garth hallberg.com & weird-weather.com

Thousands of environmental experts are now gathered in Poland for the United Nations’ 24th annual climate change conference. The goal is to establish rules for carrying out the Paris accord to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Centigrade, or 3.6 Fahrenheit. Just prior to the conference, Poland, which has the highest domestic coal production in Europe, and is home to 33 of the 50 most polluted cities in EU, announced that it planned to invest in more new coal capacity in the coming year.

The UN conference comes on the heels of several other recent disheartening developments presented mostly without comment…

…After several weeks of protests, Paris is virtually on lockdown as the “Yellow Vests” express their rage about taxes and salaries. The spark that ignited the riots was a planned increase in France’s fuel tax, designed to help the country meet its carbon reduction pledge.

…Le Grand Orange responded on Twitter "I am glad that my friend Emmanuel Macron Read More 

If you were still shaking off the effects of a tryptophan coma induced by the Thanksgiving turkey, or out hustling for bargains at your local zombie mall, you might have missed last Friday’s big news from the White House—a stark warning about the devastating impact of global climate change on America’s economy and our way of life.

Wait a second. The White House? Isn’t Trump still president?

Unfortunately, yes. See the date of the release, the slowest news day of the year.

But our president had no choice. The findings about climate change come from the National Climate Assessment, a major scientific report mandated by Congress that the federal government is required to produce and release every four years. Thirteen federal agencies contributed to the alarming findings Read More 

It seems like years, not weeks, since the nation was transfixed by the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. So many other horrible news cycles have come and gone since then, with the only constant our President’s deep desire to divide the nation even more deeply to further the election of members of his adopted Republican party, and to solidify his base for the 2020 race, Mueller permitting.

But an article in today’s New York Times about the Homecoming football game at Georgetown Prep, headlined “Kavanaugh is Hailed as a Hero,” made me want to unilaterally declare an end to any cooling off period and examine our new Justice’s positions on a critical issue that America is facing today, Read More 

For anyone who remains unconvinced about climate change after seeing the horrific destruction in the Florida panhandle levied by Michael, the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the US mainland, or the ominous new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describing a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires as soon as 2040, there’s always the threat of our old friend, “Jaws.”

A few weeks ago, a 26-year-old boogie boarder was killed by a shark in the first fatal attack in Cape Cod in 80 years (Spielberg took some liberties with the truth in “Jaws” the movie, released in 1975) and  Read More 

Are hurricanes stronger and more frequent because of climate change?

That seems like the pertinent question after watching now-Tropical Depression Florence slow walk over the Carolinas, bringing record storm surges, rainfall, and river flooding. The answer is an unambiguous Yes according to the New York Times, which has put a dedicated team of expert reporters on the climate change desk.

The data is indisputable. So is the physics. The planet is warming dramatically. Increased water temperatures create more favorable conditions for hurricanes,  Read More 

Although it may not always seem that way to cable new viewers, Stormy Daniels isn’t the only meteorological phenomenon that the media is covering. There’s been a noticeable uptick in stories about climate change, thanks to the thirty-year anniversary of then-NASA scientist James Hansen’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It was that hearing that first brought the concepts of greenhouse gases and global warming to the public’s attention.

Thirty years after Hansen’s seminal testimony, our president has declared climate change fake news, Congress is still dithering, and the news media are doing their best to confuse the issue. Read More 

This is a guest post from Joe Di Fabbio, songwriter and rock bandleader since the days of Woodstock. Joe wrote this terrific, uplifting song, "We've Got the Power," to help galvanize action to fight climate change. You can read the lyrics below and click on the title to hear Joe's arrangement.

Artist's Statement: I have been shocked and disappointed by the widespread denial of the human contribution to climate change, even after numerous reports of thousands of scientists around the world. The way we spill oil into our oceans and pollute the air we breathe point to an immediate need to develop and use cleaner fuels.

This song is a wake-up call to change and correct the damage that we are doing to our environment. We possess the technology, we just need to spread awareness and overcome the disinformation being promulgated by the oil cartels. I feel very strongly that we have the power to turn things around if we have the will! — Joe Di Fabbio

"We've Got the Power"

What goes around, yeah,
surely comes around,
and it ain't no different
with our pollution.

Instead of dumpin'
in the air, and sea and ground,
we need to find
a clear solution.

And we'd better start using clean fuel, yeah,
ones that don't spew gas all around.
And let those fossils stay with the dinosaur,
We've got the power, to turn things around.

Seems we've been thinking
"out of sight, out of mind",
but that's really not too wise.
The oil we've burned now
for a long, long time,
has made a greenhouse of our skies!

Why don't we see what
Mother Earth's saying,
Winds are blowing her rage all around,
And our environment
we're surely swaying,
but we've got the power, to turn things around

So mister lazy,
now that you've heard the plan,
ya 'spose we can fix,
what we've ben bungling?
well we'd better start changin',
and work to clean the land,
so we don't stumblin', and rumblin' down.

We've got the power to turn things around!

I'm off to Washington this weekend to see if I can galvanize the lit biz agents to fight climate change with powerful fiction! Wish me luck!

If you haven't subscribed already, and want future blogs to be sent directly to your emailbox, please click here! Read More 

Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest novel, New York 2140, (Orbit, Hachette Book Group, March 2017) presents a grim vision of the impact of a warming global climate. I’m sure Robinson could have easily conjured up a world like that in the lauded, 2016 movie Interstellar, where America’s farmland is sufficiently fried to create a new Dust Bowl and the only solution for humanity is to use gravitational propulsion to escape to a distant galaxy through a recently detected wormhole near Saturn. But instead, a writer who ironically is best known for his own space-escape yarns such as The Mars Trilogy, has set himself a more difficult challenge. Robinson visualizes a world where mankind can’t avail itself of improbable technological advances or convenient astronomical discoveries, and instead must struggle to adapt to a barely recognizable planet. Read More