Global warming
In high school I worried that humans might eventually dig up and burn enough of the plants and animals that had captured carbon dioxide during the time of dinosaurs and giant ferns to revert the climate to one like that of the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods. However, I didn’t think that I would see much of the effect during my lifetime. That was over 40 years ago.
In the last 15 years it has been painfully obvious to me and many other people that the climate is changing faster than can be explained by natural processes and not in a good way.
When I was gardening in Missouri I noticed spring and the apple blossoms creeping earlier in the year and the first frosts coming later in the fall. On the surface a slightly longer growing season was good for me. Climate change is a global process. Those who cause the most climate change may not be the ones experiencing the initial negative impacts. In the short term some areas will benefit and some will be harmed.
As a Peace Corps volunteer I live for two years in another part of the world – far away from my home state of Arkansas and my home in Missouri. In 2014 I was placed in the dry savannah of the Upper West Region of Ghana, West Africa. Global warming has disrupted the rain patterns in the region which has an extended dry season and a rather short rainy season to grow crops. In this region of subsistence farming there is a hungry period that even I experienced before the crops of the new growing season can be harvested.
And yet the planting has to be delayed until the rains come or else the seeds are wasted. So a week or two extension of the hungry season caused by delayed rains can cause serious issues for the poor, the young, and other vulnerable food insecure. An unusually heavy rain or rains at an unusual time can destroy much of the work of these people. I saw and felt hunger but did not see starvation. Unfortunately these people are always only a few bad seasons from starvation.
These people typically walk or ride bicycles or donkey carts. They may not have electricity and most don’t have indoor plumbing. They have done nothing to contribute to global warming and yet they understand it better than many people who have greatly contributed to the problem and have greater access to scientific reports and accurate information.
It is almost certain that the change in rains in the Upper West will contribute to the death of infants and the elderly in the community in the next few decades but the people are strong, resilient, and mutually supportive – most will likely be able to stay on their family lands. My part of Ghana is not predicted to among the worst hit by global warming of the climate.
I now serve in the Eastern Caribbean and while in Dominica last year I rode out one of the faster growing Atlantic hurricanes in history. Maria went from a 1 to a 5 so fast that the people of the island could not prepare. It hit directly as a 5. How does one prepare in less than 24 hours for winds that rip every leaf from every tree? So much damage to nature and to buildings as well as the loss of lives that can never be replaced.
Climate always impacts weather events. This year, a somewhat El Nino pattern in the Pacific reduces the probability that Atlantic hurricanes will strengthen. The THREE storms that have hit or past near Dominica so far this year have weakened before reaching the island. That doesn’t mean climate change is false, just that the global climate is complex.
I’m happy that Dominica is getting relatively spared so far. However, El Nino means that Pacific hurricanes, typhoons, have more energy so Mangkhut was able to strengthen and cause extensive damage to people, property, and nature in its path.
Peace Corps volunteers and others who travel and see the world up close see the struggles of people who’s already difficult lives have been made more precarious by climate change and the greed of others.
I regret the loss of life and damage from Florence to the East Coast. And I don’t want to make light of the impact. However, those people were lucky that the storm weakened and lucky to live in the continental US. It was not so bad. Many Americans can continue to ignore the problem and continue making it worse by their actions and their vote.
I fear that some most responsible for storms like Maria and Mangkhut or the change of rains in the Upper West, or the coastal flooding, or the heat waves, and other issues that have killed untold numbers will continue to ignore the change as long as it does not directly impact their lives or the lives of those they love. I fear that such people, particularly those in positions of power from fossil fuels, will look at their short term gains, ignore the externalities, and think they can buy their personal safety – to hell with everyone else.
I’m not going to change their thinking. Some people believe that the earth is flat. Some people’s greed is just too much a part of their lives. Some people don't want to know.
While we should make every effort to reduce making the problem worse we have already cooked a significant amount of change into the climate. Hopefully, not run away global warming, but certainly life will be much more difficult for our children and grandchildren around the world. The work now is to figure out how best to live in this new and rapidly changing climate.
My thoughts on climate change come one year after I was pulled off of Dominica after a category 5 hurricane ran over the island, a rather direct result of global warming. To my disappointment I have so far not been allowed to return to the island and community I pledged to serve.
This was not the first nor even close to the worse disappointment in my life. I know how to be happy, 'content' borrowing from the French might be better, while experiencing disappointment, discomfort or stupid played out in the world.
That is certainly a lesson that has been reinforced in Peace Corps and a mindset required for service in many locations. Peace Corps volunteers see the environmental damage but also the resiliency and happiness in the face of extreme difficulties of some pretty incredible people. One doesn’t have to be a Peace Corps volunteer to know such things – there are many good people in the world who understand such things.
We can choose to be angry or happy rather than let external events control our feelings. The choice is not always easy and it is not always apparent that there is a choice. We do.
The environmental and political problems in the world will get worse. We all need to understand that we can make a difference to improve the world but first we can’t be beaten down by it.
Love always,
John
In the last 15 years it has been painfully obvious to me and many other people that the climate is changing faster than can be explained by natural processes and not in a good way.
When I was gardening in Missouri I noticed spring and the apple blossoms creeping earlier in the year and the first frosts coming later in the fall. On the surface a slightly longer growing season was good for me. Climate change is a global process. Those who cause the most climate change may not be the ones experiencing the initial negative impacts. In the short term some areas will benefit and some will be harmed.
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| My home in Missouri. Longer growing season but could get more dangerous tornadoes |
As a Peace Corps volunteer I live for two years in another part of the world – far away from my home state of Arkansas and my home in Missouri. In 2014 I was placed in the dry savannah of the Upper West Region of Ghana, West Africa. Global warming has disrupted the rain patterns in the region which has an extended dry season and a rather short rainy season to grow crops. In this region of subsistence farming there is a hungry period that even I experienced before the crops of the new growing season can be harvested.
And yet the planting has to be delayed until the rains come or else the seeds are wasted. So a week or two extension of the hungry season caused by delayed rains can cause serious issues for the poor, the young, and other vulnerable food insecure. An unusually heavy rain or rains at an unusual time can destroy much of the work of these people. I saw and felt hunger but did not see starvation. Unfortunately these people are always only a few bad seasons from starvation.
These people typically walk or ride bicycles or donkey carts. They may not have electricity and most don’t have indoor plumbing. They have done nothing to contribute to global warming and yet they understand it better than many people who have greatly contributed to the problem and have greater access to scientific reports and accurate information.
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| Digging for yams after the end of the rainy season. Plenty of food now. |
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| She will carry that the three miles back to her house |
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| Unusual timed rains can destroy dry season building projects, as I witnessed during my time in Ghana |
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| Grinding corn when you don't have enough money to pay the mill |
It is almost certain that the change in rains in the Upper West will contribute to the death of infants and the elderly in the community in the next few decades but the people are strong, resilient, and mutually supportive – most will likely be able to stay on their family lands. My part of Ghana is not predicted to among the worst hit by global warming of the climate.
I now serve in the Eastern Caribbean and while in Dominica last year I rode out one of the faster growing Atlantic hurricanes in history. Maria went from a 1 to a 5 so fast that the people of the island could not prepare. It hit directly as a 5. How does one prepare in less than 24 hours for winds that rip every leaf from every tree? So much damage to nature and to buildings as well as the loss of lives that can never be replaced.
 |
| Dominica is a beautiful island |
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| Devastated by Maria |
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| Lush green of my part of the island |
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| Stripped of its green by Maria |
Climate always impacts weather events. This year, a somewhat El Nino pattern in the Pacific reduces the probability that Atlantic hurricanes will strengthen. The THREE storms that have hit or past near Dominica so far this year have weakened before reaching the island. That doesn’t mean climate change is false, just that the global climate is complex.
I’m happy that Dominica is getting relatively spared so far. However, El Nino means that Pacific hurricanes, typhoons, have more energy so Mangkhut was able to strengthen and cause extensive damage to people, property, and nature in its path.
Peace Corps volunteers and others who travel and see the world up close see the struggles of people who’s already difficult lives have been made more precarious by climate change and the greed of others.
I regret the loss of life and damage from Florence to the East Coast. And I don’t want to make light of the impact. However, those people were lucky that the storm weakened and lucky to live in the continental US. It was not so bad. Many Americans can continue to ignore the problem and continue making it worse by their actions and their vote.
I fear that some most responsible for storms like Maria and Mangkhut or the change of rains in the Upper West, or the coastal flooding, or the heat waves, and other issues that have killed untold numbers will continue to ignore the change as long as it does not directly impact their lives or the lives of those they love. I fear that such people, particularly those in positions of power from fossil fuels, will look at their short term gains, ignore the externalities, and think they can buy their personal safety – to hell with everyone else.
I’m not going to change their thinking. Some people believe that the earth is flat. Some people’s greed is just too much a part of their lives. Some people don't want to know.
While we should make every effort to reduce making the problem worse we have already cooked a significant amount of change into the climate. Hopefully, not run away global warming, but certainly life will be much more difficult for our children and grandchildren around the world. The work now is to figure out how best to live in this new and rapidly changing climate.
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| Their school and most of their homes destroyed or badly damaged |
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| Children are the futre |
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| We should be leaving them a world where they can grow and thrive |
One year
My thoughts on climate change come one year after I was pulled off of Dominica after a category 5 hurricane ran over the island, a rather direct result of global warming. To my disappointment I have so far not been allowed to return to the island and community I pledged to serve.
This was not the first nor even close to the worse disappointment in my life. I know how to be happy, 'content' borrowing from the French might be better, while experiencing disappointment, discomfort or stupid played out in the world.
That is certainly a lesson that has been reinforced in Peace Corps and a mindset required for service in many locations. Peace Corps volunteers see the environmental damage but also the resiliency and happiness in the face of extreme difficulties of some pretty incredible people. One doesn’t have to be a Peace Corps volunteer to know such things – there are many good people in the world who understand such things.
We can choose to be angry or happy rather than let external events control our feelings. The choice is not always easy and it is not always apparent that there is a choice. We do.
The environmental and political problems in the world will get worse. We all need to understand that we can make a difference to improve the world but first we can’t be beaten down by it.
Love always,
John
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