Coronavirus and Climate Change: The intersection of action and mitigation

I am unable to stop noticing how similarly the efforts to stem the most serious impacts of climate change mirror efforts being made to stem the most serious impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

With regard to climate change we have been saying (for a very, very long) time, that we must act. We encourage individuals to do their part: refuse single use plastics by carrying their own reusable bags and bamboo utensils and straws everywhere they go, reduce consumption, reuse, repurpose, and recycle ♻️ recycle ♻️ recycle ♻️. We implore governments, businesses and corporations to believe the science and take bold actions to reduce their carbon footprints; to follow the recommendations of the scientists and environmentalists. We know that every individual action can and does make a positive difference in our collective efforts to save the planet from the most horrible impacts of climate change. We know from history that individual actions when taken together push governments, businesses and corporations to take actions they otherwise wouldn’t take. We are now in a climate crisis or climate emergency because action has been slow to achieve to tip the scales that move those bigger GHG emitters. Time is of the essence. Every minute and every climate action matters.

With regard to the novel coronavirus, we are hearing that we must act. We as individuals must follow science-based recommendations regarding washing our hands: with soap and warm water for twenty seconds or as long as it takes you to sing Happy Birthday to yourself. We must also not touch our faces (so shocked at how often I touch my face!). And, also important, to not go out if you are sick; and self-quarantine if you’ve been exposed to the virus. We are hearing that businesses, governments and corporations must do more: provide more testing and make ready the healthcare sector for the impact this virus will have, cancel large gatherings, conferences, and travel. We are hearing that individual action can stem the spread of this new virus, and will likely ensure that we can mitigate the worst case scenario. We must follow the guidelines being set forth by experts- scientists and physicians. All of our collective actions must be brought to bear against this health crisis to prevent the worst outcomes from befalling us. We know from history that our safety and health depend on people doing their part and governments and businesses doing their parts. Just like with regard to climate change. We must join together and do our best to save our people, animals and planet.

And the question that remains for both climate change and coronavirus is: Will we?

Will we listen to the experts, follow the science and undertake as many climate actions as we possibly can while pushing governments and businesses to make big changes too? Will we do as much as we can, including social distancing-avoiding big groups of people or gatherings and staying home when we are sick or exposed to sickness to stem the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus?

We will see.

The great gardening experiment of 2020

Happy International Women’s Day!

Today we are celebrating women and the kick off to a gardening experiment whose success I’m getting more and more invested in every day.

This is Day 1. After reading countless blog posts, listening to YouTube videos and planning my strategy, plus ordering and purchasing supplies, this is it. The beginning. I am embarking on a possibly impossible journey. I am (fingers crossed, successfully!) growing Sponge Luffa Gourds at my home in Howard County, Maryland. I am planning to recruit my Master Gardner mother to foster a few plants or try to grow them also. Since it is an experiment, I know I should keep my hopes and expectations low. But, at this point, they are not low. My plan is audacious. This is not the climate for this type of plant, normally. But are we having normal weather these days?  No. So, why not try it? I am also experimenting for the first time with using a seedling heat mat, which many gardeners use to jump start their spring flowers and vegetables.

I am so excited about this project and can’t wait to see how my little seedlings do with the heat mat. If this experiment produces even one sponge, I’m going to upload all the video I took of my planting steps to YouTube. YouTube stardom is obviously a secondary goal. But, my main goal in this quest is to produce my own sponges. Ones that can be composted when they reach the end of their useful or healthy existence, as part of my personal climate actions. These actions include using less plastic, growing plants that people and pollinators need, and living in a more sustainable way. Plus, I already have a couple of friends who want to be the first to get one of my locally grown sponges. So, there is a cheering squad. And, when people hear the climate actions that I am taking, I notice they, too, consider what they can do to help the environment. I can’t think of a better way to encourage climate action and good stewardship of our planet than being a model and example for this necessary behavior.

#hocoblogs

 

Climate Change, Global Warming and the Search for a Vocabulary that Increases Climate Action among our World’s Population

Climate deniers and climate skeptics often cite extreme weather events that involve cold weather, snow, ice and etc., as evidence that man-induced global warming is a myth. This group of people attempts to confuse or muddy an issue that an overwhelming percentage of climate scientists, and, increasingly, the public, agree is happening and one that requires our urgent attention to prevent the worst climate outcomes from befalling our world. The average person living in the United States is beginning to understand that they can no longer continue to live without regard for the environment and sustainable practices at home, work and school. But while there is a growing chorus of voices calling for our government and those of the world to act in very bold and urgent ways, we still seem to fall into that all too human response of denial: “I’m just one person, what good can I do?” or “It’s hopeless, the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide and methane are not doing their part to remedy this dire situation.”

So, how can the severity of this situation be understood and likewise acted upon by our global community?

Previously, discussion concerning the on-going warming of our planet was occurring in groups that were unable to break into the mainstream discourse. Those climate scientists, environmentalists, and others working or studying the rapidly increasing rise in our global greenhouse gas emissions and with it the global temperature, have been heard with the signing of the Paris Agreement in November 2016.

Since then, there seems to have been a huge uptick in news articles acknowledging climate change and the threat it poses to virtually every part of our lives, including our safety and security. In addition to the increased number of articles, there are also more books being written, and classes being taught at all levels, including non-credit courses for the general public. With our heightened awareness comes our acknowledgement that this multifaceted problem requires an alarming level of urgency to act.
This increased focus on climate change is positive, and while there seems to be an increased willingness to talk about and recognize that climate change is happening, are we doing the best we can to connect climate change to the actual events and impacts of such events that we are already experiencing to provoke action? What is hindering the potential for urgent action, I believe, is the lack of a vocabulary around climate change events that prevents the general public from linking a specific event with our rampant greenhouse gas overuse. I live in a city that was hit by two “100-year floods” in two years. The magnitude of each brought millions of dollars in damage and loss of life. I still find myself reflecting on these floods with an aloofness that belies reality. My internal narrative of these floods as “100-year floods” gives me the opportunity to deny the gravity of the implications of climate change, which is that we could have these types of floods at any time because of the inherent uncertainty of climate change.

So, what can we do? We can create a new lexicon, so that when we talk about the horrible wildfires in California in 2018, for example, we call them, perhaps, “super-fires” and formalize the link between the fires and climate change to indicate that they are not the wildfires of the past, but part of the “new normal” that we are all beginning to experience. What about floods? What about the changes in agriculture and farming that will cause mass migrations? If we continue to talk about these events in a way that does not link them to climate change every time and that does not use universally agreed upon wording, we are doing ourselves and our planet a disservice. Because unless we find a word or set of words that means, “this flood or drought or mass migration is brought about by climate change” we will continue to give our human nature room for denial and not act expediently.