Susan Anderson
writes as a comment in the NYT and her comment was listed as an editor's pick:
re
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/opinion/gail-collins-the-politics-of-climate-change.html?_r=0
SUSAN ANDERSON WRITES FROM BOSTON:
Gail Collins brings her unique light sense of humor to this as usual,
but unusually fails to lighten this dangerously dark and evil tendency
to ignore reality as we all go down the drain.
Just for the record, we are accumulating heat-trapping greenhouse
gases (global warming) at an unprecedented rate. This is increasing
the amount of energy in the system, and operating like a blanket in
warming the overall temperature of the planet. Unfortunately, among
other things this is warming the Arctic at a rapid rate (on average,
the "recovery" in 2013-14 following the shocking melt of 2012 matches
the two years after the shock of 2007 (exceeded by 2012)). This is
likely breaking up the Arctic circulation and causing these polar
incursions that make people think it's not warming.
Unfortunately the endgame on this is the opposite of simple-minded
reaction to short-term appearances, as heat goes north. But our
inability to grasp the concept of long-term change when faced with the
temperature in our backyard is dangerously ignorant, and will have
consequences.
Actions do have consequences, and this is a corker. The sixth
extinction is well under way, and we would do well to take action
instead of prevaricating and procrastinating.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Annual CLIFFIES Cli Fi Movie Awards Gets Underway With Gala Opening
Cli-Fi Movie Awards Honor 'Snowpiercer', 'Intersteller' at 'Cliffies' awards show in Los Angeles
February 15, 2015
The first annual CLI FI MOVIE AWARDS event got underway yesterday with a gala event honoring and recognizing the best cli fi movies fo the year for 2014. The annual awards event, dubbed The Cliffies, is funded independently and has no connection to Hollywood studios or PR deparments, according to organizer Danny Bloom, a climate activist who coined and created the cli fi genre for a purpose: to use the PR term as a wake up tool for humankind.
The first awards program, see photo above for what it might have looked like had you been there, honored the following films for best cli fi movies of the year, with the winners to be announced shortly before the Oscars on February 15, 2015: Best movies nominated were Snowpiercer, Noah, Godzilla, Into the Storm, The Rover and Interstellar.
The stars and directors of the films were honored to with a miniature CLIFFIE statuette, which comes in the shape of an EARTH GLOBE, our planet Earth. Awards were also handed out for best PR campaign for a cli fi movie (INTO THE STORM), best title for a cli fi movie (SNOWPIERCER), the film which most mirrored current climate science issues (TBA), the film which most reflected current social and political events in relationship to climate change issues (TBA) and best novel of 2014 likely to be made into a future CLI FI MOVIE (Margaret Atwood's MADDADDAM TRILOGY).
For more information on the CLIFFIES, contact our PR department at danbloom@gmail.com
ENJOY THE SHOW
ARE WE DOOMED?
YOU DECIDE!
Gail Collins oped in the NYTimes on ''Florida -- That sinking feeling!'' - see key words humor, politics, climate change
And Boston's Susan Anderson comments at NYT after the article and her comment was listed as an editor's pick. BRAVO, SUSAN!:
SUSAN COMMENTED:
Gail Collins brings her unique light sense of humor to this as usual,but unusually fails to lighten this dangerously dark and evil tendencyto ignore reality as we all go down the drain.
Just for the record, we are accumulating heat-trapping greenhousegases (global warming) at an unprecedented rate. This is increasingthe amount of energy in the system, and operating like a blanket inwarming the overall temperature of the planet. Unfortunately, amongother things this is warming the Arctic at a rapid rate (on average,the "recovery" in 2013-14 following the shocking melt of 2012 matchesthe two years after the shock of 2007 (exceeded by 2012)). This islikely breaking up the Arctic circulation and causing these polarincursions that make people think it's not warming.
Unfortunately the endgame on this is the opposite of simple-mindedreaction to short-term appearances, as heat goes north. But ourinability to grasp the concept of long-term change when faced with thetemperature in our backyard is dangerously ignorant, and will haveconsequences.
Actions do have consequences, and this is a corker. The sixthextinction is well under way, and we would do well to take actioninstead of prevaricating and procrastinating.
Florida Goes Down the Drain
The Politics of Climate Change
by Gail Collins, HUMOROUS YET HARD HITTING oped - NYTimes
September 24, 2044
[HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR:] On Miami Beach, rising sea levels have interesting consequences. The ocean periodically starts bubbling up through local drainpipes. By the time it’s over, the concept of “going down to the water” has extended to stepping off the front porch.
It’s becoming a seasonal event, like swallows at Capistrano or the return of the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio.
“At the spring and fall high tides, we get flooding of coastal areas,” said Leonard Berry, the director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies. “You’ve got saltwater coming up through the drains, into the garages and sidewalks and so on, damaging the Ferraris and the Lexuses.”
Ah, climate change. A vast majority of scientific studies that take a stand on global warming have concluded that it’s caused by human behavior. The results are awful. The penguins are dwindling. The polar bears are running out of ice floes. The cornfields are drying. The southwest is frying. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
There is very little on the plus side. Except maybe for Detroit. As Jennifer Kingson HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR reported in The Times this week, one scientific school of thought holds that while temperatures rise and weather becomes extreme in other parts of the country, Detroit’s location will turn it into a veritable garden spot. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
Miami is probably not used to being compared unfavorably to Detroit. But there you are. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
“We’re going to wander around shin-deep in the ocean — on the streets of Miami,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who is planning to go on a climate-change tour this month with Florida’s senior senator, Bill Nelson. (The junior senator, Marco Rubio, who’s no fan of “these scientists,” will presumably not be joining the party.)
Once a week, when the Senate is in session, Whitehouse gets up and makes a speech about rising sea levels or disappearing lakes or dwindling glaciers. He’s kind of the congressional climate-change guy. He’s also looking for bipartisan love and feeling lonely. “I’ve got exactly no Republican colleagues helping me out with this,” he said.
There was a time, children, HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR, when the parties worked together on climate-change issues. No more. Only 3 percent of current Republican members of Congress have been willing to go on record as accepting the fact that people are causing global warming. That, at least, was the calculation by PolitiFact, which found a grand total of eight Republican nondeniers in the House and Senate. That includes Representative Michael Grimm of New York, who while laudably open-minded on this subject, is also under indictment for perjury and tax fraud. So we may be pushing 2 percent in January.
This is sort of stunning. We’re only looking for a simple acknowledgment of basic facts. We’ll give a pass to folks who accept the connection between human behavior and climate change, but say they don’t want to do anything about it. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
Or that Red China should do something first. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
Or: “Who cares? I’m from Detroit!” HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
RECENT COMMENTS
David
CH
Hammer
In Congress, Republican environmentalists appear to be terrified of what should be the most basic environmental issue possible. Whitehouse blames the Supreme Court’s decisions on campaign finance, which gave the energy barons carte blanche when it comes to spending on election campaigns. It’s certainly true that there’s no way to tick off megadonors like the fabled Koch brothers faster than to suggest the globe is warming. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
“At the moment, there’s a dogma in the Republican Party about what you can say,” Tom Steyer told me. He’s the billionaire who formed a “super PAC” to support candidates who acknowledge that climate change exists, that it’s caused by human behavior, and that we need to do something major about it.
Steyer has committed to spending about $100 million this year on ads and organizing in seven states. Many in the campaign-finance-reform community think this is a terrible idea, and that you do not combat the power of right-wing oligarchs to influence American elections by doing the same thing on the left. They have a point. But think of the penguins. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, who’s running for re-election, has been asked many times whether he believes in man-made climate change. Lately, he responds: “I’m not a scientist.” Scott is also not a doctor, engineer, computer programmer, personal trainer or a bus driver. Really, it’s amazing he even has the confidence to walk into the office in the morning. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
The governor did visit last month with some climate scientists. He began the meeting by making it clear that he did not intend to go anywhere near the word causes. After the group had pulled out their maps and projections — including the one that shows much of Miami-Dade County underwater by 2048 — Scott asked them questions. Which were, according to The Miami Herald, “to explain their backgrounds, describe the courses they taught, and where students in their academic fields get jobs.” HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
If they’re lucky, the students will wind up someplace where there’s no seawater in the garage. HUMOR REPEAT HUMOR
Meet John Michael Greer, author of the cli fi novel STAR'S REACH, which is the most important cli fi novel of the 21st century! Read it and weep for the future. Published now!
four books on peak oil and one science fiction novel, The Fires of Shalsha,
as well as the weekly peak oil blog The Archdruid Report. A native of the
Pacific Northwest, he now lives in an old red brick mill town in the north
central Appalachians with his wife Sara.
IN THE INTRODUCTION to his novel, Greer notes: "There's a certain irony in the fact that this tale of the deindustrial
future first appeared in serial form as a monthly blog post on the internet,
that most baroque of modern industrial society's technosystems. That said,
I'm grateful to all those who read, praised, and criticized the story in its
original form, and thus contributed mightily to whatever virtues it may
have.''
SO BE IT. It's a fantastic novel, and in my opinion the most important cli fi novel of the 21st century. Read it and weep ...for the future!
Just to whet your appetite for the massive cli fi tome of a novel, here's the first few paragraphs of STAR'S REACH....... And I will not give away any spoilers, as to what STAR'S REACH is and means. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE COLLCTIVE FUTURE OF HUMANITY.
The Place of Beginnings and Endings
ONE WET DAY on the road that runs alongside the Hiyo River toward
Sisnaddi, Plummer told me that every story in the world is just a
scrap of the only story there really is, one big and nameless tale that winds
from the beginning of things all the way to the end and sweeps up
everything worth telling in between. Everybody has some part in that story,
he said, even if it's just a matter of watching smoke from a battle over the
next hill or listening to news that's whispered in the night. Some people
wander further into the story and then wander right back out of it again,
after they've carried a message or a load of firewood that settles the fate of
a country or a dream. Sometimes, though, somebody no different from any
of these others stumbles and falls into the deep places of the only story
there is, and gets picked up and spun around like a leaf in a flood until
finally the waters either drown him for good or toss him up gasping and
alive on the bank.
Plummer said all of that between one mouthful of cheap Tucki
whiskey and the next, as we sat and waited out the rain under the shelter of
a ragged gray ruin left over from the old world, and I nodded and said
nothing and decided he was drunk. Now, though, I'm not so sure.
Yesterday I got to the one place on Mam Gaia's round belly I'd given up
expecting ever to come, and nearly got reborn doing it. As the five of us
who made it here sat in the darkness and waited for nightfall and wondered
if we would live to see morning, the thought came to me more than once
that this journey I'm trying to write out just now is part of something a
mother of a lot bigger than the travels of one stray ruinman from
Shanuga -- bigger, for that matter, than the different roads that led each of
us here, bigger than Shanuga or Meriga itself.
(c) Copyright 2014 John Michael Greer
KEY WORD - RUINMAN
AND THE NOVEL ENDS THIS WAY:
There are three pieces of paper pasted on the inside back cover of the
original notebook. The first is a handwritten note, which seems originally to
have been pinned to the outside of the front cover:
My dear Lissa,
This is the manuscript I told you about. You may read it if you wish, but please
don’t make a copy of it or show it to anyone else in the guild, and give it to (a
word or name carefully blotted out with ink) as soon as possible. She’ll see to it
that it gets to the place it needs to be.
With all my thanks and gratitude,
Eleen darra Sofee
Below this is a handwritten label:
Manuscript #338
Received into this collection on 14 Janwer,
24th year of Sharl sunna Sheren’s Presdency
Below this is a printed label:
This manuscript, accession number 2878,
has been placed in the special collections
of the Central Archive of the Guild of Rememberers
on the occasion of its public dedication
on the twenty-second day of Toba
in the sixteenth year of Trey VII,
Presden of the Union of Great Meriga
being in the ancient calendar
October 22, 2821 A.D.
------------------------------------------------------
BRIAN KALLNER ends his very positive thumbs up review with:
Star’s Reach has a didactic purpose, of course, and the plot and characters exist to make Greer’s points......... It [is] an entertaining read......and a thoughtful speculation of what our descendants might see.
Name: Brian Kaller
Occupation: Newspaper columnist / Publisher Liaison
Place of Residence: County Kildare, Ireland
Background and Personal History:
Brian Kaller reported for newspapers in Kansas and Missouri, covering farms, crime, and politics. He wrote a science column for children, worked as a film critic, and managed a weekly magazine. Then, several years ago, he moved his family to rural Ireland, where they built a homestead and study traditional ways of life.
He collects interviews with elderly Irish, many of whom grew up without electricity, cars or modern media, with skills and knowledge that much of the world has forgotten.
When not working a day job in Dublin, Kaller writes a weekly column for an Irish newspaper, blogs at "Restoring Mayberry" (http://restoringmayberry.blogspot.ie) and writes freelance pieces for the American Conservative, Front Porch Republic, the Dallas Morning News and other publications.
Most importantly of all, he raises a daughter.
When not working a day job in Dublin, Kaller writes a weekly column for an Irish newspaper, blogs at "Restoring Mayberry" (http://restoringmayberry.blogspot.ie) and writes freelance pieces for the American Conservative, Front Porch Republic, the Dallas Morning News and other publications.
Most importantly of all, he raises a daughter.
Current Projects: Raising a nine-year-old, trying to write a book.
Other Fun Facts: Brian only recently got the internet where he lives.
More Places to Find Brian on the Web:
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/biographies/brian-kaller-homesteading-journalist-in-ireland.aspx#ixzz3EPhtF5lT
COMMENTS
1. JMG, Congratulations! ''Stars Reach'' did not inspire me as a world I would want to be living in, but it was a beautiful story. It's heartfelt and absolutely captivating! The way you wove the narrative back and forth across time was brilliant and the end brought a tear to my eye. It actually mirrored an experience I had in a research library years ago from the opposite side, taking a book off of a shelf and holding history in my hands.
I was so thankful that I didn't discover it until late last year as waiting for chapters year after year would have been absolute torture. I will be getting a copy as soon as the budget allows. I want it in my library and I'm curious about the final form it took.
I can't help but think it will be a huge success if only people know about it. Mention the places it is for sale and I will seek it out to give a glowing review. Thank you for this gift of many hours of pure pleasure and suspense!
2. When I started reading Star's Reach in the blog posts, it reminded me in various (often subtle) ways of John Crowley's Engine Summer. Which has long been my single favorite work of fiction of any era or genre. This was before I learned (from various ADR comments) that you're well versed in John Crowley's works. And before I got accustomed to that species of synchronicity being par for the course around here.
I have a print copy on the way. I wish a hardcover were available.
If this is the literary success it had (from reading the first two thirds) the potential to be, I'll be recommending it and/or gifting it to a number of people and groups who I think will appreciate it.
The appeal for me (as I see it now, pending reading the rest and more careful review) is that there have been thousands of novels about the aftermath of nuclear or environmental devastation, but few of them are physically realistic and even fewer allow their characters to fully inhabit their worlds. The rest indulge in being "cautionary" and yes, I mean that as a negative, because it invariably means the characters are too busy demonstrating (if not outright preaching) what we shouldn't'a or should'a done back here in their past, to believably live their own lives on their own terms.
In the portion I read online, only one brief scene in Star's Reachstrayed into something like traditional "cautionary" territory. I'll not spoil anything here, but I think most readers will recognize the scene I refer to and agree that it stands out, even though most will probably disagree that it's any kind of flaw. (A discussion for a later time, perhaps, if I haven't changed my mind by then.)
3.
Ed Powers on Naomi Klein
From Ed Powers in IRELAND, these notes on Naomi Klein new nonfiction book on climate:
FULL TEXT at www.independent.ie
''THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING'' (or does it?)
Naomi Klein in her break-out book ''No Logo'' delivered the bombshell that branding is manipulative, and global mega corporations past-masters at exploiting, for financial gain, our deepest desires and insecurities.....
Her new book on climate propounds that globalism, fuelled by free-market capitalism, is the driving force behind climate change and the ruin it threatens to bring down on all our heads. This, it might be argued, is stating the obvious. We all understand that, the more we consume, the greater the pollution - and that, the more we pollute, the higher the risk of irreversible climate change.
However, Klein possesses a remarkable talent for making an argument that could feel preachy and, frankly, dull, vivid and engaging. She does so by approaching the subject as a boots-on-the-ground reporter rather than talking-head gazing down from an ivory tower.
So she travels to a conference organised by climate change deniers and, later, meets with anti-fracking protesters in Canada. The most interesting section concerns the phenomenon of extravagantly-munificent billionaires such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson who make a great noise about their charitable endeavours and yet, in their businesses says Klein, are culpable in helping increase the rate of climate change.
It is a worthy topic but one already discussed to death.
However, Klein makes the threat to the planet - to the well-being of each of us - feel incredibly vivid. She may not take it as a compliment, nonetheless, there is no doubting that as a marshaller of melodrama, she is peerless.
"The bottom line is that our economic system and our planetary system are now at war. Only one of these sets of rules can be changed, and it's not the laws of nature," she writes.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Portland Will Still Be Cool, but Anchorage May Be the Place to Be? WTF? Is the New York Times on Acid? Is Reporter Jennifer Kingson Insane?
reporter JENNIFER A. KINGSON on SEPT. 22, 2044
SHE STARTS OFF AND DESCENDS INTO COMEDY HUMOR BULLSHIT: SHAME ON THE NEW YORK TIMES FOR PRINTING THIS SHITE!
========================= ==============================
Alaskans, stay in Alaska. People in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, sit tight
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/science/on-a-warmer-planet-which-cities-will-be-safest.html
Scientists trying to predict the consequences of climate change say that they see few havens from the storms, floods and droughts that are sure to intensify over the coming decades. But some regions, they add, will fare much better than others.
Forget most of California and the Southwest (drought, wildfires). Ditto for much of the East Coast and Southeast (heat waves, hurricanes, rising sea levels). Washington, D.C., for example, may well be a flood zone by 2100, according to an estimate released last week. Instead, consider Anchorage. Or even, perhaps, Detroit. “If you do not like it hot and do not want to be hit by a hurricane, the options of where to go are very limited,” said Camilo Mora, a geography professor at the University of Hawaii and lead author of a paper published in Nature last year predicting that unprecedented high temperatures will become the norm worldwide by 2047.
“The best place really is Alaska,” he added. “Alaska is going to be the next Florida by the end of the century.” Continue reading the main story Nature in the Balance A special issue of Science Times examining the many dimensions of climate change.
Under any model of climate change, scientists say, most of the country will look and feel drastically different in 2050, 2100 and beyond, even as cities and states try to adapt and plan ahead. The northern Great Plains states may well be pleasant (if muggy) for future generations, as may many neighboring states. Although few people today are moving long distances to strategize for climate change, some are at least pondering the question of where they would go.
“The answer is the Pacific Northwest, and probably especially west of the Cascades,” said Ben Strauss, vice president for climate impacts and director of the program on sea level rise at Climate Central, a research collaboration of scientists and journalists. “Actually, the strip of coastal land running from Canada down to the Bay Area is probably the best,” he added. “You see a lot less extreme heat; it’s the one place in the West where there’s no real expectation of major water stress, and while sea level will rise there as everywhere, the land rises steeply out of the ocean, so it’s a relatively small factor.” Continue reading the main story
Clifford E. Mass, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington, writes a popular weather blog in which he predicts that the Pacific Northwest will be “a potential climate refuge” as global warming progresses. A Seattle resident, he foresees that “climate change migrants” will start heading to his city and to Portland, Ore., and surrounding areas. “The Pacific Ocean is like our natural air conditioning,” Professor Mass said in a telephone interview. “We don’t get humidity like the East Coast does.” As for the water supply? “Water is important, and we will have it,” Professor Mass declared. “All in all, it’s a pretty benign situation for us — in fact, warming up just a little bit might be a little bit welcome around here.” Already, he said, Washington State is gearing up to become the next Napa Valley as California’s wine country heats up and dries out.
Continue reading the main story “People are going crazy putting in vineyards in eastern Washington right now,” he said. There may be other refuges to the east. Don’t count out the elevated inland cities in the country’s midsection, like Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee and Detroit, said Matthew E. Kahn, a professor of environmental economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. “I predict we’re going to have millions of people moving to those areas,” he said in a telephone interview. In his 2010 book “Climatopolis,” Professor Kahn predicts that when things get bad enough in any given location — not just the temperatures and extreme weather, but also the cost of insurance and so forth — people will become “environmental refugees,” fleeing cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego. By 2100, he writes, Detroit will be one of the nation’s most desirable cities. Continue reading the main story Graphic On the Cusp of Climate Change Animal and plant species around the world may be threatened by warmer global temperatures. OPEN Graphic That assertion came as a surprise to Rachel Burnside-Saltmarshall, a former president of the Detroit Association of Realtors.
“I haven’t come across that,” Ms. Burnside-Saltmarshall said diplomatically, adding that there were more immediate municipal concerns. “Like crime — tell me when that’s going to go down.” Continue reading the main story Recent Comments B Dawson, the Furry HerbalistYesterday I wonder what will happen to the resources in the "climate refuge" cities when the populations start packing in like sardines.Moving may... steveYesterday Oregon has some of the cheapest beach real estate in the country, because its so cool, windy, and rainy for much of the year. Buy it before... tony83703Yesterday Because of its mild climate and other reasons, I'm staying put right here in Boise, Idaho. We have no hurricanes, tornados, floods, severe... See All Comments
A report by United Van Lines looking at relocation trends in 2013 found that its customers were moving primarily for economic reasons — a new job, lower costs of living — or quality-of-life considerations that were not climate related, such as public transit or green space. Coincidentally, Oregon — a predicted climate-change winner — topped the list of inbound moves, followed by South Carolina, North Carolina, the District of Columbia and South Dakota. The top states for outbound moves were New Jersey, Illinois, New York, West Virginia and Connecticut. “What we see is that people are actually moving into harm’s way,” said Thomas C. Peterson, principal scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. “They’re moving from relatively safe places in the Midwest to places along the Florida coast, where the risk has been increasing.” In May, Miami was named one of the nation’s most vulnerable cities in the National Climate Assessment, the third in a series of federal reports on how global warming will play out across the country.
The week the report was released, Miami Beach residents were wading through ankle-deep waters on some of their main thoroughfares. As sea levels rise in the decades ahead, said Professor Mass of the University of Washington, “if there’s ground zero for where you don’t want to be, Florida is it.” Other particularly vulnerable places are the low-lying cities of the East and Gulf Coasts, he noted. As for New York City, the nation’s most populous city, Professor Mora at the University of Hawaii projects that 2047 will be the “year of climate change departure” — when weather that seems extraordinarily hot and catastrophic by today’s standards will become the norm. Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
“The coasts are all going to be facing very hot temperatures,” Professor Mora said. Washington, D.C., will reach its tipping point the same year, under his model; Los Angeles has until 2048; San Francisco, 2049 and Chicago, 2052. Detroit has until 2051, and Anchorage, 2071. Some climate experts are optimistic that major cities will plan, adapt and ward off catastrophe. “New York has such a concentration of wealth and assets that I expect we will invest to defend the region from sea level rise and flooding, and there’s already movement in that direction,” said Mr. Strauss of Climate Central, a New York City resident. Continue reading the main story Write A Comment But even in the places that are expected to come out ahead, the picture does not look entirely rosy. “Summer in Minnesota is projected to be like the climate is in northern Oklahoma — the trees and the forests there, the crops that farmers plant,” said Dr. Peterson of NOAA, citing the 2009 National Climate Assessment.
“You build houses differently in Minnesota versus Oklahoma, you lay railroad tracks differently.” All in all, Dr. Peterson said, the changes will be highly disruptive, particularly over time. “We often talk about the climate from now ’til the end of this century, because that’s kind of a nice model,” he said, “But it’s not going to end there — it’s going to keep changing.”
Thursday, September 25, 2014
John Michael Greer's New 'Cli Fi' Novel ''Star’s Reach'' Goes Deep Into the Future of Climate Change
John Michael Greer's New 'Cli Fi' Novel ''Star’s Reach'' Goes Deep Into the Future of Climate Change
Brian Kaller, reviewing the cli fi novel ''Star’s Reach'' starts off wise-cracking: "Because at 160,000 years, the party is just getting started." =============================== The review is titled "John Michael Greer's Novel: Back to Basics Future" and it starts off like this: ''Just for a moment, picture the future. Not your future - not this year’s harvest or your daughter’s graduation -- but The Future. You remember The Future; you’ve been seeing it all your life. If you were a teenager in the 1990s you remember the flying cars and giant holograms of 'Back to the Future II', set in the impossibly distant 2015. If you were a kid in the 1960s you probably remember the talking robots and interstellar travel of 'Lost in Space', set in the faraway 1990s. Similar-looking sci-fi fantasies date back to the 1800s, always looking about the same, and always just a few decades away from whenever Now was.'' ========================= THE REVIEW GOES ON:
''What we haven’t seen enough are stories that show a realistic future between these extremes. The coming decades will see many problems, of course – from global resources running thin to stranger weather – but they are likely to unfold over generations, and from day to day, life will go on. How and where it goes on is the really interesting question, one that popular culture has rarely considered. Now some authors are starting to explore the storytelling potential of such a future, most recently John Michael Greer in his new novel ''Star’s Reach''. His blog The Archdruid Report and his several non-fiction books have carved out an unusual but much-needed niche, discussing the ways that fossil fuel decline would affect our economy, politics, transportation, food supply and even religious attitudes. His novel Star’s Reach, however, uses his theories to paint a vivid picture of a much-changed future America. It is not, however, a world recovering from a sudden apocalypse, or one without any technological knowledge; rather, it’s a world without our vast reservoirs of cheap energy.
=====================Most science fiction assumes that the world runs on technology, which - barring some apocalypse - will grow more advanced over time. =============[THIS BLOG EDITOR'S NOTE: But this novel is not sci fi, it is front and center part of a new genre dubbed cli fi.] ============== THE REVIEWER ADDS: ''One of the pleasures of ''Star’s Reach'', as with any futuristic [''cli fi''] novel that looks back, is in glimpsing the familiar in a strange world.
''Star’s Reach .......remains an entertaining read, though, and a thoughtful speculation of what our descendants might see," the review concludes. FULL COPYRIGHTED TEXT HERE: =======================================================http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/john-michael-greers-novel-zbcz1409.aspx#axzz3ENIkFnQp
Florida Going ''Down the Drain'' or ''The Politics of Climate Change''
GAIL COLLINS oped in the New York Times, which is also going to go down the drain in the future once the Climapocalypse kicks in real bad, writes in an oped titled ''Florida Goes Down the Drain'' that we are doomed doomed. ==================================== http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/opinion/gail-collins-the-politics-of-climate-change.html
======================== On Miami Beach, rising sea levels have interesting consequences. The ocean periodically starts bubbling up through local drainpipes. By the time it’s over, the concept of “going down to the water” has extended to stepping off the front porch.
It’s becoming a seasonal event, like swallows at Capistrano or the return of the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio.
“At the spring and fall high tides, we get flooding of coastal areas,” said Leonard Berry, the director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies. “You’ve got saltwater coming up through the drains, into the garages and sidewalks and so on, damaging the Ferraris and the Lexuses.”
Ah, climate change. A vast majority of scientific studies that take a stand on global warming have concluded that it’s caused by human behavior. The results are awful. The penguins are dwindling. The polar bears are running out of ice floes. The cornfields are drying. The southwest is frying.
There is very little on the plus side. Except maybe for Detroit. As Jennifer Kingson reported in The Times this week, one scientific school of thought holds that while temperatures rise and weather becomes extreme in other parts of the country, Detroit’s location will turn it into a veritable garden spot.
Miami is probably not used to being compared unfavorably to Detroit. But there you are. “We’re going to wander around shin-deep in the ocean — on the streets of Miami,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who is planning to go on a climate-change tour this month with Florida’s senior senator, Bill Nelson. (The junior senator, Marco Rubio, who’s no fan of “these scientists,” will presumably not be joining the party.)
Makerusa Porotesano joins his wife Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner on UN stage after she reads CLIMATE POEM for daughter Matafele Peiman
http://www.mvariety.com/regional-news/69488-world-leaders-cheer-small-island-speaker =========================World leaders cheer small island speaker
====================By Giff Johnson ====================MAJURO ======================Before hundreds of world leaders at the United Nations in New York City Tuesday, Marshall Islander Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner delivered a memorable oration for climate action in the form of a poem to her daughter.
Her eloquent words and forceful delivery sparked the delegates to rise in the staid General Assembly hall for an extended ovation at the conclusion of her remarks that ended the opening ceremony of the U.N.’s Climate Summit. She was joined at the podium by her husband, Makerusa Porotesano, with their baby daughter, Matafele, in his arms.
=============================
She was wrapped in a “jaki-ed,” the finely woven traditional clothing mat that is a signature product of Marshall Islands weavers.================
She said she was speaking not only as a Pacific islander but as a mother representing the world.================
“The price of inaction is so high,” she said in her opening remarks. “It is mothers like me who are standing up (for climate action).” She asked world leaders to “take us along for your ride,” and promised, “we won’t slow you down.”==================
She then stepped down from the podium used by the previous speakers to a microphone specially set up for her performance of the poem to her daughter.
Without notes, she delivered a two-minute poem to her daughter that spoke to the world about her fears of climate change and the need to fight through roadblocks that are preventing action to solve climate problems.
The ovation that followed recognized the impressive performance from the 26-year-old poet and teacher who has already challenged people’s comfort zones with her video performances of “History Project,” “Tell Them,” and “Lessons from Hawaii.”
During Tuesday’s presentation at the U.N., Jetnil-Kijiner looked world leaders in the eye and challenged them to action. “We deserve to do more than just survive,” she said. “We deserve to thrive.”========================
Closing her poetry oration to her daughter, she said lovingly: “Close your eyes in peace, we won’t let you down.” World leaders stood and cheered.===============================
But will they take the action that Jetnil-Kijiner, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and others at the summit opening asked for?=================================
Following Jetnil-Kijiner’s speech, the one-day summit immediately broke into smaller groups where country leaders were expected to issue statements of their commitments and plans to deal with climate. Ban said he hoped Tuesday’s summit would help world leaders gain momentum to forge a meaningful plan of action when they meet in Paris for climate negotiations next year.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Kathy Jetnil-Kjin, cli fi poet of the world, wife of Makerusa Porotesano, delivers powerful cli fi poem to world leaders at the UNITED NATIONS today! -- [text here]
http://www.mvariety.com/regional-news/69488-world-leaders-cheer-small-island-speaker ==========UPDATE -- KATHY was joined at the podium by her husband, Makerusa Porotesano, with their baby daughter, Matafele, in his arms. =============================
dear matafele peinam, you are a seven month old sunrise of gummy smiles
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha
you are thunder thighs and lightning shrieks so excited for bananas, hugs and our morning walks past the lagoon
dear matafele peinam, i want to tell you about that lagoon that lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise
some men say that one day that lagoon will devour you they say it will gnaw at the shoreline chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees gulp down rows of your seawalls and crunch your island’s shattered bones
they say you, your daughter and your granddaughter, too will wander rootless with only a passport to call home
dear matafele peinam, don’t cry mommy promises you no one will come and devour you no greedy whale of a company sharking through political seas no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals no blindfolded bureaucracies gonna push this mother ocean over the edge no one’s drowning, baby no one’s moving no one’s losing their homeland no one’s gonna become a climate change refugee or should i say no one else to the carteret islanders of papua new guinea and to the taro islanders of fiji
i take this moment to apologize to you we are drawing the line here because baby we are going to fight
your mommy daddy bubu jimma your country and president too we will all fight and even though there are those hidden behind platinum titles who like to pretend that we don’t exist that the marshall islands tuvalu kiribati maldives and typhoon haiyan in the philippines and floods of pakistan, algeria, and colombia and all the hurricanes, earthquakes, and tidalwaves didn’t exist
still there are those who see us hands reaching out fists raising up banners unfurling megaphones booming and we are canoes blocking coal ships we are the radiance of solar villageswe are the rich clean soil of the farmer’s past
we are petitions blooming from teenage fingertips we are families biking, recycling, reusing, engineers dreaming, designing, building, artists painting, dancing, writing
we are spreading the word and there are thousands out on the street marching with signs hand in hand chanting for change NOW t
hey’re marching for you, baby they’re marching for us because we deserve to do more than just survive we deserve to thrive
dear matafele peinam, your eyes heavy with drowsy weight so just close those eyes, baby and sleep in peace because we won’t let you down you’ll see -
See more at:
http://www.rtcc.org/2014/09/23/marshall-islands-poet-we-deserve-to-do-more-than-just-survive/#sthash.yXJoYveO.dpuf
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha
you are thunder thighs and lightning shrieks so excited for bananas, hugs and our morning walks past the lagoon
dear matafele peinam, i want to tell you about that lagoon that lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise
some men say that one day that lagoon will devour you they say it will gnaw at the shoreline chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees gulp down rows of your seawalls and crunch your island’s shattered bones
they say you, your daughter and your granddaughter, too will wander rootless with only a passport to call home
dear matafele peinam, don’t cry mommy promises you no one will come and devour you no greedy whale of a company sharking through political seas no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals no blindfolded bureaucracies gonna push this mother ocean over the edge no one’s drowning, baby no one’s moving no one’s losing their homeland no one’s gonna become a climate change refugee or should i say no one else to the carteret islanders of papua new guinea and to the taro islanders of fiji
i take this moment to apologize to you we are drawing the line here because baby we are going to fight
your mommy daddy bubu jimma your country and president too we will all fight and even though there are those hidden behind platinum titles who like to pretend that we don’t exist that the marshall islands tuvalu kiribati maldives and typhoon haiyan in the philippines and floods of pakistan, algeria, and colombia and all the hurricanes, earthquakes, and tidalwaves didn’t exist
still there are those who see us hands reaching out fists raising up banners unfurling megaphones booming and we are canoes blocking coal ships we are the radiance of solar villageswe are the rich clean soil of the farmer’s past
we are petitions blooming from teenage fingertips we are families biking, recycling, reusing, engineers dreaming, designing, building, artists painting, dancing, writing
we are spreading the word and there are thousands out on the street marching with signs hand in hand chanting for change NOW t
hey’re marching for you, baby they’re marching for us because we deserve to do more than just survive we deserve to thrive
dear matafele peinam, your eyes heavy with drowsy weight so just close those eyes, baby and sleep in peace because we won’t let you down you’ll see -
See more at:
http://www.rtcc.org/2014/09/23/marshall-islands-poet-we-deserve-to-do-more-than-just-survive/#sthash.yXJoYveO.dpuf
'Cli-fi', clima ficción, un género literario que va más allá de la ciencia ficción
'Cli-fi', clima ficción, un género literario que va más allá de la ciencia ficción
© Reproducir este artículo| | 
Imprimir | Enviar por correo |English version
Imprimir | Enviar por correo |English version 
Entonces, ¿cómo contar la “historia” del cambio climático y el recalentamiento planetario?
Un nuevo género literario llamado “clima ficción”, abreviado en inglés como “cli-fi”, viene evolucionando en los últimos años, y aunque toma su nombre de la ciencia ficción, se centra en relatos sobre el cambio climático y sus impactos actuales y futuros sobre la vida humana.
Algunos insisten en que es apenas un subgénero de la ciencia ficción, y eso tiene sentido en cierto aspecto. Pero en otros, se trata de un género en sí mismo que está cobrando impulso en todo el mundo, no como mero escapismo o entretenimiento –aunque a menudo incluye esos elementos–, sino como un modo serio de abordar los asuntos complejos y universales que rodean al cambio climático.
Sé algo de clima ficción porque en los últimos años trabajé para popularizarla, no solo en el mundo anglohablante sino también entre miles de millones de personas que leen en español, chino, alemán o francés, para nombrar algunos. En mi opinión, es un género internacional, con lectores internacionales, que debería ser abordado por escritores de cualquier nación y en cualquier idioma.
Cada vez más novelas de clima ficción se dirigen a una audiencia joven –“adultos jóvenes” en la jerga editorial– como “Not a Drop to Drink” (Ni una gota para beber), de Mindy McGinnis, “The Carbon Diaries 2015” (Los diarios del carbono 2015), de Saci Lloyd, y “Floodland” (Tierra inundable), de Marcus Sedgwick. De hecho, son los niños y los adolescentes quienes sufrirán las consecuencias de los estilos de vida que eligieron las generaciones anteriores.
En un mundo que enfrenta los impactos potencialmente catastróficos del cambio climático, este nuevo género literario se incorpora a nuestra cultura narrativa común, divulgando ideas y puntos de vista sobre el futuro que puede enfrentar la humanidad en 10 años, 100 o 500 años.
Es allí donde entra en escena la clima ficción, que puede desempeñar un rol importante para plasmar las emociones y sentimientos de los personajes en un relato o novela bien escritos para concientizar a lectores en todo el mundo.
Imaginen una novela de clima ficción que no solo llegue a miles de lectores, sino que también los emocione y tal vez los motive a convertirse en una voz más fuerte en el debate político internacional sobre las emisiones de carbono.
Ese es el potencial de la clima ficción.
Una universidad de Estados Unidos ofrece un curso sobre novelas y películas de clima ficción para estudiantes de ciencias ambientales y literatura.
Para Stephanie LeMenager, quien este año imparte esas clases en la Universidad de Oregon, el curso constituye una oportunidad para ella y sus alumnos de explorar el poder de la literatura y del cine en momentos en que escritores y cineastas intentan abordar algunos de los asuntos más difíciles que enfrenta la humanidad en el siglo XXI.
El curso de LeMenager se titula “Las culturas del cambio climático”. Es el primero en América del Norte, e incluso en el mundo, que se dedica de esta manera a las artes y el cambio climático. Estoy seguro de que otras universidades seguirán este esfuerzo pionero agregando nuevos cursos sobre ficción climática para sus estudiantes.
Nathaniel Rich es un escritor de 14 años, autor de la aclamada novela ''Pronósticos contra el mañana'', una historia ambientada en un futuro cercano en Manhattan, que ahonda en la “matemática de la catástrofe”. Residente en Nueva Orleans, Rich cree que se publicarán más libros como el suyo, no solo en inglés y no solo desde la perspectiva de las naciones ricas de Occidente.
Escritores de todo el mundo deben animarse a incursionar en el género de la clima ficción y a usar la literatura de sus propias culturas para intentar despertar a la población sobre el futuro que puede esperarnos a todos en un planeta que se calienta sin final a la vista.
Las tramas pueden ser aterradoras, pero las novelas de clima ficción brindan la oportunidad de explorar estos asuntos con emoción y prosa. Los libros importan. La literatura tiene un rol que desempeñar en nuestros debates sobre los impactos del calentamiento global en todo el mundo.
Podrá decirse que el canon del género se remonta a la novela “El mundo sumergido”, escrita en 1962 por el británico J.G. Ballard. Otro de los primeros libros sobre este fenómeno lo escribió en 1987 el australiano George Turner: “Las torres del olvido”.
La estadounidense Barbara Kingsolver publicó hace unos años una novela muy poderosa de clima ficción titulada “Flight Behavior” (Comportamiento de vuelo). Me impresionó mucho cuando la leí el verano pasado, y la recomiendo.
¿Cómo veo el futuro? Avizoro un mundo donde los seres humanos se aferren a la esperanza y el optimismo. Yo soy optimista. Y creo que cuanto más nos apeguemos a la ciencia del cambio climático en el plano cultural, más efectivamente podremos unirnos para evitar lo peor.
Dan Bloom es un periodista independiente de Boston. En 1971 se graduó en la Tufts University, donde se especializó en literatura francesa. Es activista climático y literario desde 2006. Síguelo en Twitter a través de @polarcityman and emaik at danbloom@gmail.com
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