Blog – Page 5 – Russ Vernon-Jones

Do We Understand the Problem?

December 20, 2022December 22, 2022 russvj 6 Comments Economic system

How do you feel when you find out someone has lied to you? How do you feel when you find out someone claiming to be doing something good is actually doing something else–something truly harmful?

While the election lies in the U.S. have been getting a lot of attention (as they should), the lies and deceit of the big oil and gas companies are much less well-known and remembered, but are every bit as disastrous for the health of our society.

A new report last week from the House of Representatives Oversight Committee details what they learned in their investigation into the big oil and gas companies. Their key finding was that while these fossil fuel corporations are falsely portraying themselves to the public as committed to going green, they are continuing to seek to expand drilling and sales of climate-destroying fossil fuels. The Committee actually got the big oil CEOs to appear (from ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron and Shell), put them on the spot, and got lots of previously hidden documents released.

The Committee report says, “Big Oil has doubled down on long-term reliance on fossil fuels with no intention of taking concrete actions to transition to clean energy.” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the Chair of the Committee said, “Even though Big Oil CEOs admitted to my Committee that their products are causing a climate emergency, today’s documents reveal that the industry has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come.”

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8 Billion of Us! – Population Growth and Climate Change

December 6, 2022January 16, 2023 russvj 4 Comments Race and racism

Sometime on November 15th, according to demographers, a baby was born somewhere in the world who brought the number of humans living on the planet to 8 billion. That’s a lot of us!

How does population growth relate to our efforts to solve the climate crisis? This is a sensitive subject. It can bring up differing viewpoints and strong feelings about everything from women’s rights to religion to racism.

There’s no question that, all other things being equal, more people means more consumption; and more consumption means more stress on multiple global systems, including the climate. However, population growth does not have as large an impact on the climate crisis as one might suspect.

First of all, worldwide population growth has slowed significantly and is now less than 1% per year.

Secondly, most population growth is occurring, and will occur in the coming decades, in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia–areas of the world where per-capita greenhouse gas emission rates are very low. Population growth in these areas contributes to climate change, but the contribution is extremely small compared to the amount of climate change driven by the consumption patterns of people in the wealthy nations. In other words, our over-consumption problem in the wealthy nations is far greater than the population growth problem elsewhere.

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Stories From COP27

November 22, 2022December 13, 2022 russvj 3 Comments International, Talking climate

The nations of the world just met in Egypt at the UN climate conference, COP27, for over two weeks to try to come to agreements on addressing the global climate crisis. It was a particularly contentious conference, with agreements hard to come by, and negotiations continuing past the planned end date.

Coming into the conference the delegates found encouragement in the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, who has pledged to eliminate the deforestation of the Amazon, and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, the largest climate bill ever, with billions of dollars for renewable energy. On the other hand, the urgency of the crisis has been brought into sharp focus by the flooding of one-third of Pakistan (the 5th most populous country in the world); recent flooding in Nigeria which displaced 1.4 million people; and lethal drought, famine and heat waves in many parts of the world.

At the opening session of the COP UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted that global greenhouse gas emissions keep growing and that global temperatures keep rising. He said,
“We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”

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VOTE and a Quiz to Help You Find Your Role in Climate Action

November 8, 2022November 8, 2022 russvj 1 Comment Individual action

Today is Election Day in the United States. If you are eligible to vote and have not yet voted PLEASE VOTE TODAY. Many states and districts have very close election contests where every vote will count.

Even if it seems that the elections in your area are not close, there is a reason I think it is very important for people who care about climate to vote. The Environmental Voter Project estimates that 8 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and 12 million didn’t vote in the 2018 midterms. Clearly these voters could have had a very large impact if they had all voted. More important now, is that the more climate voters everywhere vote, the more it will be clear to politicians that leading on climate will be vital to electoral success in the future.

Taking action on climate is clearly important. It’s important to solving the climate crisis. It’s important in helping each of us feel more purposeful and less despairing and hopeless about climate. But lots of people don’t know what to do. Street protest isn’t for everyone, neither is lobbying your state legislators.

Now two climate author/activists have designed an engaging “quiz” that leads the reader through a series of options that helps you identify what sort of climate action might best fit your preferences and personality. The quiz became available on the Yale Climate Change Connections website in October 2022. It’s reminiscent of the simple identification keys that are available for helping to identify flowers.

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The Upcoming U.S. Election and a Bit of Good Climate News

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022 russvj 7 Comments Hope, Individual action

Once again, as most of you know, we find ourselves facing a critical election in the United States. It’s not clear whether the Democratic Party can hold onto either or both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections in November. If they don’t, it will be disastrous for the climate and for racial justice, as well as for other key issues. It may well be disastrous for democracy as well, given the Republican party’s current move toward authoritarianism. Some states are also voting to choose the person who will run future elections in their state. These contests may have a big impact on the 2024 elections.

I find these to be scary times. Rather than writing a long blog post, I want to first thank you for anything you have already done to help get good outcomes in the upcoming election. And, if you are not already engaged, I want to encourage you to get involved in some way in supporting fair elections and candidates who are committed to climate action, racial justice, and democracy. You may want to send letters or post cards to voters; you may want to donate more money to good candidates or political organizations; you may want to join phone banks or text banks, or go door-to-door. Please choose some way to get involved. There are so many opportunities to be found online with a quick search.

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Seeing Ourselves as a Part of Nature May Be Essential

October 11, 2022October 11, 2022 russvj 4 Comments Feelings, Individual action, Race and racism

I’ve been interested to learn about the indigenous people on whose land I live in western Massachusetts. As far as I know I don’t have any Indigenous heritage myself. I’ve learned that this area was home to the Pocumtuc and the Nipmuc people. Nipmuc people still live in Central and Western Massachusetts and have an elected tribal government.

There is some debate about dates, but indigenous people apparently moved into what’s now called New England more than 10,000 years ago, soon after the last glacial ice sheet receded. They have lived here ever since, despite disease, warfare, and displacement brought by European settler colonizers. (The 2020 U.S. Census found more than 13,000 American Indians living in Massachusetts, although other studies put the number higher. It found that the number of people in the U.S. who identify as Native American and Alaskan Native, alone and in combination with another race, is at least 9.7 million.)

It struck me that Indigenous people lived in my area for more than 9,500 years without damaging the environment nor creating environmental crises. Clearly they found ways to live in harmony with their environment–ways that allowed humans and the rest of the natural environment to thrive together. Things have gone less well for the environment since the Europeans invaded North America.

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Can Compassion Help Us Personally and Globally?

September 27, 2022October 11, 2022 russvj 0 Comments Feelings, International

Climate change is causing a lot of human pain and suffering in many parts of the world. In order to be healthy and effective I think we need to limit our consumption of the news, but also stay sufficiently informed to make good decisions about how to be engaged in helping to create more just and sustainable societies. We need not follow every detail of each climate catastrophe, but I do think it’s healthy to face the extent of the crisis we humans face as a result of climate change. Trying to turn away from the reality of it seems to leave us ungrounded, alienated, and anxious.

Facing the disastrous effects of climate change may cause us to feel fear, grief, or other painful emotions, but it keeps us grounded in reality. Facing our feelings and sharing them with others can be healing and lead us to be more open-hearted, appropriately vulnerable, and connected with others.

I recently listened to an audio book titled, Humankind: A Hopeful History, by Rutger Bregman. One of the things I found helpful in his book is the recommendation to “train your compassion.” He advises that in the face of other people’s suffering, rather than trying to share in their pain, we strive to call up our compassion — our feelings of “warmth, concern, and care.” These are much more likely to energize us and help us feel more connected.

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It’s Hot! – extreme heat, race, recommendations, and hope

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 russvj 5 Comments Hope, Race and racism, Science

In a hospital bed in Jacobabad, Pakistan, Mohammed Musa was suffering from heat stroke. The 65-year old rice-farm worker had been brought in with a 102°F temperature, body aches, and exhaustion. Temperatures in Jacobabad reached over 100° for 51 straight days and hit 123.8° one day earlier this year. Above Musa’s bed was a banner detailing how to avoid heat strokes. “Stay indoors or under a shade during the hot hours of the day,” it advised. It’s an excellent recommendation, but not currently realistic for countless farm workers in many parts of the world. “If we stop working every time it gets too hot,” Musa said, “how will we eat?”

Musa recovered from his heat stroke, but in Portugal, Spain, Germany, and Britain, over 4,600 people, many of them elderly, died in a heat wave in June and July this year. Temperatures in Europe went over 104°F–more than 20 degrees higher than usual summer peak temperatures — impacting millions.

In the U.S. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) categorizes a “heat index” reading of over 103°F as in the “Danger” zone. The “heat index” takes humidity as well as temperature into account in order to measure how hot it feels. Heat index readings of 90° – 103° are in the “Extreme Caution” zone. This week the heat index in 40 major cities in the U.S. is expected to reach the Danger zone, with large areas of the country in the Extreme Caution zone.

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A Battle for Your Mind

August 16, 2022September 16, 2022 russvj 3 Comments Feelings, Individual action

I used to think that if people of good will had more information about climate change, they would all be moved to take action to stop the climate crisis. I don’t think that any more. Why are some people moved to take action as they learn about climate change and some are not? One key variable is whether you believe you might be able to make a difference, and whether or not you see yourself as significant, or potentially significant. If you believe you can make some difference you are much more likely to take action.

Don’t we all have this problem, to some extent? Don’t we all have days when we feel engaged, connected to others, and glad to be part of the action; and other days when it seems like nothing we do matters and the problems
are all too big for us?

Many people, perhaps including yourself, feel as though they have very little choice about how the world looks to them and how they feel about it. They take what comes their way. Even when you don’t want to, you may find yourself feeling discouraged, hopeless, or despairing. Your perspective may seem to be buffeted about by the latest news item, a comment by a friend, a minor failure. I invite you to consider that we humans have the power to choose, and fight to hold, a good perspective.

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The Moment We Are In

August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 russvj 3 Comments Hope

At the moment the Democrats in the U.S. Senate have a new proposal — a bill to curb inflation and address climate change. It’s not yet clear whether they have the votes to pass it, but Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Senator who has scuttled previous Democratic climate bills, helped to craft this one and is making the rounds of the TV talk shows advocating for it.

Climate activists don’t agree about this bill. At least one organization has forcefully rejected it as “a gift to the fossil fuel industry” (XR NYC in an email to supporters on July 31). It does have some horrible provisions. It requires that the federal government offer new fossil fuel drilling leases on public lands and waters as a prerequisite to putting any solar or wind energy projects on public lands, and is part of a deal to speed up some pipeline permitting. On the other hand, the widely respected Sunrise Movement said “the strongest version possible of this bill must pass immediately,” noting that it puts $369 billion of climate spending in play (in an email to supporters on July 28).

Analysts estimate that that the combined provisions of the bill will cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030! That’s huge. That’s enough to have me, and many other climate activists, cheering despite the concessions that were required to get it. There is nothing more important in solving the climate crisis right now than reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Opening Our Hearts, Racism, and Climate Change

July 12, 2022July 2, 2022 russvj 3 Comments International, Race and racism

In June 2021 I wrote about “A Conversation With Isioma.” A year later, I find that conversation is still impacting me. So it’s featured again in this post with new thoughts and reflections about it.

A year ago, I attended an international webinar on Zoom about the effects of climate change around the world. At one point I found myself paired with a friendly, but upset, woman in Nigeria. In order to protect her confidentiality I’ll call her Isioma. Isioma told me that the once consistent, dependable seasonal rains in her part of Nigeria have become so irregular as a result of climate change that farmers’ crops are often failing. The cost of food has soared, increasing numbers of people don’t have enough to eat, and thousands are displaced from their homes every year by the effects of climate change.

I’d read about these things in news reports, but it was a new experience for me to be sitting in the comfort of my home in Amherst connecting with this woman, while she was in Nigeria experiencing climate disaster firsthand. It was painful to hear her experiences. Even though I had only known her for a few minutes I found myself caring about her and my heart opening to her and her fellow Nigerians.

I began to think about the fact that my country, the United States, has played a big role in causing the suffering being experienced around her. Cumulatively the U.S. has emitted more climate-change-causing greenhouse gases than any other nation. Just as I was pondering the responsibility of the U.S., she said to me, “I don’t think we can stop climate change without doing something about racism. The wealthy white nations don’t care what happens to us. It’s racism that makes them not care.”

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Women’s Rights, Guns, and Reforming the Supreme Court

June 28, 2022June 28, 2022 russvj 3 Comments

The overturning of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court is a cruel blow to women’s rights. Not only does it remove a woman’s right to end an unwanted pregnancy, it sends a deeply offensive message to all females. As a woman friend of mine wrote after the decision, “It is a direct and clear attack on all females. It is a direct statement that our bodies are not our own. It is a sexist notion that our bodies belong to everyone else, our children, our male partners, our country, but not us.”

The Supreme Court’s action is an unprecedented removal of a constitutional right that women have had for almost 50 years. While it is not surprising, given the current composition of the Supreme Court, it is an outrage, nonetheless. Women should have control over their own bodies. Women and men alike should rally to support that right, and all reproductive rights for women. Polls show that a two-thirds majority of the population did not want Roe overturned.