The full magnitude of the climate emergency is hard to grasp. But we have to try.
** News of the world environment
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NEWSLETTER | JULY 7, 2023
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** Don't Be the Boiling Frog
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On Independence Day, our world broke free of all past records and reached a new all-time high global average temperature of 62.9°F. Cities, towns, and villages from the US South, to Mexico, to Germany, Austria, Tunisia, China, and India are reeling from scorching heatwaves that have killed hundreds of people and put millions more at risk. Urgent heat advisories from governments have requested the elderly, the young, the pregnant, and the sick to stay indoors or seek out cool places to shelter in.
“We are moving into a catastrophic situation,” UN secretary general António Guterres warned yesterday, following an unofficial analysis ([link removed]) that the world may have just seen its hottest seven days in a row.
Meanwhile, here in my hometown of Berkeley, California, we have been donning socks and jackets and cheering when the sun escapes the clouds for a few afternoon hours. My sister’s family, on summer break from Phoenix — where daily highs are hitting 113°F to 118°F each afternoon and an excessive heat warning ([link removed]) has been extended through most of next week — is poorly outfitted for this weather and dazed by the cognitive dissonance of it all.
“Disaster is, almost by definition, a kind of existential dissonance,” author John Valliant writes in his excellent and timely new book Fire Weather ([link removed]) . “For the individual, it is cognitive dissonance made manifest: a disruption to one’s personal and physical world order so profound that you don’t know where to file it, how to measure it, or even how to react — because you have no precedent, because it’s simply too big and violating to grasp.” (My interview with Valliant will air next Friday. Look for it on the Journal’s podcast page ([link removed]) .)
My mind keeps going back to the boiling frog metaphor. The basic premise behind it — that a frog placed in boiling water will jump out, but when placed in cold water that is slowly heated will not perceive the danger and be cooked to death — is not scientifically accurate. But University of California, Davis climate scientist Frances C. Moore says we are indeed experiencing “a true boiling-frog effect." Her research shows ([link removed]) that that despite the discomfort and the deaths, we are beginning to normalize extreme weather conditions based on our experience of the climate in recent years.
So yes, climate chaos is certainly “too big and violating” to wrap our minds around, but attempt to grasp we must. Because cool summer weather in Berkeley or no, we are all being slowly cooked.
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth Island Journal
Photo by Jay Huang ([link removed])
TOP STORIES ()
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** A Voice for Birds ([link removed])
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Lisa Owens Viani speaks up for birds in courtrooms, at legislative hearings, and in other spaces where they can’t speak for themselves.
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Earth Island Journal is a nonprofit publication. Our mission is to inform and inspire action. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Green Journalism Fund ([link removed]) .
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** False Promise ([link removed])
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Microalgae has for years been hyped as a potential fossil fuel alternative, but it turns out the biofuel may actually emit more carbon that petroleum-based diesel.
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** Learning from Trees ([link removed])
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The saying “trees don’t worry about the future” has our columnist Carolyn Finney thinking about the importance of living in the here and now.
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ICYMI ()
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** Skip the Antarctic Cruise ([link removed])
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As climate change extends the travel season in Antarctica, tourism there is exploding — and hastening the continent’s demise. Can we please let this wild landscape be?
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Photo by David Stanley ([link removed])
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** And Vote with Your Wings ([link removed])
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If the impulse to explore can’t be denied, why not pick one of these 15 truly good destinations instead? These countries offer natural beauty while also taking a stand for human rights and the environment.
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Photo by Jasmere Yasharal
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