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

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Carbon Monoxide from California Wildfires Drifts East

Click here to access report from NASA. 

My curiosity was piqued yesterday by weather reports on area (Minneapolis) weather reports that it was unhealthy to exercise outside because of the smoke from Canadian wildfires. (I wanted to ride my bicycle on a route through my town as a routine exercise.) Scanning several weather broadcasts from other channels, I found the same reports, that is, that wildfires in Canada were the cause of the darkened sky. Because I was skeptical that the smoky skies were all caused by Canadian wildfires, this morning I decided to scan reports from the web. Guess what?

There are fires reported across the globe from Siberia to Greece to Portugal as well as the west coasts of USA and Canada (see also this, this, this, and this). The Guardian even announced that it was time to do something about climate change! But "not to worry" because the Secretary of the Interior says that it's all the fault of environmentalists! (sarcasm)
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