Day 1

President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping - a historic first step.  An agreement on the world stage to combat climate change.  Maybe China and the lungs of its citizens have forced his hand.  Health costs are real (so stop saying its environment or economy).

The agreement they made, and China's promise to reduce emissions from coal plants by 2030 - a strategic direction, and probably the first foray in that direction from China.  Why does this matter?  China is a world power, the U.S. is a world power, and when they set a combined direction for reducing greenhouse gasses, it can only set the stage for other countries to follow suit.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is too late to "stop" climate change.  Like you can't stop that river of lava heading for that village in Hawaii.  When I was in Hawaii in September the road was closed, so you couldn't get close to it.  Even then, the local papers talked about previous attempts to "stop" a flow of lava - douse it, divert it, none of it worked.  Village residents were looking for hard to find dwellings in other Big Island towns.

Ah if it were that simple.  Just find a new dwelling planet.  There would be a market for PlanetBnB, so we could really continue the frontier mentality (even more than we already practice it in Oregon) and just keep moving to new planets.

For now, I am encouraged by President Xi Jinping's commitment to reducing greenhouse gasses.  Kind of a long schedule to get there.  But if our pres and China's pres can strike a chord on this common ground, even build a relationship, then there is hope for solving other problems, come what May.  Like how to accept climate refugees and find a new world order when the tropics are fried, you can swim in the Arctic in just a swimsuit, and we still want to eek out a living.

Reflections on Adapting to Global Climate Change - Day 1

My new topic, Day 1
Some observations..  A large and old birch tree, at my church had to be taken down (damaged in a storm I believe).  The City now requires my Church to plant a new tree in its place.  Not just any tree, but one of 4 specifically approved trees.

Apparently the Church is considered a Commercial Property.  How about that.  What does this have to do with climate change?  Birch trees are no longer favored, and are falling down and dying off.  I have seen a former 'birch meadow' deteriorate due to beetles that love to nestle in the bark and then worm their way inside and eat away at the tree.  I believe this weakness to beetles is a global warming thing, and the birch trees cannot migrate.

Another observation..  Nomadic sheep herders in the Altay region of China - they migrate with their big-tailed sheep, as they have for 1000 years, down to lower altitudes for the winter.  The sheep are skinny due to drought conditions, so they can't fetch as much money.  Yet migrate they must. (courtesy NY Times today)

Another observation.. Fish migrating from the equator areas north and south towards the poles.  Maybe good news for those areas (what new predators or food will they find?), but bad news for those whose lives have depended on fishing and cannot migrate with their wooden boats and families along with the fish.

The world is entering new territory.  People are entering new territories.  Fish are entering new territories.  Those forging ahead are driven by survival.  And how will we-who-are-not-migrating treat our newcomers - ?