environment Politics: arctic methane Hillary Clinton secretary of state
by Warren
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Month 3, Day 7: Got Methane?
The Arctic methane release continues to be my cause du jour. Not much to add here; I just took yesterday’s letter, shuffled some of the clauses, exchanged synonyms and made it germane to the job description of the Secretary of State instead of the President.
Dear Secretary Clinton,
I write to urge you to initiate international action on a very disturbing component of the global climate crisis. According to a just-published article in the journal Science the sub-sea permafrost that has kept gigatonnes of methane locked in for thousands of years is now melting.
Methane is 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide in trapping heat, which will accelerate the greenhouse effect even further — and the effects of adding such quantities of this greenhouse gas into the atmosphere have not yet been included into climate scientists’ prediction models. Our current “worst-case” scenarios are probably over-optimistic.
Our government needs to spearhead an international effort to address this crisis before it is too late. We would like to see all the nations of the world form a unified response to this common threat, combining our resources, skills and innovations to keep our planet safe for our children and their children and their children’s children after them. We would like to see the United States of America leading this effort, earning the gratitude of generations to come.
I urge you to make the multiple elements of the looming climate crisis (atmospheric CO2, Arctic methane release and oceanic acidification) a major area of concern in your dealings with the international community.
There is no time to lose.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: arctic methane Barack Obama Fox News methane
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Month 3, Day 6: POTUS Every Saturday
Yesterday’s letter was a disjointed ramble. I still want to find some Rapture-seeking Dominionists to smite in print, so if you’ve got some suggestions I will welcome them.
In the meantime, I took that letter, stripped out all the crazy, and recast it as a missive to our sober, thoughtful and reasonable CiC.
Dear President Obama,
I write as a concerned citizen and as a scientifically literate layperson to urge you to initiate international action on a previously under-reported and very disturbing component of the global climate crisis. According to a just-published article in the journal Science (and reported in the London Times) the sub-sea permafrost that has kept gigatonnes of CH4 (methane) locked in for millennia is now melting. Because methane is 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide in trapping heat, this will accelerate the greenhouse effect even further.
The effects of this huge infusion of a potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere have not yet been factored into climatologists’ prediction models. In other words, our current “worst-case” scenarios are hopelessly optimistic.
The news of Arctic methane release is sure to trigger a round of fart jokes from Sean Hannity and his colleagues at Fox News. It is a sad fact that while some of us strive to ensure a safe and sustainable future for all humanity, a significant sector of the media and our corporate sector is heavily invested in denying the nature of the threat, and in persuading our political culture not to take it seriously.
Please, Mr. President: do not let them decide our future. There are millions of people in this country and around the world who are aware of our ongoing climaticide, and who take it very seriously indeed.
We would like to see an international effort to deal with the methane release (and other elements of the climate crisis) before it is too late. We would like to see all the nations of the world form a unified response to this common threat, combining our resources, skills and innovations to keep our planet safe for our children and their children and their children’s children after them. We would like to see the United States of America leading this effort, earning the gratitude of generations to come.
But we can no longer allow this process to be stalled by our dysfunctional Senate and our corrupt media. I urge you to continue to educate the public about the dangers we face: hold a “Climate Summit” where denialists like Senator Inhofe are finally shown to be the empty vessels they are — and where Americans can learn for themselves about a potentially devastating crisis. If we don’t do this, we are all going to learn the hard way, and it’s not going to be pretty.
There is no time to lose.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
humor India: Indian train letter jackfruit
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My Belly Is Too Much Swelling With Jackfruit
Apropos of nothing, I remembered reading this marvelous letter which had been reprinted in the Times of India many many years ago. It made me laugh then and it makes me laugh now.
Beloved Sir,
I am arrive by passenger train at Ahmedpore Station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore sent to privy. Just as I am doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lota in one hand and dhoti in the next when I fall over and expose all my shockings to many female women on the platform. I got leaved on Ahmedpore Station.
This is too much bad if passengers go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray otherwise I am making big report to papers.Pray your honour to make big fine on that dam guard for public sake otherwise I am making big report to papers.
Yours faithfully,
(Sd/- Okhit Chandra Sen)
Googling select phrases from the letter yielded a number of hits. Perhaps the best of the lot was an article on railroads in India in the Baltimore Sun.
atheism environment: armageddon insanity methane religion Senate
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Month 3, Day 5: Armageddon Out Of Here
I read this article about arctic methane releases in the Times of London this evening. I sat down to write in a very disturbed state, and this is what emerged. At the moment I can’t think who I should send it to…so I’ll send it to the Boston Phoenix for the moment. They probably won’t publish it, so I’ll eventually send it elsewhere. If anyone has a suggestion, I’d welcome it.
Have you written your politicians today? Your media?
The news of ever-increasing methane releases from beneath the Arctic seabed is great news for those wishing an end to human civilization. Dominionists eagerly awaiting the End Times are no doubt delighted to learn that (according to a just-published article in the journal Science, and reported in the London Times) the sub-sea permafrost that has kept gigatonnes of CH4 locked in for millennia is now melting. Because methane is 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide in trapping heat, this will accelerate the greenhouse effect even further.
Even better news for these folks is that all this methane has not yet been factored into the prediction models of climate scientists. All those silly “worst-case” scenarios presented by Al Gore and the IPCC? Hopelessly optimistic.
As I said, good news for those awaiting Ragnarok or the Armageddon.
Some of us, however, would rather have a good life for our descendants than a climatic Apocalypse, no matter how spectacular.
We would like to see an international effort to deal with the methane release (and other elements of the climate crisis) before it is too late. We would like to see all the nations of the world form a unified response to this common threat, combining our resources, skills and innovations to keep our planet safe for our children and their children and their children’s children after them. We would like to see the United States of America leading this effort, earning the gratitude of generations to come.
With the climate crisis exacerbated by an ignorance crisis, humanity is facing a threat of unimaginable size and severity. Now is not the time to give in to the political posturing of Rapturists eager to meet their Maker in a final conflagration.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: John Kerry Scott Brown
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Month 3, Day 4: Faxin’ my Senators
It’s the last day of the great national call-in days on climate, as promoted heavily by 1Sky, Move-On and lots of other organizations. I called John Kerry’s office twice yesterday. I figured I’d write a fax to Kerry and Brown today — I did one for both my Senators last week…and now it’s time to hit ’em again.
Dear Senator Kerry and Senator Brown —
It is absolutely essential that our government address the severity of the climate crisis with speed and clarity. Despite the bleating of so-called “skeptics,” there is absolutely no doubt that global climate change is real. There is no doubt that it’s already affecting us. And there’s no doubt that human activity is implicated as its most important cause.
To be sure, there may be other causal factors as well. Scientists acknowledge this — but the possibility of other causes for climate change is not an excuse for doing nothing. The only thing that we can change is our own behavior.
The cost of strong and aggressive action in the face of global climate change is ultimately very small. Why? Because all the things we have to do to deal with climate change are things we have to do anyway. We need to rebuild our energy infrastructure; we need to stop burning oil and coal (and to find ways to transform local economies that rely on these industries); we need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions; we need to be less wasteful in our energy use; we need to stop taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the atmosphere.
We have to do these things because they are the right and responsible thing to do. Accomplishing them will cost less than the Iraq war.
On the other hand, the costs of inaction are very high. If global warming is real (note: it is), then failure to act will certainly mean huge economic and environmental devastation. A trillion dollars of prevention is worth a quadrillion dollars of cure. If global warming isn’t real (note: it is), we will have transformed our energy infrastructure, incentivized energy conservation, regained competitiveness with China, stopped giving money to the Saudis, and kept CO2 and other greenhouse emissions low. All good stuff. As a recent cartoon put it, “What if it’s all a hoax and we build a better world for nothing?”
The cost of inaction is catastrophe; the cost of action is less than our country’s most recent military misadventure.
Those who rise to the occasion and support robust climate legislation that does what it’s supposed to do (including setting a goal for atmospheric CO2 that is environmentally reasonable, not politically expedient — which is to say, 350 ppm), will be justly celebrated by our children and their children and their children’s children. Those who place transient political considerations above the long-term health of our planet and its population will be justly reviled.
We need strong climate/energy legislation, and we need it without temporizing. This is an “all hands on deck” situation; there is no time for timidity, cupidity or stupidity.
Yours sincerely,
Warren Senders
Education music: ear training epistemology Music education oral tradition
by Warren
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About Listening and Learning
A few years ago I was talking about Indian pedagogy to a mixed group of musicians and school-teachers in a classroom at New England Conservatory, and I asked for a volunteer. One girl raised her hand, and I enlisted her as a “student” in the Indian sense. With the drone in the background, I sang a short series of notes and looked at her expectantly. “Bonnie” reproduced them, a bit tentatively for all that she was a trained singer with an acute ear and a lovely voice. I tried another set of notes; she was a bit more confident this time around.
I decided to up the ante.
environment: Al Gore Deniers Metro Skeptics
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Month 3, Day 3: Back in the Subway…
Riding the subway today and collected another copy of the “Metro.” I turned it down at first, but then noticed there was an article about Al Gore, so I grabbed one. It was a Reuters rehash of his NYT Op-Ed, with the final paragraph reading:
“Climate change skeptics have pointed to errors in the panel’s landmark 2007 report — an overestimate of how fast Himalayan glaciers would melt in a warming world and incorrect information on how much of the Netherlands is below sea level — as signs that the reports basic conclusions are flawed.”
So I wrote ’em a letter. From the New York Times to the Subway Metro. What a difference a day makes.
It’s too bad that climate change deniers don’t hold themselves to the same high standards they set for Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC’s 2007 report was three thousand pages long, and yet “skeptics” tell us that because of two errors, the report’s “basic conclusions are flawed.” The report’s basic conclusions are extremely robust — and these people aren’t “skeptics,” they’re “deniers.” Skepticism implies a genuine willingness to question all assertions, whether they’re aligned with one’s ideology or not. Over and over, we’ve seen climate deniers accept news stories that are riddled with errors, as long as those mistakes support their preconceptions. The world is warming, with results that could be catastrophic for us all — and willful ignorance is an unacceptable response to a threat of such gravity.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Al Gore appreciation
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Month 3, Day 2: Fan Mail
Busy day tomorrow. I sat down at the computer but couldn’t think of anyone to write to. I wrote to Obama on Saturday, and Harry Reid on Sunday, and John Kerry & Scott Brown late last week…I know! I’ll write directly to Al Gore!
I imagine his secretaries have to throw out a lot of abusive rubbish from denialist teabaggers. Maybe they’ll be happy to read a letter of genuine appreciation. Maybe they’ll pass it along to the former President-Elect. I brought back the “swollen belly” analogy. I really want that one to gain some traction somewhere. If Al starts using it, remember where it came from!
Dear Mr. Gore — As one of your long-time admirers, I wish to thank you for all that you have done to wake up the world to the dangers of climate change. Your recent Op-Ed in the New York Times was a beautifully crafted and heartfelt wake-up call to the world. Unfortunately, it is becoming ever clearer that the Republicans in Washington don’t care if the planet burns, as long as they can ensure the failure of the current administration. While this was obvious from the beginning to any observers who were paying attention, it seems to have caught both the Obama administration and Democratic legislators by surprise. Furthermore, it is (sadly) indisputable that many in our party are either unimaginably naive, unimaginably pusillanimous, or unimaginably corrupt.
There are three things I need to say.
First: Don’t Give Up. Your grace and steadiness in the face of ignorance and abuse is an example for all of us who are trying to wake up our fellow citizens.
Second: Emphasize to your colleagues in the political arena that the opposition party is not operating in good faith. The current Republican party does not have the best interests of our country at heart; they need to be publicly stigmatized as traitors to America and to humanity. “Making nice” with these people simply won’t work. Democrats are not bullies by nature, I suppose — but at this time, in this crisis, we need to get things done rapidly and well. If the fate of the planet depends on the state of the Senate, we are in an extremely precarious position.
Third: I wish to offer an analogy which I think works well in combating the fallacious statements of Senator Inhofe and those of his ilk, especially in the light of the recent snowstorms that have buffeted Washington — and which the denialists claim are a conclusive proof that global warming is a “hoax.”
Saying a freak snowstorm in Washington “disproves global warming” is like saying the swollen belly of a starving child “disproves world hunger.”
Again, thank you for all that you have done and are doing. You are an inspiration to me and to countless others who are hoping against hope that our beautiful planet may yet be saved.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: NYT published letter
by Warren
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New York Times Readers on Standby!
I just received the email below. Note that they have removed the most caustic sentences from my letter. If any NY residents or NYT readers see me in the Letters column, please alert me!
Hi. We are considering your letter for publication in the next few days, either in the printed paper and the Web site, or on the Web only. Below is an edited version of your letter. Please let us know if you approve of the changes.
A few standard questions we ask our letter writers:
Do you have a professional affiliation, or any other connection (including financial), that bears on the topic of your letter or that our readers should know about? (If you are writing in a private capacity and not on behalf of an organization, that will be considered in the decision on whether to use an ID.)
Did you write the letter, and is the letter exclusive to the Times?
Was your letter sent in response to the prompting of a Web site or anyone else?
And, by agreeing to have your letter published, you are consenting to our right to republish it, in any and all media, and to license third parties to publish it as well.
Many thanks for writing.
S__ M______
Staff EditorTo the Editor: Re “We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change” (Op-Ed, Feb. 28):
Al Gore’s thoughtful advocacy for meaningful action on climate change will no doubt bring the climate change “skeptics” out of the woodwork once again. Our inability to address the climate crisis is both an intellectual and a moral failure. In the 1950s, Sputnik threatened our national pride – and America responded with an intensified focus on science education, building a space program that accomplished wonders. Fifty years later, the threat we face is not to our pride, but to our planet – and we respond by ridiculing those who sound the warning. Mr. Gore deserves the thanks of future generations, not uninformed mockery.
Warren Senders
Medford, Mass., Feb. 28, 2010—–Original Message—–
From: Warren Senders
Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 9:33 PM
To: Letters, NYT
Subject: Letter to the Editor: RE: “We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change” by AL GORE Published: February 27, 2010Al Gore’s thoughtful advocacy for meaningful action on climate change will no doubt bring the climate-change “skeptics” out of the woodwork once again: these conservative denialists would rather watch the country fail and the planet burn than admit the former VP is right. It is absurd to imagine that our politicians and our media will learn enough science to do the right thing rather than the politically expedient one. Our inability to address the climate crisis is both an intellectual and a moral failure. In the 1950’s, Sputnik threatened our national pride – and America responded with an intensified focus on science education, building a space program that accomplished wonders. Fifty years later, the threat we face is not to our pride, but to our planet – and we respond by ridiculing those who sound the warning. Mr. Gore deserves the thanks of future generations, not James Inhofe’s uninformed mockery.
Warren Senders