ScientistsWarning.org will have a
Team SW meeting on
Tuesday February 5
Please call-in or computer link-in 15 minutes before the top of the hour for the following start times:
8 am in Hawaii;
10 am in California;
1 pm US East Coast/Ottawa;
6 pm in UK/Portugal;
7 pm in Spain/Denmark
(Calls are welcome from Australia, but don't ask me to figure the time)
If you would like to see the Agenda before the meeting please email Rob@oceanriver.org
Notes and News February, 2019
So how does the UN talk when it talks about climate change? A quick survey of Twitter feeds gives not one, but two big recent messages:
“UN warns of ‘Climate Catastrophe’.” And: “Climate solutions already exist. Together we can limit global warming to 1.5˚C, says UN.”
https://medium.com/@UNDP/talking-about-climate-change-walking-the-line-between-hope-and-despair-6605cf757ba5
2. Hannie van de Reep (NL) writes:
I told you something was in the air and now we are on a tipping point of climate awareness. Schoolkids are starting to act as well as the ordinary civilians, following them up. Thanks to Greta Thunberg, who started this, and is still inspiring our youth to take action. They deserve our full support.
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/01/22/heeft-school-straks-wel-zin-zonder-aarde-a3651302
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/01/22/jeugd-wil-actie-voor-het-te-laat-is-a3651337
3. Margaret Beasley (UK) writes:
Today I saw some little A4 posters that children (5-7 years’ old, I suppose) had attached to lamp-posts. I went in to the nearest school & introduced myself to the receptionist. She asked if I would be able to talk to the children about climate change /global warming and gave me email contact details so I have written to the school office with a bit more detail so that someone with more authority can look at time-table etc. and decide if there is a slot I could fill. Photos from Australia (below) are not new, but make me smile. Humour can be a powerful ally. Peace & harmony from Margaret
4.
Rats, brought to you by a whack-a-mole mentality
Rob Moir writes about why a dramatic increase in rat populations in Somerville and Greater Boston, MA. Despite being cleaner with extra-tough trash receptacles given out by cities to residents, and despite being better at killing rats than ever before, the problem is once again one of people thinking in a linear fashion, attempting to win at the carnival game of Whack-a-Mole. The solution is to instead think holistically and recognize the economic benefits we get from healthy natural ecosystems, a. k. a. Nature. Clue, the outbreak of more rats coincides with many rabbits frequently hopping with impunity across urban streets. Tony Jupiter explains how due to similar linear thinking the oriental white-rumped vulture went from being arguably the World’s most numerous bird of the prey to the brink of extinction in a decade costing India $ billions in exchange for prolonging the lives of some cattle and water buffalo. Rob’s piece is called
Keep doing whatever you can to slow the release of greenhouse gasses and increase the capture of carbon.
Different steps of differing magnitude are all for the better.
Your actions, our collective efforts, are vital for the future of us all
—
people, plants, wildlife, ecosystems, the planet, our home.
Though the path before us may be daunting, thank you for steady- on tackling of the Climate Crisis.
