Dear friends,
One of the many casualties of US politics is that the news of the moment easily eclipses the bigger picture. Never mind that there is so much news at every moment.
Of course, the bigger picture is that the US set a record last year for costly and destructive climate disasters, with 28 events, each of which exceeded more than $1 billion in damage.
The problem, of course, is not just the destruction of homes and infrastructure. Save the Children estimates that, worldwide, more than 12,000 people lost their lives last year in climate disasters, including floods, wildfires, cyclones, storms, and landslides.
We are no longer impressed by 12,000 people dying. Israeli forces have killed roughly twice as many people in Gaza since October 7, a daily death toll that exceeds that of all major conflicts during this century. In the four weeks, about 6,000 people have died from Covid in the US alone..
Meanwhile, the calculations of record global heating in 2023, vary from 1.35C - 1.54C hotter on average than the pre-industrial era, depending on which methodology is used. The lowest calculation is from NOAA, the highest is from Berkeley Earth, and EU scientists came out with 1.48C.
The important point of agreement is that, as António Guterres, secretary general of the UN, said
“Humanity’s actions are scorching the earth. We must respond to record-breaking temperature rises with path-breaking action.”
At the most recent Republican debate, Nikki Haley promised to end subsidies for renewable energy. Both candidates blamed China for climate change and DeSantis promised more natural gas development. Fun fact: Florida was the only state to reject hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to reduce tailpipe emissions last year.
Path-breaking action is going to require collective relentlessness. Let’s start with public comments on a new US Forest Service rule to protect old trees.
Tell the US Forest Service to protect old-growth trees and mature trees in national forests that accumulate and store enormous amounts of carbon. This action is from EarthJustice. Personalize the message!
Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni American assistant professor at Michigan State University, explained the Houthi’s objectives:
[T]hey have repeatedly said that all of these attacks toward these ships that are either Israeli or going towards Israel will stop once the Israelis stop their war on Gaza, and specifically, actually, preventing the food and medicine from entering Gaza — so, essentially using a naval blockade in the Red Sea to prevent the blockade against civilians in Gaza.
This suggests to me that there was a much more effective way of ending the Houthi attacks on shipping, which would also achieve a more admirable aim than protecting products.
The Houthi movement’s rhetoric is pretty upsetting:
“God is the Greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A curse upon the Jews.”
That said, my understanding of the Houthi people and their history is very minimal and they are likely to have complex motives.
Still, one can reasonably object to an expanded war and particularly to pursuing a military resolution to the shipping crisis in the Red Sea; withholding aid and arms sales from Israel would likely be more effective. It would certainly be less deadly than supplying the Israeli war machine.
A recent essay, The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored, reminded me of yet another compelling reason to demand an end to war:
If all of the military forces on earth were a single nation, its emissions would place it fourth in the world, after China, the US, and India.
Tell the president that an expanded war will create more problems than it would solve.
For the past 25 years, Congress has fully funded the WIC program, enabling states to provide benefits to every eligible applicant. But now, Republicans do not want to fund the program that benefits “roughly half of all infants born in the United States.”
Tell Congress to protect WIC funding. This quick action is from Moms Rising.
I was planning to write about the city budget, but it is already late. More on this soon.
with love,
L