I woke this morning to the release of a seven year long study by The National Audubon Society.
If birds are our canaries in the coal mine, we are in serious trouble. Of course they are much more than that. They are pollinators, seed bearers, flashes of scarlet against the winter snow, harbingers of spring and the coming of winter, the cry of the Loon echoing down the lake, and always the song singing up the sun.
Birds speak to our hearts, souls, and imaginations in ways few other species do. There is something about them that calls us to life and its beauty.
The Swan
by Mary Oliver
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
And all of it - the day's first song, a child's wonder at the blue of a robin's egg, the sunset dance of thousands - could disappear.
The Audubon study found that over half of all birds in the US and Canada are at serious risk from Climate Change.
By 2080, the climate model projects, dozens of avian species across the country could be hurtling toward extinction—and not just birds that are already in trouble. Both the American Avocet and the Yellow-headed Blackbird, familiar sights in western North America, may be under threat before the end of the century. In the Great Plains, the Chestnut-collared Longspur’s range could shrink by 70 percent, while suitable breeding grounds for the Baird’s Sparrow could disappear entirely. The Piping Plover, an icon of the Atlantic Flyway, may vanish from many eastern shores.
The numbers are stark: Of the 588 species Audubon studied, 314 are likely to find themselves in dire straits by 2080. Unless, that is, the oil boomers in the Bakken—and everyone else—start to consider the future. Unless we begin to reduce the severity of global warming and buy birds more time to adapt to the changes coming their way.
[bold added]
On Sunday, September 21st, people by the tens of thousands will be gathering in New York City for the
People's Climate March. Tens of thousands more will be coming together across the globe to march for life, for beauty, for this beautiful blued world.
Two days later Ban Ki-moon's historic UN Climate Summit will begin.
There is a sense that change is in the air. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited world leaders, from government, finance, business, and civil society to Climate Summit 2014 this 23 September to galvanize and catalyze climate action. He has asked these leaders to bring bold announcements and actions to the Summit that will reduce emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and mobilize political will for a meaningful legal agreement in 2015. Climate Summit 2014 provides a unique opportunity for leaders to champion an ambitious vision, anchored in action that will enable a meaningful global agreement in 2015.
The birds are falling silent. We need to speak up for them. We need to take action now - for the future and those who will come after we are gone.
Birds are some of the gifts the natural world gives to all of us. I want others to be able to experience the gift I was given one early morning. I would give it to you if I could.
A morning cup of tea on the sunporch and writing were my rituals for starting the day. It was early, as usual. Quiet. The children were still asleep. The heavy thrum of rush hour traffic had not started. The first morning breeze gently whispered through the leaves.
The shift from dusk, to dawn, to day, was underway - the light changing everything. Trees bloomed shades of green as they emerged from night's shadows.
The sky blushed rose, gold and blue.
Then the rising sun's light touched the wetland field on the other side of the tree line.
Bird song rose in wave upon wave of notes - a symphony of feathered song that filled the sky, singing up the day.
It was simply wondrous. Sublime. A fleeting moment always remembered. It is a song that others deserve to hear. It is a sense of wonder others deserve to feel. It is why I fought the developer who wanted to put condos on that wetland field. It is why I sat on the edge of that field crying, grieving, the night that fight was lost.
It is why I'm writing this diary. Such wonder and grace cannot end on our watch.
The Rapture
by Mary Oliver
All summer
I wandered the fields
that were thickening
every morning,
every rainfall,
with weeds and blossoms,
with the long loops
of the shimmering, and the extravagant-
pale as flames they rose
and fell back,
replete and beautiful-
that was all there was-
and I too
once or twice, at least,
felt myself rising,
my boots
touching suddenly the tops of the weeds,
the blue and silky air-
listen,
passion did it,
called me forth,
addled me,
stripped me clean
then covered me with the cloth of happiness-
I think there is no other prize,
only rapture the gleaming,
rapture the illogical the weightless-
whether it be for the perfect shapeliness
of something you love-
like an old German song-
or of someone-
or the dark floss of the earth itself,
heavy and electric.
At the edge of sweet sanity open
such wild, blind wings.
Our own
boatsie and
kathny have written diaries about the
People's Climate March and the
UN Climate Summit. Joan Brooker is bringing her documentary film class to the March. NYC Kossacks are going to be marching with Joan's students. Won't you join them?
If you can not, please support The National Audubon Society. Please talk to your family, friends, and neighbors about the Audubon's report, the People's Climate March, and the UN Climate Summit.
Please contact your local, state, and federal representatives. Work to change your town's zoning laws so habitat is not destroyed. Help get the word out on Social Media too. There are so many actions we can take and they each matter greatly.
A long time ago, I was a little girl who found comfort and sanctuary with the natural world. I still do. This beautiful blued earth has always been my heart's home, a gift and wonder. It hurts when she is hurting. It hurts when the grace and wonder that I've shared with my children and grandchildren is fading. It hurts because others will not know what we are gifted with each day if we do not act.
Let us make sure that bird song always sings up the day. March for them in NYC on September 21. March for them across the globe. March for us all.
1:40 PM PT: Laurence Lewis has an important diary on The Audubon study, including ways you can help at home.
"Audubon has a separate page on what you can do to help the birds. The bullet points include:
Take the Pledge (to become informed and to help out)
Create a Bird-Friendly Yard
Get Involved With Your Local Important Bird Area
Put Birds on Your Community’s Agenda
Meet With Local Decision Makers
And the big one:
Support Policies That Lower Emissions: Urge leaders at the local, state, and national levels to enact policies that lower greenhouse gas emissions and support clean energy. Renewable portfolio standards, energy efficiency targets, and other proactive measures reduce emissions and will limit the effects of global warming on birds. Put these policies on your leaders’ agendas, and publicly support efforts to make them stick."