BUT WE ARE ALL MEMBERS OF HER TEAM
(This essay appeared first on my new Substack page, The Optimistic Eye, where every Friday I’ll be highlighting individuals or nonprofits working to protect & advance truth, justice & the planet over the coming years. Some that aren’t too political will be copied here. Or, you’re invited to follow – &/or circulate to anyone you think might be interested – The Optimistic Eye. )
Sunrise over San Francisco Bay (Author photo)
Palm trees and alligators in the Arctic Circle? It could happen (again.)
Planet Earth has made its way through periods of melting glaciers and tropical forests throughout its history, which is generally thought to be about 4.5 billion years – give or take some 50 million. Our human descendants aren’t likely to be around to enjoy this much-revised scenery.
Today’s question is about what scenery our great-great-grandchildren might enjoy.
Preparing to leave office, President Biden recently announced new climate goals; he may have had an eye on what his own great-great-grandchildren will inherit. Those goals are aimed at limiting greenhouse gases and in other ways slowing our journey toward arctic palm trees. They are encapsulated in the Paris Agreement that went into effect in November, 2016, signed by 194 countries and the European Union.
President Trump immediately pulled the U.S. out of this legally binding agreement as soon as he took office – but it took him most of his first term to unravel everything, and President Biden then reinstated it.
The bad news is that Mr. Trump will quickly pull us out again – “drill, baby, drill” – but the good news is that it will take a while for the pro-arctic-palm-trees business to get underway.
There’s plenty of other good news. Individuals and organizations are at work on ways to protect Planet Earth – and stave off its warming trend – through trees and rainforests, kelp and other nature-based ways of carbon capture; through new technologies for carbon removal.
Mono Lake, an ancient and changing piece of Planet Earth (Author photo)
The warming trend and changing climate aren’t only carbon-related, but founder and co-host Greg Dalton of San Francisco-based Climate One points out that “the last time the atmospheric CO₂ amounts were as high as they are today was more than 3 million years ago.”
“It’s obvious,” Dalton says, “we need to stop emitting greenhouse gasses, but that won’t be enough to prevent adverse effects of climate disruption.” Thus the continuing work in other nature-based or technological directions.
Want to know more? Climate One podcasts, videos and programs are on the website, covering a wide variety of topics. And if you want to pitch in or learn more, the Climate Action Guide is a great way to start.
(The author exploring the Arctic Circle and its melting glaciers in 2019)
Six years ago I was lucky enough to join Dalton and other Climate One leaders for a trip to the Arctic Circle, an up close and personal look at melting glaciers and disappearing wildlife habitat. It was an eye-opening and not altogether encouraging look at what’s happening to our warming planet.
In the last six weeks Northern California has had tornado and tsunami warnings, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake and a winter storm that caused the collapse of a section of the historic Santa Cruz wharf.
However the political winds blow, there’s work underway to slow climate change and protect Mother Nature’s interests. Any of the nonprofits cited above are open to support.
On behalf of Planet Earth, I’m just saying . . .
Bones lay scattered almost as far as the eye could see. It was a deliberate, eloquent memorial to the walruses who once roamed this frozen shore – and were almost eradicated. In the late 19th century, hunters from several continents discovered the free-roaming hordes of these wonderful beasts, who were unfortunately highly prized, primarily for their tusks. One naturalist explained, on a recent expedition I was lucky to take into these Arctic wildernesses, that hunters would gun down a few dozen as they tried to reach the safety of the sea, creating a barrier for those behind them – who would then randomly be killed. 
It was tough and dangerous work – and initially not even all that lucrative. In a series of tragedies, while mining came and went over the next few decades, dozens of miners lost their lives.
Those pristine lands remain as Nature intended, inhabited by walruses, reindeer and polar bears, overflown by puffins and countless other beautiful birds of the air.
One thing we absolutely know: the recent, tragic California wildfires were NOT due to “poor forest management.” Perhaps someone clued our president in on a few facts – since he did ease off the “It’s all their fault, stupid Californians” rhetoric. The facts: essentially all of the state’s publicly owned forests (including Plumas National Forest where the deadliest fire began) are controlled by the federal government. Mr. Trump recently reduced funds for cleaning up fire-prone vegetation. Meanwhile, though, who knows how many of those who simply accept Mr. Trump’s lies now have one more lie to confirm their belief that the globe isn’t warming and climate isn’t changing, and who needs to worry about the planet?
