People’s Climate March, Sept. 21

Since we live in a part of the world that has been minimally impacted by chaotic weather, we may tend to downplay the urgency of addressing climate change.  On my weather page, I have seen severe weather march across the Midwest and East virtually non stop all summer.  Now the arid Southwest is greening at best and being inundated by heavy rain and flash floods at worst.  Climate change is here; I know that there is no scientific criteria that can tell us exactly when it starts, but we can draw our own conclusions from the unprecedented weather we have already seen in recent years.

Here is what we do know:
•    The extent of change due to current levels of CO2 has not played out yet.
•    Continued build up of CO2 now promises conditions that will sorely test our ability to maintain any semblance of the civilization, much less an economy, that we have now.
•    Continued buildup will cause carbon saturation of the oceans and will at some point trigger the release of methane from the polar waters and permafrost which will drastically increase the level of warming far beyond the affects of human produced CO2.
•    Rather than slowing our carbon output, 2013 saw the greatest increase in CO2 ever recorded.
•    Our leaders are not only not addressing CO2 buildup, they are, in balance, encouraging and accelerating it.
Here is what we don’t know:  
•    What the full extent of change in climate will be.
•    How well human and other life will be able to adapt to these changes.
•    Whether we humans are smart enough to foresee disaster and take steps to avoid it.

We know that the leaders of the world are invested in the status quo and will not act expeditiously or effectively to lower our carbon output without an extraordinary demand from millions of people.  We know that our media as well depend on the status quo to pay the salaries that need to be paid to keep the media operating.  We also know that there are millions of jobs to be created that can ameliorate rather than worsen the situation.  It is just that investors are reluctant to bet on something new when the status quo is so lucrative.

If we are to act to head off catastrophic climate change, we the people will have to see that it happens.  Whether your teacher is history or Sci-fi, you know that there have been times where everybody realizes that they must personally act to avert catastrophe.  Even the people that never participate in such activities must come out.

Now is such a time.  World leaders will be attending a UN Summit on the Climate Crisis on Sept 23.  We know that it is already very late in the game. The largest mobilization of people the world has ever seen needs to happen on Sept 21.  This has been in the planning stages for the past year.  In New York alone, more than 40,000 are expected from all 50 states and around the world.  There are 1500 other events planned in 130 countries involving 1100 organizations.  Only a massive show of people all over the world will have a chance of moving our leaders to act on climate change.

If you can make the New York event, there are busses and trains headed that way.  If not, our local event will be at 505 Fifth Ave in Seattle, just south of the Seattle Library, at 1PM on Sunday, Sept 21.  If you think the world you know is worth saving, BE THERE.  For those of you that attend these kinds of events, you must be at this one.  For those of you that never attend these events, this is the one time in your life that you must consider it.  Only mind boggling numbers of people will turn the tide of history.  One afternoon for the world is not asking too much.  You can find more information at peoplesclimate.org.