Climate

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Look at what politicians & powerful people ACTUALLY DO. Don’t be fooled by their glib platitudes.

January 29, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Politicians, businesses, and other powerful sources keep doing bad things but try to fool people by saying glib platitudes.  Do NOT believe at face value what they say.  Look at what they ACTUALLY DO. For four years the U.S. was ruled by someone who said he would “Make America Great.”  His actual policies did the opposite. Politicians and businesses keep saying things that the people want to hear, but their actual policies violate the public’s interests. Platitudes and hypocrisies have been around for a very long time.  Jesus kept denouncing people who kept trying to impress people with their religiosity, […]

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The Doomsday Clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight — still the closest it’s ever been

January 25, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

On January 20, 2022, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that they are keeping their Doomsday Clock at the closest to “midnight” it has been since the metaphor was created in 1947, near the beginning of the Cold War.  Look for information at https://thebulletin.org/  and Doomsday Clock – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (thebulletin.org)  Their resource at this link also looks interesting and informative:  https://thebulletin.org/virtual-tour/ Also see this article, which was posted at Common Dreams:  https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/01/21/doomsday-and-hope              

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“America First” is morally wrong, cruel, stupid, dangerous, and counter-productive in many ways

January 16, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Trump pushed an “America First” dogma, but the slogan pre-dated him by nearly a century.  Isolationists tried to pretend that the U.S. could exist by itself without regard to the well-being of the rest of the world.  They believed we could get away with being selfish. Also, that was the English language translation of Hitler’s slogan, “Deutschland uber alles,” which meant Germany over everybody else.   Selfishness and contempt for other people are morally wrong for reasons any decent person should immediately understand.  The “America First” dogma leads directly to cruelty toward other nations. The “America First” dogma also leads […]

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Links to very smart articles to help us communicate more effectively about the climate — and other issues too

December 26, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Smarter ways to communicate — instead of “the seven deadly sins of politi-speak”: https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/06/30/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-politi-speak/     Users’ Guide: Climate Messaging 1. Start with people, stay with people. Say why it matters (to you and your audience). Connect with values—family, community, working together for good. 2. Use facts wisely. Talk facts not science. You lose people with jargon and too many numbers. A memorable fact from a trusted source is far more powerful.  3. Make it concrete. Keep language vivid (wind and solar, not “alternative energy”). Start with personal (what we see at home), scale up to global. 4. Focus on […]

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Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve: Yes, Olympia’s peace vigils occur as usual both Fridays!

December 23, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Olympia’s weekly peace vigils occur all year around, regardless of holidays and regardless of weather!   We warmly (!) invite you to join us FRI DEC 24 and FRI DEC 31 (and every Friday) from 4:30 to 6:00 (or as much of that time as you can spare) at the SW corner of 4th & Water downtown (across the street south from the Kissing Statue).  (This is for 2021, and our vigils will continue every week in the future too.) I’ll bring a good, varied selections of signs, or you may bring your own.  We support peace, human rights, nonviolence, […]

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Smart insights for strengthening our organizing for the climate

December 23, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

My notes here summarize some main points of the article I’ve linked below – and add some of my own thoughts:   The article I’ve linked below says that – although 70% of the public is worried about the climate – this has not translated into real organizing.  Instead of playing politics (nice words and political wheeling-dealing, but falling short of making the bold changes that are necessary, the article says we need to deepen the public’s concern with a profound “change of heart.” Instead of “transactional” politics, we need “transformative” politics.  Without a profound change of heart we’ll be […]

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Sign up NOW for FREE, PRACTICAL ONLINE WORKSHOPS to help you make more progress on issues YOU care about

December 18, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

ALL OF US — new people, experienced organizers, and everybody in between — can STRENGTHEN OUR SKILLS and add resources to our “toolboxes” so we can make more progress in working on our issues. That’s why I’m offering my 6 FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS. Please see information on the flyer I posted at this link – and SIGN UP NOW! 6 practical workshops on Grassroots Organizing — 2022 JAN-FEB — FLYER.docx Let’s build strong nonviolent grassroots movements that will significantly move public opinion — and change the dominant paradigms — and push governments, big businesses, mainstream media, and other entrenched entities to do […]

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COP26: Information, Analyses, Successes, Shortcomings

December 14, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The November 2021 global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, generated a lot of news.  Some news sources thought COP26 made progress.  Other news sources criticized it from several perspectives.  Here — in no particular sequence — are a variety of reports about what COP26 did and did not accomplish, and what we need to do now: (I have a few more articles, but this is enough for now.)   COP26 Brought progress but also disappointment:  The United States released a slew of new climate commitments at COP26, last month’s international climate conference in Glasgow. Climate advocates view the results of […]

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Our world on the verge of transition

December 8, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

“We are moving from a world in which individual choice and competition made sense to one in which collective choice and cooperation are necessary, not because ideologies have changed but because both the problems we face and the nature of the resources required to solve them have changed. “When the costs of economic activity are collective, capitalism (i.e., private property rights and individual choice) is suicidal; when the benefits are collective (e.g., new vaccines for COVID, new forms of alternative energy), capitalism in inefficient.  The main challenge remains how deeply wedded politicians, economists and even the average person are to […]

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Understanding Environmental Water Quality Problems and Solutions

November 27, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The December 2021 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” helps people understand how water quality in Puget Sound (and bodies of water elsewhere) has been seriously hurt.  We also explain — in easy-to-understand ways — the damage to the the rivers and streams that flow into these salt waters.  Besides examining problems we also propose solutions. Glen Anderson interviewed Harry Branch, who has a solid educational background and extensive professional expertise that includes a variety of hands-on experience in fisheries, skippering boats, conducting marine science research, and more.  Harry explains the science and the practicalities — and the public policies — […]

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These articles criticize COP26’s shortcomings

November 13, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Leaders at COP26 are massively killing the Paris Agreement:  https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/12/leaders-cop26-are-massively-killing-paris-agreement-critics-say-talks-drag-past?utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email   The Young Climate Diplomats Fighting to Save Their Countries:  They grew up witnessing damages from climate change in Rwanda and Ethiopia and are calling on wealthy countries to fund adaptation and pay for losses already suffered:  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13112021/young-climate-diplomats-cop26/?utm_source=InsideClimate+News&utm_campaign=d0d82f91ba-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d0d82f91ba-327502737   In a New Policy Statement, the Nation’s Physicists Toughen Their Stance on Climate Change, Stressing Its Reality and Urgency:  The American Physical Society’s new policy is a shift from its 2015 statement, which called the magnitude of future climate impacts “uncertain” and referred to “significant” natural sources of warming:  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11112021/american-physical-society-climate-change-statement/?utm_source=InsideClimate+News&utm_campaign=d0d82f91ba-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d0d82f91ba-327502737   […]