It didn’t feel like World War III was breaking out this week – wasn’t that terrific?- and while I’m sure our American friends aren’t feeling great about the direction their country is heading in (it impacts us all), when you add all the extreme weather events around the globe, and the continuing and escalating barbarity of war, it makes you wonder if we’ll ever work out that the dominant path we’re currently on is guaranteeing absolute hell for all of us?
Now, this won’t be our choice for much longer, and many believe it’s already too late, however, we have two paths open to us right now. One leads to separation and desperation, and even those fighting for it don’t seem to understand it’s going to be a shit show for them too. Of course, I’m referring to the dystopian path.
The other path is global cooperation on a scale never seen before, where we work together, doing everything we can to both get ready for the calamities ahead, and minimize impact. This is the path many believe is naïve or impossible, but if we don’t aim for the best possible outcome, what’s the point?
Whether we like it or not, this is what’s ahead for all of us and sorry to say, there’s no ‘get out of jail’ card on offer – for any of us. That means we must step into this moment and fight for a better future for all life on this planet with all the courage we can muster. We can’t allow ourselves to be crippled by fear, anxiety or depression, because that guarantees we will get what we don’t want.
We can’t give up and say all is lost either. Sure, we might not make it, but I don’t know about you, I’m never going to give up and will try with all my might to make sure the worst outcome in not guaranteed. There are many people like me too, but we don’t have the numbers yet. Will you join us and swell our ranks?
To join us on this path, you need a commitment to do ALL you can do to educate your community, get them taking action, voting for the right kind of leaders (strong men are not the answer if they have no compassion or empathy in case you didn’t know), and fight with all you have for the future of a live-able planet.
There is no single focus or action that is right, it’s a case of all in – replenishing our natural world, reducing our consumption and impact in all ways by at least 70%, getting all the poisons out of our earth, as well as a lot more, while adapting our communities to face the extreme weather events to come. We need to do all this and keep the faith while we’re at it.
Is it an easy task? Not at all. It’s the hardest fight of our lives, but that is where we are, and one thing is sure – the forever wars building up around our planet are definitely not in alignment with this future.
We need peace and cooperation right across the world. We need to acknowledge the systemic shifts that must happen to give us a fighting chance. And we need to do it all at the same time; with a depth of courage and ambition we have never known.
There will be days you’ll think it’s pointless, and you’ve just got to let yourself feel those feelings, then get back to work, because the only way out of the fear and despair so many are feeling, is action. Massive, global action, focused not on maintaining the status quo, but on birthing a new way of living on this world. This is our call. Will you answer it?
Because it’s grim
Probably the biggest news you didn’t hear is this – Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses.
In essence, researchers have discovered a dramatic and unexpected shift in the Southern Ocean, with surface water salinity rising and sea ice in steep decline. Since 2015, Antarctica has lost sea ice equal to the size of Greenland – the largest environmental shift seen anywhere on Earth in the last decades. The Southern Ocean is also getting saltier, and this unexpected change is making the problem worse.
“Saltier surface water allows deep ocean heat to rise more easily, melting sea ice from below. It’s a dangerous feedback loop: Less ice leads to more heat, which leads to even less ice.”
You might have heard of AMOC, now you’ll know SMOC and it’s reversed – Major reversal in ocean circulation detected in the Southern Ocean, with key climate implications | Institut de Ciències del Mar.
Earlier in the week, this story started making the rounds too – Global Warming Is Speeding Up and the World Is Feeling the Effects – The New York Times – and SMOC is probably at the heart of this too, but for now we wait for the scientists to gather more data, so we can work out what it means and expected impacts.
Here’s what the heat escalation looks like. The next leg added won’t be pleasant in regard to impact!
But one thing we do know, is more extreme weather events are coming. Today we heard at least 24 are dead in Texas floods, many of them children attending summer camp. As a parent, my heart aches for these families, as we await the news of how many more perished. This flood grew to 26 feet in 45 minutes, and it’s also an area which has experienced extreme drought, which makes the impacts of floods worse.
We’re seeing the catastrophic heatwaves across Europe, resulting in deaths and wildfires.
- Greece wildfires: mass evacuations as blaze rages near Ierapetra, Crete
- Two dead in Turkey after wildfires ripped through villages and saw 50,000 evacuated as blazes flared in Crete amid Europe’s heatwave hell | Daily Mail Online
- Scorching European heatwave turns deadly in Spain, Italy and France
Then again, why don’t we do something to make it less worse? Yeah Nah: ‘A war of the truth’: Europe’s heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action | Climate crisis | The Guardian.
These images never get old. It’s all happening faster, it was always going to happen faster
Food insecurity and droughts are ramping up, did you notice the alarm bells ringing there? Yeah, me either, but this is happening. Grow a garden!
- More than 80% of UK farmers worried about climate crisis harming livelihood, study finds | Farming | The Guardian
- Recent droughts are ‘slow-moving global catastrophe’ – UN report
- Weatherwatch: how ‘thirstier’ atmosphere is making droughts more severe | Drought | The Guardian
Australia experienced a ‘Bomb Cyclone’ this week – bloody crazy stuff!
Too late?
And David Suzuki thinks we’ve left it too late. Does that mean we give up? No, we can never give up, but one thing we must do is get our heads around what it means and prepare for that. We are not even doing the basics here – ‘It’s too late’: David Suzuki says the fight against climate change is lost – iPolitics.
Is it genocide?
Meanwhile, we keep discussing whether there is a genocide happening in Gaza. If White South Africans have been given visas to live in the US due to genocide, wouldn’t that make it genocide? I don’t know, just thinking out loud here.
Hats off to the Human Rights Council, which issued its latest report, submitted by Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
It lists 48 corporations and institutions, including Palantir Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin, Alphabet Inc., Amazon, International Business Machine Corporation (IBM), Caterpillar Inc., Microsoft Corporation and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), along with banks and financial firms such as Blackrock, insurers, real estate firms and charities, are in violation of international law are making billions from the occupation and the genocide of Palestinians. Of course, the US government has called for Francesca Albanese to be sacked.
The UK looks to be in turmoil and I gotta say, watching Labour in action these last 12 months, they really are leaving the door open to Reform and Farage. A complete disaster for the UK – yes even worse than what it is right now. Jonathan Pie is always on the money – don’t watch if you don’t like swearing.
This story also broke in the UK, and this might not be a perspective you heard. UK lawmakers vote to ban Palestine Action as ‘terrorist’ group | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera
In addition to Palestine Action, the proscription order approved by parliament includes neo-Nazi group Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group which seeks to create a new Russian imperial state.
Al Jazeera’s Veselinovic said lawmakers had felt “boxed in” by the vote, feeling that they had no choice but to proscribe all three organisations.
“If they had voted ‘no’, that would have meant that those two other organisations that they wanted to ban could not have been banned,” she said.
Japan megaquake
At some point, Japan will experience a megaquake, and it is overdue. Will it hit today, this week, this month, in 50 years? Let’s see, but people are certainly taking Ryo Tatsuki’s premonition seriously, with the airports empty – Japan’s megaquake risk: What you need to know and should you still travel there? | CNA Explains
Good news
Anyhoo, I know it’s all horrible out there, so here’s a couple of good stories.
Bravo Malaysia, and the next time someone says: “but what about the dirty rivers in Asia contributing to the plastic waste in our oceans?” Just say two words – Waste Colonialism.
The U.S. Sends Lots of Plastic Trash Overseas. Malaysia Just Said No Thanks. – The New York Times
This is another cool story – The first genome sequenced from ancient Egypt reveals surprising ancestry, scientists say | CNN.
While he didn’t get convicted of all the serious charges, that’s 20 years in jail for Diddy (if Trump doesn’t pardon him) which means he’ll be 75 when he gets out. Possibly too old for freak offs by then? – ‘Diddy’ denied bail after being cleared of most serious charges.
Happy 90th birthday Dalai Lama! A smile that lights up the world. Let’s all take courage from someone who has fought for his right to exist, along with his fellow Tibetans, for his entire life!!
Favorite memes, cartoons, Tweets, etc…
Laura Loomer is a revolting person, but I presume you knew that already!
Indeed!
This, just this. No wonder people are losing hope, but we must fight. This is not OK!!
Poignant no? It feels like a commentary on our “progress”
Vomit!!
Republican Jesus indeed. It’s so bizarre for those of us outside the US
My content and my pals
It was wonderful having Kristof Hayes on The Sh*t Show yesterday. I loved the guinea pig story and please, check out his company list.io to learn more. If you know anyone in farming, pass it on. We’re doing one more show next Friday and then it’s time for a break. So do come and join us.
I published the graphics into a blog 20 tips to build your Social Leadership presence – Andrea T Edwards – please, let’s all step into our voices and drive the global conversation where WE want to take it. We can’t step away. We can’t be quiet. We must be courageous and lead in this time.
Or take some inspiration from Roger Hallam – fighting, even from prison.
Dig into the news
Plenty more to read, listen to or watch, so do click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this platform has articles going back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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