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I read Blue Machine by Helen Czerski


The full title is Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World. This is a fascinating book about how the ocean works. Temperature, density, salt content—all play a part in determining what lives where, the weather, and much more. The ocean has a huge influence on human life, though this is not widely recognized. Years ago, I heard Jacques Cousteau say that human civilization could not survive the death of the oceans. This book provides more background on that statement. Highly recommended.


I read The High House by Jessie Greengrass


I’ll give this three, or maybe 3 1/2, out of five. The novel is my first foray into climate fiction. No date is given for the events in this novel, but it must be in the near future. Narrated by 3 children rising to adulthood, it chronicles the events leading to their taking shelter from the ravages of climate change in the High House of the title, and of the love expressed by the adults raising them in preparing them and the house for what is to come.


I read Awe by Dacher Keltner


The full title is Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

To me, the book is summarized by these two quotes, particularly the second one:

It also merits considering what was not mentioned in stories of awe from around the world. Money didn't figure into awe, except in a couple of instances in which people had been cheated out of life savings. No one mentioned their laptop, Facebook, Apple Watch, or smartphone. Nor did anyone mention ccanonsumer pur-chases, like their new Nikes, Tesla, Gucci bag, or Montblane pen.


Pg 18

In fact, it is hard to imagine a single thing you do that is better for your body and mind than finding awe outdoors.


Pg 128


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Wildfires in Los Angeles County have taken a devastating toll, with thousands of lives affected by toxic smoke, destruction, and displacement. As climate change fuels faster, bigger, and more destructive fires, it’s clear this crisis isn’t in the future—it’s here now.

Action is our antidote to despair and, while we can't tackle these challenges alone, we can make change happen together. Make sure you're prepared, support your community and disaster response efforts, and most of all, push for climate policies that cut emissions and build resilience.

Read more and, as always, please use this to start conversations this week!

talkingclimate.ca/p/winter-wil…

in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

We’ve been warned for 50 years, what could possibly hold us back? Our “is it really that bad?” capitalist system. Sorry for being Debbie downer this morning, but it’s depressing. At this point, it will take several 2x4s upside the head to make an impression and still those with the money will be asking “why do I have to pay?” Our entire system is built on profit, not sharing the load, not even saving ourselves.

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Another field day with a beautiful blue sky.
Spotted this lichen crusted post that has seen a lot of weather on the Eden saltmarsh.
#LichenSubscribe #PostOfTheDay #Saltmarsh #NatureRestorationFund #NatureScot

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Another good day on a saltmarsh- today was about checking sediment baselines on natural & planted saltmarsh and bare mudflats.
#Saltmarsh #NatureScot #NatureRestorationFund

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Redbournbury Watermill & Bakery


Today I biked to Redbournbury Watermill & Bakery. It's not far away sometime soon. There has been a mill on, or near, that site for 1,000 years! How cool is that?! The mill is open Saturday mornings, and it's just like a museum. They have done such a good job with it -- there are 4 floors in the mill and they have interesting equipment and information on each floor. I am going back. They also have a bakery with items made with the flour they mill and I bought some bread and other goodies. It's delicious, and something tells me that we will be eating Redbournbury Bakery bread from now on. Unfortunately, because there is less water in the river than there used to be, the mill is now powered by an engine. That takes some of the magic out of it for me, but it's still special 😊

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in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Unfortunately we have wasted all the good efforts by allowing the forestry industry to go grossly over the sustainable logging amounts, turning the land use sector into a source of emissions instead of a sink. We are looking at failing on our commitments and potentially facing a price tag up to billions of euros due to it.

And the current government is working overtime to water down climate efforts and environmental protections.

in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

As an suburbanite with outdoor hobbies, I drive more than the average American--despite being retired. Once I complete a personal goal that will involve two long-distance driving trips this summer, I plan to reduce my driving by 20% or more.

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These are the key facts everyone needs to know about climate change, according to @yaleclimatecomm :

It's real.

It's us.

It's serious - and already dangerous.

But there are solutions.

I shared this post across 7 different social media platforms, including FB, LI, Mastodon, Threads, X and Twitter both pre-and post-Musk.

Here's how their engagement stacked up. 🧵

fediscience.org/@kathhayhoe/11…


Climate Change:

It's real.

It's us.

It's serious - and already dangerous.

But there are solutions.

The science is clear: the faster we cut emissions, the less suffering we will cause, and the better off we'll all be.


Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
Ditol
@katharinehayhoe.com
Oh man, I am one of those friendly firing partisans. I think, I'll have to change my behaviour.
Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
Sam Sethi ⁂
@ketan Time to leave Meta. Threads, FB, WhatsApp.

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Climate Change:

It's real.

It's us.

It's serious - and already dangerous.

But there are solutions.

The science is clear: the faster we cut emissions, the less suffering we will cause, and the better off we'll all be.

reshared this


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Happy New Year from the Green Shores team!
We're looking forward to getting more sites planted, continuing our monitoring program, growing more plants and working with more volunteers.

#Saltmarsh #NatureScot #NatureRestorationFund

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I love that the lawyer who connected climate attribution to health risk science is one of @Nature’s 10 people who shaped science in 2024.

She led the lawsuit against the Swiss government for violating the rights of older women by failing to take steps to prevent climate change.

nature.com/articles/d41586-024…

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in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

If you’d like to learn more about the increasingly solid and direct attribution of the climate share of extreme weather impacts on economic damages, illness and even death, I recommend following @wwattribution and reading @frediotto’s excellent book in English or German: greystonebooks.com/products/an…

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, & Old Sarum


Deanna is here and today we drove a rental car to Stonehenge. A lot of other people were there too, but with the ancient stones, the mist, and the barrows on the horizon in every direction, it was still magical.



From Stonehenge, we drove into Salisbury to see the cathedral. It was closed, but still very impressive.



On the way out of town, we stopped briefly at Old Sarum, which has a long and interesting history. It held a previous version of Salisbury Cathedral, and also held a castle used by William the Conqueror.


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in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Excellent, thanks. Do you also have advice for conversations in groups with heterogenous interests and values?
in reply to Gemütlich

@stayinbed I still try to find something that most people have in common. Where they live, what they care about.

For example, speaking to a group of students the other week, I started with asking them what challenges they'd overcome and how they felt about that. Then, I linked that to climate action and how most people don't feel they can make a difference. You can see that here -> youtube.com/live/scvExRjZXYs?s…


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"In this season of Advent, many people around the world prepare to celebrate the birth of a child whose parents fled their homeland to escape violence. Today, caring for migrants demands urgent, collaborative efforts to address the complex challenges driving their vulnerability—especially climate change."

Theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst's work focuses on justice, community and sustainability. This week, I've asked her to share her good news, not so good news, and how the community she's part of in Costa Rica lives out their faith, from using solar energy and restoring local watersheds to accompanying migrants on their journey across her country.

Read more here and, as always, please use these ideas to spark conversations this holiday week!

talkingclimate.ca/p/millions-a…

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in reply to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

I read a few months ago that the total number of refugees (for all reasons) is close to one hundred million and most of them because of wars waged or sponsored by the USA. they should repay all the damages done through irresponsible acts of violence and ask for the clemency of the people

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And that’s our volunteer sessions over for 2024.
Thanks to our wonderful volunteers for all the hours of potting on, planting up, watering and caring for the plants in the polytunnel, to get them ready for restoring and expanding Scottish salt marshes
#SaltMarshRestoration #NatureRestorationFund #NatureScot

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Sometimes a cartoon can sum up a tragedy more powerfully than words
#Massshootings #cartoons

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The term "bug" was used in an account by computer pioneer Grace Hopper, who publicized the cause of a malfunction in an early electromechanical computer.

Hopper did not find the bug, as she readily acknowledged. The date in the log book was September 9, 1947. The operators who found it, including William "Bill" Burke, later of the Naval Weapons Laboratory, Dahlgren, Virginia, were familiar with the engineering term and amusedly kept the insect with the notation "First actual case of bug being found." Hopper loved to recount the story.

This log book, complete with attached moth, is part of the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

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in reply to Dgar

that brave hero, chasing lämp for the sake of etching our place in computing history forever :classic_morb:

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The Shuttle Launches an Inflatable Antenna
Credits: Discover the cosmos!, STS-77 Crew, Space Shuttle Endeavor, #NASA
#nature #space #astrophotography

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