The bloody smear is fire. [Guardian graphic. Sources: Smoke data from Noaa] down in the dust-bowl heart-land
2nd-biggest wildfire ever in u.s.: bigger than rhode island (poor rhode island) melted light poles burned-up homes 2 human beings dead so far & all we get up here is the smoke "just my prediction," sez the tx. ag secy., "but it will be 10,000 that will have died or we'll have to euthanize" (meaning cattle, that is) "it's sad. a lot of those cattle are still alive but the hooves are burned off, the teats on their udders are burned off. it's just a sad, sad situation." the lord's will, i reckon. who woulda thunk it? "it's hard to watch," says rancer jeff chisum; wife leigh drove by "baby calves standing alone in the black, desolate pastures with dead cows scattered along the roads" plenty of palpable havoc; must be some god needed to make the connection to invisible air around us
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Derna, Libya, Saturday. (Amr Alfiky/Reuters) last week
"haze" descends thousands of miles-- the ghost of a million trees red zone--unhealthy for everyone, sensitive groups or not this week in kansas, rains come easing drought brown back to green for now in libya, 11,300 children, adults drowned or buried in silt & sludge half- burying cars & homes: "storm daniel" weakened dams people dessicated washed out outside or in. hottest july on planet earth
in 200,000 years. in august wildfires scorch western maui (another town burned to the ground); 106 dead humans as of today 1300 unaccounted for charred body in car charred body leaning on seawall our pompeiis look like this these days Prothonotary warbler, Earth Day 2020, Indiana, US. (Ryan Sanderson/Macaulay Library via All About Birds) so i think maybe i gotta process my eco-grief. & eco-anxiety. & eco-dread. & eco-despair. & eco-numbness & eco-lalia, maybe. & eco-haustion, for sure-- lots of that. i need to counter- act the eco-doomscrolling & eco- preciate the birds that do show up. & get good at pretending i’m already dead so nothing can hurt me anymore. do waste time mourning and organize—that’s the ticket. (or maybe “don’t waste time writing chronicles—mourn!”) first-of-season oriole first-of-season warbling vireo f.o.s. prothonotary warbler f.o.s. great-crested flycatcher bluebird morning light & savannah sparrow w/pale yellow supercilium visible. sierra club’s asking evergy to stop its lawrence coal-fired power plant; & evergy looks to be moving forward on 2 solar projects here . . . so how about some eco-hopefulness all i want to know is is there anybody out there? & what would you do now? Kolkata on Tuesday: hi 102 f, low 86. (Debarchan Chatterjee/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN) redbuds leafing out: i want to yell “wait!!” most everything leafed out, really, after summery temps for a week or more: hi’s in the 80s (norm upper 60s) spring sprang in a jiffy; expected duration: 20 minutes but now? freeze warning tonite. there goes the apple crop not so many birds at the feeder, not so many species of birds petrocorps own the pols petrocorps own the media & our deepest desire remains to avoid disruptions to our live- styles & why not? it’s all we can do to maintain them! until we can’t, by when older folks won’t be around to do so & younger folks won’t be able to anyway a flicker drums on some- body’s vent hood & i resent the noise deeply: too busy to get outside. & why. got to do our duty, got to keep from falling “joe, are you on track for your retirement goals?” joe, are you on track for your climate goals? meanwhile, “monster asian heat wave”-- all-time record hi’s in thailand (113), laos (109) schools shuttered in e. india; record energy use in bangladesh april records falling over four corners of earth & how many acres are burning? is anybody keeping track? northern thailand chokes in smoke, hospitals full snow, hail in saudi; signs taken for wonders or vice versa meanwhile all that snow up north, out west begins to melt, meaning floods: state of emerg in utah advisories for minn. & dakotas 2 feet of rain fell w/in hours on ft. lauderdale last week; now the cleanup, & jenny sims says “you know, we’re real people & we don’t have a house. we feel like nobody cares.” Wait . . . what? Already?? . . . kearney, in c. neb., shivered at 34 f tuesday, while falls city in the s.e. hit 90. wch just means that what happens in the arctic doesn’t stay in the arctic here on tues.: 87 f, 22 > “normal”; & south of here, wildfires in okla. earliest spring on record across much of e. u.s.; washington, d.c. hit 80 f at 9 pm on wed.—everything sinking towards the equator calif. c. valley swamped: tulare lake recollects itself after it was drained 150 yrs ago oodles of march records-- but those are just numbers lots of deadly tornadoes killed dozens of people the last couple of weeks in u.s.-- “busiest” start to the season ever-- but no definite correlation to climate disruption, so we won’t talk about that (tho’ t-storms becoming more frequent and severe as the planet heats up; & t-storms have a way of spawning twisters; wch just means that even some climate scientists want to keep their funding.) power faltering in abuja amdist heatwave; ronz the tailor says, "i have not been able to complete my job for the past five days now. no light at all and nobody can explain to us what is happening. i hear they are rationing the light, but quite frankly, there is no light to ration.” meanwhile, in c. kenya, george karanja says, “when there is no water in the house, i don’t think you can stay in that house-- especially with a wife and kids-- the house is uninhabitable w/o water!” (same cd be sd for the world); “every week we only get water twice,” josephine nuduta reports, “on tuesdays and fridays” (don’t worry, global northerners: it can’t happen here. it can’t hap) & s. ethiopia has it worse “some are committing suicide after failing to provide for their family," says jilo guracha. "we beg the government to save us from dying of hunger until god brings us rain.” (& some are getting the hell out) meanwhile, in mozambique, post- cyclone-freddy, 19k humans infected w/cholera gather ye rosebuds while ye may earlier than ever everybody says we can turn things around—the technologies are available, it just takes a will to change co2 at 420 ppm: all-time high Saving up water for a (non)rainy day in South Korea (via Channel News Asia). the climate scientists are freaked, but i’m not. my secret? don’t listen to the climate scientists. but i can’t ignore potholes. that dern freeze-thaw cycle (wch we’ve cycled through a lot this winter) makes ‘em. (all the stuff you don’t think of . . .) hot here friday—10 f > norm: already in the 70s; but france already in the 80s; heat waves, forest fires already underway in iberia (special masses for rain said in catalonia); tunisia cuts off water at night "we are concerned that if the drought persists, the water supply would be reduced and we will end up without water" (negril, jamaica) & remember the massive pakistan floods? well, now they’re heading toward water shortages . . . moreover, 1m s. korean people face water crisis “i also save water in the sink. we do he laundry when there’s tap water two times a week. we are just waiting for rain to drop.” water also running out around phnom penh: “we were forced to buy water from a water truck for $10 for five tanks, but for those who do not have the money, it is difficult for them” & 80% of kansas wheat crop in lousy shape (“yes, yes, yes—ok ok ok-- we know it’s global warming, climate change, bad bad bad, yadda yadda yadda—why do you keep repeating the disasters?”) (b/c disasters keep repeating? the most important story in world history can’t go without an epic chronicle, even a lousy one—& nobody’s writing it) for california, drought-deluge cycle: they’re on their—what?—17th? atmospheric river of the season-- from record drought to record snowpack (& back again this fall? feb. driest in u.k. in 30 yrs. march wettest in u.k. in 40 yrs.) argentina, world’s biggest exporter of soy oil and meal, now net importer of soybeans (drought); but rain rain rain inundates peru, brazil, ecuador australian cattle town “wiped off the map”: "We are working to tidy things up. we're looking at ... whether to rebuild or relocate." & the award for “most accumulated energy, longest-lasting and most cycles of intensification” goes to . . . cyclone freddy! results? 707 humans dead (as of 3/29) 1300 injured 556 missing 508,000 displaced triple-digit food inflation for malawi (how few of news stories quote the humans affected. how few of the voices we hear here.) There is indeed forward movement . . . (Washington Post graphic) “in feb. 2021, winter storm uri created
energy shortages across the central u.s. as a result, evergy kansas central experienced extraordinary costs related to generating, purchasing, and delivering power to its customers during the storm. “the kansas corporation commission [oh, ye so aptly named!] has approved an agreement allowing evergy to recover those costs, outlined in docket no. 21-ekme-329-gie. “evergy works closely with state regulators [how true] to keep energy costs as low as possible, even in extraordinary circumstances like storm uri. in fact, customers of electric utilities in other uri- effected [sic] states will likely have larger per- customer recovery costs than evergy’s.” [see—you’re lucky!] one could be forgiven for asking why we are paying extra at all—or who was charging evergy extra during a time of extraordinary need, or what will happen to those persons for doing so but i think we already know & yes there are those worse off: 43k human beings died in the drought in somalia last year, ½ children [per w.h.o. & u.n.i.c.e.f. “vampiric” water use: i.p.c.c.] hottest march day on records: vietnam; seoul; 20% of japan cherry blossoms blossom record-early again; spring springs record-early again (& allergies)—earliest-ever for n.y.c.—throwing everything off-schedule & out of whack & 80% of german trees suffer dieback due to 5-yr drought meanwhile “unseasonal rain and hailstorms” damaged crops in india, “exposing 1000s of farmers to losses & raising the risk of further food price inflation” ½ of malawi in ruins post-freddy: “climate change issues are real; we are standing right in the path of it; it can keep a nation like malawi in perpetual poverty,” sez the prez. [latest count 438 human beings killed] “catastrophic level of water” cover farms in central valley (calif.); maybe 100k acres underwater sez tulare co. farm bureau dude all of which is to say up- statistics don’t do you any good if yr crop is flooded, your country bedroughted, yr family washed away, or prices for yr food & energy keep rising & then rising some more-- not as long as the fossil(fuel) corpos, their pet pols & “regulators” keep greenwashing their way to our oblivionousness, showing us one step forward for every two back Mmmmm! . . . Got produce? (downshiftology.com) “arctic sea ice melting irreversible”
make plans to buy that beach house today! nova scotia’s warmest january ever storm-proof your home--today! niagara falls boat tours start earlier than ever where do you wanna go today, 1st worlder?! allergy season starting earlier every year plan that next marathon today! hundreds of humans killed by cyclone freddy, longest-lived cyclone ever (?) consider e.t.f.s or index funds to ensure retirement leisure today! nor’easter heralds spring; 100k’s w/o power padre island never looked so good as today! deadly flooding, landslides hit peru, brazil, turkiye, saudi, queensland (limit yr movements—riles the crocs) ask your agent today why your homeowner’s keeps going up! argentina’s hottest summer ever plan for malbec w/any cheese board! 46m usamericans w/o safe water zip to the grocery store for that (more expensive) loaf of bread today! longest-ever rainless stretch in france; driest winter; 11 depts. limit water study abroad! build yr resume! get good grades! beat out the competition! think of your future! everyone’s the competition! today! po river 3.3 m. < norm; ⅓ italian crops threatened get into all the cooking shows; take up sourdough baking today! highest-ever temp in n. hemisphere for first half of march (115 f, senegal) they say you can retire in mexico for a fraction of what it costs here today! “my best friend, her brother, sister, and mother went with the mudslide” if interest rates went down we’d buy today! “their bodies have never been found. it’s devastating.” retirement might seem far away, but start your 401(k) today-- yr future self will thank you! “you can’t even mourn” thrilled to announce my new book! 337 active forest fires in india; methane chokes locals as “trash mt.” in kerala burns grateful to x journal for publishing my poem in today's issue! warmest ever early march in china we have two today, but we want four-- better chance of grandkids (ha ha)! highest march temp ever for uruguay (104) the condition is treatable, though treatments are expensive & must be continued indefinitely. get started today-- click here! “declare emergency now or we die, kenya state governor says” but there are still plenty of s.t.e.m. jobs today! plains groundwater level biggest drop since 2012 the new willow field will ensure our nation’s energy independence for decades to come, today! 11th “atmospheric river” for soggy california “greek salad will be the least of our worries," sez the article today. Mandalore? Or Lubbock? (David Kozlowski/Getty Images via Chron.com) “pray for malaysia” (26k humans displaced by floods); don’t tell first-worlders about mass casualties in the global south: you’ll numb them to the truth if you tell them the truth maybe if they can’t afford their homeowner’s premiums they’ll get it. but other people? . . . tigris & euphrates drying up; as in kenya, herds gnaw grass down to nubs; herders turn to over- fishing desert lakes. drought kills. (thoughts * prayers) meanwhile, earliest-ever 40 c (104 f) recorded in u.s. (falcon lake, s. tx, wed.); w. texas chokes in dust storms: “lubbock & nearby towns look like they were plucked out of star wars” (cool sunsets, tho) e. us. (& mexico) hot & dry; california coming out of drought (kinda sorta: groundwater still low)—186% norm-to-date snow (up to 15’—when it rains, it snows, as they say out yonder); meanwhile, mallorca gets 16” hottest feb. on record in india: “wheat farmers in northern states in a panic state . . .” (& why even mention chinese provinces?) however: “much of the northern hemisphere is struggling w/ drought, as europe experiences an unusually warm, precipitation-free winter” “argentina’s economy faces the prospect of a ‘hard landing’ scenario this year as a crop drought deepens expectations of a larger downturn, say analysts at j.p. morgan chase” & the blind poet-chronicler, who can’t tell nobody’s listening, continues the tale, even tho his hydropower is low, he’s dehydrated, he’s running out of steam 3 yrs next month & not a new normal yet to shake a stick at . . . |
AuthorI'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. See my previous blog, Writing Out of Time for previous installments of The Poem of Our Climate (and a whole lot more!).
September 2023
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