I’m just sad this morning. I knew I should not have looked at any news today. But here we are. Here’s a headline from NPR News. “3 massive changes you’ll see as the climate careens toward tipping points.” The US decided to sit out the COP30 United Nations climate meeting in Brazil. The goal has been to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees to avoid significant disruption to our climate and weather patterns. This is no longer possible. In fact last year was the worst year ever for carbon emissions ever. We are no longer even trying to mitigate the problem, but instead apparently actively working to make it worse. We’ve warmed the planet 1.3 degrees. At 1.5 degrees, the concern is we hit a tipping point that may be impossible to recover from greatly altering what it means to live on this planet.

I know our current President will tell you this is a “hoax.” He’s wrong. We can see it happening. He and those he represents have a vested interest in burning up the rest of the fossil fuels for short term profit. They are apparently not concerned about the next generation of humans that have to live here.

What is coming is coral reefs will be gone forever. These are the bedrock of marine ecosystems. Half a billion people depend on coral reefs, for food, income and livelihoods. The coral reefs are dying because of the oceans are warming and becoming more acidic. This will also then impact ocean currents and weather patterns impacting more people and where they live (or cannot any longer). Concerned about immigration now? Just wait.

Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets could collapse. This will send massive amounts of water into the oceans. This too will impact ocean currents and more importantly cause sea level rise. The majority of the human population lives on coasts around the world. Concerned about immigration now? Just wait.

Permanently frozen ground is thawing. Know what happens to all the food in your freezer during a power outage? The permafrost is the planet’s freezer containing a significant amount of dead organic matter. When it thaws it is going to start rotting and decaying as bacteria and fungi go to work consuming this thawed carbon-rich food source. They are going to fart out a lot of planet-warming carbon dioxide and methane. This will create a snowball effect (ironic metaphor) that will increase thawing of the permafrost increasing bacteria and fungi farts further increasing the planet temperature making more of the planet uninhabitable and unable to support the ecosystems we rely upon for things such as you know, food and water. Concerned about immigration? Just wait.

So, I’m sad this morning. The planet has a gas problem and the minority that possess the power and wealth are shitting all over the majority of us who actually care about such things as food and water and places to live, while protecting their short-term profits.

But, we don’t have to accept this from them. We can choose different leadership. Leadership that puts this issue of our long-term survival as a civilization, possibly a species at the forefront of their political agenda.

Anyway, here’s a short fable and song I wrote called the Sacrifice / We Rise.