Nearly two years ago, here in western North Carolina, the mountains came down when Helene hit. My town, Burnsville, in Yancey County, was one of the hardest hit. We're still working to rebuild infrastructure and homes that were simply wiped off the earth by mudslides and raging rivers.
Hundreds of miles from any coast and a hurricane hit the mountains. I know climate change is real and this is not going to be an isolated incident.
Thank you for this clear-eyed, thoroughly researched, excellent essay.
It’s hard to imagine a President and administration less competent to face reality or even slightly interested in doing so. I’ll never comprehend how millions of our fellow Americans chose this outcome by voting for it or not bothering to vote.
Trump might be failing gradually and then suddenly, but his billionaire and treasonous enablers and operatives are not going to give up unless they see we the people care enough to say no.
I have the feeling that this metaphore could be applied to every aspect of the entire world. Everything is unstable, crippling and cracking, we are all just waiting the final rupture while dub scrolling our phones
Mary,I have no words anymore that describe the horror I feel about the Trump regime. He has no honor, no compassion, he is a mistake - a rat that somehow sneaked past the guardians of what used to guarantee our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - our freedom in all respects. He truly deserves the old adage, "the ugly American". In fact I think I will produce t-shirts, bumper stickers and posters to distribute and sell to create a fund to help us oust his whole gang. Yes, want to help me get it going? You're an ideas woman obviously and probably know the best people to engage ..to begin with,.those who dig your work for instance. I'll price the project out and would appreciate help on ideas etc. and distribution. I've been retired - a writer and communications gal at ECoast Communications.com, closed now - but - yup - I feel better already about this project. Stephanie
Australia, a country with far less GDP than the US, has realised $5mil in aid money for Nepal. I expect every other country in the world will give aid of far greater value than the US. Just another nail in the coffin of US world standing.
Gradually then suddenly indeed! I feel as if we’re living in one of those disaster movies … like “The Day After Tomorrow”, which was about climate change happening slowly and then suddenly.
The government of the United Stares was portrayed as not being interested in the subject just like today’s isn’t. And that film was made about 20 years ago.
Sometimes Hollywood seeks to educate us not just entertain us. But we have to be open to learning the lesson it’s offering.
I fear we won’t learn what we need to learn in time. But I appreciate your effort to teach us this lesson today!
Thank you for this clear picture of the ever present danger. Having this presented with the reminder of has happened and continues to happen in several sites was so critical. It is not that I didn't read and despair about the other events, it isn't that I am not fully aware and active in environmental action around climate change, I am. But having that Hemingway quote was a perfect gut punch.
God help the people who experience such a tragedy. Money in the sciences may have alerted us, them...years in the making gone in seconds. I feel like we are all damaged in this situation. Like being beat around the head and back with monotonous regularity...is it ever going to stop. We really don't even have the funds to help out here???? Has this vicious clown in the white house ever going to just die and take us all out our misery?
How tragic that your earlier piece turned out to be so prescient, The footage of the disaster in Nepal was truly horrific; the speed and volume at which the torrent moved looked initially more like AI, but tragically was not.
Will this be a wake-up call to governments to do better with their monitoring, and at the very least to restore what has already been cut back? Let us all hope that good sense may prevail, for once.
You know the difference between walking on grass, concrete sidewalk, asphalt street feels on bare feet? As dark rock previously covered by white, reflecting, snow/ice is exposed, more heat is absorbed. Melting more edges and spreading more broadly.
If, indeed, there is a "gradual" that can be measured via satellite, couldn't this be another example of "AI for good" if someone had the where-with-all to implement it? Now that we've reached the point of no return on the cause. Just a thought.
Great article! Very depressing, as I just read where Trump is paying billions to a German company NOT to build windmills off our east coast, and so they're spending it on fossil fuel development. "Trump crime family", to paraphrase the MAGAs.
i am becoming more convinced that simple facts and evidence, no matter how overwhelming, will convert the mass of the US population into recognizing what we are doing and what we have done. we had air you could not breathe, we had rivers catch on fire, we had whole neighborhoods become ill and die from companies knowingly dumping pollutants into their air or water. we had many dangerous and fatal illnesses eradicated or nearly so... and yet we are busily reversing all the progress on these fronts.. charted temperatures break records each year, so much that it is no long a surprise. we have storms, floods, falling chunks of icebergs and all sorts of signs, that statistically were far far less frequent in the past... yet it is all "fake news" from people who "hate America".. how stupid are citizens of this country to fall for that crap? i am afraid that the old adage of boiling a frog is what we are living out right now... we have all the signs, but so many unwilling to pluck their heads out of their asses to recognize what is going on. and contrary to what the far right tries to tell you, the solution does not cost you your car, just the fuel source. it does not cost you eating beef, just how the beef is raised and how the crops that feed the beef are raised. other countries are doing this. China installs "Germany sized" increases in their grid power annually now, and it is all sustainable. we dont even hold the liars accountable. Texas is second only to CA in solar energy.... third?? Florida. wind energy?? Texas leads the nation, followed by Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois. So these deep ruby red states (TX, FL, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas) are all benefitting from sustainable, clean, cheap energy, while publicly stating that it does not work or supporting those that do. those on the far right need to open their eyes and their mind, look around and see the acceleration of bad things in nature, need to see who is doing what vs saying what, and where the money is going. the base that put these clowns in office are the ones being victimized by those they voted for, and equally benefitting from systems that they routinely reject... sustainable energy, government support in terms of helping lower income people, emergency relief from natural disasters... on a bright sunny day, these are all bad things, but the moment the storms hit FL or the floods and cold hit TX, they have their hands out.
Nearly two years ago, here in western North Carolina, the mountains came down when Helene hit. My town, Burnsville, in Yancey County, was one of the hardest hit. We're still working to rebuild infrastructure and homes that were simply wiped off the earth by mudslides and raging rivers.
Hundreds of miles from any coast and a hurricane hit the mountains. I know climate change is real and this is not going to be an isolated incident.
A sad commentary on what governments prioritize.
Thank you for this clear-eyed, thoroughly researched, excellent essay.
It’s hard to imagine a President and administration less competent to face reality or even slightly interested in doing so. I’ll never comprehend how millions of our fellow Americans chose this outcome by voting for it or not bothering to vote.
Trump might be failing gradually and then suddenly, but his billionaire and treasonous enablers and operatives are not going to give up unless they see we the people care enough to say no.
I have the feeling that this metaphore could be applied to every aspect of the entire world. Everything is unstable, crippling and cracking, we are all just waiting the final rupture while dub scrolling our phones
Thank you again. Fine reporting. You are a gift.
Mary,I have no words anymore that describe the horror I feel about the Trump regime. He has no honor, no compassion, he is a mistake - a rat that somehow sneaked past the guardians of what used to guarantee our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - our freedom in all respects. He truly deserves the old adage, "the ugly American". In fact I think I will produce t-shirts, bumper stickers and posters to distribute and sell to create a fund to help us oust his whole gang. Yes, want to help me get it going? You're an ideas woman obviously and probably know the best people to engage ..to begin with,.those who dig your work for instance. I'll price the project out and would appreciate help on ideas etc. and distribution. I've been retired - a writer and communications gal at ECoast Communications.com, closed now - but - yup - I feel better already about this project. Stephanie
Australia, a country with far less GDP than the US, has realised $5mil in aid money for Nepal. I expect every other country in the world will give aid of far greater value than the US. Just another nail in the coffin of US world standing.
Gradually then suddenly indeed! I feel as if we’re living in one of those disaster movies … like “The Day After Tomorrow”, which was about climate change happening slowly and then suddenly.
The government of the United Stares was portrayed as not being interested in the subject just like today’s isn’t. And that film was made about 20 years ago.
Sometimes Hollywood seeks to educate us not just entertain us. But we have to be open to learning the lesson it’s offering.
I fear we won’t learn what we need to learn in time. But I appreciate your effort to teach us this lesson today!
Maybe it’s time to remake that film?
Seeing the video footage from Nepal is enough for me!
Thank you for this clear picture of the ever present danger. Having this presented with the reminder of has happened and continues to happen in several sites was so critical. It is not that I didn't read and despair about the other events, it isn't that I am not fully aware and active in environmental action around climate change, I am. But having that Hemingway quote was a perfect gut punch.
God help the people who experience such a tragedy. Money in the sciences may have alerted us, them...years in the making gone in seconds. I feel like we are all damaged in this situation. Like being beat around the head and back with monotonous regularity...is it ever going to stop. We really don't even have the funds to help out here???? Has this vicious clown in the white house ever going to just die and take us all out our misery?
Mary,
How tragic that your earlier piece turned out to be so prescient, The footage of the disaster in Nepal was truly horrific; the speed and volume at which the torrent moved looked initially more like AI, but tragically was not.
Will this be a wake-up call to governments to do better with their monitoring, and at the very least to restore what has already been cut back? Let us all hope that good sense may prevail, for once.
You know the difference between walking on grass, concrete sidewalk, asphalt street feels on bare feet? As dark rock previously covered by white, reflecting, snow/ice is exposed, more heat is absorbed. Melting more edges and spreading more broadly.
If, indeed, there is a "gradual" that can be measured via satellite, couldn't this be another example of "AI for good" if someone had the where-with-all to implement it? Now that we've reached the point of no return on the cause. Just a thought.
Great article! Very depressing, as I just read where Trump is paying billions to a German company NOT to build windmills off our east coast, and so they're spending it on fossil fuel development. "Trump crime family", to paraphrase the MAGAs.
Indeed.
i am becoming more convinced that simple facts and evidence, no matter how overwhelming, will convert the mass of the US population into recognizing what we are doing and what we have done. we had air you could not breathe, we had rivers catch on fire, we had whole neighborhoods become ill and die from companies knowingly dumping pollutants into their air or water. we had many dangerous and fatal illnesses eradicated or nearly so... and yet we are busily reversing all the progress on these fronts.. charted temperatures break records each year, so much that it is no long a surprise. we have storms, floods, falling chunks of icebergs and all sorts of signs, that statistically were far far less frequent in the past... yet it is all "fake news" from people who "hate America".. how stupid are citizens of this country to fall for that crap? i am afraid that the old adage of boiling a frog is what we are living out right now... we have all the signs, but so many unwilling to pluck their heads out of their asses to recognize what is going on. and contrary to what the far right tries to tell you, the solution does not cost you your car, just the fuel source. it does not cost you eating beef, just how the beef is raised and how the crops that feed the beef are raised. other countries are doing this. China installs "Germany sized" increases in their grid power annually now, and it is all sustainable. we dont even hold the liars accountable. Texas is second only to CA in solar energy.... third?? Florida. wind energy?? Texas leads the nation, followed by Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois. So these deep ruby red states (TX, FL, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas) are all benefitting from sustainable, clean, cheap energy, while publicly stating that it does not work or supporting those that do. those on the far right need to open their eyes and their mind, look around and see the acceleration of bad things in nature, need to see who is doing what vs saying what, and where the money is going. the base that put these clowns in office are the ones being victimized by those they voted for, and equally benefitting from systems that they routinely reject... sustainable energy, government support in terms of helping lower income people, emergency relief from natural disasters... on a bright sunny day, these are all bad things, but the moment the storms hit FL or the floods and cold hit TX, they have their hands out.