climate change

Holy Barnabas!

Fandango7 Comments

656DCFC8-F002-4A5E-B7BD-6FAE62D8DB73Sadje, over at Keep It Alive, was kind enough to gift me with the Barnabas Award, an award that is given to those bloggers who encourage and inspire their readers.

As a recipient of this award, I’m supposed to:

  • Thank the person who nominated you, and share their blog.
  • Think of five bloggers that encourage and inspire you and nominate them.
  • List five things about yourself.
  • Ask your nominees five questions.

I will thank Sadje — thank you, Sadje. I will also reveal five things about myself. I will also answer Sadje’s five questions. But I will not nominate five bloggers. Instead, I will nominate any and all bloggers and encourage them to participate, which I hope will inspire them to do so.

Okay, ready, set, go:

Five things about me:

  1. I blog anonymously
  2. I am male
  3. I am a baby boomer
  4. I am retired
  5. I am amazing

And now for my answers to Sadje’s questions:

How important it is to reinforce self belief in oneself and others?

I am of the opinion that we each should believe in ourselves, and that must come from within, not from anyone else. It’s not my role to reinforce self-belief in others.

What inspires you on a daily basis?

Right now, I’m inspired by the potential impeachment of Donald Trump, which is becoming more and more likely on a daily basis.

How can we inspire our young generation to do the right thing for our planet?

Simple. Stop telling them that climate change is a hoax, is not real, and that the future of our planet — and their futures — is not at stake. Tell them to listen to what 97% of climate scientists say about climate change instead of listening to know-nothing climate change deniers (i.e., conservative Republicans).

What do you think about teaching moral and ethical values to our children in schools?

I think it’s fine to make kids in school aware of what it means to behave ethically and responsibly. As to teaching morals, though, that’s a different story. The teaching of morals generally has a religious aspect to it, and I think it’s a parent’s role, not a school’s role  — at least not a public school’s role — to teach their children moral values.

What is more important in life, intelligence or hard work?

I would say that this shouldn’t be an “or” question, as both are important. Some people are very intelligent and work very hard. Others can be very intelligent and lazy as shit. And some people might not be that intelligent, but work very hard. And then there are those, like Donald Trump, who are dumb as shit and don’t work very hard.

So has this post inspired and encouraged you, or what?

Photo Challenge — The Melting Moon

Fandango6 Comments

360508D2-287E-4920-B3C7-552717CD752E“What’s all the excitement about?” Don asked in his typical guileless manner.

“Look at the moon, you idiot,” Betsy said. “It’s melting!”

Steve stopped strumming his guitar and looked up at the moon. “It’s not melting, it’s dripping.”

“Melting, dripping, whatever,” Betsy said, “something is seriously wrong. The moon doesn’t do that.”

Don googled “melting moon” on his smartphone. It took him to a page that discussed the impact of climate change on Greenland. “There’s a lot of research on the web about melting icebergs and glaciers in Greenland, but nothing about the moon melting.”

“That melting is due to how the human race is acting like a traitor to Mother Earth by denying the truths about climate change,” Betsy said.

“Um, Betsy,” Steve said, “what kind of mushrooms did you use in the beef stew you made for tonight’s campfire dinner?”

Betsy shrugged, “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I found a bunch near the base of a tree in the woods over there.”

“I’ve heard stories about so-called magic mushrooms in this part of the woods, but I thought it was all bullshit,” Steve said.

“Magic mushrooms,” Don said. “That could explain why we’re all seeing the moon melting. It’s a mass hallucination.”

Written for today’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: picsart.com. Also for these daily prompts: Daily Addictions (excitement), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (guileless), Ragtag Daily Prompt (guitar), The Daily Spur (page), Your Daily Word Prompt (research), and Word of the Day Challenge (traitor).

#writephoto — Nuclear Winter

Fandango28 Comments

175B1F15-AE11-4B2A-A14E-84EF4BA680A5Back then, almost everyone was concerned about climate change and global warming. Scientists around the world had warned about the potentially catastrophic effects of rising temperatures. Summers were getting hotter, storms stronger. Fires were ravaging the planet’s critical ancient forests, while glaciers were rapidly melting, causing sea levels to rise precipitously.

But world leaders and politicians didn’t listen to the scientists. It was too inconvenient, too burdensome, too expensive to address the threat to our existence that climate change posed. And so we continued to burn fossil fuels and to deforest the planet for development and mining.

As a result of inaction on the part of those in a position to address and reverse the impact of climate change, more frequently and significantly stronger hurricanes and typhoons, propelled by warmer ocean waters, began to pummel islands and coastal regions around the globe. When the President of the United States proposed nuking these massive, devastating storms while they were still out to sea, everyone thought he was making a joke. But he wasn’t. He was deadly serious.

Having effectively taken full control of the American government, Trump, against the advice of the world’s scientific community, unilaterally implemented his insane plan and ordered the military to drop nuclear bombs in the middle of hurricanes, secure in his belief that doing so would break up these storms and save the lands and property in their paths.

Instead, these nuclear explosions churned up and heated up the ocean waters significantly. They also spewed high levels of lethal radiation into the Earth’s atmosphere and polluted most of the planet’s potable water, resulting in the painful deaths of billions of people and of many animals. Fires consumed forests across the globe, and between the smoke from the fires and the atomic clouds that resulted from dozens of nuclear blasts, the planet ultimately was engulfed by thick, gray clouds that choked out the sun, creating what scientists warned would be a nuclear winter.

Dozens of years later, one of the sentries of a small band of human survivors went to the surface to take atmospheric and temperature readings. Amazed by what he saw, he descended quickly down the deep chute and excitedly reported to the elders. “The clouds have parted,” he shouted. “The sun is rising on the horizon.”

This dystopian post was written for this week’s Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent.

Share Your World — Better Late Than Never

Fandango11 Comments

SYW

Whoa! Somehow I missed Melanie’s Share Your World post yesterday. Well, better late than never, I suppose.

What would be your solution to the over-population of the earth? Earth has finite resources and humanity seems to be breeding themselves to extinction. Some countries have tried restricting the number of children a couple or a person can have, with little success. So what other viable options are there for reducing the number of people?

I’m not to worried about overpopulation. Given that nobody in a position to do anything about addressing the effects of climate change is doing anything to address climate change, I figure that our planet will be uninhabitable by the end of this century and that human life will cease to exist. Boom, overpopulation problem solved.

What’s invisible but you wish people could see?

Who people really are behind the masks they wear.

What’s the most ridiculous fact you know?

The most ridiculous fact I know is that Donald Trump is actually the President of the United States.

What are the unwritten rules of where you work? If you don’t work (retired or unemployed) what are the unwritten rules you live your life by?

I am retired, and other than paying taxes, paying my bills, going grocery shopping, and looking after our dog and cat, there are no rules, written or unwritten.

How do you feel about putting pineapple on pizza?

The same way I feel about a eating a pastrami sandwich on white bread with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. For god’s sake, don’t do it.

Toilet paper, over or under?

Over.

What’s the best type of cheese?

Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam cheese. Mmm.56219A12-222C-49C9-B2E9-7C271B07F98C

Gratitude Question

I’m grateful that I heard back from Akismet about the issue with my comments on other bloggers’ posts going into their spam folder. The reply said, “I’ve made some adjustments that should fix this for your spam problem moving forward.”

Please, folks, let me know if any of my comments are still ending up in your spam folders.

Share Your World — Grim World Edition

Fandango13 Comments

Monday means Melanie’s Share Your World prompt, and, as usual, she has given us some provocative questions for us to expose our inner selves to all of you. She did give us a warning, though, that in view of recent events, this week’s Share Your World is rather grim. Let’s see if we can turn some lemons into lemonade. Here we go.

Does life have a reason (meaning)?

I’m going to answer this question with a post I wrote in July 2017, which featured this screenshot from my iPhone.81AC1071-CD21-42C7-BC83-7B15DB976F97

Will the world come to an end by human hands (man’s actions)?

Yes, but not so much due to man’s actions, but more as a result of man’s inaction on climate change.

Will stricter laws make a better world?  Would less strict law make it better?

It’s not a matter of more or less strict laws. It’s about better laws that are more equally enforced, without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, or financial status.

If death is inevitable, why bother doing anything?

Yes, death is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live the best life we can during the finite time we are alive. 

Are thoughts and prayers useful or a sop for people who wish to pay respect but interact through a virtual venue? Yea or nay – please explain your viewpoint (without rancor) if you would.

I’m sorry for reverting again within the same Share Your World response to a post I previously published, but this recent post of mine pretty much answers this question. And as a visual representation, here’s an image from Rob Israel that sums up my feelings about thought and prayers.8F2CB876-4DCF-4A3D-8EBF-AA62288C76A4