In a matter of a week and a half, this past December witnessed three climate crisis events. It started on December 10 where a tornado remained on the ground ravaging almost 227 miles, destroying lives and buildings in its path. From the Amazon facility in Edwardsville, IL, where the roof collapsed and six people died to the town of Mayfield, KY, at a candle factory and throughout the town, where some 78 people died in its destruction.
The next climate event had wind gusts at 100 mph in some areas of the approximately 660 miles measured on December 15. This storm was personal as it hit Readstown, WI where I live. The gusts were at times 69 mph. The storm rolled in about 9:00 p.m. with the rain slamming my cabin from the south. Nestled next to the ridge to the west, I usually feel protected. Not this time. The gusts raged until 6:00 a.m. shaking my cabin each time. I never felt scared like that before.
But . . . that was nothing next to the horror that happened in Boulder County CO on December 30. A grass fire fueled by 100 mph winds burnt 1,000 homes and buildings down to the concrete slabs or basements. In less than six hours, 30,000 people were evacuated and homeless. How no one was killed is a miracle. No one has to convince those people there is a climate crisis.
So what do we do? We have a major problem at hand with two sides to it. Actually, there are probably many more sides to it but this is how I have simplified it.
First, we have been fooled into thinking we have a democracy with two parties and a choice. What we really have is one party run by corporations that pay politicians to do their bidding. The only goal the corporations have is to make money at all costs. Along with that, they are doing everything in their power to thwart any solution in the direction of solving the climate crisis. Keep those fossil fuels burning is their mantra.
The bottom line is the government is not going to solve the climate crisis.
Second, the media is bought and paid for, too, so it is not going to deliver the real news to anyone. Mainstream America may know there is a climate crisis but they have no idea what that really means and what they can do about it, as they go about their daily life.
As covid has taken loved ones from us overnight, the climate crisis moves ever so slowly. It has been going on since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. That is when it was discovered that by burning coal and other fossil fuels the atmosphere would warm creating the climate crisis we now have. Extreme weather is upon us . . . and escalating.
The two solutions I have are longshots . . . but they are all I got. As depressed or hopeless as I feel at times at what I can actually do about the climate crisis, soldiering on is the only option.
Somehow, I stumbled onto a presentation a week ago in my email given by two speakers put on by the North County Climate Change Alliance (NCCCA) of North San Diego County. The two speakers, Ivi Kubica and Cat Russell, covered personal solutions needed to address the climate crisis fairly extensively, I thought. There are, of course, additions to be made but this is a great starting point. They also supplied the carbon footprint of the average American and other critical facts about how our lifestyle impacts the Earth. It is a great overall place to start getting people up to speed, who are too busy to spend time trying to find out on their own with solutions to get them going. Unless you take a class on this, it is a daunting task, and one can be overwhelmed trying to determine where to start. Let’s not think about how we got here right now. Just what we can do.
The bottom line is that we need more people fired up about the climate crisis. I am betting, sadly, that most everyone has forgotten about those December climate crisis events except the people who have lost friends and family or the people who lost their homes in CO.
Here is the ask. Most all of you reading this are already knowledgeable about the climate crisis. What I am asking you to do is send the link to the presentation or this post to a person that may need a little jump start into implementing these solutions in their life and a gaining a greater understanding of what the climate crisis is about. You are asking one friend or family member to watch the presentation. After they have watched it, please ask them to send it to another friend or family member. Ask one person to then ask one more person. Possibly . . . just possibly . . . this could spread . . . at least a little bit. It is the ripple effect. We are the media doing what we need to do to get people on board. Is this going to solve the climate crisis? Not by that longshot I mentioned earlier . . . but it is one step closer to free. Here is the link for the presentation called “Saving the Planet” Event with Ivi Kubica and Cat Russell:
The next longshot is this. I took a crazy trip to DC and had these banners made with climate messages for the defunct government we have that takes our tax dollars and spends them in horrifying ways. I took a picture of each one with the Capitol in the background. Attached is the first one I made into a postcard with a message. I compiled all the addresses of all the senators and mailed the postcard to each one. Anyone who would like the first postcard, along with all the addresses, please let me know and I will send them to you. You can edit the message to your liking if you so desire.
Again, is this going to solve the climate crisis? Sometimes we do things even though it seems like spitting in the wind.
Extreme weather is only going to get worse. Somehow “extreme weather” is not what we felt this December.
We soldier on.
An Off Grid Life - Climate Crisis Solutions 