Extreme Temperature Diary-November 14, 2018/ Topic: New Brazilian Politics…Warning From Dr. Suess…Game Over For The Climate?

guyonclimate_mi5tor

Wednesday November 14th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. 

Dear Diary. Here is one important note from this evening for all who would like to help people affected by California’s fires:

Now here is today’s topic:

New Brazilian Politics…Warning From Dr. Suess…Game Over For The Climate?

Those concerned about Earth’s climate and environmentalists have been struggling daily for as long as I can remember so that a precious balance is preserved such that the planet’s population’s relatively good lifestyle can be maintained in perpetuity. This post is meant to be a warning to all that the day may be close at hand in which no matter what is done in America, Europe or Australia, the three main regions where I have contacts, the fate of the climate maybe slipping out of our hands…even before the next decade starts.

To start, have any of you heard the tale of the Lorax by Dr. Seuss? From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax

Plot:

A boy living in a polluted area visits a strange isolated man called the Once-ler on the Street of the Lifted Lorax. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail to hear the legend of how the Lorax was lifted and taken away.

The Once-ler tells the boy of his arrival in a beautiful valley containing a forest of Truffula trees and a range of animals. The Once-ler, having long searched for such a tree as the Truffula, chops one down and uses its silk-like foliage to knit a Thneed, an impossibly versatile garment. The Lorax, who “speaks for the trees” as they have no tongues, emerges from the stump of the Truffula and voices his disapproval both of the sacrifice of the tree and of the Thneed itself. However, the first other person to happen by purchases the Thneed for $3.98, so the Once-ler is encouraged and starts a business making and selling Thneeds.

The Once-ler’s small shop soon grows into a factory. The Once-ler’s relatives all come to work for him and new vehicles and equipment are brought in to log the Truffula forest and ship out Thneeds. The Lorax appears again to report that the small bear-like Bar-ba-loots, who eat Truffula fruits, are short of food and must be sent away to find more. The Lorax later returns to complain that the factory has polluted the air and the water, forcing the Swanee-Swans and Humming-Fish to migrate as well. The Once-ler is unrepentant and defiantly tells the Lorax that he will keep on “biggering” his business, but at that moment one of his machines fells the very last Truffula tree.

Without raw materials, the factory shuts down and the Once-ler’s relatives leave. The Lorax says nothing but with one sad backward glance lifts himself into the air “by the seat of his pants” and disappears behind the smoggy clouds. Where he last stood is a small monument engraved with a single word: “UNLESS”. The Once-ler ponders the message for years, in solitude and self-imposed exile.

In the present, his buildings falling apart around him, the Once-ler at last realizes out loud what the Lorax meant: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” He then gives the boy the last Truffula seed and urges him to grow a forest from it, saying that, if the trees can be protected from logging, then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.

To me the Amazon, mostly residing in Brazil, is that beautiful valley of Truffula trees whose trees are being  used to rapidly churn out Thneed’s. The Amazon has been rightfully described as the planet’s lungs, after all. The Once-ler has been many people across Brazil trying to exploit the Amazon, but is now represented by one President Bolsonaro. It pains me to write this, but after observing world history there is not much that can be done to derail the course of events about to take place…not embargoes or even the threat of war. Internally the U.S. and Europe can regulate and conserve their lands, but they don’t control the Amazon. Our new Once-ler, who could have a far worse effect than Trump on the climate, has apparently made up his mind on how to manage the Amazon: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/12/eu-states-call-for-tough-action-on-deforestation-to-meet-2020-un-goal-amsterdam-declaration

From the Guardian article published on 11/12/18:

The UK, France and Germany have called on the European commission to launch tough new action to halt deforestation by the end of the year.

A long-delayed EU action plan should be brought forward “as soon as possible”, says a letter to the commission sent by the Amsterdam Declaration group of countries, which also includes Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

To help meet a UN goal of halting deforestation by 2020, the EU should show “a leadership role, mobilising its political and market leverage, and promoting broader international dialogue and cooperation”, the letter says.

Actions should be taken to align “economic opportunities” with “responsible management of global supply chains”, says the letter signed by Denmark’s environment minister, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen.

Up to 80% of global forest loss is driven by agribusiness, even though research shows that better forest stewardship and natural climate solutions could provide more than a third of the climate mitigation needed by 2030.

The EU states moved on the issue as concerns continue to mount over Brazil’s recent election of a far-right supporter of Brazil’s former military dictatorship.

Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to designate land rights activists as “terrorists” and pave a highway through the Amazon, potentially spreading deforestation to an area of rainforest larger than Germany.

I’ve already touched on this big problem I see happening with our new Southern Hemisphere fascist upon Bolsonaro’s election here: 

https://guyonclimate.com/2018/10/30/extreme-temperature-diary-october-30-2018-topic-the-case-against-right-wing-nationalism/

Let’s ponder these questions: What if no matter how much conservation or a shift to green energy by all countries willing to participate in the Paris Accords Brazil eventually kills off most of the Amazon? Let’s say that a new U.S. President during the 2020s restores Paris and rightfully leads the U.S. in a profound green effort but cannot prevent Bolsonaro from logging or settling to death the Amazon because of special interests, what then? What might Europe, Australia or even China do? Does Brazil become the next pariah state like Iran or North Korea? What can be done internally in Brazil to prevent a holocaust…not of people but of trees, which over the next couple of centuries probably would be suicidal for the planet? Can Bolsonaro be reasoned with despite appearing to be another Trump…perhaps worse?

So all, I know that most have turned their attention to the internal environmental politics within the U.S. and Europe in present day 2018, but none of that will matter, and I mean none, if the Amazon get’s harmed irreparably. Please drop me notes if you have concrete suggestions for dealing with Bolsonaro. The old Climate Guy is your Lorax today.😉

 

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Thankfully the California fires are slowly being contained as of this writing, so that is why today I have moved onto another subject. Below I am posting more news on the California fires as well as other weather and climate news: 

(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity.)

This is an interesting thread. Should fire warnings be treated like tornado warnings? Click on the link to check out the discussion:

 

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The Climate Guy

 

 

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