temps 30 may:
hi 79/ norm 81 lo 57/ norm 58, and highest level ever recorded at local reservoir flood warning til 6/3 (!), and largest tornado ever recorded in douglas co. – smashed buildings crumpled cars – 32 miles’ of it (part of record 12th day w/≧ 8 tornadoes in u.s.; 225 since 5/17; cannot be definitively attributed to climate change) but “the angst on farmer twitter is palpable”: just 58% of corn crop in the ground (v. 5-year average of 90%) 29% of the soybean crop (compared to 66). global grain prices going ↑; & levees breaching, ok., ar.; wettest may in kansas city; wettest 12 months u.s. (after 4 yrs record heat, drought); (lots of hottest, coldest, wettest mays out there) but beautiful here yesterday, today. whatev: don’t depend on fortune’s “gifts”: 62k paraguayans still displaced; water won’t recede til mid-june; & more flash floods, mudslides, bridges out in s. mexico & “northern triangle,” whence everybody’s trying to get away. . . (“it could cause people to migrate and if you can’t migrate, it might cause conflict as people will need to fight with their neighbours for food”). meanwhile prayagraj (Allahabad) [india] highest maximum ever that is 48.6 c (120 f) dry hot winds 10k evac’d from alberta wildfires – 180k hectares life burning off; & alberta farms income ↓ 68% in 2018 (weather) s.e. alaska xtreme drought; u.k. reservoir levels sink; shortage of seed corn in sweden from last year’s drought; s. queensland coldest may morning on record after that hottest of summers; & perth may rain: 17.8mm/ norm: 89.4mm so they are dry seeding this is how you survive in the aftermath if you are a displaced person in the united states (vs. say mozambique needs $3.2 b) (as you can see i have so much to tell you that you don’t want to hear, that starts to make this seem like a trivial pursuit like a stinking catalog of sinking ships)
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Rather than trying to write something profound today, I’m going to present excerpts from some columns written by very thoughtful and perceptive young people (published in our campus student newspaper earlier this month).
from “Whatever you love, love it loudly,” by Jamie Hawley. University Daily Kansan (UDK), 6 May 2019, p. 6: “This is a column about the apocalypse. It doesn’t have a beginning, because there is no beginning to the end of the world. It has ended for individuals, and groups, and all the life we have driven to extinction. . . . “ . . . When the world ends for most of us, it does not end for those who can pay to save themselves. Part of the pain of living in a world on fire is watching others guzzle water. . . . “. . . Constant terror is mind-numbing, and turning away is how we keep ourselves from breaking down. . . . there is only one way to keep ourselves from slipping beneath the waves: to find the things we love and hold them tight. Let them be our flotation device. [examples she gives: Embroidery. Basketball. Harry Potter. Succulents. Jogging. The Avengers. The color blue. . . . ] “. . . In the apocalypse known as late-stage capitalism, what we love is often taken from us, replaced with a forced loyalty to the job we have to have. . . . “. . . We are allowed to be passionate about whatever it is that makes our lives worth living, even if it’s cringey, or cliché, or something as simple as the way light shines through the leaves on a tree. “. . . loving things visibly and audibly is a way to show others that we haven’t succumbed. By loving each other . . . we give each other strength. We remind each other that we are not alone . . .” She’s an English major at the University of Kansas, BTW. I like the idea of succulents and The Avengers as being antidotes for the Apocalypse. While those pursuits may not be available indefinitely, they are definitely ways to focus the attention on something else. And certainly love is a legitimate reason to carry on in spite of it all. Unfortunately, others will respond differently to actual and perceived threats, particularly in times of heightened anxiety and competition for resources. That’s where the second editorial relates to the previous one: from “’Us’ vs. ‘Them’ mentality causes radical hate,” by Jeffrey Birch. UDK, 9 May 2019, p. 9. “On some level, it’s very simple ‘monkey brain psychology. ‘Bad Thing’ happens, ‘Other’ exists, ‘Other’ confuses and scares ‘Us,” ‘Other’ gets blamed for ‘Bad Thing.’ “It’s a knee jerk reaction that’s easy to push aside if you’re in a stable relatively calm environment. But those impulses get much harder to push aside when people are scared, when they feel threatened, and when they feel like their group is being targeted. It can lead to irrational behavior and this can push people who were already unstable into doing something rash, something terrible.” These articles confirm my hunch that people who are “just starting out in life” have a much keener appreciation of what that life will entail over the next 30-50 years than do we who have lived most or much of ours. Some of them are looking it squarely in the face; and some of those can write. yes it’s getting repetitive:
cyclones, droughts, floods, tornadoes – speaking of which: ~55 twisters monday from Idaho to ohio crisscrossing paths in indiana 11th day w/at least 8 (ties the record) houses w/o roofs lots of houses w/o roofs dayton tv viewer to weatherman who interrupted this program to bring you tornado warnings: “you ruined bachelorette for everyone!" tho it’s quite another thing when you know it’s headed for you: when a “tornado emergency” sends you scurrying into crawlspace or hidey- hole like we did last night wondering if it’s our turn now – radio announcer sternly commanding you “EMERGENCY – seek shelter NOW!” & you wonder what it’s like to have tons of wreckage piled above you or on you weatheradio red light turns orange, you stretch yr legs & hear it was a mile wide & houses burst & people stuck & if it had been a mile or two north there would be a lot more roofs gone and maybe people too & . . . tornado warning in NEW YORK CITY! now *that’s* getting serious . . . (wherever you are it is always worse somewhere – like paraguay, where 70,000 families have been displaced by flooding) “but w/o extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate.” responsible scientists who have roofs & who didn’t have to pull over when their windshield smashed under tennis-ball-sized hailstone as they did in nebraska (& maybe don’t have stock in insurance companies) but who knows – last year pretty mild – fewest tornado deaths ever . . . for the record: here: may 28: hi: 79 norm: 80 (nice!) lo: 70 norm: 57 (hmm – cannot directly link nothin to nothin, & we done run god off for good this time) may: 9.27” norm: 4.66” every river on the map bleeds green with flood warnings – and more water released from over- full reservoirs meanwhile arkansas levees topped & tulsa mayor: “worst flood in our history” sinkholes & septic water, water moccasins swimming around subdivisions; farmer: “we have maybe one acre, two acres not under water." corn prices rise . . . meanwhile torrential rains continue across s. china villagers stranded & drought in yunnan japan heat wave kills 5, 600 in hospital; istambul’s hottest may; u.s. s.e. coast over 100f earliest ever; phoenix: “coldest” memorial day; hottest cities in the world on may 28, 2019: chandrapur, india 47.8°c jacobabad, pakistan 47.5°c nagpur, india 47.5°c severe drought somalia 1000s in camps, millions at risk – and where do you think they will go? (no emergency room at the inn) outta control alberta wildfires spread pall of smoke over vancouver alaska panhandle u.s. pac n.w. “smoke season” comes earlier. aftermaths: mozambique, zimbabwe idai was "one of deadliest southern hemisphere storms" > 1,000 people dead. “malawi, one of the world's least developed countries, 86,000 people displaced.” i’d say what the scientists are thinking but can‘t say it, “emergency, seek shelter now,” but there isn’t any. _________________ * In the interests of time, I am being a bad bad scholar and not citing source. But: if you want any for any of this, let me know and I'll provide it. Consider this blog a premeditatio malorum. That’s what the ancient Stoics called it. In the Handbook (Enchiridion), Epictetus says, “Let death and exile and every other thing which appears dreadful be daily before your eyes; but most of all death: and you will never think of anything mean nor will you desire anything extravagantly.” This is an earlier version of the samurai technique employed by Roy Scranton in Iraq. Philosopher William Irvine terms it “negative visualization.” If we imagine the worst things that could happen, he writes, “we will lessen their impact on us when, despite our efforts at prevention, they happen.” Doing so will also make us appreciate what we have, like “antibiotics, air conditioning, toilet paper(!), cell phones, television, windows, eyeglasses, and fresh fruit in January.” Those are, of course, things most people don’t have and that probably will become rare by the 2040s, if the geophysicists, epidemiologists, and many economists are correct.
Misfortunes feel greater to those who have depended upon good fortune – who often indulge in denial when confronted with the former. Until they can’t. But if the scientists really are full of hooey, the premeditatio will only make us more resilient in confronting the difficulties life does throw our way, like when the air conditioning breaks down or we can’t get cell phone reception (or – horrors – both! So we can’t call the A/C repair people). Perhaps this is why dystopian fiction has experienced such a boom in recent years, esp. among the young. Those in their teens and twenties know what’s in store for them – perhaps better than their parents do (or are willing to admit). Climate catastrophe and either anarchy*, fascism, or both. They want to feel it, to see it – maybe out of idle speculation and curiosity, maybe to get ready. It might make them hold up better when the SHTF. * i.e., sheer social chaos - as opposed to anarchism, which is a political theory about self-regulating communities. “people are freaked out,”
says the tarot reader. “it feels as though we’re living in a time when the world is extremely chaotic. . . . the tarot can offer a way of looking at the chaos and working through the chaos” meanwhile the waters keep rising – burcham park still underwater shores of lakes, boat ramps flooded a woman jumped in to the river – or fell – fished out a mile downstream alive may 23 hi 78 f norm 79 (yay!) lo: 50 norm lo: 56 precip (in.) mo. to date: 8.54 norm mtd: 3.73 yr. to date: 19.20 norm ytd: 12.43 statistics never made anybody do anything willingly tornado tears through missouri capital. when will okla & e. texas become uninhabitable? barge sinks in arkansas r.; webber falls, ok evac’d; tulsa refinery shut down . . . the word “skulls” in here somewhere meanwhile florida wildfire closes i-95 both directions & mexico beach, 7 mo. after michael still in ruins people in trailers or moved & alberta wildfires move closer to calgary water supply “here is your card, the drowned phoenician sailor . . . fear death by water.” or fire. or not. University of Cumbria (UK) professor Jem Bendell, in his July 2018 occasional paper “Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy,” writes, “As researchers and reflective practitioners, we have an opportunity and obligation to not just do what is expected by our employers and the norms of our profession, but also to reflect on the relevance of our work within wider society” (see www.iflas.info). The more I learn about the climate catastrophe that is just beginning to unfold, the more my role as a “humanist” academic and “creative” writer comes to seem irrelevant, risible, even irresponsible. Right now, I’m working on a project about US poetry and film in the 1930s. Interesting stuff. But I have to say, when I read about the prospect of some major cities running out of water in the next couple of years, it puts things in perspective – and makes the work I do look pretty small.
And? . . . Well, seems like we ought to be using this brain-power to . . . to figure some things out. I don’t think writers or literature professors – or, indeed, geophysicists – are going to reverse or even end climate disruption. As the sorcerers in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony make clear, once the “witchery” is loosed upon the world, there is no calling it back. Certainly, she – and some of the “cli-fi” authors – have thought long and hard about what’s happening to the world. But academics are just as loath to think the unthinkable as anyone else. “Surely someone is doing something about that issue. . . . Somewhere.” But surely we can – we ought to – think about the ethical and cultural implications, whether we’re looking at social disruption, civilizational collapse, or outright extinction. Timothy Morton seems to be doing that, and he has some very interesting ideas that have influenced a lot of writers (incl. yrs truly). But reading his stuff – which is mercurial, to put it kindly – one gets the sense of a highly-paid cultural trend-setter for whom climate collapse is an idea. When he came to my campus, he was sporting a high-fashion, high-end jacket design that was inspired by his concept of “hyperobjects.” Ah - quel sens de la mode! Now, I enjoy a good satire, including self-satire. But I don’t think that was the point. He comes across as a thoughtful, soft-spoken, non-self-absorbed type. By the same token, he does not, let us say, exude a sense of urgency that a full appreciation of the moment (you know – that nagging feeling of imminent demise of everything you hold dear) might be expected to induce, at least to some extent. He says you have to immerse yourself in the disaster so deeply that it begins to seem funny. I agree, but at the same time, it’s hard to ignore the fact that there’s a c gun pointed at your head. Perhaps it’s a Zen thing. If you’ve given up all hope, why not collect your paycheck, burn a lot of jet fuel, and enjoy being a big fish in a small pond (or even a small fish, if you’ve got your immediate needs met)? Or why not meditate or medicate in order to stave off the willies? Why am I even writing about this bullshit? Nobody really cares about climate collapse, unless they can make a career out of it. Sure sure sure, they care about their kids and grandkids, but their kids and grandkids aren’t them. They may not even have met yet. At some deep level, those of us over 40 believe the worst will always be in the future. OK, maybe when we’re really old – but who wants to stick around then, right? Other than people who have already become really old, I mean. Don’t worry about things you have no control over, like climate change – and economic meltdown. The only people who obsess about things like that are neurotic, middle-aged, southern Irish Catholics. There are other reasons to care, though. For one, it seems to me that survival into the 2030s is going to take a lot of planning and forethought. Sure, people have faced the demise of their civilizations. But nobody has faced the near-simultaneous demise of all civilization at once. That seems to me like an important topic. Maybe the only one worth thinking about, under the circumstances. You may have heard about the idea of Near-Term Human Extinction (NTHE) – the idea that the human race will become extinct within a generation, or even a few years. I believe that’s wishful thinking. On the other end of the specturm, there is the possibility that human beings will survive beyond a few generations or even centuries and that some kind of new culture (not civilization) will emerge. Will there be art? Surely some kind. Perhaps a crash in the human population will initiate or accelerate some kind of human evolutionary leap – or at least mean fewer mouths to feed (as after the plague in medieval Europe). Or perhaps we’ll revert to something more like bronze-age tribalism. In any event, I’m convincing myself that, for someone interested in observing culture, curiosity is a sufficient reason to continue living. Author’s note: Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment on this or any post – you’ve read this far, after all! Blogs encourage half-baked ideas, so any advice to the chef is welcome – or just tell him he should stay out of the kitchen. I “moderate” comments (i.e., sift out any bots or trolls) but get them up pretty quickly. wasn’t it supposed to be
drier and hotter? may 21 temps: hi: 58 norm: 78 lo: 43 norm: 54 precip: mo. to date: 7.49 norm m.t.d.: 3.15 flood warnings statewide more mosquitoes than folks can remember; meanwhile: entire ny shore of lake ontario – 326 mi – state of emergency (flooding) – but great skiing out west denver may 21 hi of 39 f lowest on record the unknown unknowns here they come – the day-moon looks like the planet melancholia “dozens of tornadoes” ne, ks, mo, ok, ar (cards v. royals postponed!) 130 twisters in 5 days – numbers numbers like the 5k people evac’d from alberta fires “It was almost post- apocalyptic. There was nothing. Everyone’s cars all parked everywhere, it was like, what was going on?” what is, almost? it is hotter – s.w. yunnan & n.e. jilin roast: ”the corn kernels burst out even in the cornstalk, just like popcorn” (link to china daily story no longer available) egypt temps headed to 113 f central and s. mexico “going up in flames,” up meaning blankets of smoke visible from space ah space . . . i won’t deal in cause-effect: figure it out for yourself. i won’t relay predictions: wait and see what happens. first named storm of the season supposed to start june 1 which has started earlier past 5 yrs & for all the 1% w/new zealand bunkers: the glaciers there are melting, too My recent flight between Kansas City International airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport was over 970 miles (each way). Now, calculating how much CO2 planes and cars produce per passenger per mile or km is a vexed topic. But the folks at BlueSkyModel have done some complex calculations that come out to an average of 53 lbs. CO2/passenger/mi.
That means my air travel produced 102,820 lbs. of CO2 – that is, over 51 tons. And that was only across one time zone. And it doesn’t include the rental car. (Or all the “disposable” plastic dishware one inevitably produces while travelling, but that’s another story.) So, is this just a little carbon (self) shaming, or does it relate to writing? Well, I would argue that it has a lot to do with the institution of writing, as currently practiced. For instance: my trip was a research trip – so it directly relates to my writing (and I’m not even a travel writer!). But I suspect the more numerous category of writers’ trips are those we make simply to schmooze and to sell our wares. Successful writers travel. A lot. They go to conferences and book fairs around the world to meet, greet, rub elbows, see, be seen, get to know you, get contracts and publication deals. They go on reading and lecture tours to try to promote their work. And how many writers are there, in the global north? And what if you include aspiring writers? Multiply that figure by thousands of miles a year by 53 lbs./mile, and the magnitude of our (professionally-related) contribution to the climate disaster becomes apparent. Granted, eliminating all of this travel would not decrease the number of cyclones, the incidence and severity of flooding, the intensity of drought and firestorms, or the melting of glaciers that south Asia relies upon for water. But for a field that notably thumps its chest over injustices of all kinds, it is significant that not many people mention the implications of the way we conduct our day-to-day professional lives, where environmental justice is concerned. In that respect, there is not a great deal of difference between us and the software salesman or political consultant sitting next to us on the flight. If we determine our ethical choices based on principles or character (as opposed to utilitarianism), this is something we might want to change. Personally, I don’t travel a great deal and plan to do so even less. But when my book Things Come On came out, I did travel a great deal, at least for a time. I was trying to make my publisher happy, so they’d publish my next book. And I wasn’t especially “woke,” when it came to what was happening to the climate and how that is impacting people around the world. Today, all that travel just doesn’t seem worth it. Will the travel we’re doing today seem meaningful, important, or beneficial ten years from now? One thing we could do would be to develop alternative means of publication and networking – ones that require fewer fossil-fuel BTUs and less money. E-books are not ideal – I, too, dislike them – but I use them and they do require fewer BTUs than paper books (paper production requires more BTUs per pound than concrete, according to Wm. Vollman’s research). Likewise, teleconferencing and telephoning (tele what??) are ways to make connections that require less carbon (and time) than schlepping to Iceland or Singapore or the opposite side of your continent. Also, double-blind peer-reviewing keeps the need to schmooze way down: as both a critic and writer, I can tell you it’s nowhere near as bad on the scholarly side of things. Why not do the same for “creative” writing? Of course, doing any of these things assumes that writers are more willing to confront the realities of climate catastrophe than are other people. And I haven’t seen evidence of that assumption’s being based in reality. We’re all part of capitalism, and we all want that competitive edge - even if it pushes us all over the edge. lawrence kansas weather for may 19:
hi: 69 norm: 77 lo: 56 norm: 54 (ok) precip month to date: 5.82” norm precip month to date: 2.96” (ruh-roh) + more rain on the way kinda cuts into your lawn-mowing time (haw haw) but funny weather we’ve been having, huh? . . . meanwhile n. alberta has 4% of normal rain wildfires have already started + earthworms in boreal forests 1st time since ice age (invasives from s. europe) releasing more carbon as they burrow . . . from “sponge” to “spout” . . . the lowly worm conquers the globe, etc. meanwhile in ontario, more flooding “weather to dominate commodity headlines this week heat wave across the southern U.S. severe storms across the central U.S.” producing “unneeded precipitation” + hazardous shipping conditions miss., mo. r. valleys + floods in s.e. brazil, kyushu, n. taiwan, oman (!), basque country “resist the urge to say ‘but it was drier where i live’ so climate change is a hoax. your local experience doesn't define the global experience.” (but the two are converging. i’m throwing all this at you to make it real. human beings cannot bear very much reality, esp. usamerican human beings, but we better get used to it) another 45 tornadoes in plains 106 (f) in the shade in yucatan; record drought in s. australia; half of zimbabwe’s livestock 2 wks after cyclone fani, in chennai no electricity, not enough clean water, destroyed crops, no trees = no shade 100+f notice i’m leaving out predictions * first POOC post in over a week - lack of internet (non-weather-related) last week. |
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |