Sad view from yesterday’s city walk: four cut-down trees, their stumps invoking #ClimateGrief in me… and yet, there is a strange beauty in this loss: admiration of the trees’ age, bright orange color, memory of their strength still lurking… and perverse wish for the VENGEANCE to be cast on those who wielded such destruction! #climateDiary#Amsterdam
Well, they’re officially not testing N.S. lake #ice thickness for skating safety anymore. This makes sense, since we know exactly what results we’d have to expect, probably forever.
When I was growing up in the Halifax area, it was rare for the ground to thaw between January and mid-March, and it wasn’t unusual to have a week or two of ice strong enough to carry you straight across lakes and through networks of canals.
I remember having “Ice Parades”, where we would build snow floats on our sleds during Winter Carnival and skate around the lake with them in tow.
As a child, I associated the smell of wet earth from the finally-thawing ground with March Break and Easter. January and February air had a crisp, brittle edge, and seemed meant to purify the ground for the coming season.
Smelling wet ground this time of year is bewildering and disarming.
What really makes me angry and desperate in this time of multiple crises is the fact that even the "moderate" parties here in #Germany prefer to badmouth each other or blow up niche issues to the maximum instead of working together on solutions to the real problems.
Peter Kalmus is a climate scientist who thinks civilization is on the path to break down, the Biden administration is clueless on climate, and that he might get fired from his job at NASA if he is arrested for a third time protesting what he views as downright madness: the continued use of fossil fuels. NBC News tells us how Kalmus copes with climate grief. https://flip.it/SXXBdt #Science#ClimateChange#ClimateGrief
Interesting interview with James Bridle on AI and other non-human intelligence, rethinking the computer, the illusion of humanity's emancipation from the environment, ecological technology and rebuilding agency in response to climate trauma and grief.
#ClimateDiary Normally I avoid reading things about #ClimateAnxiety or #ClimateGrief (maybe a form of denial?) but I did read this and am glad I did. All three tips spot on:
Build social cohesion, to help your community weather adversity
Dispel the silence about climate crisis with open discussion
Stay abreast of international issues and apply what you learn locally
It’s spurred me on to do more of all three! #ClimateAction
Online event for #PhD students offered by #Roskilde University: "Doing a PhD Whilst the House is on Fire. How to navigate academic development at a time of unprecedented crisis"
Date: 7th of November 2023 from 13.00 - 16.00 (CET)
It is 2007 or 2008. I am walking in one of the university buildings and there is a poster advertising a new seminar on climate change. It says something on the lines of "if we keep walking in the direction we are going, we'll arrive to the place where we are going".
Now it's 2023. October. I'm walking on a trail watching the leaves fall from the trees. But instead of the cold and crisp autumn air, I'm sweating, and the weather forecast projects 82F (28C). Just 5 days ago it was 64F (18C). Abrupt temperature changes like that are though for me and I go through the day in a haze and with a mild headache.
Systems have ways to keep themselves stable, but can also go through rapid transitions as they look for the next stable point. This year, more than others, I'm having the nagging feeling that something has tipped. The nagging feeling that we have arrived to where we were going.
I found wisdom in your thought. Sometimes gems need just a bit of polishing.
Yes, we're not ready.
At first I thought maybe you were thinking on a specific mitigation or adaptation strategy. But I agree that "readiness" in that regard may not be a useful concept.
Now that you bring up "emotional readiness", I may know what you mean. When I first became aware of the magnitude and consequences of climate change, while also learning about the entrenched role that fossil fuels have in our lives, and also seeing first hand the destruction of ecosystems that were close and meaningful for me... it was too overwhelming. It took me almost a decade to feel I could start actively taking steps towards climate action beyond my immediate personal circle.
To your comment I'd like to add, yes, we're not ready. But we can become ready.
We, as humanity, may be in a process of "growing up" where we'll need to have a sober assessment of our situation.
And in this process, it's going to be necessary to openly explore our emotions, so that we can feel the readiness that will help us do what is necessary.
I never thought I'd had so many different hashtags in a post! My apologies for spamming you all! But the #ClimateEmergency may truly be a #AllHandsOnDeck situation.
"Instead, if we accept the reality of #ClimateBreakdown, we have a chance to make amends and save as much of the natural world as possible while we still have a relatively intact society with the social order to get things done. Think orderly descent — powering down the global enterprise."
It's not the death of our hopes and dreams. It's the fact that we're not allowed to grieve it and move on. Imagine trying to grieve the loss of a friend or a parent when half of everyone you know won't even admit they're dead. Imagine you're stuck in a real-life version of Weekend at Bernie's.
Well, on the principle that you should post like no-one is reading, I only today found the annual stats on my blog sterna paradisaea.net.
Clearly that's not a massive reach but a huge majority of this year's views have apparently been sent from mastodon so thank you again for reading. It's definitely motivation to keep posting...
"What amount of warming puts Greenland into irreversible loss? That's what will destroy all the coastal cities on earth. The answer is between 2 and 3 degrees."
A nice article on #ClimateGrief and the guy who said we are f*ed
dear #ClimateDiary this post https://hachyderm.io/@edsuom/110913820661600680 made me think about #ClimateGrief and how reading other peoples thoughts here helps me process that feeling that I had seasons with snow and my kids will have seasons with fire.
and how I am so unprepared to teach them what they will need to know.
just trying to build memories of outdoor activities now - while we still can.