new study out of oxford sez
only 3% of people worldwide think the climate crisis “not serious at all.” unless they’re americans -- 12% of whom say “what me worry?”; but also 9% of swedes (greta?! do something!) in scandanavia & low countries, only 50% see x-treme threat in climate change (isn’t there a fairy tale warning about that? maybe hans xian anderson?) but in the global south, it’s 85-90% (kenya, s. africa, phillipines, chile) — the places where drought, cyclone, locusts & other plagues are punishing the locals (keep yr finger in the dike, boy! & silver skates ain’t no good on thin ice . . . ) people on the business end: nothi mlalazi of bulawayo, zimbabwe & her daughters, who “spend most of our time in long, winding queues, impatiently waiting to fill up our containers” with water, from trucks that come round every few days during 3 mo. w/dry taps -- they must push & shove to horn into the line -- no social distance between or among the people, who spend up to 12 hrs there ray & bonnie arnold, w. australian farmers, celebrate the “water deficiency” declaration for their town, meaning they can get trucked water. "it seems to be if we don't get the summer rain … the outlook is very grim” < 7 in. of rain, all last year (“but they live in a desert, they’re used to that” -- uh, no: it’s < ½ of norm) ditto in inner mongolia, where < an inch of rain fell in april & may, where farmer zhang aiqin sez “strong wind and little rain have greatly affected the growth of crops," like corn seedlings, scoured by the sandy wind, replanting after replanting or yacouba kone, farmer in mali, ravaged by drought & desertification, whose government used money from farm price supports to buy covid equipment. price of cotton ↓ 25% — & cotton farmers are paid to grow grains, too. but not now — meaning no money for fertilizer for fiber or food, meaning less food. so "if the state does not take urgent measures to support farmers, the coronavirus will jeopardise food security,” sez he. + heatwave in siberia, pocked by fires; + heatwave in saudi (115-122 f); + lo 110s, winds 40 mph in s.w. u.s., 85k+ acres burned so far in arizona ; + tornadoes, duststorm, torrential rains & flooding, houses destroyed by lightning in britain . . . “o please, spare me yr bougie-privilege disaster porn . . . ” ok, well, maybe, but not seeing & hearing the people won’t make them go away
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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. |