Delusional? An open wound on democracy? The ostrich head in the sand? Collective functional illiteracy? The inability to look beyond one's great American (nightmare) Dream?
It's at the feet of mainstream media, whether you call it MSNBC, Murdoch's Fabrication Factory, or National Public Radio or PBS. This morning's news about heat and cities virtually turning impotent with a few days of 100-degree plus weather had nothing about climate change, weather disruption, or the science and collective wisdom of millions around the globe looking at famines, droughts, water shortages, crop failures, rivers running dry, desertification, total ecosystem meltdown, and what rural and urban people can do to respond to this disruption.
We've looked at the psychology of climate change, and the inability of human brains to forecast and mitigate and plan for climate disruption -- we haven't evolved to understand the longer-term risk analysis necessary to prepare for a world without ice, maybe within 100 years from now. We aren't able as a society to bring our collective educated will, all those powerful forces that want to do good by a global community, into the fold and forcefully attack the willing collective propaganda and greed-induced measures of a corporate state, corporate globe.
The bottom line is that no matter how sing-songy and overtly old these stories are filed by PBS, NPR, CBS or the like, we in the know, in the middle of sustainability, climate change, and ecosystem collapse -- middle being at the point of studying and formulating some larger plan to bring all those issues together: equity, ecology, education, energy and economy that are the five e's of sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable planning -- are getting burned out by the collective amnesia of mainstream media and the fear of liberals to stand tall and begin to call a spade a spade.
Here are headlines from NPR:
Heat Wave Opens Cooling Centers, Fire Hydrants
Another hot and muggy day is forecast for much of the country again on Friday, as the dangerous heat wave moves to the East. Thirty-two states issued excessive heat warnings Thursday. Air conditioning companies have been getting more service calls than they can handle.
Oklahoma's Parched Land Needs Massive Rainfall
Many areas of the country are suffering from "exceptional drought" conditions. That's the most intense level assigned by the federal agency that monitors droughts. Unusually dry conditions are creating ever expanding hardships for farmers and ranchers from New Mexico to Kansas. Oklahoma has been especially hard hit.
Then, the story on Democracy Now, with a UN expert and Christian Parenti and his new book, "Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.”
Horn of Africa Famine: Millions At Risk in "Deadly Cocktail" of War, Climate Change, Neoliberalism
The United Nations has called an emergency meeting to discuss the Horn of Africa drought, which it says has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Famine was declared in two regions of Somalia on Wednesday where 3.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Another 8 million people need food assistance in neighboring countries including Kenya and Ethiopia. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the situation a "catastrophic combination of conflict, high food prices and drought" and has appealed for immediate aid. We go to Nairobi for an update from Kiki Gbeho of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
We also speak with Christian Parenti, author of "Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.” “This was predicted long ago by people on the ground,” Parenti says. “It is a combination of war, climate change and very bad policy, particularly an embrace of radical free-market by regional governments that mean the withdrawal of support for pastoralists, the type of people you saw with their dead cattle."
A bit of a side story -- follow the work of Anonymous -- maybe hacking is the revolutionary formula of the now, the future, the Paul Revere and Tom Paine way to unmask the lies of power.
Hacker Group Releases NATO Data Following Raids
The computer hacker group known as Anonymous has released a trove of data it says was taken from computers belonging to NATO. In a defiant message, Anonymous called the move retaliation for a series of raids targeting alleged members earlier this week. Fourteen of the suspects were arrested for their alleged links to a December attack on the online payment site, PayPal. Anonymous took credit for the breach in response to PayPal’s suspension of accounts that donated money to the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks.
Here's a tepid piece today from Sarah Lovinger,
Climate Change Brings More Deadly Heat Waves
Andrew Leonard had a great post on Salon this week arguing — essentially — that liberal bloggers are wimps when it comes to connecting extreme climate events like heat waves to climate change.
By contrast, he notes, conservatives eagerly throw barbs at Al Gore any time it snows in D.C.: climate denier James Inhofe’s grandchildren apparently built an igloo last winter and proclaimed it “Gore’s New Home.” Leonard notes both that conservatives have been glaringly quiet during the recent record heat wave on the east coast and that liberals are, well, conservative in their response to the inevitable question about the connection between the heat wave and global warming. He suggests a similarly smart ass twitter campaign from Gore and other Democratic leaders — lots of jokes, for instance, about political opposition to climate change regulation melting, and so forth.
I think Leonard’s exactly right and that his message ought to apply to anybody serious about climate change who is faced with the question of whether a particular weather event — especially a heat wave — is “caused” by climate change. While we can’t, of course, absolutely prove a causal connection, the scientific community has already stated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment, global warming will “very likely” increase both the frequency and the intensity of heat waves over this century. So an easy answer to whether something like this week’s record east coast heat is related to climate change is to say, “this is exactly the kind of weather we expect from climate change: more heat waves with even higher temperatures.” Moreover, as Leonard points out, 2010 has already brought us the warmest January-May 2010 period on record.
Here are a few other important pieces of information about heat waves from previous work I’ve done:
http://www.bepress.com/ils/iss10/art7
THESE people never get on mainstream/mainline media, and that is the collective work of a corporate state, corporate dominated media.
Chances are that if you are living in the United States right now, you are experiencing sweltering heat.
Blazing hot temperatures are blanketing much of the US. While July is always a warm month, the extent and duration of this year's heat is unusual and deadly. News reports indicate that people are dying in this protracted heat wave. Climate change most likely has a hand in this long, hot and dangerous summer.
Here in Chicago, where the temperature may reach 100 degrees today, I am certainly focused on the heat. Like most of us caught up in the broiling temperatures blanketing our country, I am taking precautions. I am staying hydrated, working inside with the A/C going, avoiding any unnecessary trips outside, and making sure my family and my pets are safe.
Western Europe experienced a similar heat wave in 2003, though the three-week period of extreme heat that engulfed France, Spain, Italy, and Germany was far more deadly. With its extensive impact, this heat wave led to 70,000 excess deaths. Many of the people who died were also elderly and alone.
Public health and other government officials have learned valuable lessons from these heat waves.
Chicago and other US cities have established cooling centers, safe places where people can spend time in air-conditioning communal spaces. Family members and neighbors are advised to check in on elderly and other vulnerable people during heat waves, and officials remind all of us to drink enough water, stay in cool areas, and avoid unnecessary time outside. Europeans have taken similar steps. These actions are essential, because all climate change models indicate that heat waves will continue to occur with greater frequency and intensity as our planet continues to warm.
Climate change will continue to bring more intense heat waves. As an individual, a family member, someone in a community, you should be prepared to take precautions and help others. Because climate change can be deadly.
Though I work for the Chicago chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the views I express here are my own.
THEN, a story almost one year ago, on that 2010 hear wave. Check it out -- collective amnesia?
Here in Chicago, where the temperature may reach 100 degrees today, I am certainly focused on the heat. Like most of us caught up in the broiling temperatures blanketing our country, I am taking precautions. I am staying hydrated, working inside with the A/C going, avoiding any unnecessary trips outside, and making sure my family and my pets are safe.
Western Europe experienced a similar heat wave in 2003, though the three-week period of extreme heat that engulfed France, Spain, Italy, and Germany was far more deadly. With its extensive impact, this heat wave led to 70,000 excess deaths. Many of the people who died were also elderly and alone.
Public health and other government officials have learned valuable lessons from these heat waves.
Chicago and other US cities have established cooling centers, safe places where people can spend time in air-conditioning communal spaces. Family members and neighbors are advised to check in on elderly and other vulnerable people during heat waves, and officials remind all of us to drink enough water, stay in cool areas, and avoid unnecessary time outside. Europeans have taken similar steps. These actions are essential, because all climate change models indicate that heat waves will continue to occur with greater frequency and intensity as our planet continues to warm.
Climate change will continue to bring more intense heat waves. As an individual, a family member, someone in a community, you should be prepared to take precautions and help others. Because climate change can be deadly.
Though I work for the Chicago chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the views I express here are my own.
THEN, a story almost one year ago, on that 2010 hear wave. Check it out -- collective amnesia?
Are Heat Waves Related to Climate Change?
July 9, 2010
Andrew Leonard had a great post on Salon this week arguing — essentially — that liberal bloggers are wimps when it comes to connecting extreme climate events like heat waves to climate change.
By contrast, he notes, conservatives eagerly throw barbs at Al Gore any time it snows in D.C.: climate denier James Inhofe’s grandchildren apparently built an igloo last winter and proclaimed it “Gore’s New Home.” Leonard notes both that conservatives have been glaringly quiet during the recent record heat wave on the east coast and that liberals are, well, conservative in their response to the inevitable question about the connection between the heat wave and global warming. He suggests a similarly smart ass twitter campaign from Gore and other Democratic leaders — lots of jokes, for instance, about political opposition to climate change regulation melting, and so forth.
I think Leonard’s exactly right and that his message ought to apply to anybody serious about climate change who is faced with the question of whether a particular weather event — especially a heat wave — is “caused” by climate change. While we can’t, of course, absolutely prove a causal connection, the scientific community has already stated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment, global warming will “very likely” increase both the frequency and the intensity of heat waves over this century. So an easy answer to whether something like this week’s record east coast heat is related to climate change is to say, “this is exactly the kind of weather we expect from climate change: more heat waves with even higher temperatures.” Moreover, as Leonard points out, 2010 has already brought us the warmest January-May 2010 period on record.
Here are a few other important pieces of information about heat waves from previous work I’ve done:
- More people die heat-related deaths in the U.S., on average, than from any other natural disaster;
- 52,000 Europeans died in the extreme summer heat of 2003;
- The areas of the country most vulnerable to heat wave deaths are not the hot parts of the country. Areas of the country that experience temperature swings are much more vulnerable, both because air conditioning is less prevalent and because humans in consistently hot areas of the country appear to acclimate to high temperatures.
- The elderly and the poor are particularly vulnerable: the elderly are more likely to have preexisting physical conditions that heat can exacerbate; the poor less likely to have or be willing to use air conditioning. Not surprisingly, being both elderly and poor is a double whammy.
- Scientists predict that cities in the northeast and Midwest — New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis — are likely to fare particularly badly as heat waves occur more frequently due to climate change. But places like Seattle and Portland could suffer too.
- And as temperatures rise, so does the availability and use of air conditioning, creating a vicious cycle in which we use more air conditioning and therefore emit more greenhouse gases which in turn contribute to climate change, which brings us more heat waves. And so forth.
THEN the longer piece this UCLA lawyer wrote:
Heat Waves, Global Warming & Mitigation
Abstract
Why do heat waves, which annually cause far more death, on average, than any other natural disaster, provoke little public reaction? Heat waves will become more common place and heat wave deaths more frequent as temperatures increase from climate change. Models predict that annual heat wave deaths in the U.S. by 2050 will easily surpass the death toll from Hurricane Katrina. This Article analyzes extensive data about heat waves, evaluates why heat waves seem not to raise widespread public concern and suggests that mechanisms already exist -- though widely ignored -- to mitigate the worst effects of excess heat. These mechanisms include careful emergency planning, the provision of air conditioning availability and funding, and larger structural changes in the delivery of electricity, energy efficiency and land use planning. Yet the nature of the victims of heat waves combined with cognitive mechanisms that cause individuals to systematically underestimate risk from heat waves and the fact that heat waves cause little property damage all contribute to a failure by many jurisdictions to adopt policies and programs that can mitigate heat wave deaths.Recommended Citation
Ann E. Carlson, "Heat Waves, Global Warming & Mitigation" Issues in Legal Scholarship, Catastrophic Risks: Prevention, Compensation, and Recovery (2007): Article 7.http://www.bepress.com/ils/iss10/art7
THESE people never get on mainstream/mainline media, and that is the collective work of a corporate state, corporate dominated media.
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