Tag: climate change

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Hooves, by Pat Gourley

“That horse has left the barn”

When I hear the word “hooves” in nearly any context I think of horses though many different mammals have hooves. My early days on the farm never involved horses so I may have made the association of hooves with horses after watching Gene Autry and Roy Rogers on 1950’s TV.

I remember that the often ridiculous and blatantly racist TV westerns seemed to distinguish between native American horse-hoof prints from those of the always white settlers, American law men and cavalry by noting whether the horses had been shod or not. Native horses had no shoes where as those of the white folk always did, a simplistic view since many native tribes were quite adept at acquiring horses from settlers and others who shod their horses. On these TV shows blacksmiths were often shown dramatically forging by fire while shaping the shoes and then nailing them onto the horses’ hooves. This really is the extent of my connection with the word hooves, though I do vaguely recall older male relatives on occasion playing “horseshoes”. That was a game though that never caught on for me personally.

Another memory of hooves was the apparent use of fake cows’ hoofs being used by moonshiners wearing them to throw off federal agents chasing them during Prohibition. Not sure exactly how this worked since cows have four feet and humans only two. However wasting time on thinking about this application of hoof-foot-wear as a means to sneak to one’s moonshine still in the woods will do little to address any real world problems these days I am afraid.

I can though make a tangential leap from hooves by way of horses and cows to the phrase: “That horse has already left the Barn”. This implies of course to the after-the-fact reality that it is too late to do anything about whatever. If one adapts this as a world view these days there are many things that seem too late to do much about whether we want to admit that reality of not.

Climate change sadly is one reality that it may very well be too late to do much about. That horse seems to have galloped away and kicked the door shut with both of his back hooves. Still in my more optimistic moments I can’t help but think that if we were to embark on a Manhattan Project to save the planet that salvaging an at least livable, though probably less than desirable, planet might be doable.

Laughably perhaps I can hope that the recent hurricane evacuations for both Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and Rush Limbaugh’s beachfront properties in Florida might turn into teachable moments. That however does not seem likely.

My go to person around all things climate change and how this is intimately tied to capitalism specifically is Naomi Klein.

I highly recommend her two most recent works: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate and “NO is Not Enough” subtitle “Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning The World We Want”. Here is a link to these works and Naomi in general: http://www.naomiklein.org/meet-naomi

It isn’t that the Donald Trump’s and Rush Limbaugh’s of the world don’t believe in climate change, I actually expect they do. It is that they realize better than many of us that the only effective possibility for addressing this catastrophe is a direct threat to their worldview and way of life. That their greedy accumulation of goods and capital will save them from the resulting hell-scape in the end is truly delusional thinking on their part.

I feel the only viable solution being an acceptance of the socialist ethos: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

© October 2017

About the Author

I was born in La Porte, Indiana in 1949, raised on a farm and schooled by Holy Cross nuns. The bulk of my adult life, some 40 plus years, was spent in Denver, Colorado as a nurse, gardener and gay/AIDS activist. I have currently returned to Denver after an extended sabbatical in San Francisco, California.

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Hooves, by Pat Gourley

“That horse has left the barn”
When I hear the word “hooves” in nearly any context I think of horses though many different mammals have hooves. My early days on the farm never involved horses so I may have made the association of hooves with horses after watching Gene Autry and Roy Rogers on 1950’s TV.
 I remember that the often ridiculous and blatantly racist TV westerns seemed to distinguish between native American horse-hoof prints from those of the always white settlers, American lawmen and cavalry by noting whether the horses had been shod or not. Native horses had no shoes whereas those of the white folk always did, a simplistic view since many native tribes were quite adept at acquiring horses from settlers and others who shod their horses. On these TV shows, blacksmiths were often shown dramatically forging by a fire while shaping the shoes and then nailing them onto the horse’s hooves. This really is the extent of my connection with the word “hooves”, though I do vaguely recall older male relatives on occasion playing “horseshoes”. That was a game though that never caught on for me personally.
Another memory of hooves was the apparent use of fake cows hoofs being used by moonshiners wearing them to throw off federal agents chasing them during Prohibition. Not sure exactly how this worked since cows have four feet and humans only two. However, wasting time on thinking about this application of hoof-foot-wear as a means to sneak to one’s moonshine still in the woods will do little to address any real-world problems these days I am afraid.
I can though make a tangential leap from hooves by way of horses and cows to the phrase: “That horse has already left the barn”. This implies of course to the after-the-fact reality that it is too late to do anything about whatever. If one adapts this as a worldview these days there are many things that seem too late to do much about whether we want to admit that reality or not.
Climate change sadly is one reality that it may very well be too late to do much about. That horse seems to have galloped away and kicked the door shut with both of his back hooves. Still, in my more optimistic moments I can’t help but think that if we were to embark on a Manhattan Project to save the planet that salvaging an at least livable, though probably less than desirable, planet might be doable.
Laughably perhaps I can hope that the recent hurricane evacuations for both Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and Rush Limbaugh’s beachfront properties in Florida might turn into teachable moments. That however does not seem likely.
My go-to person around all things climate change and how this is intimately tied to capitalism specifically is Naomi Klein.
I highly recommend her two most recent works: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate and “NO is Not Enough” subtitle “Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning The World We Want”. Here is a link to these works and Naomi in general:
http://www.naomiklein.org/meet-naomi
It isn’t that the Donald Trumps and Rush Limbaugh’s of the world don’t believe in climate change, I actually expect they do. It is that they realize better than many of us that the only effective possibility for addressing this catastrophe is a direct threat to their worldview and way of life. That their greedy accumulation of goods and capital will save them from the resulting hell-scape, in the end, is truly delusional thinking on their part.
I feel the only viable solution being an acceptance of the socialist ethos:  From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
© 19 Oct 2017 
About the Author 
I was born in La Porte Indiana in 1949, raised on a farm and schooled by Holy Cross nuns. The bulk of my adult life, some 40 plus years, was spent in Denver, Colorado as a nurse, gardener, and gay/AIDS activist. I have currently returned to Denver after an extended sabbatical in San Francisco, California. 
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Hooves, by Pat Gourley

“That horse has left the barn”

When I hear the word “hooves” in nearly any context I think of horses though many different mammals have hooves. My early days on the farm never involved horses so I may have made the association of hooves with horses after watching Gene Autry and Roy Rogers on 1950’s TV.

I remember that the often ridiculous and blatantly racist TV westerns seemed to distinguish between native American horse-hoof prints from those of the always white settlers, American law men and cavalry by noting whether the horses had been shod or not. Native horses had no shoes where as those of the white folk always did, a simplistic view since many native tribes were quite adept at acquiring horses from settlers and others who shod their horses. On these TV shows blacksmiths were often shown dramatically forging by fire while shaping the shoes and then nailing them onto the horses’ hooves. This really is the extent of my connection with the word hooves, though I do vaguely recall older male relatives on occasion playing “horseshoes”. That was a game though that never caught on for me personally.

Another memory of hooves was the apparent use of fake cows’ hoofs being used by moonshiners wearing them to throw off federal agents chasing them during Prohibition. Not sure exactly how this worked since cows have four feet and humans only two. However wasting time on thinking about this application of hoof-foot-wear as a means to sneak to one’s moonshine still in the woods will do little to address any real world problems these days I am afraid.

I can though make a tangential leap from hooves by way of horses and cows to the phrase: “That horse has already left the Barn”. This implies of course to the after-the-fact reality that it is too late to do anything about whatever. If one adapts this as a world view these days there are many things that seem too late to do much about whether we want to admit that reality of not.

Climate change sadly is one reality that it may very well be too late to do much about. That horse seems to have galloped away and kicked the door shut with both of his back hooves. Still in my more optimistic moments I can’t help but think that if we were to embark on a Manhattan Project to save the planet that salvaging an at least livable, though probably less than desirable, planet might be doable.

Laughably perhaps I can hope that the recent hurricane evacuations for both Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and Rush Limbaugh’s beachfront properties in Florida might turn into teachable moments. That however does not seem likely.

My go to person around all things climate change and how this is intimately tied to capitalism specifically is Naomi Klein.

I highly recommend her two most recent works: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate and “NO is Not Enough” subtitle “Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning The World We Want”. Here is a link to these works and Naomi in general: http://www.naomiklein.org/meet-naomi

It isn’t that the Donald Trump’s and Rush Limbaugh’s of the world don’t believe in climate change, I actually expect they do. It is that they realize better than many of us that the only effective possibility for addressing this catastrophe is a direct threat to their worldview and way of life. That their greedy accumulation of goods and capital will save them from the resulting hell-scape in the end is truly delusional thinking on their part.

I feel the only viable solution being an acceptance of the socialist ethos: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

© October 2017

About the Author

I was born in La Porte, Indiana in 1949, raised on a farm and schooled by Holy Cross nuns. The bulk of my adult life, some 40 plus years, was spent in Denver, Colorado as a nurse, gardener and gay/AIDS activist. I have currently returned to Denver after an extended sabbatical in San Francisco, California.

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Believing, by Gillian

‘I believe in one god, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.’

So begins the Nicene Creed which I learned in Sunday School and for a while repeated most Sundays of the year. But sometime in my ninth year I had a kind of epiphany, accepting that I didn’t believe a word of anything that went along with organized religion. I continued to accompany my mother to church, just being supportive, but determinedly kept my mouth shut when we proclaimed our religious beliefs of which I had, and still have, absolutely none.

So I never say ‘I believe …. ‘ using the words to denote, as Voltaire puts it, believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. That kind of belief is, to me, as cast in stone as sexual orientation. I cannot make myself believe something I don’t believe any more than I can make myself be straight. I can pretend, as so many of us did once upon a time when we played it straight, I can say the Creed along with the best of them, but I cannot make myself believe.

I do use those words, as many people use them, to mean that I have seen or heard enough evidence to believe that, based on sound reasoning, something is true. This, according to many definitions, puts me firmly in the skeptics’ box – relying on the rational and empirical: valuing thinking and seeing rather than making that blind leap of faith to belief.

In my own, albeit skeptical, way, I believe many many things.

For example: I believe that history will judge Obama well, for his sincerity and constant struggle to do what he truly believes to be the right thing. (Though he might do well to follow Churchill’s plan; he said he knew history would be kind to him because he intended to write it.) And, speaking of Sir Winston, I believe that had I ever met him I would probably have disliked him. If he were running for office in November I doubt I would vote for him. Nevertheless, I believe most sincerely that I am forever in his debt. Without his inimicable stand against the Nazis, I believe that my life would have been very very different; quite possibly a lot shorter. Similarly, I believe I would not be casting my vote for Teddy Roosevelt with his bluster and his gunboats, but I also owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Without his foresight in initiating the National Park system, I would never be able to appreciate the magnificence of nature that was once this country. It would all be unrecognizable, long ago torn away by mining and drilling, or covered in concrete jungles of shopping malls and mansions. And these realizations make me believe, in turn, that few people – yes, even politicians – are an influence solely for good or evil, though there are some notable exceptions. Life is endlessly complex, as are the people and issues we encounter in it.

My most vehemently held belief, right now, is in the reality of global climate change. As I see it, everything else pales by comparison. What does it really matter that we finally have gay marriage, or that Syria is a failed state, or that, in spite of the efforts Obama is promising to make, we are so far from getting fire arms under any kind of meaningful control in this country? If we continue not only to ignore but actively to deny that climate change is now in our faces, what does anything else matter? It will change the lives of every single person on this earth. How anyone cannot see it is a total mystery to me. 2015 was example enough for anyone. It was the hottest year on record over the entire world in 135 years of modern record-keeping. Global sea-

level surged to new heights. Glaciers retreated for the thirty-first year in a row. Record greenhouse gases fill our atmosphere. And if global statistics don’t impress you, aren’t we watching it all happening almost every day on our televisions? Tornado alley now stretches from the Gulf to Canada, and every year it is harder to define ‘tornado season’ or ‘hurricane season’ – we simply have to expect anything anywhere anytime. There were more tornado-related deaths in this country during December of 2015 than in any previous December on record. Merry Xmas, all you deniers!

Almost more maddening, to me, than such idiots as those who toss snowballs about as proof against global warming, are those who acknowledge its existence but insist that it is a completely natural climate swing, such as there have always been, and therefor of no consequence. What?? During the last ice age, which I think we can all agree was not human-induced, the area that is now New York lay under a sheet of ice a mile thick. Should mankind be around for the next ice age, which I personally doubt, will we all shrug our shoulders as the wall of ice approaches and ignore it simply because it’s a purely natural phenomenon? Surely we need to decide how we are going to survive global climate change rather than indulge in endless wrangles over the cause.

So does this mean that I believe climate change will cause the human race to be just one more species that goes extinct? There would be some justice in that, as we are, ourselves, causing the extinction of so many. But I cannot claim to believe that, per se, because there are simply not enough facts available. I think there’s certainly some chance of an extinction in our relatively near future, but possibly not. We have survived many disasters: plagues and pestilence, wars and famines, earthquakes and volcanoes. But seeing that an estimated 99% of all species which ever existed are now extinct, I certainly believe that we will not go on forever.

One day we will be gone, our Little Blue Dot will heal itself from all our depredations, and humankind will leave no more than a hiccup in the geologic history of Planet Earth.

That, I, proud skeptic, do believe.

© January 2016

About the Author

I was born and raised in England. After graduation from college there, I moved to the U.S. and, having discovered Colorado, never left. I have lived in the Denver-Boulder area since 1965, working for 30 years at IBM. I married, raised four stepchildren, then got divorced after finally, in my forties, accepting myself as a lesbian. I have been with my wonderful partner Betsy for thirty years. We have been married since 2013.

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Culture Shock by Betsy

It does not take an extraordinary imagination to paint a picture of a rather battered human race populating the planet earth in the year 2100. Scientists are coming up with computer models almost daily depicting a much warmer, weather-beaten, very watery, world.

Consider what some of the models are telling us. This past summer was the warmest on record. June being the 378 consecutive months in which the temperature exceeded the average of the twentieth century. The odds of this happening are astronomically small, yet it happened.*

The temperature of the planet is expected to rise 8 degrees by the turn of the century according to one recent study. This may not seem like an eventuality that could end life as we know it, however, some speculate the planet will become uninhabitable by humans if this much of a rise in temperature becomes a reality.

Ice sheets are melting. Already sea levels are showing a rise as a result. It is estimated that by 2100 some island nations will have disappeared entirely. Coastal cities all over the globe will be under water or threatened by the encroaching sea and millions of people will be seeking higher ground.

Because of increasing amounts of carbon pollution in the atmosphere we are experiencing record, heat, floods, drought, wildfires, and violent weather. Surely everyone is aware of this. We have only to pay attention to the daily news or observe with our own eyes. Still, many of our political leaders choose to deny what science tells us is true. The fossil fuel industry has such a strangle hold on our policy makers that they have been rendered mute.

The last global conference on climate change for world leaders was not even attended by the U.S. president or a representative. It is true. There are some very pressing issues of major importance which need to be dealt with immediately; such as, the economy, unemployment, federal revenues and the fiscal cliff, regulation of Wall Street, etc, etc.

However, it seems that climate change has to be the only issue that really matters.

Would this not be a culture shock from which humankind will not recover?

If the planet becomes uninhabitable by humans or barely habitable by humans in the next century or two, does anything else really matter?

*Bill
McKibben, Rolling Stone, July 19, 2012
© 26 November 2012

About the Author

Betsy has been active in the GLBT community including PFLAG, the Denver women’s chorus, OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change). She has been retired from the Human Services field for about 15 years. Since her retirement, her major activities include tennis, camping, traveling, teaching skiing as a volunteer instructor with National Sports Center for the Disabled, and learning. Betsy came out as a lesbian after 25 years of marriage. She has a close relationship with her three children and enjoys spending time with her four grandchildren. Betsy says her greatest and most meaningful enjoyment comes from sharing her life with her partner of 25 years, Gillian Edwards.