to accurately perceive, analyze and mitigate risk period
Thank you Heather for your daily gift of news and knowledge. I have learned so much from you over the years !
The Republicans in Congress should have a junket to discuss climate change and show it is just a hoax. The perfect place is Death Valley. They could even do it night when it is cooler. No A/C.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2382959-death-valley-may-have-just-had-the-hottest-recorded-midnight-ever/
It was ONLY 120°F.
a simple but very heartfelt thank you. For this letter and all the others that have come before it.