RENewsletter | September 23, 2012

RENewsletter September 23, 2012

 

The Free environmental newsletter from RochesterEnvironment.com

“Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the Change.”

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/FrankRrrr

Please “like” RochesterEnvironment.com’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RochesterEnvironment

My companion book to RochesterEnvironment.com written in 2005 still holds true. Now, “We Don’t Get It!” is an E-Book on Amazon.com and Kindle Amazon.com: We Don't Get It! eBook: Frank Regan: Books

 

[09/16/2012 – 09/23/2012]

 

Opening Salvo | NewsLinks | Daily Updates | Events | Environmental Site of the Month | Take Action |

 

 

Opening Salvo:  “Climate Change: Don’t give up, never surrender”

 

When I was a kid, I used to bike to Grant’s cottage once in awhile.  The cottage, where General Grant finished his memoirs, was a long climb up Mount McGregor in Wilton, NY on my single-geared bike.  A kindly curator would guide me through the cottage—the chairs placed together so Grant could sleep while being devoured by throat cancer, the clock on the mantle stopped at his death, and the funeral wreaths all about.  At ten, I didn’t really know who Grant was, except that he was an exceptional general and a so-so president.

 

What I have come to learn over the years is the incredible tenacity that was Grant.  Though he did not do well at West Point—both Robert E. Lee and General George McClellan were at the top of their class—he turned out to be the winning general in the US Civil War.  Grant knew two things that most of the other generals did not, on either side of the war.  He knew that it was more important to destroy the opposing side’s ability to wage war than it was to conqueror a place—like Richmond.  He also knew that the North had more men and more materiel than the South and continued to press a battle when many other generals would have given up.  Mary Lincoln, the president’s wife, used to call Grant “The Butcher” because of the horrible causalities his strategy inflicted on both sides.

 

I mention all this about Grant’s tenacity to make a point about fighting Climate Change.  Adapting to and mitigating Climate Change looks hopeless.  The fossil fuel industry, drunk with more money and US tax subsidies than any of the environmentalists opposing them can even dream of, appears on a juggernaut to get their man elected.  Fracking is going to be rammed down New York State’s throat and the oil industry is set to drill for more fossil fuel in the Arctic that they helped warm.  Mainstream media won’t connect the dots between Climate Change and the predictions made from a litany of expert Climate Change studies.  A visage of a world dominated by extreme weather, drought, and incalculable suffering for those incapable of gating their communities against what’s coming looks inevitable.  (To get an idea of what’s coming, read 2052 A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, and any one of these studies: Climate Change studies).   

 

But what Grant had going for him was a realistic appraisal of the war’s probable outcome—what most other generals in the Civil War failed to grasp.  So also do those who understand that despite the wealth of Climate Change deniers and the public’s disinclination to take responsibility for this manmade phenomenon, there can be no backing off in our efforts to inform the public and stop Climate Change.  As more and more people, businesses, and governments realize that things are only getting worse doing business as usual, they will not be supporting those who told them Climate Change is a hoax.  Their lies and denials will fall away as the predictions of a warmer planet become more obvious.  It will be the efforts of those who have continued to warn about Climate Change, despite all those who became bored, hoodwinked by the press and lied to by the fossil fuel industry, who will prevail.   Don’t give up, never surrender to the feeling that our efforts to change the direction of Climate Change are in vain.  

 

Grant wasn’t a brilliant man, but a man who could hold to his objectives despite all odds.  Unconditional Surrender Grant, as he was sometimes called, moved inexorably towards his goal of defeating the South because he knew the nature of war.  The nature of Climate Change is such that no amount of money spent on making some individuals richer will defeat the reality we are headed for.  Only a great change in collective human behavior will change that.  

 

One way to make that change is to make sure our presidential elections don’t ignore Climate Change:

 

SIGN OUR PETITION TO ASK OBAMA AND ROMNEY AT THE  PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: "HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CRISIS?" Put Climate Change on the Agenda in the First Presidential Debate:  Dear Debate Moderator Jim Lehrer, In your role as moderator of the first presidential debate, you have the opportunity to ask questions about the most pressing issues facing our country. We urge you to ask President Obama and Governor Romney how they will confront the greatest challenge of our generation -- climate change.  This summer, the climate crisis has fallen right into America's front yards--in some cases literally. With trees crashing through their windows, fires burning through their neighborhoods, water flooding under their doorsteps, and droughts destroying their crops, Americans have been hurting from the effects of weather extremes that climate scientists have predicted would happen as a result of global warming. "  - League of Conservation Voters 

 

 

FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com  (Click on my email for feedback)

 

__________________________________________

 

 

* Got news? | Go to my blog: Environmental Thoughts - Rochester, NY or Tweet me @ http://twitter.com/#!/FrankRrrr   On Twitter and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RochesterEnvironment  and Examiner/RochesterEnvironment, I post local environmental events, news, and commentary as soon as it happens.  If you think this newsletter, which continually informs our community on our local environmental news, events, actions, is worthwhile, please encourage others to sign up.  We who care about our environment and future need to ‘Occupy’ the Rochester media to change how the public views environmental news.

 

The great conundrum of our times is that in a time of rapidly occurring Climate Change and a rapid disintegration of the environment that we need to thrive and survive, mainstream media still marginalizes environmental concerns. [Check often for this continually updated list on the possible consequences of Climate Change in our region--supported by facts.] If there isn’t a quick and substantial change in how environmental concerns are reported, edited, and chosen in mainstream media, the public will continue to believe that environmental concerns are merely special interest matters, issues they can avoid if they choose.  How can we inform the public and monitor our environment without abridging our Freedoms--in enough time to safe ourselves?

 

Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet. -- Carl Sagan

 

__________________________________________

 

NewsLinks – Environmental NewsLinks – [Highlights of major environmental stories concerning our area from the past week]

 

________________________________________

 

Updates – Daily Updates – [Connecting the dots on Rochester’s environment. Find out what’s going on environmentally in our area—and why you should care? Clicking on -DISCUSSION – will take you to my blog “Environmental Thoughts, NY, where you can add your comments.]

 

 

___________________________________________________

 

Events – Rochester Environmental Events Calendar – [The most complete listing of all environmental events around the Rochester, New York area.]  If you don’t see your event, or know of a local environmental event, please send me the info: FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com with (EV event) in the subject line. Also, be sure to check other calendars and environmental series for multi-day events.

 

September 2012

 

December 2012

 

_________________________________________________

 

Action – Take Action - Often, I receive request to pass on alerts, petitions, Public Comments on local developments, and environmental items needing action by the Rochester Community and around the world. I’ll keep Actions posted until their due date. 

 

 

__________________________________________________

 

Award – Environmental Site of the Month Award – [On the last Sunday of each month, we present an environmental award for the Rochester-area environmental web site or blog that best promotes the need to protect and offers solutions for our area's environmental issues.]