Eaarth Feels

“We live in one way, and we think in another. We learn to think in parallel. It’s a skill, an art of living.” Dr Kari Marie Norgaard drills down into why people with knowledge about the devastating effects of climate change often fail to act on that knowledge. This article, published on The MIT Press Reader, is excerpted from Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, and Everyday Life. Dr Norgaard teaches sociology at the University of Oregon.

Happy 85th Birthday to Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, whose  dedication towards the environment has not dimmed in seven decades! *read with author's permission*

Black Lives Matter prepared for this current moment in key ways, and the united power of many movements should join to take on the system. In this article published on Waging Nonviolence, retired Quaker college professor, writer, sociologist, and activist George Lakey, discusses the importance for social justice movements, including the climate movement, to learn from the success and organization of Black Lives Matter. It's time, Lakey says, for these movements to step out of their silos and unite in a coalition that will create the better future we all want.

As we watch our current United States environmental policies be dismantled one by one, it is apparent that simple adjustments to consumer behavior are not enough turn the tide of climate chaos.  Linda Poppenheimer illustrates that through the Super Power of our Vote positive systemic change is possible. 

"Like many young climate scientists, I came to graduate school because I have a passion for science and because I want to use what I learn to help society mitigate and adapt to the dangerous impacts of climate change. Instead of contributing, however, my work had been incorporated into a discourse that demonizes both the scientific consensus on climate change and the scientists who publicly speak out to defend it." In this article published on EOS.org, graduate student Lucas Vargas Zeppetello shares his personal experience of having his climate science work intentionally misrepresented online, and what he learned from it.  

Written shortly after the USA 2016 election, Melissa Wadsworth's heartfelt newsletter resonates even more amidst current social upheaval. In these times, as we are all called to use our collective power to make the necessary changes for humanity to survive, Melissa reminds us of the beauty of each individual soul's passion and suggests that our greatest power lies in our diversity, working in collaboration.

"If this new world we're building is one in which you can have your climate action and your bigotry too, I don’t see a place for myself in it." In this article posted on DrilledNews.com, writer and Hot Take co-host Mary Annaïse Heglar reminds us that the roots of the climate crisis lie in economic and social exploitation. We ignore the interconnection between climate action and social justice at our peril.

Climate Reality Leadership Training training was created by Vice President Al Gore working with world-renowned scientists and communicators to teach about the climate crisis and how together we can solve it. Christine and Rose both attended this three day training in Toronto in July 2015, where sustainability and renewable energy expert Jenn Wood served as Rose's mentor. Jenn joins us today to discuss how this summer's virtual training may help you take the next step on YOUR climate journey.

"This is about choice, not about our capacity to deliver. Each and every ‘black elephant’ is fixable – if we act in time." Choices have consequences. In this post from PaulGilding.com, Mr Gilding reminds us that COVID-19 was not a singular, unexpected event. Rather, a global pandemic, along with the climate emergency, ecosystem collapse, growing inequality, and other crises, are issues that our political and business leaders have been warned about but so far have chosen to ignore. Author, social entrepreneur, & advocate Paul Gilding is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

As parents we see the catastrophe of climate change looming on the horizon. Yet we may feel overwhelmed as non-scientists to provide truth to our children about what lies ahead. How do we look our kids in the eye and answer their questions with facts and  a sense of urgency while instilling hope for their future? Harriet Shugarman, who founded Climate Mama in 2009 as a way to connect with other parents about global warming, has a conversation with Christine and Rose about her new book, "How To Talk To Your Kids About Climate Change: Turning Angst into Action" as well as what motivates her as a climate activist, and hope and grief. The second of a two-part series.

Earth Day 2020 celebrated its 50th anniversary during the Covid-19 lock down. In this essay Maya Mailer shares her thoughts on the the pandemic as a mom to three kids, muses about the inequities of our coronavirus experiences and asks if just perhaps we are glimpsing alternative realities of a more just future for our children.

As parents we see the catastrophe of climate change looming on the horizon. Yet we may feel overwhelmed as non-scientists to provide truth to our children about what lies ahead. How do we look our kids in the eye and answer their questions with facts and  a sense of urgency while instilling hope for their future? Harriet Shugarman, who founded Climate Mama in 2009 as a way to connect with other parents about global warming, has a conversation with Christine and Rose about her new book, "How To Talk To Your Kids About Climate Change: Turning Angst into Action" as well as what motivates her as a climate activist, and hope and grief. The first of a two-part series.

As we find ourselves poised between two worlds, ruminating on what reality will look like once we emerge from this pandemic, Petra Lentz-Snow shares her learning experience in THRESHOLD from her May 3 School of Lost Borders newsletter.  Can we listen to what this "Space in Between Stories" has to teach us? Can we apply the learning to make necessary changes to avert  climate crisis?  

Feeling bombarded by conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic? Christine and Rose dive into the topic of stats, data, and facts. They are joined by Graham Saunders, who teaches meteorology and climate-related courses at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay Ontario. Graham does research and writing for several publications about weather, climate, and energy issues, and has a passion for stats. This wide-ranging conversation touches the commonalities between climate change science and the science around pandemics.

Dr Mary Shields writes about healing and spiritual awakening at www.maryshieldsphd.com. This post about the change demanded because of the coronavirus pandemic is equally true about climate change. "For a diamond to be created, there is an immense amount of pressure – pressure over a very long period of time. That pressure, together with high temperatures, causes carbon to transform into one of the strongest substances on earth. A lot of pressing is happening right now: a lot of people are dying. There is a lot of deep suffering. There is a lot of grief throughout the world. There is a lot of letting go. That pressure is not letting up any time soon. Our very structures are dissolving into mush (like the caterpillar in the cocoon). The old way of being is gone."

In this time when conspiracy theories abound, Christine and Rose dive into the topic of stats, data, and facts. They are joined by Graham Saunders, who teaches meteorology and climate-related courses at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay Ontario. Graham does research and writing for several publications about weather, climate, and energy issues, and has a passion for stats. This wide-ranging conversation touches the commonalities between climate change science and the science around pandemics.

Today's BEST IN CLIMATE is written by the Mother/daughter duo Leah and Rachel Schade. In this guest post to her mom's ecoPreacher blog, Rachel Shade, a 16 year Kentucky high school junior is requesting her school board offer climate crisis education and require all students to take a course in climate change to better equip them as adults for their future as adults. Her essay backs her request with examples of school departments currently making such offerings, the benefits of this educational requirement and ways to pay for it.

The recent release of producer Michael Moore's Planet of the Humans has caused an uproar in the environmental community. It skewers clean energy and offers little in the way of climate solutions. Archival footage and dated information have resulted in a damning video essay that fosters hopelessness when the global community needs hope more than ever. Rose and Christine discuss the movie, how propaganda is perpetrated and the responsibility every citizen has to uncover the truth when faced with misinformation.

Today's Best In Climate episode is from Weather Whys, written by Graham Saunders and published on April 23, 2020. Saunders is President of Environment North and author of Gardening in Short Growing Seasons, and researches and teaches northern climate issues. In this post he draws attention to the similarities between climate and pandemic modelling. "It is notable that many features of modelling apply to prediction of future temperatures (and consequences) and what pandemic numbers could result."

Who wants to talk about death? Apparently no one in Western society! The Covid-19 pandemic threatens our very way of life, and is forcing us to face our own mortality in a way that we don't usually need to. How does our unwillingness to talk about the unavoidable fact of death affect our response to the pandemic? Does this refusal keep us from addressing the climate catastrophe that scientists are warning us about? As usual, there is good news, an action tip and a sanity tip shared.