Climate Tipping Point?

Have we passed a tipping point on global warming? Or is there still time to slow the warming trend by reducing the burning of fossil fuels? Could predicted effects get worse faster than scientists have predicted? According to recent research released by world renowned climatologist James Hansen and his colleagues at Columbia University, sea levels could rise a staggering ten feet within fifty years instead of three feet envisioned previously.

A warming planet is no longer disputed, even by most Republican politicians. Climate scientists overwhelmingly agree the warming is caused by the extreme levels of carbon in the atmosphere and oceans largely from burning fossil fuels in which carbon has been stored since dinosaurs roamed.

Hansen could be wrong in his predictions, but what if he’s right? What will it cost to move cities to higher ground? What happens to populations forced to compete for food resources and agricultural land as farmland is lost to the sea and drought? Even if Hansen is wrong, what are the costs of rising seas, increased damage from powerful storms, heat waves, droughts, forest fires, and the other impacts of rising temperatures predicted by more conservative scientists over the coming decades? We have spent hundreds of billions in tax money and private dollars on such weather related disasters in recent years. 

Around the world and in some states and municipalities here, alternative energy sources are being developed and tapped to reduce the use of carbon-based fuels on a large scale. Solar panels get cheaper every day and are now competitive with the price of electricity produced by coal burning power plants. Wind power, geo thermal, bio-fuels, waste to energy, fuel cells, are entering boom times. The alternative energy market is producing jobs at up to ten times the rate of the national average. (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2014/01/solar-jobs-growing-ten-times-faster-than-national-average-employment-growth.html)

Corporations must plan ahead. They want to transition to cleaner energy sources but need a level playing field. In fact, six of Europe’s biggest oil producers including Shell and BP recently called for a world wide pricing system on carbon. They’d rather compete in a predictable marketplace than face unpredictable regulations.

Why a price on carbon? It’s similar to taxes on tobacco products. We know that tobacco use leads to disastrous health consequences: lung cancer, heart disease, lost work time, etc. That costs all of us money, not just those who use it. So we have put high taxes on it, and because of that, smoking and the health costs of smoking for all of us has been reduced.

A revenue neutral carbon fee designed to garner bi-partisan support has been proposed by Citizens’ Climate Lobby (www.citizensclimatelobby.org) and endorsed by former Republican Secretary of the Treasury and State, George Schultz. It would collect fees and return them to American families. 

This proposed legislation sets a modest fee of $15 per ton on carbon rising by $10 each year so that the economy can adjust. Revenue is divided equally among American families (1 share for each adult, 1/2 share per child up to two children), providing the resources to cope with rising fuel prices and consumer goods. The respected firm, Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI)4 predicts a family of 4 would receive dividends greater than increased costs each year. By 2026 they’d be receiving $300/month. One million new jobs would be created in the first 4 years in addition to health benefits and a 50% reduction in carbon use over 20 years, far more than currently proposed regulations such as the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The incentive to increase efficiency and develop alternative energy is obvious.

Our state’s representatives in Congress and most state legislators say that the continued mining and burning of coal is good for WV. They say coal is an inexpensive fuel and warn of job and tax revenue loss if use is limited in any way. But West Virginians are not only paying the costs of climate change, we pay for the negative effects of coal mining on communities: to health, water and air quality, and even threat of destruction from impoundments.  West Virginia could be a leader in alternative energy production and reap the benefits of a job boom in solar, wind, hydro, and other green energy initiatives with the help of forward looking policies.

Our representatives will not change their minds unless they hear from many of us relentlessly. Tell them this is critically important and that you demand action. Carbon pricing legislation does not rule out coal, but assesses the true costs of carbon it contains. Perhaps the industry will find cost efficient ways to reduce or sequester carbon emissions, but until they do, they should pay for the damage they are causing. 

Losing My Mind? No, just a little stress...

On Sunday I lost my keys. On Monday I realized my wallet went missing. It was very distressing, but it wasn’t the first time I’d been through this, so I did what I do. I began searching. Not only the likely places, but the unlikely places. Because that’s what I do. And when I find something I’ve misplaced, I always say the same thing, “Gee, how come I always find things in the last place I look?” That’s supposed to be funny. But at that moment I am feeling supreme relief. This time, what I also realized was that stress had led to me losing these items in the first place. 

As a retired guy, I don’t feel a lot of stress lately. And I don’t misplace my keys and wallet that often. Over the years, I’ve trained myself pretty well to leave my keys on a hook in the coat closet and my wallet either in the rear pants pocket of the pants I’m wearing or on a surface in the bedroom—my dresser or the end table where I charge my phone. 

But on Sunday, I was stressed because I was getting ready for a party and had the lawn to mow, errands to run, and food to prepare. Everything went fine, though I realized shortly after returning from the grocery store that I’d misplaced my keys because I wanted to move my wife’s car into the garage to make more room for guests. I borrowed her keys rather than waste time looking thoroughly. The party went fine, but on Monday I realized that my wallet was also missing, and as I started my search, I was feeling stress. Had I left my wallet at the grocery store? We had a trip coming up Thursday. Would I have to cancel credit cards? What a hassle. I went to the market and asked about lost and found wallets. No luck.

After the fifth or sixth time looking in, under, and around every piece of furniture, the car, my drawers full of clothes and the hamper, going through the trash (I only did that once), I decided I had to let it go. Either they would turn up or they wouldn’t. So far, no new charges on the charge cards, so I would not cancel or put holds on them. 

On Tuesday, I was in the basement (yes I’d looked around in the basement and garage, too), and decided to check the pants I keep hanging on a hook to wear when I mow the lawn. I’d checked them earlier, but must have been in a hurry or it was when I was just looking for my keys, so had kind of squeezed or jiggled them but not checked the back pocket. The wallet. What a relief. Keys are much easier to replace than a wallet. Why I put my wallet in my work pants I’ve decided has to do with stress: because my mind was so occupied with the list of things I had to accomplish in little time, automatic habits like putting a wallet in my back pocket occurred without conscious thought. 

On Wednesday, I found my keys hanging on a hook. But not the hook in the coat closet. It was a hook on a coat tree in the corner where I hang a couple hats and the portable earphone radio I sometimes wear when I ride my bike. Reconstructing my day Sunday, I vaguely recalled finding the radio sitting out somewhere, grabbing them as I put down bags of groceries, and putting them on the hook under the hats. Unfortunately, the keys were also in my hand, and with my mind occupied with the next tasks on my list and the time I had left, I must have slipped the keys onto that hook where they would stay perfectly hidden by the hats for two days. Luckily, on Tuesday when I went to get my radio, I found the keys, or they might have stayed there unnoticed until I had reason to move two hats that were hanging on the same hook!

Of course, being retired (and married, so backup keys and money were available) the stress of losing a wallet and keys is very small stuff. But I’m always amazed at the truth of the old adage, “I learn something new every day.” I don’t know whether I’ll act on it, but I intend to, when stressed, pay extra special attention to some of those little things that could later cause more anxiety and wasted time. And no, I’m not going to the doctor and asking for an alzheimer’s test.

Carla Rising, A Novel Worth Reading

I just finished reading Carla Rising, by Topper Sherwood, available as a soft cover paperback only from WV Book Company click here (could be ordered by your local bookstore as well). Full disclosure: Topper and I worked together thirty some years ago and he has sent donations to a project I coordinate called AWARE: Artists Working in Alliance to Restore the Environment.

Carla Rising is a novel written by West Virginia native, Topper Sherwood, about the period in American history known as the West Virginia Mine Wars, specifically, the Battle of Blair of Mountain in 1921, during which thousands of armed miners attempted to march on the town of Logan to free their union brothers who had been jailed without charges. The battle ended only when the U.S. Army was sent in to restore order.  

Sherwood has fictionalized the event, renaming some places and not others, and assembling a cast of characters some of whom can be fairly easily correlated to the historical figures they stand in for. The book is named for a central character, Carla Rising Mandt, raised on Blair Mountain by parents, Bonner Rising, a miner who had died in an earlier labor battle, and her mother, Mary, a quintessentially strong Appalachian woman who quietly endures the hardships of an idyllic rural life trying, but failing to avoid the dangerous politics of the era. Carla has been married for a year to Sid Mandt, a miner and local union leader as the book begins. 

Sherwood, a journalist and small press publisher now living in Berlin, Germany, has long been interested in this period of West Virginia History, having co-authored the history, Just Good Politics, the Life of Raymond Chafin, Appalachian Boss. Sherwood displays virtuosic skill as he paints a rich picture of life in the southern WV coal fields in the early 1900’s. He brings to the page many of the images John Sayles fans will recognize from his 1987 independent film classic, Matewan, which covers some of the same ground, but focusses on the “Matewan Massacre,” which took place a year before the events portrayed in Sherwood’s novel.

Carla Rising explores the minds of two brothers, Todd and Gibbs Bryant, who vie for leadership of the striking miners, one advocating patience and one armed action. Having grown up roaming Blair mountain, Carla’s knowledge of the terrain is valuable to the striking miners, and she struggles to decide which of the two brothers to support.

Along with a host of authentically drawn characters, some born and raised in the mountains, others newly arrived European immigrants: Aunt Tildy and Uncle Harm, Lowcoal, Darko, the evil Baldwin guard, Gaujot, and Carla’s eleven year old brother, Nick, a mute innocent collecting trinkets to display in his secret cave, Todd, Gibbs, and Carla each find their way to important life lessons amidst their struggle to make a better life for the miners and their families in this period of exploitation and corruption in the Appalachian Mountains.

Sherwood’s Carla Rising is an important book because it brings us into the minds of people who struggle against seemingly impossible odds to take on local and state government leaders who are fully beholden to their corporate sponsors. Of course, there are no political leaders such as this in the United States today, right?

Thoughts on Belief on Passover, Easter

As a humanist (non-theist), I understand the desire that people have to believe that there is a force for good looking over and protecting them and their loved ones and forgive them for their seeming lack of ability to imagine how that might seem when applied to those whose lives are negatively impacted in any given situation. It always drives me crazy to hear someone describe some incident in which others were hurt or died, but they or their loved one survived by saying, "God was watching over (me or them)."

"Oh, really," I want to say, "but He didn't care about the others?" Of course they would likely come back with "He has his own plan" or some such.....But, that is just what they need to make sense of the world, and many studies have shown that people who believe in these ways get health benefits from this kind of thinking, although it looks like denial to me.

I wrote the above in response to a Facebook post in which someone had made a similar observation regarding lyrics in a Garth Brooks song about souls being called to earth to be born to wonderful mothers. She wondered about the babies being born to less desirable parents and situations.

And then I remembered that last night was the beginning of Passover and tomorrow is Easter. No, I did nothing to observe Passover last night. 

I was raised in a Jewish family by educated parents who were not terribly religious, though we attended services in a Reform congregation somewhat regularly through the year and on holidays, I attended Sunday School and had Hebrew lessons twice a week for a couple years preparing for Bar Mitzvah. But part of the rebellion of my young adulthood was a disavowal of religious belief, and I have only been back in synagogues for family weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and funerals since.

Passover, which celebrates the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt recounted in the Book of Exodus, is a perfect example of a religious belief in which God is watching over only certain people, not others. Moses demands that Pharoah release the Jews; he refuses, and God unleashes various plagues until finally the Jews are instructed to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb and the Angel of Death is sent to kill all the firstborn sons of the unmarked households. Hence the holiday is named "Passover," since the Jewish households were passed over and their children spared.

According to the Christian Bible, Jesus and his disciples were eating the Passover dinner, the Sedar, in what has come to be called the Last Supper. Jesus was a devout Jew, a rabbi, though his teachings challenged the powerful Jewish priesthood at the Temple in Jerusalem and the Roman notion that Caesar was a living god.  The Romans could put up with an invisible Jewish god, but not with a man who had thousands of followers who proclaimed him King of the Jews and possibly the Messiah.

The message of Easter (apologies to any Christians who may ask how a lapsed Jew has the chutzpah to interpret their religion), while broadening the extent to which the heretofore God of the Jews would extend his love and protections to anyone, Jew or Gentile, limits his favor to those who acknowledge faith in Jesus Christ. 

I don't hate religions or religious people, but I recognize that religions are exclusive clubs. They subscribe to the "only-one-True-religion" thesis. While most of them invite others to share their beliefs, too often they find other religions or even sects within their own religion threatening, and since in their belief system God favors them, blesses them, they sometimes feel justified in discriminating against or even attacking others. While there are benefits in belonging to religious groups, such as the wonderful charitable work they do for their own members and for others outside their groups, and for the teaching of moral lessons inherent in all religions, I would on this holiday pray if I were religious, but hope since I am not, that my religious friends would contemplate whether the sense that their god protects and favors them affects the way they think about people who are different or believe differently than they do.

Sixty Degrees Difference from Snorkel to Skis

I went cross country skiing today. The sun was shining and it was in the mid-20’s. One week ago, I went snorkeling in the Virgin Islands. The sun was shining and it was in the mid-80’s. The snorkeling and the weather in St. Croix was more enjoyable than the skiing, but even though I found it difficult to get enthused about going out today to shovel snow and get my old cross country skis out of the garage, I enjoyed the physical activity.

As I swished around the Shawnee Park golf course in Dunbar, WV, I worked up a sweat and found myself smiling and enjoying the exertion, the beauty of the almost unbroken expanse of snow, white and blue before me. 

But snorkeling over the coral reef off Buck Island, hovering above schools of brightly colored fish and interesting coral formations in the warm, clear tropical waters was clearly the more beautiful and interesting activity. Of course, without the effective waterproof sunblock I had smeared over my body before getting on the sailboat for the forty-five minute sail from St. Croix to Buck Island, I would likely have sustained a serious sunburn. But with the ocean breezes, I rarely felt hot during the week I spent there.

View of Buck Island from Point Udall, St. Croix, VI

Warming oceans and increased carbon dioxide in the water is killing coral reefs. And today, a few miles from Charleston, where I live, a train derailed and several tanker cars filled with crude oil from the Bakken shale exploded and continue to burn twenty-four hours later as I write. Some of the oil has fouled the water of the Kanawha River. 

February has been very cold and snowy over much of the country, and because of this, no doubt the climate deniers are saying this proves that the planet is not warming. Actually, extreme weather of all kinds, including colder weather in some places is expected as the arctic winds escape the forces that used to hold them in place around the poles.

I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned about the ability of those of us on the planet who would like to preserve the beautiful places and creatures and plants in the world by reducing and finally eliminating the burning of fossil fuels, and though I know I contribute to the problem by stepping on an airplane to go see some of those places, I’m glad that I have the time and resources to be able to once in awhile. 

Call Me Humanist, Not Atheist

Before I tell you why I prefer the label humanist to atheist (literally, “not a theist”), I have to ask, what is a theist? Easy, you answer, someone who believes in a god or gods. 

A majority worldwide, and over 70% of Americans believe there is one God, and they generally agree they are worshiping the same God, but in different ways, ways they often believe will give them a good result in this life and/or an afterlife.

So really, when we ask a person what they believe, we are usually more concerned with, and they are more likely to answer with something that reflects their religion of choice or birth. “I’m a Christian. Jesus is my savior.” “I’m Jewish. one of the Chosen People.” “I’m a Muslim, praise be to Allah (God).” And in the United States, where most are Christian, “I’m Catholic.” or Episcopal, Baptist, etc. with all the distinguishing beliefs that each carries.

Theists not only believe in a higher power, but usually subscribe to a specific shared set of beliefs regarding that higher power and the possibilities of an afterlife, and how one should live one’s life in order to fulfill the higher power’s wishes or demands. 

There is also a fairly large group of people who one might call unaffiliated or agnostic who will say they believe in or at least don’t disbelieve in God or a higher power or say they are “Christian,” only meaning that they believe Jesus existed and was special and agree with the concepts associated with him. They generally go along with God or Christ being a force for good, and maybe if they live a good life, they’ll probably have a good result if there is an afterlife. Of course people move between agnosticism and belief and change beliefs in the course of their lives.

What does an atheist believe? The short answer is whatever hum (the non-gender pronoun hum can mean he, she, him, her, etc.) wants. Since hum does not subscribe to one of the world’s religions, hum does not have a set of rituals to follow, like praying at certain times, attending meetings on certain days of the week to talk about shared beliefs or receive instruction on them, eating or not eating certain foods or following certain rules or laws written in ‘sacred’ texts and interpreted over hundreds or thousands of years by scholars or visionaries, or powerful leaders. 

Many theists wonder if an atheist feels free to steal, kill or rape freely without fear of retribution. Rest assured, we live in the same world you do and follow the same laws which are enforced in the same way. There are many who make the case that atheists, because we have to think through what we believe to be right or wrong as we consider where our natural instincts or desires lead us rather than referring to an ancient text or asking a clergyman, are more moral than the many throughout history who have at times followed their religious leaders to commit atrocities. 

When I think about what I believe, I’m not thinking about what I don’t believe. That list is very, very long, and extends to all kinds of supernatural phenomena and conspiracy theories, from a burning bush that is not consumed and talks to Moses to paranormal activity or ability such as ESP, ghosts, or psychic abilities. Essentially, I’m a skeptic.

Humanism sprang up in the early 20^th century and, according to Wikipedia, “rejected revealed knowledge, theism-based morality and the supernatural.” Sometime later religious conservatives began to refer to it as “Secular Humanism,” to distinguish it from some religious, non-fundamentalists who adopted humanist principles.

As a humanist (I prefer no capital H, because it’s just a label, not a religion or organization), I believe that no one has the answers to “life’s persistent questions,” which Guy Noir, a character of Garrison Keillor’s, seeks. I believe that this is the only life we have and our goal as humans should be to make the most of it: learning, loving, laughing, creating. I believe that through science, we have the potential of solving problems and making our lives better.  I value kindness, taking care of the planet, being a force for good. I acknowledge that not everything is known, and therefore many things are possible, such as that there is a remote possibility life or memory may continue in some form after death and even that there could be a “higher power” that in some way influences life on earth. That doesn’t make me a theist, or even agnostic, but it allows me to be a humanist.

Four Months of Yoga

In four months of Yoga, I have made progress. If Yoga is a journey, then I have assuredly begun, though I have a long way to go. Okay, let’s start with what I couldn’t do before, but can do now.

I could not do a full or even half lotus. When I put a foot on top of either thigh, the knee stuck way up in the air. Now I do a passable half lotus and can get the right knee to the floor if I work at it. The left side has a few inches to go.

I could not do a full squat and now can. I could not kneel and put my full weight on my heels, and I sort of can now. I can’t quite get my full weight there, my knees protest a little too much. There’s a position in which you start kneeling, but your torso is straight, then you put your hands behind you on your heels and arch your back, looking at the ceiling. Couldn’t do it before, but can do it now. In fact, I can even do the next more difficult version of that in which my hands are palm down behind my feet.

With my knees locked, I could only get the palms of my hands within four inches of the floor, but I can put them flat now, and with my hands behind my ankles, I can pull my nose to my knees. Sitting, I can bring the toes of my foot to my nose. That's a gain of about six inches, the goal is to bring them to your ears.

Sitting crosslegged, I can bend forward and put my elbows and forearms on the floor. Before, I could barely sit up straight, let alone lean forward while sitting crosslegged.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not magic. It’s not easy, and it’s not quick. I’ve been practicing Yoga (that sounds pretentious), doing Yoga for forty minutes to an hour almost every day. But the best thing isn’t the increased flexibility, though that’s certainly important. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all spiritual, either, though as with my nearly daily cardio workouts, there is a certain energy that Yoga brings to my day, a relaxment, an easiness. 

No, the most important thing that Yoga has done, or is doing for me, is that it is helping me finally, after about 35 years, deal with my back problems. No, not deal with them, but, and perhaps I’m overoptimistic, but fix them. Full confession: I was once given a series of exercises that might have fixed my back problems, but I didn’t stick with it. And I think that perhaps that’s because, at least for me, there’s a difference between exercising and Yoga, which makes it easier to stick with.

So, short version, though I haven’t had a recurrence for fifteen years, I have had, and still have something stiff and sore, tight, and angry in my lower back, left side. It was muscle spasms, not spine problems I was told by the doctor and physical therapist fifteen years ago. The original injury, or strain, was never really treated, so I compensated for it by putting less weight on that side when I sat, walked, lived. And those muscles got weaker and weaker over time. Consequently, they could get strained more easily and the cycle continued. The PT taught me some exercise to strengthen those muscles, and I did them just enough that the back and stomach muscles got strong enough to keep a recurrence at bay. Yoga does some of the same things those exercises did, but it is a much more balanced program of stretching and strengthening, and of course it is strengthening and stretching my entire body, not just my lower back. 

I believe, that is I hope, that if I keep it up, eventually the final knot will be relaxed, the muscles will become completely healed and strong at long last, and unless I do something stupid, as I did thirty-five years ago when I picked up one end of a 24 foot long 12”x12” oak barn beam, probably the 20th I’d helped move that day, and tore something, I will live out my life without a sore back. Oh, and I’m for the first time in my life learning to sit up straight. I can’t stand to sit in the Lazy Boy or slouch for long anymore. If only my mother could see me now.