A recent story in the Guardian is important for the issues it outlines of which climate change warriors should be aware: Climate change deniers’ new battle front attacked, by Robin McKie:
Mann told the Observer that although flat rejection of global warming was becoming increasingly hard to maintain in the face of mounting evidence, this did not mean climate change deniers were giving up the fight.
“First of all, there is an attempt being made by them to deflect attention away from finding policy solutions to global warming towards promoting individual behaviour changes that affect people’s diets, travel choices and other personal behaviour,” said Mann. “This is a deflection campaign and a lot of well-meaning people have been taken in by it.”
We want to address this at Regenerative Culture because we are most definitely not of the opinion that individual action is the only thing one should do. But when individual action “infects” society, then it is that much easier to pass policies that will benefit climate change. Here at DKos, we are a sister group to Green Revolution, which will discuss political action to address climate change, even extreme action when it’s called for. If you’ve been following Greta Thunberg, you know that the kids are seeing extreme action as necessary as long as the world heats up. We will support them.
McKie also addresses the flip side of “we can take individual action,” which is “it’s so bad there’s no point in doing anything”:
However, deniers have not given up their opposition to plans to curtail fossil fuel use and among their new tactics they have also tried to encourage “doomism”, as Mann put it. “This is the idea that we are now so late in the game [in tackling global warming] that there is nothing that we can do about the problem,” he added. “By promoting this doom and gloom attitude this leads people down a path of despair and hopelessness and finally inaction, which actually leads us to the same place as outright climate-change denialism.”
So don’t let either type of “soft denialism” gain a foothold. It is not hopeless. And individual and political action both need to be taken — neither is a substitute for the other.
Future RCAP diaries will include the below disclaimer to acquaint new readers with our philosophy:
in other news:
From USA Today, "CNN slammed for asking about Ellen [Degeneres], but not climate change, at Democratic debate," https://www.usatoday.com/...
From NPR, "Trees That Survived California Drought May Hold Clue To Climate Resilience," https://www.npr.org/…
Individual members of any species can vary dramatically, something tied to genetic differences. That diversity comes in handy when environmental conditions change.
The drought, heat and beetle outbreaks in recent years put extreme pressure on sugar pines, creating a natural experiment that weeded out all but the toughest.
From The Nation, "Jedediah Purdy Has an Idea That Could Save Us From Capitalism and the Climate Crisis," https://www.thenation.com/...
Our survival makes us complicit in what we destroy and what eventually destroys us, but the boundaries of that “us” is always shifting. That’s why the pivot is a political “we” that can turn around and reshape the system itself, the economic order and infrastructure. Politics has to start with the fact that we are one another’s problems, potentially one another’s enemies, and to make ways to become one another’s collaborators, helpers, and friends.
From TechExplore, “Study shows where global renewable energy investments have greatest benefits,” https://techxplore.com/…
Too often the news focuses on big generic (feel good) actions - e.g., PLANT TREES - and ignores the actual reality that what/where/when - what type of trees and where to plant - makes or breaks the value of planting:
A new study finds that the amount of climate and health benefits achieved from renewable energy depends on the country where it is installed. Countries with higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and more air pollution, such as India, China, and areas in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, achieve greater climate and health benefits per megawatt (MW) of renewable energy installed than those operating in areas such as North America, Brazil, and parts of Europe.
Researchers measured two types of benefits—climate benefits (reductions in carbon emissions) and health benefits (decreased mortality attributable to harmful air pollution)—and developed a user-friendly model to compare how those benefits vary based on where renewable energy is operating. They found climate benefits are greatest in countries where the electricity grid is largely powered by coal with less-efficient plants, including Mongolia, Botswana, Estonia, Iraq, and Australia. Health benefits are greatest in countries with higher population densities where people are living downwind of emissions sources, including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, and large parts of Eastern Europe.
Which is not to say, if you can’t plant there, don’t plant here. It all helps. But of course where air quality is worse, trees help more.
To join the Regenerative Culture for an Altered Planet group, please read more about it and contact us here!
To join the GreenRevolution Direct Action Environmental Protest group, please read more about it and contact us here!
Regenerative Culture is a group effort. Many thanks to Angmar, occupystephanie, and Besame for this week's stories!
I just came back from dessert with my parents. We had a cherry cheesecake in an Oreo crust topped with cherries topped with chocolate sauce. Decadent, they loved it! I hope some of you will join me again on Saturday night, when I present what’s for dinner (or in this case, dessert), and share my seedless raspberry cheesecake recipe! (The same can be used for any flavors you prefer, except I take a few extra steps with the raspberries that I don’t take for most other fruits, so it’s not crunchy with seeds.)