A LOT of developments are emerging around the climate issue – a nonviolent insurgency, offensive and defensive fossil fuel divestment efforts, insurance industry responses, new forms of agriculture, dark humor, a cross country march, municipal preparedness, US administration actions, and more. I also encourage action on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, currently being negotiated in secret and very dangerous to democracy and climate action.
Dear friends,
There’s so much change happening around the climate issue, in the climate movement, and in various sectors affected by climate impacts that we could describe it all as an awakening, a radicalization, perhaps even a speeding up of evolution. The several articles I’ve included below are only a sampling of what’s going on – and here’s a quick summary of what they see and say:
Kopimism – Christian Engström: Today is the midwinter solstice, and a fitting day to present a Kopimist Gospel. Kopimism is a new religion for atheists, agnostics, and believers in other religions who want a new perspective on their current faith.
Kopimism takes its starting point in the evolution of life on Earth, and embraces the scientific description of the world. But science alone does not tell the whole truth about this fantastic universe. Kopimism adds meaning and purpose to the scientific description of evolution, while still respecting science.
Here we see the rancid truth behind the climate denier movement which has put the Earth at risk. This is what the Rightists on the Supreme Court have in large measure made possible through Citizens United. A tiny group of Rightists are literally putting the planet at risk to assure their profits. It is completely insane. Click through to see the chart that helps explain this story.
Can you imagine anything more clearly demonstrating the primacy in the Illness Profit System of profit over wellness? We don't even demand that the advertising promoting drugs be honest and accurate.
A Majority of TV Drug Ads Make Misleading or False Claims, Study Finds
SUSAN PERRY – Minnpost
Our social processes are not working. In every way that we can measure we, as a country, are not well and we are getting worse because so many of us are poor, aging, out-of-work, or all three. Wellness is not a national priority, and this is the result. We have to change.
Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America
LEAH SOTTILE – The Atlantic
We have endless money to spend on war, but no funds to assure that our food is safe. Yet another example of how in the U.S. profit for corporate interests trumps wellness. Almost All Raw Chicken in U.S. Contains ‘Worrisome Amounts of Bacteria’
Agence France-Presse (France)/The Raw Story
This has just come out concerning Fukushima. The source is Arnie Gunderson who, to my mind, is one of the few reliable sources on what is going on. As time passes it becomes ever clearer that the story is more horrible than we thought, and the implications for! Japanese national wellness are profound. What it is going to mean for the U.S. is still murky, although the story I did the other day about children in California suggests we are going to have problems. Click through to see the video, which adds depth to the story.
Although more polemic than I would like this piece about the South is based solidly on facts. I am publishing it to illustrate how the Schism Trend is gathering steam and splitting the country.
Here is yet another facet of the Schism Trend. The Red value states in the American South are more violent, more obese, sicker, more Fundamentalist, and on and on. And, now, it is clear that part of the problem is that they are also the least educated. States like Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are increasingly more like developing countries than American states. It is one of the country! 9;s greatest tragedies, and one of the least discussed. This Atlantic piece is heartbreaking, and this trend just becomes more intense year by year. Click through to see the very important maps that illustrate this story.
The central fact is that there exists great uncertainty about the long-term dynamics of the global climate system. This fact, however, is not reflected in the partisan positions of either side in the highly-charged political debate over climate change.
The recently published IPCC report (AR5) raised a host of questions relating to how AR5 dealt with changes in the its ECS/TSR estimates from those of preceding report (AR4). Attached below is a very informative, critical analysis of these questions. It was prepared by Nic Lewis, an independent climate scientist, based in the UK, and a well known but respected skeptic of the consensus position.
The Lewis analysis was prepared in response to questions asked by UK House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. While a Parliamentary request is a political request, Lewis's response in grounded in science and is apolitical. His reasoning and assumptions of open to critical examination by anyone who chooses to do so. If Lewis is correct, his is a devastating critique of the state of art understanding of sensitivity question — which I reiterate, is at the heart of the entire debate of mankind's effect on the global climate.
