NRDC

Why We Resist The Truth About Climate Change

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While I’m away on a canoe trip this week, I will be posting articles from the 350orbust archives. This was first published in June, 2010.

Via “Nothing New Under The Sun“:

“Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. When the facts are distressing it is easier to reframe or ignore them. Around the world only a few have truly faced up to the facts about global warming. Apart from the climate ‘sceptics’, most people do not disbelieve what the climate scientists have been saying about the calamities expected to befall us. But accepting intellectually is not the same as accepting emotionally the possibility that the world as we know it is heading for a horrible end. It’s the same with our own deaths; we all ‘accept’ that we will die, but it is only when death is imminent that we confront the true meaning of our mortality.”

– Clive Hamilton, Requiem for a Species: why we resist the truth about climate change (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2010), viii.

These are the opening words of Hamilton’s new book. In case you hadn’t picked it up from the title, it’s no exercise in optimism. Hamilton believes that we have largely missed our opportunity to respond in time to climate change and now all we can do is minimise the damage and salvage what we can. However, reaching that conclusion involves a willingness to face the full scale of the threat rather than watering it down through a variety of coping mechanisms. (To read the rest of Byron Smith’s article, go to Nothing New Under The Sun.)

Another reason it is difficult for those of us in North America to face the truth about climate change is that our system is working desperately to save the old way.  Big Oil and Gas want to keep us either in denial or overwhelmed by this issue. The result of both is the same –  inaction. That’s why ads like the following from Natural Resource Defense Council are important. They start to lift the veil of denial and addiction we are struggling under:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJZbsRYQpY&feature=player_embedded]

To take action on climate change, go to my “Action not Apathy” page for some steps to take.  Even baby steps in the right direction are better than continuing down the wrong path.

Yours Truly, BP: The Legacy of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster

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The NRDC’s recent report on water quality at vacation beaches highlights the continuing legacy of the BP Gulf oil disaster, which killed 11 workers and spewed  approximately 170 million gallons of oil and released 200,000 metric tons of methane gas into Gulf waters, affecting approximately 1,000 miles of shoreline.

The report, “Testing the Waters: A Guide To Water Quality At Vacation Beaches”, states:

More than a year later, a sorry legacy of enduring damage, people wronged, and a region scarred remains. As of the end of January, 83 miles of shoreline remained heavily or moderately oiled, and tar balls and weathered oil continue to wash ashore.

…many beaches in the region have issued oil spill advisories, closures, and notices since April of last year. As of June 15, 2011 there have been a total of 9,474 days of oil-related beach notices, advisories, and closures at Gulf Coast beaches since the spill. Louisiana has been hit the hardest, with 3,420 days as of June 15, 2011, in that state, while there were 2,245 days as of June 15, 2011, in Florida, 2,148 days in Mississippi, and 1,661 days in Alabama. State and local officials took these actions in response to oil on beaches and in coastal waters because exposure to this oil can cause a variety of adverse human health effects, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, eye, throat or skin irritation, difficulty breathing, and even increased cancer or neurological risks for long-term exposure.

While most of the advisories, closures, and notices that were issued last year due to the oil spill were lifted by the end of the year, cleanup crews are still at work. And the spill is still interfering with trips to the beach as oil continues to wash ashore at Gulf Coast beaches in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi. As of June 15, 2011, four beach segments in Louisiana that have been closed since the spill have yet to open, and three beaches in Florida have remained under oil spill notice. Besides being a beloved source of recreation for local residents, tourism at these beaches is an important part of the region’s economy. In 2004 alone, ocean tourism and recreation contributed approximately $15.4 billion to the GDP of the five Gulf states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas), so revenue lost from oil spill beach action days could be significant.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbZe43pTC8]

More links:

NRDC: Gulfspill

Stories from the Gulf: Living With The BP Oil Disaster

BP Is Creepy: NRDC Issues Damning Water Quality Report on Gulf Beaches One Year After Oil Disaster

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The NRDC released its annual “Testing the Waters: A Guide To Water Quality At Vacation Beaches” report last week, which included a special section dedicated to oil-related closures, advisories and notices in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil disaster last year. The report said, in part:

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and sparking the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Over the course of two months, approximately 170 million gallons of oil and 200,000 metric tons of methane gas gushed into Gulf waters, affecting approximately 1,000 miles of shoreline.1 More than a year later, a sorry legacy of enduring damage, people wronged, and a region scarred remains. As of the end of January, 83 miles of shoreline remained heavily or moderately oiled, and tar balls and weathered oil continue to wash ashore.

America’s favorite “Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet”, The Kinsey Sicks, have come out with their own more satirical take on BP in this video, BP Is Creepy:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C90DVNVORw&NR=1&feature=fvwp]

*thanks to Cheryl McNamara for sharing this link*

More links:

NRDC’s Report, Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality At Vacation Beaches

BP Finds Success In Report About Its Failure

The Kinsey Sicks

Global Climate Disruption is Here

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Here in Canada, Newfoundland is still recovering from last week’s Hurricane Igor, which brought never-before-seen destruction to its Bonavista and Burin Peninsulas. Following that severe weather event, the central coast of British Columbia was hit with severe rains that have caused mudslides, cut off communities, and destroyed roads and bridges.

90-year-old Carrie Ricketts from Knight’s Cove Newfoundland said, after being stranded by Igor, that she’s never seen anything like this. Her daughter told CBC news:

“When I heard her voice cracking on the phone and she said to me, ‘Winnie if you saw the devastation, ah, you wouldn’t believe it.’ So, she is being shaken now to her roots.”

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Steven Waugh, Emergency Program Coordinator for the Central Coast Region, said:

“It was shocking, absolutely shocking, how much water has come down here in such a short period of time.”

This video from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sums up the global climate disruption that is going on right now:

We have to believe what we are witnessing with our own eyes — floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat. From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan, to soaring temperatures in the US and a deteriorating landscape in the High Arctic, our planet seems to be having a breakdown. It’s not just a portent of things to come but real signs of very troubling climate change already under way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG41xDxrzI8&feature=player_embedded]

Please join with those of us that are taking action to protect our planet – it’s the only one we have. The movement is growing; just this week, over 100 people were arrested in front of the White House yesterday, after gathering to call on the Obama administration to abolish mountaintop removal mining. Among the people arrested is Dr. James Hansen, NASA scientist whose knowledge of the threat of climate change has prompted him to become an activist.

Need some ideas and inspiration? It’s not too late to get involved in the global 10/10/10 work party in your community. Go to 350.org for more on this amazing global movement.

More links:

National Resource Defense Council

FourYearsGo.org

Coalition of the Willing

Appalachiarising.org

On Facing The Truth About Climate Change

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Via “Nothing New Under The Sun“:

“Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. When the facts are distressing it is easier to reframe or ignore them. Around the world only a few have truly faced up to the facts about global warming. Apart from the climate ‘sceptics’, most people do not disbelieve what the climate scientists have been saying about the calamities expected to befall us. But accepting intellectually is not the same as accepting emotionally the possibility that the world as we know it is heading for a horrible end. It’s the same with our own deaths; we all ‘accept’ that we will die, but it is only when death is imminent that we confront the true meaning of our mortality.”

– Clive Hamilton, Requiem for a Species: why we resist the truth
about climate change (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2010), viii.

These are the opening words of Hamilton’s new book. In case you hadn’t picked it up from the title, it’s no exercise in optimism. Hamilton believes that we have largely missed our opportunity to respond in time to climate change and now all we can do is minimise the damage and salvage what we can. However, reaching that conclusion involves a willingness to face the full scale of the threat rather than watering it down through a variety of coping mechanisms. (Click here to read the rest of Byron Smith’s article on his blog.)

Another reason it is difficult for those of us in North America to face the truth about climate change is that our system is working desperately to save the old way.  Big Oil and Gas want to keep us either in denial or overwhelmed by this issue. The result of both is the same –  inaction. That’s why ads like the following from Natural Resource Defense Council are important. They start to lift the veil of denial and addiction we are struggling under:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJZbsRYQpY&feature=player_embedded]

To take action on climate change, go to my “Action not Apathy” page for some steps to take.  Even baby steps in the right direction are better than continuing down the wrong path.