Groundhog forsees many warmer, darker winters ahead

I have been... fortunate... enough to have a week off from work, so I can wallow in the dread of Trump's presented policies and executive orders and estimate when the first nuclear bomb will hit, and where. 

In solidarity with friends everywhere, especially back home where there have been marches and protests I couldn't be a part of... I do feel like I'm drowning. I feel like I'm in a fog in a nightmare where I can see what's happening and can't reach through the fog and affect anything. A thought that keeps plaguing me is wondering if this feeling will be dismissed by many as a typical reaction to a president with opposing political views. 

Yesterday I happened to be at the Texas State Capitol with two out-of-state friends. We saw a huge group of Muslim visitors for Muslim Day at the Capitol. There was a fury of energy because the session is In. There was a man with a big beard and a shirt that had Texas outlined and exaggerated within the US and the words "I'm with Stupid" in Texas pointing to the rest of the country. Inside, we admired the architecture and the buzz, and found ourselves looking longingly at a photo of George Bush Jr. "Gosh, I almost wish he was president again," we all agreed. 

Because even though I Don't agree with a lot of the things George Bush did or believes in, I was able to exercise my right as an American. I signed petitions, wrote letters, and listened to news. What's happening right now is not only a threat to my rights as an American, but my right as a steward of the Earth. And it is through that vein that I will be focusing my energies and efforts henceforth. 

I was proud of the protests for the "Muslim-ban" and the people that stood up to it. But I couldn't help but see it, and the extensive news coverage of it, as a distraction from some equally tragic promises that Trump has signed in. 

So here's a look at what I've seen, just in the last two days. 

1) EPA pick Scott Pruitt is a nail in the coffin, not just for the environment but the future of our Nation. I strongly recommend Bill Moyer's commentary for a full picture. 

2) Congress is looking to overturn the Stream Protection Rule that Obama set in place that urges mining companies to restore stream habitats to the way they were once they were done. The way it's written, there's plenty of potential for polluters to find loopholes, unfortunately. So why bother eliminating it. HOW DO PEOPLE NOT SEE THE VALUE OF STREAMS? 

3) And perhaps the biggest horror is the legislation Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz proposing the US sell of 3.3 million acres of public land (read- public land, meaning they don't OWN it, WE do, we ALL do). 

To me, this is life or death. This is greedy leaders in the Present pulling physical and aesthetic resources away from the Future. I can't even believe this is legal, much less accepted. 

What truly worries me is how little people understand about the Environment. I spent 2 years studying the systems and interworkings of the environment and BARELY scratched the surface. Our Earth will not HEAL itself from the mass of wounds we are digging into it. We must act as stewards. 
 What gives me hope, is that Veterans will continue standing for local tribes, for families and for the future of our water, our Earth, our favorite hiking places. 
What else can you do? Call your senators! Tell them to oppose Chaffetz's legislation. Do your best to keep your head above water and I will continue to collect what information I can about environmental policy. 

I'm speechless...

and yet, I have a lot to say.
My brain has been racing all day in attempt to express my heart's various emotions- news from Trump's latest Executive Orders, the nostalgia of traveling home, the mixed joy of being welcomed by 80 degree weather in January, more news, and the shock, anger and devastation that comes with it, curiosity for what our future generations will be left to contend with, hope, lack of hope, and inspiration in strange places.

I couldn't even pour through all the saved articles and responses from my affected friends, colleagues and professors without needed to write a response.

Mid-day I glimpse that Trump banned the EPA from using social media to talk about Climate Change. This is censorship and propaganda. I'm thankful for social media and live reporting and sensible people, and a college degree (in Environmental Studies) and having friends as scientists so that I can stay informed, but I realize not everyone has that, and many will be, or already have been, swept up in Trump's positive affirmations and "alternative facts". (An interesting report on EPA-related 'civil servants' and their resistance, here)

On the way home, driving through the traffic-saturated streets of Austin with my mom, who I hadn't seen in 8 months, I overheard that Trump halted EPA related funding. Before I make it home, I hear friends' worries about graduate school funding-- from current and prospective students. I wonder if I should apply to that school in Britain before it's too late...

We drive through an ever-changing Austin. An area I always called home, but hardly recognize. Where there were once acres of land with vast swaths of wildflowers, there are For-Sale signs promising future developments, or current shopping megaplexes and housing developments touting the names of the space they've destroyed.

Happy (and Hopeful) and Warm

At Home, with the news blaring reports of a segment, "Trump's First Days in Office," I'm thankful I don't have a television. Until I realize I have the privilege to sit down with my mom and watch a PBS special about Rachel Carson, the famed author who both my mom and I read about in our Environmental classes. Carson always knew she would be a writer, and couldn't remember a time she didn't love nature, all inspired from her mother. I wonder if my mother's spiritual connection to the Earth was a key to it's impact on me, if I have a weird connection to the world, or if everyone has an innate understanding of the Earth ingrained within them, however suppressed it may be. Perhaps it's all three, but I hope and believe that everyone can appreciate the aesthetics of our Umvelt.

I walk outside in a t-shirt, as the sun it setting. Several deer hear me and spring out into the juniper. Another snorts, stamps his hooves and runs the other way. I am touched to the soul by the sound of the crickets, a familiar chorus that reminds me of Summer and of Home. I inhale the wholesome, bitter smell of tannin, walking right up to the Live Oak until it's leaves are to my lips. I kiss it, hoping that the Greed and fury of Capitalism won't buy out every old Oak and prickly-pear patch.
I admire the slight squish in the ground, and the abundance of green popping through-- an early sign of Texas Bluebonnets... and I wonder if the children born today will every get to walk among wildflowers.

Texas

I am shocked, but not surprised, by the news I heard today. And although I'm speechless, I have a lot to say. Hopefully it will be organized, and argued with facts, and encourage discussion.
But for today, here's all I can do.
1) Take care of self- A lot of sickness/flu things are going around. As a doomsday pessimest, I'm always wondering if this is it-- the last great epidemic that wipes us out. At the very least, we should stay as healthy as possible. Know that every ounce you put into your body is your fuel, and if it's tainted with pesticides or chemicals, those things can add up (thanks Rachel Carson).

2) Stay informed (and/or get educated). I intend to spend more of my free time re-reading history, as it's never been my favorite subject, and staying up to date on Environmental research, and whatever they're calling Climate Change now that Trump has basically banned that phrase.

3) Stay hopeful. The Rachel Carson documentary was very appropriately timed. There were many parallels between the Government Propaganda of the 60's, and what Trump is trying to do now, particularly with the influence of industry on the Government.  At one point today, I lost hope. "Greed will prevail" I thought, trying to hold in tears watching Rachel Carson fight for environmental awareness. But then I saw all my friends fighting back, signing petitions and educating one another. So, I still have hope. I also have faith in many environmental organizations that I have contributed to in the past, that I'm about to fund more. Hopefully they can reach farther than I can.

In my recent travels through the Midwest, I listened to a lot of public radio... much of which didn't share my opinions. One radio host complained that the Right weren't fighting as hard as the Left. That was a bit surprising to me at first, but I think it comes down to this-- when you have nothing left to lose, you fight. When you're so broken, you're angry, you fight. At this point, I feel there's nothing to do but fight. Fight to keep public lands. To prevent oil spills. To have half an Earth left for future generations (I'm being hopeful there). That speaker's Republicans aren't weak. They just aren't (as) angry.

Paradigm Shift

I have been doing a lot of watching in last two years. I have done a lot of listening as well. Each month I struggled to gather my thoughts with enough evidence to make a post, and today...almost a year since creating this draft, I am going to do my best to unveil my honest, startling conclusion about the state of the world, and how to move forward.
The blockage of this Blog in my brain can attribute to a lack of other posts environmental related. I feel like this confession/interpretation/understanding is really the keystone to all my future environmental ethic. Which is also why it's taken me so long to produce. That said... it's very much in it's infant stages.

On a 70 mile drive back from San Lorenzo Canyon yesterday, I heard a quiet twenty year old get really loud. In fact, for about 15 minutes he wouldn't shut up. He wasn't yelling... but the tone in his voice was both angry and inspiring. It started from a simple question. Did he think that the efforts made by a non-profit organization he was a part were having their desired impact on the Foster Care system... a broken system in my much need of a revolution-- not unlike our country's education system. What struck me the most through his soap box response was not just his passion, but his hopelessness.


 Three years ago, I would spend a week at a time with a group of students from LA, guiding them in classes about water quality, the rock cycle and native plants, and hoping that they would come away with at least a small seed of environmental appreciation planted. On the final day, as they kids were lining up to take a bus back down to one of the biggest cities in the country, I would ask what they're going to do when they get home. "Take a LONNGGG shower!" was usually the response, much to the dismay of my efforts and the shrinking southern California water supply. But a few kids would speak up with the desired answers. "I learned to care for the Earth, cause it's all we have!" or "I'm going to reuse things in my house before I throw them away." Back then, my heart would be warmed by these answers.

I can't say what has changed in the last three years. Have *I* lost my flowery optimism for the world? Has the current political state and the farce of our presidential election system sucked the romance out of my dreams for the future? I think that the consistent ignorance towards the pleas, pushes and consequences given by renowned and respected scientists regarding Climate Change has left me with little faith in our current society.

E O Wilson's new book Half-Earth embraces the shift as well. Much different than his pleas in The Future of Life, Half-Earth fully embraces our "sixth-extinction," while suggesting some even bigger steps we're clearly not ready for. Wilson echo's the hopes of many- that we can we still pull together and change--and that we need to do it like, now (or yesterday).

I'm increasingly feeling that our last saving ship has sailed...Yet at the same time, I teach. I encourage that a slow path toward change will be the most lasting one. I still reach into trash cans to remove a water bottle or two. I still practice a vegan diet for mostly ethical reasons. I am committing my entire life to teaching the world around me of the value of our environment. So, why? If it's hopeless?


Because I don't think that our world is totally fucked. It's true I don't have the hope I did just two years ago, that we could still maintain homeostasis on this beautiful planet. I haven't given up hope... I've just shifted my view. And that twenty year old at the beginning of the story did too. Kids who years ago were preaching the importance of recycling, are now trying to figure out what their role will be in the great inevitable apocalyptic collapse. At least, the ones I hang out with.

A year ago I took a class from an herbalist about the local plants in my park. I thought that as caretaker, I should probably have greater knowledge of what's growing here. What really struck me from her wholistic, earth-loving lessons, was the way in which she spoke of two Class C invasive plants to New Mexico-- the Slippery Elm and Bindweed. Although both are a known nuisance in the state, she spoke of their medicinal and practical uses. It was the first time I realized that our world is shifting.


We, as a society, need to move away from business as usual (gosh, I've said that before), and embrace our changing climate. We may not all survive the coming floods and fires, but the quicker we embrace the plants that grow in the drought rather than pulling them, or practice building communities rather than facebook groups, the greater chance our species is going to have of surviving.

One thing that really struck me from this 20 year old's speech, was his plea for a leader. "We need change! We need a revolution...and we need someone to lead it". I wonder who that someone will be. I haven't lost hope in humanity, but I know we need to change the way we look at this world, if we're going to stay in it. I have had more and more conversations about the sad, decaying state of the world...no longer as a place we can salvage, but one we have to learn from quick, or suffer our own consequences. No more conversations about the possibilities of our planet, but decisions of what to hold on to. I waited a long time before publishing this conclusion, but I think it's time the world (reading this) knows...it's time to change your mind. We can no longer save us from ourselves. We can only prevent further damage.

"We are thinking organism trying to understand how the world works," write E. O. Wilson. "We will come awake"