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Thoughts and prayers for those in the Los Angeles Area, and worse yet to come in other areas. Of course, loss of human life, now set at 25, is my main concern. I also asked ChatGPT about property losses and coverage, and it said about 250 billion in “total economic impact,” but only about 30…

I generally look to Australia’s December/January summer weather to guess USA’s July/August summer weather. The New South Wales Australian forecast December 16 was 46 C (about 113 Fahnrenheit) to 47 C (nearly 117 Fahnrenheit) which, if the pattern from recent years holds, means a scorcher for the USA in summer 2025. In a related matter,…

Since I was a world literature/creative writing professor, below is a multiple-choice test: Which one doesn’t fit? A. Santa Claus B. Easter Bunny C. Direct Air Capture (of carbon) D. Tooth Fairy E. Sanity If you chose E, you are correct! Direct Air Capture (of carbon) has been a ridiculous excuse to increase fossil fuel…

Thoughts and prayers for the people of Asheville, North Carolina and  Valencia, Spain due to severe flooding. Gavin Schmidt, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, was interviewed by Elizabeth Kolbert October 10, 2024, in Yale Environment 360, “What’s Causing the Recent Spike in Global Temperatures?”: “We started to…

Ian James’ September 19, 2024 Los Angeles Times article “‘It’s really sad’: River dries up abruptly in Bakersfield, leaving thousands of dead fish” noted Kern River was diverted for crops and storage by the City of Bakersfield, California resulting in “more than 3,000 dead fish.” James added, “California wildlife officials are now investigating whether the…

Johan Rockström said in an Aug 15, 2024 YouTube with 90,789 views in the first day, “The Tipping Points of Climate Change — and Where We Stand | Johan Rockström | TED,” “We are seriously running out of time [before exceeding our ‘remaining carbon budget’ that will trigger more catastrophic effects]. [ . . .…

[This essay first appeared in Dark Mountain: Issue 5, and is used with the author’s permission.] I remember the rocket. The house where I lived in 1972 was about nine line-of-sight miles from Cape Canaveral. On December 7th of that year, in the heart of the night, my family gathered with friends and neighbours to…

Max Bearak’s August 2, 2024 New York Times‘ article with photographs by Nanna Heitmann “Inside the Petrostate [Azerbaijan] Hosting This Year’s Global Climate Negotiations [COP29]” was informative, and many of the 123 comments were interesting, funny, or revealing, but nowhere did I see the main issue now which is “Rate of Change. Rate of Change.…

A professor at one of the colleges where I taught mistook her CD ROM Drive for a cup holder, unaware of the common joke at the time. Her ridiculous move then is like watching global leaders now respond to climate reality. The June 19, 2024 YouTube (published July 31, 2024) “Exceeding Earth’s Safe Limits with…

When I taught in San Diego 23 years, I surfed with my students. I recall an evening a bold one stole my wave, and I said, “If you take my wave again, you will lose 50 points on your next essay!” It worked. It was about using creative nonviolence. Now, thinking how relatively few greedy…