The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times: Issue 64, August 1, 2021 (V2 #12)
“We are living through a revolt against the future. The future will prevail.”—Anand Giridharadas
They told me that night and day were all that I could see;
They told me that I had five senses to inclose me up,
And they inclos’d my infinite brain into a narrow circle,
And sunk my heart into the Abyss, a red round globe hot burning
Till all from life I was obliterated and erased. —William Blake
If indeed the “industrial revolution” of the 1790s with its enclosure acts and coal-fired machines gives us the advent of the anthropocene, it also leaves out the struggles of the common people not just for neighborhood in land and livelihood in subsistence but Irish, Caribbean, and the inhabitants of Turtle Island who created commons of the meal and a commons of play. —Peter Linebaugh, from Commoning the Earth All Over Again, But Not in the Same Way as of Yore: A Keynote, Crafting Worlds in Common Symposium, Craftspace, Birmingham, UK, 24 June 2021
One of the hallmarks of a personality like that of former president Donald Trump is that he cannot stop escalating. It’s not that he won’t stop; it’s that he can’t stop. And he will escalate until someone finally draws a line and holds it. —Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American
In other words, the Shouting Class is a tiny minority of society that dominates much of our political discourse, thanks in part to the bullhorn created by the technology of social media.—Noah Smith, “The Shouting Class,” Noahpinion, 7/30/21
A Summer of Change
Where we are, and where we may be going: Big-picture readings about climate tipping points, Suellen Campbell, Yale Climate Connections, 7/26/21
“In some ways, the big picture about climate change right now is obvious. Still, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the data. Trump’s administration took down the EPA’s excellent Climate Change Indicator webpages, but under Biden’s leadership, they have been updated and restored for the public. Here is an informative version of this story (Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis, Washington Post), and here (Mark Kaufman, Vox) is a good sample of the new graphics, presented with some appropriate modifiers: grim, stark, extreme, incessant, exceptional … For another vivid set of graphics based on NOAA data but with a Canadian perspective, see here (Barry Saxifrage, National Observer).
Such graphics generally show gradual increases in the relevant numbers. But it’s very likely that some changes to our planet will involve tipping points – small increments with disproportionately large effects, as, say, when just a fraction of a degree of warming transforms ice to water. Here (Alexandria Herr, Shannon Osaka, Maddie Stone, Grist) is a terrific look at some of the largest likely “Points of No Return” that may occur not too far in the future.”
Global supply chains buckle as virus variant and disasters strike, Jonathan Saul, Muyu Xu, Yilei Sun, Japan Times, 7/25/21
“Events have conspired to drive global supply chains toward a breaking point, threatening the fragile flow of raw materials, parts and consumer goods, according to companies, economists and shipping specialists.”
Would You Give Up Air-Conditioning If You Knew It Would Save the Planet? Eric Dean Wilson, Lithub, 7/25/21
“The problem of the 21st century is the problem of the comfort line: Who gets to be comfortable and at what cost to others?”
(Ed note: Recommend you read the complete piece, it’s too interesting and complex to easily excerpt.)
Warming Rivers in US West Killing Fish, Imperiling Industry, Daisy Nguyen, AP News, 7/27/21
“Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in Northern California’s Klamath River as low water levels brought about by drought allow a parasite to thrive, devastating a Native American tribe whose diet and traditions are tied to the fish. And wildlife officials said the Sacramento River is facing a “near-complete loss” of young Chinook salmon due to abnormally warm water.”
Small climate changes can have devastating local consequences – it happened in the Little Ice Age, Dagomar Degroot, The Conversation, 7/27/21
“Feedback loops also amplified and sustained regional cooling, similar to how they amplify regional warming today. In the Arctic, for example, cooler temperatures can mean more, longer-lasting sea ice. Ice reflects more sunlight back into space than water does, and that feedback loop leads to more cooling, more ice and so on. As a result, the comparatively modest climate changes of the Little Ice Age likely had profound local impacts.”
Report: Households waste more than 500 million metric tons of food each year: That’s more than is wasted in restaurants and grocery stores combined,YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 7/30/21
““If food waste was a country, it would be the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet behind the U.S. and China,” says Richard Swannell of WRAP, a U.K.-based NGO that focuses on waste reduction.”
Greenland: enough ice melted on single day to cover Florida in two inches of water: Data shows ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday; All-time record temperature of 19.8C in region on Wednesday, Oliver Milman, The Guardian, 7/30/21
Record levels of harmful particles found in Great Lakes fish: "I've been studying microplastics for a long time and this is the study that blew me away." Andrew Blok, Environmental Health News, 7/29/21
Extreme Heat Could Also Mean Power and Water Shortages: An extraordinary drought in the West, plus dry lakes and reservoirs, mean there will be less water for farms, hydroelectric energy, and home users, Eric Niiler, Wired, 7/28/21
A Summer of Power
What crawling villain preaches abstinence & wraps himself
In fat of lambs? —from America, A Prophecy, William Blake
Republicans poised to rig the next election by gerrymandering electoral maps:A supreme court justice described the last round of gerrymandering as ‘dishonoring US democracy’. Another round is about to start – will this be another ‘political heist’? Sam Levine, The Guardian, 7/27/21
Ten years ago, Republicans pulled off what would later be described as “the most audacious political heist of modern times”. (Ed note: and they are about to do it again.)
THE MYPILLOW GUY REALLY COULD DESTROY DEMOCRACY: In the time I spent with Mike Lindell, I came to learn that he is affable, devout, philanthropic—and a clear threat to the nation, Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 7/29/21
When you contemplate the end of democracy in America, what kind of person do you think will bring it about? Maybe you picture a sinister billionaire in a bespoke suit, slipping brown envelopes to politicians. Maybe your nightmare is a rogue general, hijacking the nuclear football. Maybe you think of a jackbooted thug leading a horde of men in white sheets, all carrying burning crosses.
Here is what you probably don’t imagine: an affable, self-made midwesterner, one of those goofy businessmen who makes his own infomercials. A recovered crack addict, no less, who laughs good-naturedly when jokes are made at his expense. A man who will talk to anyone willing to listen (and to many who aren’t). A philanthropist. A good boss. A patriot—or so he says—who may well be doing more damage to American democracy than anyone since Jefferson Davis.
Republicans used to laud ‘personal responsibility’. Not with Covid: The Republican party is encouraging Americans to make objectively selfish, harmful choices – then using the tools of government to shield them from accountability, David Litt, The Guardian, 7/30/21
“Republicans have become the party of personal irresponsibility.
In most cases, it’s difficult to say with certainty that a given choice is “responsible.” But getting a Covid vaccine is not one of those cases. Getting vaccinated costs individual Americans essentially nothing – the vaccine is free, widely available, and proven safe and effective.
The costs to society from Americans not getting vaccinated, however, are enormous.”
Fix It
Bogi Lateiner and the Girl Gang Garage are building an electrified hybrid Volvo PV544 for SEMA 2021, Mark J. McCourt, Hemmings, 7/26/21
“For the past two years, the all-female team of professional and amateur volunteer mechanics, body technicians, painters, and welders at Girl Gang Garage has been working with a group of Hybrid-Certified female technicians from Volvo Cars’ network in Bogi's Phoenix, Arizona, shop on this project. Like her other ongoing auto-build projects, the proprietor has been using this as a way to teach women about basic car care, to share mechanical skills, and to empower females to enter the automotive industry.”
Single-use plastics have boomed during COVID-19. Joana Correia Prata wants to reverse the trend: University of Aveiro microplastics researcher and veterinarian recommends policy priorities for dealing with plastic waste, Carmen Drahl, C&E News, 7/26/21
“Relying on disposable products, especially disposable personal protective equipment, easily creates shortages because it takes time for production to adjust. Having reusable options can contribute to public health. Requiring minimum percentages of recycled material creates a market for recycled plastic since it is hard to compete on price, consistency, and availability with virgin plastics produced directly from oil. Governments should regulate the whole life cycle of plastics, from design and production to use and disposal.”
A path to climate, economic and environmental justice is finally on the horizon,John Podesta, Michele Roberts, The Hill, 7/26/21
“Now is the time to act. Congress must work with Biden to pass the Build Back Better Plan before the August recess to combat climate change and protect the fundamental right of every American to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy, safe and prosperous community.”
Indigenous Americans demand a reckoning with brutal colonial history: From Canada to Colombia, protests erupt against legacies of violence, exploitation and cultural erasure, John Bartlett, Joe Parkin Daniels, Leyland Cecco, The Guardian, 7/27/21
“And while contexts and histories vary drastically across the region, a common experience of marginalization, poverty and low life expectancy has prompted many Indigenous people to draw parallels across colonial borders.”
Food for a Future Planet: India’s rice farmers look to an ancient crop to prepare for a flood-prone tomorrow, Sharmila Vaidyanathan, Hakai, 7/22/21
““Pokkali” is the all-encompassing term that refers to the salt-tolerant rice varieties grown by the Pokkali method of cultivation, in which farmers alternate raising rice with prawns and shrimp, and sometimes fish. The unique method of paddy cultivation is specific to parts of central Kerala where it’s practiced in tidal wetlands. In Malayalam, the local language, pokkam means height and ali means flame….True to their name, Pokkali varieties grow up to two meters. It’s their ability to stand tall above brackish waters that has piqued the world’s interest in how they may be a uniquely climate-adaptive food.”
Let’s Keep the Vaccine Misinformation Problem in Perspective: Social media is not the reason the pandemic hasn’t been conquered, Gilad Edelman, Wired, 7/28/21
“It for sure is the case that misinformation is making things worse,” said Gordon Pennycook, a behavioral psychologist at the University of Regina. “There are people who believe things that are false, and they read those things on the internet. That for sure is happening.” But, Pennycook went on, “the more you focus on that, the less you talk about the avenues in which people come to be hesitant that have nothing to do with misinformation.”
UK scientist says gene-drive study rendering female insects infertile may lead to ‘self destruct mosquito’ field tests within 10 years,Linda Geddes, The Guardian, 7/28/21
“Scientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile – in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease.
As well as bringing fresh hope in the fight against one of the world’s biggest killers, the study lays the foundations for further trials of gene-drive technology, which could mean self-destroying mosquitoes being released into the wild within 10 years.”
Let it Rip: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Live with the Virus, Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish, 7/31/21
“We are at a stage in this pandemic when we are trying to persuade the hold-outs — disproportionately white Republicans/evangelicals and urban African-Americans — to get vaccinated. How do we best do this? Endless, condescending nagging won’t help. Coercion is not an option in a free country. Since the vaccinated appear to be able to transmit the virus as well, vaccine passports lose their power to remove all risk. Forcing all the responsible people to go back to constraining their everyday lives for the sake of the vaccine-averse is both unfair and actually weakens the incentive to get a vaccine, because it lowers the general risk of getting it in the broader society.
So the obviously correct public policy is to let mounting sickness and rising deaths concentrate the minds of the recalcitrant. Let reality persuade the delusional and deranged. It has a pretty solid record of doing just that.”
How the Jaguar, King of the Forest, Might Save Its Ecosystem: With a new train line threatening its habitat, the big cat may be the key to protecting this Mexican reserve—and everything else in it, Emiliano Ruprah, Wired, 7/31/21
“Ceballos and his team began modeling the potential ecological impact, and they petitioned the government to incorporate wildlife crossings into the plans, to allow animals safe passage between both parts of the reserve. Campos Hernandez notes that the Maya Train project will destroy less forest than illegal loggers do each year. He and Ceballos are now hopeful that the project may actually encourage environmentally sustainable development. “Having the military and the government on our side means we can protect the biosphere from illegal logging and potentially expand the reserve…”
A No-Jerks Policy Ignited Morale at the Company Behind Yankee Candle: When Ravi Saligram took over Newell Brands, employees told him of a toxic workplace culture. ‘If they pushed back on something, they would get fired on the spot,’ Sharon Derlep, Wall Street Journal, 7/30/21
“Soon after Ravi Saligram took charge of the company that makes Sharpie markers and Graco strollers, he offered his new workforce a blunt message: “no assholes,” read a slide shown to about 30,000 employees around the world.”
Freeing Britney requires reconsidering how society thinks about decision-making capacity, Elyn Saks, The Conversation, 7/30/21
“U.S. law honors individual autonomy by presuming that everyone has decision-making competence unless proved otherwise. There are certainly cases when someone’s ability to make decisions is so compromised that others need to step in. Conservatorships are one way to do this. But there are also less restrictive alternatives that take into account the fact that decision-making capacity waxes and wanes. Keeping Britney and others safe does not mean that they cannot be free to make decisions about their own lives.”
The professor who assigns value to nature — then persuades world leaders to save it: Gretchen Daily is a pioneer in the field known as “natural capital.” Using science and
software, she shows stakeholders why it benefits everyone to prioritize conservation, Tik Root, Washington Post, 7/30/21
Highly potent, stable nanobodies stop SARS-CoV-2,Researchers have developed nanobodies that efficiently block the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its new variants, Max-Planck-Gesellschafft, Science Daily, 7/30/21 (Ed. Note: This is an incredible story.)
How to keep groceries and the planet cool: Many older refrigerators contain potent heat-trapping gases, so they must be recycled properly, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 7/28/21
Can Retrofitting Dams for Hydro Provide a Green Energy Boost?With the era of building big dams over in the U.S., a growing number of existing dams are being modified to produce hydropower. These projects, advocates say, avoid the damaging impacts of new dams and could generate enough renewable electricity for several million homes, James Dinneen, Yale Environment 360, 7/28/21
Bayer to replace glyphosate from US lawn products by 2023: 'Roundup' manufacturer also sets aside $4.5B for glyphosate-related lawsuits, Douglas Fischer, Environmental Health News, 7/30/21
How Protecting the Tongass Helps Alaska’s Economy: Despite GOP rhetoric, selling America’s largest rainforest to China was actually bad business, Wes Siler, Outside, 7/24/21
A Star Turns
everything is everything
made up by ineptitude
or emptiness and
posing as attitude
infinity is a mark
of excellent design
there is no class to learn
how to become as one
or another
if you catch my drift
—David Wilk
Avianics
The Western Drought Is a Crisis for Migrating Birds, Too: For years, California rice farmers have aided bird migration by flooding their fields in the off season. But this year, they barely have enough water to grow their crops, Laura Bliss, Bloomberg CityLab, 7/26/21
“In California, one of the worst droughts on record has touched off a kaleidoscopic range of emergencies, amplifying age-oldresource conflicts as leaders call for conservation by cities, curtailments to farmers and coordination across the board.
The interconnectedness of the state’s hydrology is especially apparent in one corner of the Sacramento Valley, where scarce water for farmers will also mean less for the migrating birds that make use of the same land. Fields that produce 95% of the rice grown in California have become an essential rest stop on the Pacific Flyway, with millions of ducks, geese, and other waterfowl and migratory shorebirds stopping to recharge during long flights south.”
From exhaustion to asphalt burns, Minnesota’s birds feel the heat, Cathy Wurzer, Rachel Yang, MPR News, 7/29/21
“When you put pressure on one part of an ecosystem, it’s going to change others.”
A bird’s-eye look at 5 stunning facts about the golden eagle: Iconic bird faces peril in Utah, Amy Joi O’Donoghue, Deseret News, 7/28/21
“Over the past few months, the Deseret News explored the world of the golden eagle, what makes it unique, what threats it faces and the important role it plays not only in a fragile ecosystem under siege but in amplifying military readiness for the defense of the United States and its allies.”
AMERICA’S BIRDS OF PREY ARE LARGELY DOING OK, WITH NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS, Kara Holsopple, Allegheny Front, 7/30/21
“Two species that we’ve known to be declining for some time now are raptors that nest in grasslands: the northern harrier, which continues to decline, particularly in the eastern United States, and the American kestrel, which is a small falcon that people may be familiar with. They nest on farmland. You often see it on wires. They’re also declining over a 20 year period, and still declining to some extent in eastern sites.”
The 'nest custodians' protecting a toddler-sized bird: They're working to protect the Southern ground hornbill, and the bird's cultural significance, for future generations, Narina Exelby, BBC, 7/30/21
“Out here in the Matobo Hills of south-west Zimbabwe (recognised as a Traditional Cultural Landscape by Unesco), most families are subsistence farmers and rain is a fundamental element of survival. Here, these large black birds, Southern ground hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri), are considered to be the callers of the rain. Amahundundu, the Ndebele and Kalanga people of the Matobos call them, naming the birds for their low, thunderous call that can be heard up to 5km away. They are so important to these communities that when a ground hornbill dies, elders gather and give the bird the same traditional burial they would a human.”
… Well, we know where we're goin'
But we don't know where we've been
And we know what we're knowin'
But we can't say what we've seen
… And we're not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out
—Road to Nowhere, sung by the Talking Heads, written by David Byrne
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez, reviewed by Rosemary Bray McNatt, The Guardian, 7/31/21
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.—Herman Melville (born August 1, 1819)
Sometimes you don't get but one mistake, if the one you pick is bad enough—Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957)
My cousin, Joe Palca, sends out an irregular email featuring unusual words. This week’s is one of my all-time favorites: petrichor: the smell of rain hitting dry soil.
I never knew there was a word for that wonderful sense thrill.
In this year’s garden, I have had some failures - arugula did not survive the heat, carrots have not grown - and some miraculous successes - Connecticut Wonder beans have been fruitful, black radishes a revelation, peas and tomatoes fruitful, and zucchini, corn and cucumbers about to be harvested in great numbers. Gardening is a welcome pleasure, and a diversion from the news.
Please all stay healthy and be safe. It’s time to mask up again, even if you are vaccinated.
There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear — For What It’s Worth, Stephen Stills (1967)
Write when you can. It’s great to hear from you. All best —David