worst hurricane to hit
louisiana since 1856 -- at present 300k un- employed in that state, so hard to rebuild lake charles, poverty rate 2x national avg. hit hardest: storm sparked a big-ass chemical fire; authorities sd “stay indoors w/door closed” while many homes lacked roofs. predicted storm surge 20 ft. high turned out only 9 ft.; “i wouldn’t be surprised if in the coming days people will be saying this was overhyped,” the hurricane historian sez: “hurricane amnesia”: we forget how bad the last one was: people know what they need to do, but it’s expensive time-suck, & how likely it’ll happen again, right? storms grow wetter, more intense each year -- & we’re only in the “m”’s . . .
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dear diary,
bleak days hot nights contagion spreads violence blooms cyclone smashes wildfire ashes heat hardens heart rains wreak deluge ravage winter warmest fires detected summers keep degrees hit residents notice storm strengthens chicago logged hartford broke chaos causes hedgehogs crash morocco sees melt accelerate ice cracks permafrost, in- frastructure smoke bellows weep poet weep climate expert sez “there’s not going to be a happy ending to this movie” “historically,
it’s sept. & oct. when we experience our largest & most damaging wildfires. so to be mid-aug. & already we have the 2nd- and 3rd-largest wildfires in our state’s history is very concerning . . .” the calif. wildfire chief sez; “how can we plan for the future in california?” the headline asks (dunno. flee?) meanwhile 2nd of 2 back-to-back gulf hurricanes heads toward coast (predicted cat 4 - “the waters are warm enough everywhere to support a major hurricane,” sez the natl. hurricane ctr. dude); 20 dead in hispaniola, incl. 10-yr-old girl in house crushed by tree & “mother & young son crushed by collapsing wall” time to retreat into the most precious aestheticism imaginable . . . or write re: some of them timeless, universal truths to take yr mind off the time-bound truths in yr backyard that’re like to kill ya not to mention the dam breaks in yemen; the collapsed levees in nw china; the apt. bldg. that collapsed in heavy rain in w. india; the rivers that won’t stop rising in bangladesh; the winter heat wave in w. australia; the toppling trees in new england, giant sinkholes in utah & shrivelling corn in u.s. midwest; “rivers of hail” in the streets of verona; & we’re not even talking about rainforests & icebergs . . . plus this plus this: “climate change will alter chocolate as we know it" -- so you know things are . . . concerning . . . Earlier this month, I wrote about Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower. Recently, I’ve been re-reading the sequel, Parable of the Talents (1998). Like Sower, Talents takes ecological and economic breakdown as givens. There are only a few mentions of climate, but, well, water costs more than gas, wildfires are rampant in the northern-California setting, and fresh produce is worth risking your life to steal. As a result . . . let’s just say the unemployment and crime rates are both pretty high.
Onto the scene steps Andrew Steele Jarrett, the Texas senator-minister who leads the “Christian America Church” (and movement), who wins the presidential election. He vows to restore order to this chaotic American carnage that people are living through and make them get right with God, in the process. Ecological/biological crisis → social crisis → authoritarianism. That seems to be the trajectory. A shadowy group, calling themselves “Jarrett’s Crusaders” (whom the official CA Church disavows but privately supports) are the storm troopers of the movement, targeting any people or communities they regard as “heathen.” That includes Acorn, the tiny commune established by the protagonist, Lauren Olamina, and a few dozen followers of her “Earthseed” movement. (I’ll let you read it, to find out what happens next.) I also read the book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, by Chris Hedges (2007). Hedges documents the flourishing of the movement that Butler witnessed in its infancy and adolescence. The strength of the book is that it is largely composed of lengthy quotes and descriptions of sermons, speeches, and TV programs by leaders of “Christian Dominionism,” an avowedly theocratic movement. Pat Robertson and James Dobson are among the better-known chieftains of the Dominionists, but Hedges also confronts us with some characters who, though famous among their millions of followers, are less well-known to the rest of the world. These figures are all but calling for the overthrow of the government and violence against LGBTQ+ people, “secular humanists,” liberals, Muslims, and basically everybody else who isn’t them. Hedges likewise makes no bones about his position: you can’t tolerate the intolerant. He calls this a paradox; some might see it as a contradiction, or at best circular reasoning. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing when a writer refuses to pull punches, esp. against this lot. Jarrett’s Crusaders are a fictional version of what the so-called “evangelicals” (who seldom actually quote the evangelists) might be capable of: paramilitary, extra-legal violence, repression, and surveillance. Again and again, the Dominionists imply that it will only take one 9/11-type crisis for them to mobilize and Make America Christian Again. What we’re seeing now aren’t signs and wonders — they’re the result of capitalists screwing up everything: drilling deeper into the forests, building farther into the brush, & altering the composition of the atmosphere (which of course the Dominionists claim only God could do). Nevertheless, they're whipping up plague, whirlwind, and seas of fire, as a result. This is an opportunity for them, a danger for everybody else. A good time to put down the book, shut off the computer, and go vote. Early, if not often. 1st day of class: our chancellor
sez “i’m shocked, shocked to find that partying is going on here!” -- in response to boozy frat boys (w/boozy house mother) slob- bering around in front of mother house, sans mask sans distance sans everything . . . “people believe what they want to believe,” as caesar knew (which helped him conquer gaul which i have never done, but here is how i’m feeling: residents flee as gulf coast sees possible tandem hurricanes giving ‘rocket fuel’ to possible storms sea ice 1.1 m acres burn in 9 days historic scale death & destruction in haiti & dominican ‘fires of hell’ another disastrous year for earth’s out-of-control threats sea ice ‘my eco-anxiety is at an all-time high’ fossil fuel industry’s political power for a nightmare from space 6 ft. 250k under evac order up to half the world’s oceans migrating almost a month earlier ice sheets faster flames hellish combo for prisons fire, pestilence, floods & storms will kill us all economically feasible hottest temperature reliably recorded on earth tonnes of sea ice sheet 2nd-largest in calif. history ‘driest i’ve seen’ can i do anything abt any of this? write a poem in the shape of a tree? put arnica on the leaves? to salve our covid consciences or salvage consciousness (i need a news fast, fast, b/c i don’t want to believe yes, i want to talk
about california, the canary in the collective american unconscious, but you may not know this: the world’s largest dam (3 gorges in china) is 20 m > warning level & 30 m from the top, as the yangtze pours 75 cu m/sec into its reservoir continuously (flooding upstream); “an overtopping dam is a worst- case scenario because it produces significant damage & can lead to the entire thing collapsing,” sez the engineering prof., which wd be bad for the 400 million humans who live downstream (entire u.s. pop = 330 m) . . . “but you can’t prove those floods are caused by climate change”; yeah, you can’t prove anything is caused by something affecting everything — but there’s a lot of the everything happening everywhere . . . take the 400 human beings killed by heat in nederland last week (no wonder everybody’s buying air conditioners in the u.k.!); or the 27 humans killed in bihar, 24 humans killed in punjab, & 800k displaced in kenya by floods. but yeah, let’s talk califas: probable hottest temp ever recorded on earth (death valley tues.); in san joaquin valley, “counties have issued emergency proclamations to prevent a pile-up of carcasses of cows killed from the recent stretch of scorching temperatures” (& resulting stench); & yes, fire fire fire: 11 k lightning strikes in 72 hrs, 367 known fires, 26 “major” (as of yesterday) 460 sq mi on fire as of thurs & 0% contained: "so my husband was driving the car & he got burnt and he had to leave the car and it blew up so i was walking down by myself & i got all these flames on me i lost my shoe but i made it god saved me”; while in vacaville “everything is gone” & the gov. sez if you don’t “believe” in climate change, come to california, w/ 62k evac’d, incl. travis a.f.b. & u.c. santa cruz, & in the evac center, “there’s some people coughing, their masks are hanging down”; & “in theory, breathing in a lot of bad air can make you more susceptible to a more serious covid illness,” sez the pulmonologist, b/c no cal had worst air quality in the world on wed., bad news for kids w/asthma in cities: "we can't open up the window, we're trapped, we're hot & no one can come over to play” (that pandemic thing, too); for adults w/asthma, too: "i keep thinking about where we would go if things go south”; you usta could dine outside, but not w/ash on the tables; "we are getting exhausted. it's suffocating physically & mentally, and we don't have control” — not anymore & mean- time 15% of power grid offline & guess what? “it is likely that there was more lightning because of global warming,” sez the physicist. well, no shit sherlock. all of which is to say you don’t want this to happen. & strictly speaking, it doesn’t have to, if you really really really didn’t want it In honor of the recent 5-year closure of the Apalachicola oyster fishery due to drought, we present this "found" reflection, informed by the effects of climate change on the California fishery, from our friend Denise Low.
* * * The oyster, size of a middling pebble, has uneven coloring with some brilliant whites. . . . harder for them to form their calcium-based shells It is a tightly closed world. . . . enclosed estuaries and bays like Tomales Bay One can open it, nonetheless, if held within a folded rag, with a cheap, serrated knife. . . . structure and food upon which other species rely Blows on the outer shell leave white ripples like halos. . . . temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen Inside, one discovers a whole world of food and drink: under firmament of mother-of-pearl, a sky shines both above and below. . . . oysters settle to rocks so they cannot move Between, a viscous, greenish pool ebbs and flows, edged with fringe. . . . shellfish change from free-floating larvae and settle Within their throats are rainbows and—a few pearls. . . . goldilocks zones within California estuaries * * * [Found poem-- with selections from ScienceDaily, 6 August 2019. and “Oyster” by Francis Ponge. Translation from French by Denise Low] 3 gorges dam to confront largest-
ever flood through coordination with upstream dams & water- melon sugar breaks my heart china floods: 100 k on yangtze evac’d, leshan buddha at risk blinding light roses cambodia’s biggest lake is running dry, taking forests and fish w/it adore savage falling homes, roads, swept away in central darfur flash floods rain on me supalonley zoo in rome feeds animals frozen fruit & proteins to fight heatwave before you go france gears up for early harvest [grapes] while i prefer coffee for your head (death bed) drought & rain are re- shaping global grain trade routes rockstar say so low water levels may further restrict output at france's chooz nuclear plant blueberry faygo gone with the wind: the heat- wave lasted 13 days, set several new records [nederland] so i hope intentions scientists w/bad news: german glacier soon disappeared – ice volume is melting rapidly savage love in my past life summer heatwave kills thousands of fish leaving them rotting in the sun as environment chiefs battle to stop more deaths like that don’t start now heartless atlantic hurricane season could break more records w/multiple storms in the forecast mamacita seeds of doubt: amazon forest gatherers dread drought & fires be like that 100 ways california governor declares state of emergency as dozens of wildfires rage what’s poppin daisies northern arizona sees sweltering heat as flagstaff breaks heat records four days in a row circles breaking me temperature records tumble in world’s searing heat my o my nobody’s love don’t rush water cut off in zimbabwe’s 2nd biggest city everything i wanted -- what’s really happening in the arctic & siberia? hot girl bummer residents in cebu city mountain barangay lose homes to flash flood bang! ritmo someone you loved drinks more than ½ of world's oceans already being affected by climate change ily the other girl impressive data set shows july likely warmest of any month since 1850 worldwide if the world was ending Previous guest blogger Denise Low makes an encore appearance on WOOT this Thursday, August 20. It involves mollusks, so you'll want to be sure to check it out. See you here!
This episode of On the Media (one of our favorite radio shows & podcasts, here at WOOT) is much better than anything I have to say today, given that they interview Jeff Vandermeer, Claire Vaye Watkins, Kim Stanley Robinson, and John McFarlane. The first three are cli-fi authors, the last, an expert on words, naming, and nature. Enjoy!
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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. |