Mothers Speak about War and Terror: sea level rise

Showing posts with label sea level rise. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Equinox 2022

Worldwide (Map)
September 22, 2022 – 613,793,710 confirmed infections; 6,532,674 deaths
September 22, 2021 – 229,708,120 confirmed infections; 4,712,053 deaths

September 24, 2020 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths

US (Map)
September 22, 2022 - 95,909,800 confirmed infections; 1,055,451 deaths
September 22, 2021 – 42, 425,400 confirmed infections; 678.815 deaths
September 24, 2020 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
September 22, 2022 - 4,016,157 confirmed infections; 102,146 deaths
September 22, 2021 – 2,886,335 confirmed infections; 86,376 deaths
September 24, 2020 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths

Post from:
September 22, 2021 “Falling behind”
September 24, 2020 “Sundowners”

News blues

And… the Covid confusion continues: “Biden Revisits His Interview Answer Declaring 'The Pandemic Is Over' >>

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On war and the culture war
Russians fleeing Russia as security forces detain more than 1,300 people at protests denouncing mobilization across 38 Russian cities after Putin orders Russia’s first military draft since the second world war. >>

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The Lincoln Project:
Ohio Emergency Alert (0:23 mins)
How a democracy falls (1:23 mins)
A new Dark Age (1:17 mins)
Salutes at Doug Mastriano's Rally (0:37 mins)
Elections matter (1:24 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Marshall Islands Prime Minister Kausea Natano is racing to save his tiny island nation from drowning by raising it 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) above sea level through land reclamation.

While experts issue warnings about the eventual uninhabitability of the Marshall Islands, President David Kabua must reconcile the inequity of a seawall built to protect one house that is now flooding another one next door.
That is the reality of climate change: Some people get to talk about it from afar, while others must live it every day.
Natano and Kabua tried to show that reality on Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Together they launched the Rising Nations Initiative, a global partnership aimed to preserve the sovereignty, heritage and rights of Pacific atoll island nations whose very existence have been threatened by climate change.
Natano described how rising sea levels have impacted everything from the soil that his people rely on to plant crops, to the homes, roads and power lines that get washed away. The cost of eking out a living, he said, eventually becomes too much to bear, causing families to leave and the nation itself to disappear.
“This is how a Pacific atoll dies,” Natano said. “This is how our islands will cease to exist.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A friend came over to visit and, unbeknownst to me and Mary, cooked up jalapeños – super-duper hot and spicy Mexican chilies.

In a different room sat Mary, breathing through compromised lungs due to cancer, surgery, and chemo.

She began coughing.

I began coughing.

I stepped out of the room to ascertain the direction of pungent air and, eyes watering, fell into fevered coughing. My friend appeared unaffected and nonplussed: why the fuss?
In no uncertain terms I made clear to him that he’d created an emergency for Mary then I placed a fan in her room, shut the door, and left him to clear the air.
I’ve never witnessed anyone as desensitized to chilis as this friend. He holds a bottle of Sriracha sauce in his hand when he eats and dollops at least half a teaspoonful of the incendiary liquid on each fork- or spoonful before swallowing.
Apparently, he’s been eating super-spicy sauces since he was a teenager. The only effect I discern? He commandeers the bathroom more than anyone else I’ve ever known, woman or man.

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Mary video conferenced with her oncologist yesterday and described her reactions to her first chemo session. According to the oncologist, the symptoms she experienced – nausea and fatigued – and their duration, indicate what she can expect from future sessions. That cheered up Mary. Yes, those 4 to 5 days were tough, but after the conversation with the oncologist she stopped talking about her impending death and began talking about which meds would best alleviate symptoms.
Progress. (It’s difficult to hear your bestie insist on preferring to die than live with a future peppered with chemo and/or radiation and/or immunotherapy.)

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Happy Fall/Autumn or Spring Equinox!
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 6:57am
Sunset: 7:05pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:49am
Sunset: 5:55pm

Sunday, August 14, 2022

"Without fear of favor"

On war and culture war

I, like many Americans, have watched and wondered about Merrick Garland since his very human and touching acceptance speech for the role of US Attorney General. Since then, however, given all the b*s*t put out by Trump and the Trumpies, I’ve wondered what on earth was AG Garland doing? Or not doing? Was he asleep at the wheel? Was he terrified of raising his head above the parapets?
Turns out the guy was beavering away on minute details to implement a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago.
Woo hoo! My hero! A guy in the position of US AG requires cajones. Up until yesterday, Garland’s cajones were tidily tucked away. Now? The little guy displays big cajones!
You go, Garland! Here’s a straight-forward explanation of what’s going on in the US these days and what it takes to maintain a civil society.

Watch and listen, ‘An Epic Showdown Between Rule Of Law And Law Of Power' >> (8:00 mins)

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Life imitates art… or is it art imitates life? No matter. It’s kinda art – and life… enjoy >>

And, birds, in conjuction with humans, create art >>

Healthy planet, anyone?

I live on the beach on the western side of a small island on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It’s a gorgeous spot (see short video on recent post ). We 7-plus million residents of this area face dramatic sea level rise.
Each day, some 390 billion gallons of water pass through a natural “opening” that is less than 90 feet/27.5 meters wide into the inner bay. Plus, more water from the interior – the rivers of the Sacramento Delta, for example. That’s a lot of water through a narrow gap. How, I wonder, will sea level rise affect the Pacific Ocean side and the inner bay side?
Until recently I figured engineers would create some sort of tidal barrier a la Venice or the Thames.
I’m not sure of shipping traffic into Venice (mostly cruise ships?) or to London (like the Bay Area weighted towards trade?) but heavy shipping traffic into San Francisco Bay, to the Port of Oakland, for example, would be adversely affected by such a barrier. (Interesting Covid-realted info on shipping in the bay)
Enter creative thinking on the subject of barriers to thwart flooding of existing infrastructure: the Billion Oyster Project

The non-profit [Billion Oyster Project] hopes to restore 1 billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2035, in an effort to improve the area’s flood resiliency.
The organization also works with Living Breakwater, a nature-based green infrastructure in the works along the Staten Island coastline, to cultivate the region’s shellfish habitat. Overseen by New York state governor’s office of storm recovery, this $107m effort to mitigate storm surges through living barriers has installed two breakwaters – a series of rock piles that blunt the impact of waves – off the borough’s coast. A total of eight breakwaters are planned.

Read more >>

Perhaps now that Prez Biden has successfully begun with at least one plan, the Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change, more creative ideas such as Billion Oyster Project will see fruition. “Thoughts and prayers….”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Healing is a series of good days and bad days. Yesterday was a good day. Mary and I went walking along the beach and chatted with a woman “walking” her young parrot. Well, she walked and her bird rode upon her hand and wrist. We encountered them after the bird and the bird lover engaged a garden sprinkler. The bird thoroughly enjoyed fluffing its feathers and spritzing under the sprinkler mist. Mary and I watched fascinated as the bird clung to the woman’s hand held under the misty water and fluttered its wings and feathers. The bird appeared ecstatic.
Afterward, the woman encouraged the parrot to “step up” onto Mary’s arm. Close up, it was a gorgeous creature. This iPhone camera photo hardly does justice to the speckles of turquoise area the creature’s head and neck….

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Mary and I participated in our second Zoom support group for those struggling or those supporting those struggling with mesothelioma. It included about a dozen people.
Mary and I share an existential view that slivers of humor exist in most situations, indeed, that humor heals. Alas, this point of view is scarce in the meso world. Yes, this is a horrible disease, made more horrible in that it derives from working – making a living – using toxic materials that manufacturers KNEW was toxic yet continued to sell. The worse kind of profit over human lives.
There are many forms of meso. Mary may or may not have the worst form; we’re babes in the mesothelioma woods. So far, we agree that suffering with peritoneal meso – malignancies in the lining of the abdomen – appear to be a worse form.
Mary says, “At least my meso is confined to one lung… and the surgeon scraped out all but the tiniest bits and pieces.” (Pic of what surgeon removed from Mary’s lung.) Scraping all the bits and pieces from the lining of the abdomen seems a greater challenge.”
Nevertheless, Mary and I agree that one factor that appears missing from these meso online gatherings is humor. Yes, meso sufferers face daunting challenges. Yes, everyone has a personal trajectory to make peace with one’s diagnosis. Yes, maybe Mary and I have, so far, only encountered the online gatherings of people yet to find the humor in their situation. Or, yes, we’re just ignorant brats who refuse to face up to our new reality and deflect with humor.
We agree with, say, Joan Rivers: “Life goes by fast. Enjoy it. Calm down. It’s all funny.”
Scott Weems, a cognitive neuroscientist and author, said “My first thought when I think about humour is it’s a great way for us to have evolved so we don’t have to hit each other with sticks.”
George Burns said, “"I think when humor has a basic honesty, you can use it all your life.”
I could go on quoting well-known comedians but why? What counts is how you experience humor/humour in your life. I maintain that cracking a joke here and there about one’s own experience is healthy and, indeed, funny and healing.
Try it. You may like it.
Mary and I understand that people afflicted with an incurable disease might find humor misplaced, unkind, and inappropriate. We also agree that the support groups that do not display forms of humor are not for us.
What to do?
That is the question.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Live with it

Worldwide (Map)
April 21, 2022 - 507,015,200 confirmed infections; 6.207,600 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 143,503,705 confirmed infections; 3,056,000 deaths

US (Map)
April 21, 2022 - 80,801,505 confirmed infections; 990,210 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 31,862,100 confirmed infections; 569,500 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
April 21, 2022 - 3,743,590 confirmed infections; 100,195 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 1,568,500 confirmed infections; 53,900 deaths

Post from April 22, 2021: “Earth Day”
Post from April 23, 2020: “Try it, what have you got to lose?”

News blues

…and yet another variant/subvariant of coronavirus as BA.2.12.1 and BA.2.12 account for over 80% of cases in New York state- both “more transmissible than BA.2 with a 23% – 27% growth advantage.” This is a 67% increase since last week.

Against the backdrop of rising new variants, the Biden administration is scrambling to provide new guidance around masks after a federal judge in Florida struck down a federal mask mandate for air travel and other forms of public transportation.
…
President Joe Biden and his administration have signaled that people will have to make their own decisions on COVID as the pandemic evolves. Biden on Tuesday told reporters it’s up to Americans to decide whether to mask up aboard airplanes.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week that COVID won’t disappear and that people will have to weigh individual risks as cases rise.

On war…

Day 56 of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Healthy planet, anyone?

A drop in the ocean – on sea level rise, with photos >>

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Why has humanity destroyed such vast forests? And can we bring this to an end?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The latest bout of Stage 4 power cuts – three 2.5-hour sessions per day - is scheduled for Stage 3 by 10pm tonight. This still entails three 2.5-hour sessions per day, just at different – actually more intrusive – times of the day.

Sigh.
But take heart: Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter apologised to the country for this week's high-level power cuts, but said they were “necessary to avoid a total system blackout.”
Ah, joy. Thank you, Mr. de Ruyter…although when it’s dark, it’s dark. May as well be a “total system blackout.”
Insult to injury? Yesterday's post mentioned a study conducted in 2018 that established loadshedding costs SA business and industry in excess of R 2 billion per week.
That cost increased 1 April 2022 when Eskom increased their rates by 9.61%. We the People, bearers of the brunt of loadshedding’s inconvenience, pay for the luxury of Escom’s incompetent delivery/non-delivery.
Loadshedding focuses the mind and amps up negative emotions.
Looming power downs from 6pm to 8:30pm had me scurrying to secure the house and put the dogs to bed (Pixie hates her sleeping quarters and requires the incentive of 3 Beeno doggie biscuits to shift from her favorite armchair to that doggie bed.) I pull on my jammies, hurry through my pre-bed ablutions, set the emergency light, and ensure my laptop and phone are plugged in and prepped to begin charging as soon as power returns. I draw up my extra blanket, draw down my mosquito net, and hop into bed. Yes, 6pm is early for bed (then again, I’m up before 5am) but I read a library book on my cell phone until I fall asleep, awaken at midnight to read further, and fall back to sleep.

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Insider humor from Zapiro

Zandile Gumede is the former mayor of Durban accused of corruption and the ANC’s newly elected eThekwini [Durban] chairperson. Her win is seen as “giving the middle finger” and “a setback for Ramaphosa’s renewal project”

Complicated stuff.

Gumede and her co-accused are facing 2,786 charges relating to a 2017 Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender amounting to more than R320 million. The trial has been set for July 13 to August 31 in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Gumede was charged in May 2019 while she was still eThekwini mayor. She formally resigned as mayor in August 2019 after being recalled by the ANC.”