Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Planet Just Had Its Warmest August On Record

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Planet Just Had Its Warmest August On Record

Click here to access article by Nick Visser from Huffington Post.

This past August was the warmest since records began in 1881, according to new data released by NASA. The latest readings continue a series of record or near-record breaking months. May of this year was also the warmest in recorded history.

We humans are now reading about a regular occurrence--the breaking of heat records across the world.

Here in the Seattle area TV weathermen also report on these records, but never in the context of climate destabilization. Often such new records are presented like record smashing in various sports: as something to be celebrated. Such reporting panders to a very narrow view of weather in the Seattle area where temperatures have often been cooler than what is desired. For example, on Aug. 31st we were subject to this type of reporting.

It's a far cry from the record hottest August (83.7 degrees in 1967) but then again, second place was 80.3 so all years are a far cry from 1967.

So individually, the months were pretty impressive, but combined, it's even more so.