Self Portrait

What will life look like when later in this century researchers look back on 2021? 

 I was interested in contrasting my current life as a single elderly woman living alone in the past few days with that of one of my oldest friends.  I was able to renew contact via email with her daughter and hoped that we could connect via technology during the current lockdown.  This is not easy, she said, because her mother’s hearing is challenged, even with hearing aids, and her sight because of macular degeneration. Personal visits are best and her children are frequent visitors – but since she lives in another city, that is not an option for me right now.

 There are similarities, but key differences for which I have every reason to be grateful. I also wear hearing aids but they allow me to hear well.  My optometrist can see tiny beginnings of macular degeneration, but taking a supplemental vitamin is currently preventing an increase showing in the sophisticated optimal scan.  I am also reasonably mobile so long as I do gentle exercise regularly.  My friend is confined to a wheelchair.

 But I can also see how changes in technology make my current life not only tolerable but extremely rich during lockdown.

 Books – As a child I could walk to the local public library and sometimes read a picture book on its steps and then returned it right away. I still enjoy hard cover books and am currently reading Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, a provocative and deeply troubling portrayal of a humanly constructed system of superiority with profound implications.

 Much – even most of my reading, of course is now online – via a laptop, a tablet and a phone. I first turned on a desktop in 1984 to use office software, but computing is now just part of living.  Reading books happens through Kindle or Libby, the public library app, and that can include both print and audio books.   My morning starts with online newspapers, New York Times, Washington Post , the Ontario edition of Canada’s Globe and Mail – and sometimes the aggregated Apple News.  I still have a paper subscription to the New Yorker but I can read a library version of The Economist.  These give me some balance between progressive and conservative views about current issues.

 Then there are online newsletters.  I first picked up the initial edition of the magazine Fast Company in an airport when I was still working, and I liked its approach to innovation.  I still do.  There are eclectic ones like Brain Pickings, Maria Popova’s weekly aggregations of famous writings and wonderful illustrations from children’s books that she finds in public libraries - and Aeon, an Australian newsletter with wide reaching topics. I also scan most many of the environmental newsletters referenced under the resource section of this site.

 As a former resident, I’m somewhat of an American news junkie and dive in an out of CNN and PBS – as well as the Canadian channels, CBC and CTV.  These can all be accessed both live and after the fact through recordings.  I might turn later to Prime or Brit Box for a series of two.

 There is still the telephone.  I pick up less and less to avoid the robocalls – but I can see whether it’s a son calling from Hong Kong or another one who wants to borrow my car which is an easier one for his teen age son to practice driving between online lessons - or a friend wishing me a happy birthday. Less welcome is a call from a colleague who has clearly traveled down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. All I can do is remind him of the caring person I have known in the past – but I doubt if I have changed his view.

And I realize that in the week that the only live face to face conversations I have had is a brief one with the son and grandson picking up the car keys – and the concierge when I picked up a food box.  A couple of Zoom meetings lasted much longer and provided views of welcome faces.  And I’m back taking art lessons on Zoom where the gifted instructor can receive our works in progress and make suggestions for improvement, The six learners share their work and we admire one another’s creations and learn.  My twice monthly piano lesson on Zoom also provide good instruction and learning.

This is a pretty rich environment where I am lucky to be alive and experience.  One of the things that has struck me in writing this.  While I have social media accounts, I feel almost no need to access them at this point. What that means is that I’m not part of the world totally immersed in lack of truth.  And the challenge for others and for me is – how to I change that from where I sit now?

Never Underestimate - Science Moms

I was originally made aware of the importance of climate scientist Kathryn Hayhoe through the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment lecture series in 2019 where they claimed this outstanding woman as one of their own. A Canadian by birth. Hayhoe began her studies here before becoming the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science, a director of the Climate Center, and an associate in the Public Health program of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Texas Tech University.

 But never underestimate the power of a woman – and a mom – and also a scientist. She has brought the three together as the lead in a new initiative to help us guide the next generation in the important area of climate change.  After meeting a young mother frightened about the world of the future for her child, Hayhoe realized they had a common situation and concern. Her approach is creative – channel fears into action.  Talk to your family and friends about it – but even more importantly, become an advocate in the places where you have agency – local schools, local governments, churches and local agencies and other levels of government.

 Hayhoe recruited five other prominent women scientists and a funding body to begin a ten million dollar educational project designed to educate and empower mothers – grandmothers like me can also join in. It will pay for advertisements featuring the women scientists that will run nationally and follow with ads focusing on states in the US where climate change is already showing significant effect. It’s a long term project that is expected to last for five years and you can read about it here.  Its website site includes helpful resources and starts the process with outlining myths and facts.

 In a “half the sky” framework, moms matter to politicians and advertisers.  Both can tap into their existing concern for climate change.  What this project gives them is some straightforward ways to act.  Moreover, they will have confidence in the leadership of woman scientists providing them with talking points and the ability to debunk common myths. Among them:

• Climate change isn’t settled science.

• Climate change is a natural phenomenon.

• Climate change is way off in the distant future.

• It might get bad but we can handle it.

• There is still time to address it (but not too much).

 You might check your own response to these statements and see if you are clear on the facts.  Next you can view the resources – some for moms and some to share with their children as well as TED talks. There is a sign up sheet for Americans and a similar one for Canadians and other parts of the world would be useful.

The final reminder is that individual small steps are important – but significant action involves government legislation.  We have to have the right information and we have to urge those in positions of power to act on it in important and positive ways. Exploring these materials is a really worthwhile way to spend some time during our current lock down.

The Coming Decade's Work

Bill McKibben has changed the narrative from the incredible events of the past week that have been termed surreal – and only now have to be recognized as all too real.

The good news that a black man from the American south finally can be elected to the Senate was swamped by a riot and what to do about it as well as increasing hospitalizations and deaths from the pandemic.  At the same time we forget that we are now we have passed the half way mark for dealing with the climate crisis.

 The following were milestones:

• Prior to 1990 scientists and oil companies study the effects of climate change

• 1988: James Hansen testifies to US congress

• 1990: Climate change is recognized as a problem by the public1992: The Rio Earth Summit initiates attempts to deal with it as an international problem

• 2050 becomes the target year for carbon neutrality

 McKibben goes on to say that the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century were basically a waste of time in addressing the issue. Oil companies and politicians united to make nothing happen and the Copenhagan conference in 2009 failed, as did the US Cap and Trade legislation in 2010.

 But after that evidence was hard to ignore. We could not ignore rising temperatures, fires and floods.  Solar energy and wind power developed and became cheaper. Activism started from the ground up and politicians now had another force than oil companies.  The Paris Conference in 2015 had new commitment internationally.  The US president didn’t help but momentum was there.

 It has to continue. Scientists tell us that to keep on track we have to cut emissions by half by 2030.  Moving the goal posts simply won’t do. That means several changes

• An end to new fossil fuel infrastructure – which McKibben says may include the closing down of Alberta’s tar sands

• Retrofitting of buildings to make them more energy efficient

• Changes in transportation – including how we move ourselves

• Stopping of Deforestation

• Less use of carbon in food production Elimination of tax support of fossil fuel industries

These things have to happen now – and everywhere. There are some positive changes, including the diminished size and strength of many oil producing companies, the growth of electric cars, and positive responses from governments, especially the incoming Biden team. It’s the next 500 weeks that have to make the difference.

 There is encouraging news.  United by dealing the pandemic, cities of the world are uniting to work together as well as pressuring other levels of government to act.  You can find out more about the organization here and watch the brief video below.

Positives among the negatives

 It’s good to see the end of a year that brought suffering, death and destruction to order, work and the democratic process. In the midst of these it is also good to see some things that had a positive effect on the environment and a chance to change the way we think and live in Canada. We have a new start today.

 A model for climate change

 When we realize the threat we are under, we are not afraid to take action. Unlike our neighbours to the south, we took responsibility for others generally by following the leadership of public health and adjusting quickly.  We could do this in nearly all cases by understanding that this was a collaborative effort that in no way infringed upon our rights. What if we could apply the same energy and commitment to climate change?

 People rediscovered the value of personal action.

 Early in March I was asked if I still had my sewing machine.  I couldn’t remember how long since I owned one and it seemed like two decades.  But two people I know made masks for family and friends and donated them to others.  It relieved the initial shortages that needed to go to front line workers. It also created a world of interesting design and pattern. What if we rediscovered our respect for craftmanship and rewarded it appropriately?

 Governments gave away money

 We didn’t hear about welfare bums and single moms misusing public funds. More of us were among the needy – restaurant owners and staff, musicians, actors and others whose lives were often precarious. We didn’t realize how much we valued their services until they were gone from our lives.  The whole idea of a guaranteed income gained weight. What if we could implement it, drawing on our recent experience?

 Trees are planted in a new way

 We have known that destroying trees is madness.  In a country that already has many covering its footprint, we still try to plant more.  College students have gone into remote areas for years to do so during the summer but it is hard work with limited productivity.  But a company is now producing drones that can plant seedlings at speeds surpassing any human effort. Technological development often harms the environment  What if it could focus more fully on improving it?

We have rediscovered the inner city

 Some of our streets have bike lanes now better protected from adjacent traffic lanes and more bike kiosks have appeared.  I’m lucky enough to live in the fifteen minute walk to everything – grocery markets, drugstores, bookstore, bank, restaurants for dining outdoors or takeout, medical centres and services for eye glasses and hearing aids.  Roadway lanes in good weather have been narrowed to allow for pavement seating and while traffic has to continue, there is less of it.  I’ve filled the gas tank of my car exactly three times last year.  What if we saved these features to benefit the environment?

 Working from home has some advantages

 The dogs are very happy about it – the cats, perhaps less so.  While parents have been challenged to work from home and cope with children who compete for attention and have work challenges of their own, neither work nor schooling has faded entirely. What if we reflected on the strengths and limitations of both workplaces and built some of the advantages into future life?

 Inequities have been laid bare

 Warehousing the most vulnerable, underpaying those who care for them, crowded housing and neighborhoods = all these increase vulnerability.  We know they exist but we have been able to ignore them. For those who are more fortunate – what if we resolve to take on one aspect of inequity to act upon in 2021 even in the smallest of ways?

The Cost of Healing the Planet

Some friends and I are engaged in the Drawdown Eco Challenge heading toward Earth Day - when we hoped to have a different kind of celebration. But we are learning at our own pace - and even competing well at this writing as the team with the third most points in the Canadian section. We get points for doing things that help the planet and learning more about them.

This respected research organization has published its report in 2020 following the best selling book already referenced in our resources section. You can download the report here- which outlines the ten best solutions and their cost. It’s not insignificant - but what it also reveals is that the saving far surpass it. You can download the full report here.