January 1, 2023

Almost a couple of months ago, I turned 70 years old. I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have lived a life that some people only dream of. In previous posts, I have mentioned who I am, where I've been, and what I did for jobs. 

What have I learned in the last 70 years. A lot. But there is a lot I don't know. I am always learning about something. I have a big appetite for curiosity. However in today's world, lots of people in this country anyway, have no interest in curiosity. No interest in basic facts.

More to come...

 Hey, I'm still alive.

 Volunteer work

I started doing volunteer work when I moved to California in 1980.

In 1980 I joined The Planetary Society, a citizen based grassroots group to promote space exploration. I'm still a member

In 1983, I started volunteering for a local chapter of Amnesty International USA in Irvine. International group that deals with human rights.

1993, I was working as a staff employee for Toastmasters International. It's a non profit public speaking organization. But as a volunteer, I was part of a Toastmasters Club. A group of 20 people where you learn the skills of public speaking.

2011, I started volunteering with Sierra Club. Huge environmental Organization. I worked on climate change issues.

2022, I left Sierra Club to start my own group, Orange County 350.org group. 350.org is another environmental group working to make a fast transition to renewable energy.

 Climate Change comments

Today in the United Kingdom, which is in northern latitudes, it was 104 F degrees. Never happened in UK history. 1100 people have died in Spain and Portugal. Extreme forest fires in Portugal. Two airports in the UK, the runways have melted because of extreme heat. The climate for today's Europe was not supposed to happen until 2050. Yet here we are.

The UN Secretary General has said that we have a choice, collective action or collective suicide regarding climate change.

Everyday it seems, news of climate disruption around the world. So how do you stop this climate emergency. You don't. You can only slow it down. The Fossil Fuel Industry, coal, oil, natural gas, needs to be put out of business. But wait, you can't do that or could you. Most climate scientists know that we have very little time to drastically change the way we do everything. We must reduce our carbon emissions by half in just 8 years. Politically, that will be very difficult. It all comes down to politics and money. Lots of money. Money is useless on a dead planet...

 Space

Today and yesterday, NASA released new photographs of the far reaches of the universe from a new space telescope. James Webb Space Telescope. This new telescope is in orbit around Earth 1 million miles away.

It is expected to change how we see the universe out there. Where stars are born. Seeing galaxy's 13 billion light years away. It is estimated that there are as many as 2 Trillion galaxies and each galaxy has about 1 billion stars. That's a lot of stars. There are a few theories about how the universe began. A handful of scientists think the whole universe is one giant hologram. The great Stephen Hawking proposes that the universe has no boundaries. No beginning or end. 

But as we look up at the night sky and wonder... We are destroying the very planet we live on. We don't have the technology to move off Planet Earth. The nearest Earth like planet is Kepler-452b which is 1,800 light years away. With our current technology, it would take 30 million years to get there. 

 My take on current events

First some facts. I am a white previledged male living on Social Security. I don't have to worry about going out anywhere without getting arrested or killed (think African American). If I spoke another language other than English,  I would be harassed. 

The world I grew up in is very different from today. I grew up in rural America which has turned into a hotbed of hate about eveything. I now live in a world where the previous President tried to overthrow his own government. I live in a world where our top Judicial branch of government, the Supreme Court, has turned into a far right political agenda. I live in a world where half our population, women, are now regulated to second citizen. I live in a world where police officers can murder others with no consequences. I live in a world where most politicians are bought off by big corporations. I live in a world where one political party is a normal political party, while the other political party is one that does not believe in democracy. I live in a country where society as a whole is breaking down. Mainly because of a barely functioning government. Even truth is fake. Sad but true. In a poll taken of 1,000 people, 25% would take up arms against our own government. Democracy is dying here in the US.

So it's time to change direction. It is time to imagine a better world. Time to change our thinking about a new political and economic system. Because it ain't working very well. Sure it's hard work, but it must and can be done. Change is always going on. Like the Universe. The time is now. Everything is interconnected.  

 Policy - Climate Change

In 1977 I lived in Colorado. That summer I took a tour of a place called National Center for Atmosphric Research or NCAR. There I met  and talked to a man by the name of Stephen Schneider. At the time, one of the top climate scientists in the world. The previous year, Stephen, had published his first book on climate called The Genesis Strategy:Climate and Global Survival. By 1984, he published a second book called Coevolution of Climate and Life. 

I was hooked. The last 40 years I've been studying the issue of climate change. At the time 1984, carbon dioxide emissions were measured at about 345 ppm (parts per million) at a station in Hawaii. Today in 2022, carbon dioxide levels are 420ppm. So for the last almost 40 years, carbon emissions have constantly gone up. This is caused by the Greenhouse effect. Our planet as a whole, carbon dioxide traps heat and the Earth's temperature rises. When temperatures rise, ice melts. So both the ice sheets at the north and south poles are melting at a rapid pace. By 2030 there will be zero ice at the North Pole. When ice melts, sea level rise.

Today, we are in a climate emergency. Our "normal climate" is gone. The jet stream that controls our climate in the northern hemisphere is going crazy. For the last 10,000 years, our planet has had a relatively stable climate. Until now. The cause... Burning fossil fuels. Coal, oil, and natural gas (methane). In 2021, our planet produced 36 Giga tonnes per year. That's a lot.

There are solutions to our climate crisis, but it will take political will and a major change in our current economic system.