3 Minutes to Speak About Climate Disruption
I’ve been inspired by the work of Extinction Rebellion, an international group dedicated to telling the truth about the mess we are in.
These words from Extinction Rebellion’s website really resonated with me.
We aim to promote a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which maximizes well-being and minimizes harm. We aim to promote a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which maximizes well-being and minimizes harm.
What could I do locally to get these fundamental changes moving in the right direction? Wake up calls are needed in all levels of government. I decided it was time for me to speak out.
Last night was the first night that I spoke publicly in front of my county’s Board of Legislators. At each meeting, citizens can make public comment with a time limit of 3 minutes.
I spent much of the weekend researching and writing up 3 and a half pages of relevant material on climate disruption to present during my 3 minutes. We have some champions of “sustainability” in our county government. But what is called for goes far beyond a plastic bag ban and a few shiny new electric buses.
I was unable to complete the reading in 3 minutes. So I’ll post here what I got thru. I will return to the Board of Legislators meeting one night soon to complete my words about climate disruption. Here’s what I got to in 3 minutes:
WESTCHESTER BOARD OF LEGISLATORS March 25th, 2019
Good evening.
I’d like to take 3 minutes to speak about omnicide.
This term used to refer to the destruction of all life especially by nuclear war.
But these days, we have other onmicidal forces at work.
Some facts:
2018 was the wettest year in the USA in 35 years.
Last year, our country experienced 14 weather catastrophes each costing $1 billion or more
2018 was the 4th hottest year on record, the other 3 were the 3 previous years.
The IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is predicting food shortages, floods, droughts and an increase in sea level.
Long Island sound and Westchester County will not be exempt from these predictions.
Have any of you read the IPCC report?
Or the 4th National Climate Assessment which came out last November?
At this point, I looked up from my paper to see how many had read the reports and were familiar with what I was speaking about. Sadly, not one hand was raised.
Why not???
What will it take for Westchester government leaders to wake up to the fact that climate disruption will be impacting all of us in the very near future? What will it take for our electeds to take meaningful action?
Climate change is no longer an appropriate term. Thanks to the industrial revolution, deforestation and our 150 year binge of fossil fuels, our climate has changed.
You don’t need to be a scientist to know that the weather is wacky, we’ve got global weirding, not just global warming.
Let’s look beyond the superstorms.
We have extremes in rainfall: more rain in shorter amounts of time because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
Nebraska and Iowa are underwater right now.
Our industrial food system is being directly impacted by climate disruption.
Fertile topsoil is being washed away in the water as I stand here and speak.
25 states are expected to have flooding this year
Mary Erickson, Deputy Director of the National Weather Service says, and I quote:
“The flooding this year could be worse than anything we’ve seen in recent years, even worse than the historic floods of 1993 and 2011,”
The major flooding this month in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and elsewhere is “a preview of what we expect throughout the rest of the spring,” she said.
More rainfall in the Midwest is a predictable consequence of climate change, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment, which was produced last year by 13 federal agencies. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which comes down as precipitation.
This is not a linear process, climate disruption is exponential in nature.
Beep Beep Beep!
My time was up. I left the podium in silence. And the next person went on to speak her 3 minutes of public comment.
