The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary 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).😉
Main Topic: Personal Climate Crisis Thoughts Because of My Bout with Sepsis
Dear Diary. For the first time since I started this blog in 2017, I had a very prolonged absence from making posts due to a health crisis. As a paraplegic I am susceptible to urinary tract infections. My most recent bout with a UTI caused blood poisoning known as sepsis, which is life threatening and requires high powered antibiotics administered intravenously at a hospital to get well. After barely managing to call 911 because of a high fever and lack of breath the night of March 29th, thoughts raced through my head about dying. I honestly thought that I had covid-19 since my caregiver had a mild case of it a week earlier. And yes, since I am a scientist, I have had all of my vaccinations for that disease.
My stay at Emory Hospital here in Atlanta went well, and every staff member there was kind and professional. I’d like to thank one Dr. Asker for pulling me through the first few days of fighting sepsis after it was first diagnosed. I did get very weak, so after my hospital stay was over around April 12th, I was moved to Pruitt Rehab Center where their staff was helpful getting me back to near my strength level before I got sick. I came back home on April 22nd. Currently I am searching for a good anti-UTI supplement. If you know of one, I am all ears!
During this time of sickness and weakness many thoughts went through my head. Have I contributed enough to help the planet and humanity? I have had a carbon footprint during my lifetime. Was that footprint offset by my efforts? I never was one of the big players on climate with a PHD, but I have had some influence on the science due to my record temperature work. My World of Thermo climate and weather books have delighted some kids and parents, but they have not become popular or widespread among the populace, at least not yet.
After leaving The Weather Channel in 2014 and my attempted suicide in 2015, which left me in a paraplegic state due to a forty foot fall off a train trestle bridge, I got the will to live and devoted the rest of my life to helping with the climate crisis. If that event had not happened, I don’t think that I would have mostly been confined to bed so that I had not much better to do than to write on climate. I strongly regret my jump, but I think that this twist of fate really led me to be a much better scientist and person.
This all might read as somewhat egotistical. I’m sure that every scientist has similar thoughts if they survive a near death experience. Nearly all of us have unfinished business when the Grim Reaper arrives. Truthfully, I know that after I’m long gone, I will be just a footnote in history, but a footnote’s worth of contribution is worth all of my efforts. Other more well known and smarter scientists should be satisfied that they are part of collective efforts to improve the state of humanity. I’ve witnessed quite a few changes for the better, particularly in the field of computer science, during my sixty-two years on this planet. We all think that we can do more, have regrets, and think we could have done things differently during a real health crisis. That is human. But as scientists we should take heart that we have tried to make life better for all. That goes for all of the statisticians, media personnel, and writers who report on science.
I am privileged to continue my work at least for a while longer. Thanks everyone for their concern for me during my absence. As Brad Friedman writes, I hope to continue to muckrake so that more people will turn away from the dark side of climate denial to the bright side of dealing head-to-head with the climate crisis in order for all of us to have a green sustainable future.
Here are more “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is more 2024 climatology:
Here is More Climate News from Thursday:
(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. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)