Global Warming, an Update Global Warming, (An Update) Yes, I know we’ve almost worn out the phrase, and it’s fashionable to say climate change. But what in hell is climate change? What we have is a planet, which is actually warming. Now that is an absolute fact, and this year is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history. You would think, with the extreme climate changes, the predicted consequences, and our advanced technology, every country in the world would be gearing up to reverse the trend, and they are...except one…the USA. That’s right and the current powers that be, out of a 100+ countries on the planet, are the only one denying global warming. They’re calling it a hoax just like the Covid-19. Well, how is that working out? I’m writing this column because it is becoming obvious the predictions that extreme weather, which would result as the Earth’s temperature increase, is not only coming to pass, but it is accelerating. The extreme weather that was predicted to happen starting ten years from now is already pounding us. If you live in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and you look at the rubble from two hurricanes, you understand what the future of the entire Gulf Coast of the United States is going to look like in a decade or so. I don’t think I need to tell you that this year was a record hurricane season, and as the waters of the Gulf continue to heat, next year and the year after that will result in more and stronger hurricanes. How long will it be until a large percentage of the Gulf Coast becomes uninhabitable? Am I being an alarmist? Why don’t you ask the folks living in Lake Charles how many more hurricanes will it take before the town is abandoned? Of course, as the waters of the Gulf continue to heat, Category 4 and 5 storms will be the norm. El Dorado had two tropical storms this year. Guess what? We’re having weather very similar to a sub-tropical climate, and that’s not just tropical storms. Just look back at the summer weather we had this year. Those July and August rains, which moved north from the Gulf weren’t anything like our typical south Arkansas weather. Those were waves of heavily, moisture-laden sub-tropical clouds. Check out Houston if you want to get a real feel for the coming sub-tropics. One hundred year rainfalls are now becoming commonplace. If the Earth’s temperature continues to increase and the polar ice caps thaw, which is already happening at an astonishing rate, these massive hurricanes will be accompanied by a rise in sea level that will swamp the towns along the Gulf Coast until only the very largest cities, with the resources to construct massive coastal barriers will be able to survive. The inhabitants of the smaller towns will be forced to evacuate and the Gulf of Mexico will encroach 10 to 15 miles inland. How long have we got to stop this from happening? A few years back we were looking at 25 + years, but now? If the current increases in temperature continues and the storm intensity follows, we may see a new Gulf shoreline as much as five to ten miles inland within the next 15 years. That scenario will make the current pandemic look like a Sunday School Picnic. Some called the pandemic a hoax and 400,000 Americans will eventually die. How many worldwide lives will be lost as severe weather and drought sweeps across the continents? But don’t think just the Gulf Coast is going to get hammered. During the past year extreme weather has produced tornadoes in sections of the country where they were unheard of. Of course, the West Coast wildfires, which were caused by extreme drought conditions, burned a record amount of land, and as those weather conditions continue, the threat of wildfires will increase. Yes, the West Coast droughts and accompanying wildfires are a result of global warming. But as severe as the hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires are, they pale with the consequences of a 4 to 6 foot rise in sea level. The number of worldwide towns and cities that are at or actually below sea level is staggering. It will be impossible to even consider protecting all of the inhabited coastal land around the world, which will be threatened by a rise in sea level. A few major cities will have the resources to keep from being swamped by rising sea level, but a large majority of inhabited coastline towns will simply be allowed to submerge below the rising waters. Yes, the consequences of inaction on global warming are horrific. However, it has become a so called mantra of some politicians to deny that global warming is occurring. It seems as if we are having to start the learning curve all over again as we have with the pandemic. But what is different, is that the pandemic will run its course, and in a year or so we will have a vaccine or herd immunity, and we will be through with it. But that is not the way global warming works. If we allow the continuing heating of our planet’s atmosphere, it will reach a point where the quality of life on our planet will be tenuous for several billion inhabitants of Earth. Unless our country not only joins the rest of the world to try and reverse global warming, but actively takes a leading role, the prospects for a severe reduction in the quality of life for billions of our planet’s future population is grim. We must attack global warming with the same intensity as we would a major threat such as a World War. So why are we dragging our feet? Actually, it’s not just foot dragging but, we are actively opposing the curtailment of activities, which would slow or stop global warming. I know, with the current avalanche of facts about hurricanes, droughts, and rising sea level, that’s hard to believe. But it is happening. Of course there is a reason, and in our capitalistic society, sometimes the desire to make money without considering the consequences, dominates everything, and the desire to just make money now and forget about future generations dominates the goal to stop global warming. Yes, it is all about the greed to make money now and to hell with the future. It’s the same concept as the slash and burn of the vast, east Arkansas old growth forests that took place late 1800s. The United States, who led the world to stamp out fascism, must take the lead again. Unless our country assumes the mantle of leadership and leads the way to reverse global warming, we will be dooming our great grandchildren to live in a vastly inferior world. Surely, we can put aside petty, political rhetoric, and once again lead a worldwide coalition to combat the greatest threat to mankind in recorded history. If we care about future generations every person should become actively involved. Only then can we reverse what seem to be an inevitable severe reduction in the quality of life for Earth’s future inhabitants.

Tread Softly on the Blue Planet-------Tread Softly on the Blue Planet Have you ever sat down in a symphony hall and when the orchestra rose to full volume on an especially moving piece, marveled at the blend of instruments that could produce such an overwhelming sound? I guess you could say the same thing about the rock group The Grateful Dead. Now, consider removing the violins from the symphony, or the bass guitar from The Grateful Dead. The sound is not the same is it? When an integral part of any band or symphony is missing, the music suffers. I believe life on the blue planet, we call Earth, mirrors a symphony orchestra. John Muir wrote that "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." John Muir's perception certainly makes a person consider the consequences when we intervene in nature to remove a species, or when we alter our environment to the point where whole ecosystems perish. Now, I know this seems to be an abstract something, which you might nod your head in agreement. But let's get right down to our backyards. Does this concept alter our daily life or activities? For a moment, think about your reactions to nature. Here is a fairly extreme example of what I mean. A few months back, I walked out on my backyard deck. It was one of those first really warm summer days. Birds were everywhere, squirrels in the trees, and then I saw it. Out from under our large backyard deck came a big copperhead snake, almost two feet long. Now what would be your reaction? Get the hoe? Get the gun? Kill that snake? When I grew up on a small South Arkansas farm that would have been the automatic reaction. In fact, anything that could be a threat to anybody was automatically killed. And on top of that, anything that posed even a remote threat to our crops, livestock or property was killed. That thought process in the past gave us an open season on everything from snakes to chicken hawks to beaver to sparrows, and of course in previous years the State Game and Fish Commission had put bounties on wolves, cougars, and bobcats. I’m sorry to say that mentality, which prevails even to this day, has resulted in a wholesale destruction of hundreds of species simply because we view them as a perceived threat to us. They are considered undesirable wildlife. Well, are we actually threatened by wildlife? When was the last time you heard of anybody being killed by snakebite, or how many chickens have you ever seen snared by a "chicken" hawk? I lived on a farm covered up with chickens for years, and I never saw a hawk take even one chicken. But what are your odds of being killed by snakebite, cougars, bears, or any other creature? I dare say, the odds are better of you being struck by lightning, dying from an ingrown toenail, or being killed by a cow. So, what should be our reaction to the parts of nature we consider as undesirable? Of course that requires us to classify every part of nature as either desirable or undesirable. Where do you start and where do you stop. How about the snakes, coyotes, sparrows, hawks, wolves, beaver, armadillos, and you could go on and on. But while we are classifying shouldn’t we consider how removing them degrades the blue planet? Well, let’s go back to my backyard deck again. I watched the copperhead snake slowly moved through the azaleas, and as I watched it for another five minutes, it slowly worked its way around the deck, and then disappeared into some leaves. I would imagine I'll see not only this one, but several small copperheads around the deck this fall, and from the looks of it, I probably have an active copperhead den right in my backyard. I may get bitten, but I doubt it. I don't know exactly what part copperheads play in the harmony of nature, maybe they hold down the toad frog population. I don't know, but I have become convinced they deserve to live just as much as those beautiful bluebirds who nest in my bluebird box. But copperhead snakes are just a part of what you might call my snaky backyard. A big brown water snake has a den beside our patio, just adjacent to my backyard pond, and this spring it birthed several little ones. In our front yard I frequently see garter snakes and green snakes, and in the pond right off our deck, I would venture a guess that I have a water moccasin or two. I’m faced with the choice, how can I arbitrarily try to promote the well-being of one part of our environment, while I destroy another part? But should I have killed the copperhead? I’m sure a goodly number of my readers will say “Hell, yes!” Of course a copperhead is a threat, but should we kill all the pit bulldogs? More people are killed by pit-bulls than by copperheads. Tough questions. Now back to the farm for a moment. When I was eight years old, my Dad placed a bolt action 20 gauge shotgun in my hands. His words of advice still ring clear. "Don't shoot anything you're not going to eat." Back then we supplemented many of our meals with game I killed and fish I caught. We even ate possum, coon, and armadillo. I guess this concept still drives my hunting and fishing. I can't imagine shooting a duck and not retrieving it, or catching a stringer full of fish and not dressing them. And today, I can't imagine shooting a hawk or killing a snake or killing anything I'm not going to eat. This concept makes me oppose trapping beaver. Not because trapping is wrong, but because the beaver are being killed and just thrown away because the dams they build may kill a few acres of scraggly timber. On top of that, about 1/3 of the catch in beaver traps are otter. Again, just killed and thrown away. And the much maligned coyotes? Well, send a few more my way, the coons, possum and armadillo are overrunning my place. I'm in the city limits, so if nature doesn't control itself, we are going to be knee deep in whatever can adapt to the scraps of habitat we have left them. So the next time you set up a bug zapper, which by the way doesn't attract the mosquitos that bite you, think about the harmony of nature. Wouldn't the addition of a birdhouse for fifty purple martins to eat those mosquitoes make for more harmony than the sizzle of a bug zapper? Yes, I want the woods to be diverse, and if that means adding a little discomfort and danger, so be it. In life, I have always found that the more varied and diverse life becomes, the more meaningful it is. Our blue planet is rich and wonderfully crafted, and if we want the best life possible we should tread softly on its surface, and put away forever the slash, burn, and kill mentality of another generation.

KICKING THE PANDEMIC’S ASS Since the Pandemic is hogging the news lately, I thought I might as well give you my 2 cents worth. Just to start things off, let me just say this, “I hate wearing a bloody mask!” (If you’re British, you get my point.) But I’m wearing one, because I’m more afraid of ventilators than being a little uncomfortable. Actually, I know, I’m deathly allergic to ventilators. But stupid masks are just the tip of why I hate about the pandemic; I’m bored! I want to eat at Galitories in New Orleans so badly I can taste it, but since Louisiana is Coronavirus Central, and the good old USA is leading the world in Coronavirus deaths, I think heading to New Orleans would be like a death wish. Yes, we’re trapped like rats in a house full of cats, and we’re trying to dodge the ones we call Covid-19, but we’re doing a terrible job of dodging them, and when we get a runny nose, we panic, take our temperature, and wonder if that tiny, sore throat is drainage, or horrors—the Coronavirus! But I’m just getting started; and if you have a few more minutes hear me out. If I had to rank things the virus has stopped me from doing; going to Church, teaching Sunday School, and singing in the Choir would top the list. I know I could show up masked, sit on an empty row, and try to sing through a stupid mask, but my attitude would be so bad, I think Jesus would give the virus. So I’m not going to church until two weeks after I get the vaccine shot. Oh, would I take the virus vaccine shot? Hell, yes! I would take the Russian one or the Chinese nose spray, or the one they gave the six monkeys, in a New York minute. But do we actually have a problem? Or is the Coronavirus just a hoax? And are the only ones who die are the very elderly with serious preexisting illnesses? Yes, we sure do have a damn problem. It’s not a hoax, and the +200,000 dead Americans weren’t all old timers! But this problem is not just an American one. It is a worldwide one. We know it started in China, spread to Europe and Asia, and then to the USA. We had more time to prepare than any other part of the world. How was our preparation? We started out by saying it was just another flu and then a hoax. And the result? So far the United States leads the world in cases and deaths. As the virus swept through Europe and headed our way, we knew it wouldn’t hop over the USA...and it didn’t. We are the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, and yet we are doing the worst job on Earth. That is just a fact measured by any criterion you want to use. We have a fraction of the number of people than the countries of China and India, but we have more cases and deaths. The job we are doing on a daily basis is beyond horrible. The governor of Florida has just announced the state is opening up. With virus cases in Florida still soaring that is unbelievable! Is the Governor trying to reduce the population? But it’s not just in Florida. We have churches telling their members masks are optional, and national political rallies, which thousands attend most without masks and no social distancing. We are saying in effect that another 200,000 deaths are okay. Before the virus is under control, just by the horrible job we are doing right now, another 200,000 Americans will possibly die. Do we give a damn that by the time we get a vaccine 400,000 Americans will have died? I guess we don’t, not by the way we’re responding. Now, let’s step on some toes, and to start with, if you aren’t wearing a stupid mask in public you are beyond dumb, especially if you are going to any large gathering. Of course, you can tell me it’s your constitutional right not to wear a mask, and you can go anywhere you want, and if it’s to a big motorcycle rally with 400,000 attendees, where it would be statistically impossible for some of the group not to have the virus, that’s your right! And if you go and catch the virus, come home, and visit your mother in a nursing home and give it to her, and she infects 50 residents of the nursing home and a dozen die. You’re saying, “Yes, as an American, I’m within my rights, and I don’t care how many people die.” Or as another bad example; the President just announced his pick for the Supreme Court to a large crowd of almost all unmasked folks sitting shoulder to shoulder. No wonder we’re leading the world in covid-19 deaths! Well, I don’t think going on and on about not being able to do things such as going on a vacation, taking in a movie, or just having a Welcome to Fall party for 25 of my friends accomplishes anything, because we’re all in the same boat, and I hope you are paddling the boat and not expecting others to get you across the pandemic. Yes, there are a lot of y’all who aren’t paddling, and I guess the teens and twenties folks, who think they are bulletproof, are the biggest problems. But it’s just not the younger folks who are causing the virus to spread like a California wildfire. Not on your life. But why are we doing such a terrible job? Don’t we know how to control the spread of the virus? Sure we do. There are numerous countries that have suppressed the virus, and have limited the number of deaths. All we had to do was follow their lead. Our European allies are aghast at the horrible job we’re doing. If we want to control the virus, we should follow the excellent job New Zealand is doing, or any of the European countries. (1) Nationwide mandatory masks when in public. (2) Prohibit the gathering of more than 25 individual and observe social distancing. (3) Enforcement of these rules with heavy mandatory fines. (4) Close the bars and casinos until the virus is completely under control. (5) Do massive testing, quarantines, and sanitizing. It all boils down to whether you give a damn. That’s as blunt as I can make it, and if you’re in public with no mask, you might as well write on your forehead, “I don’t give a damn if you die!” Now let’s give some grades, so here goes: as a National grade I would give our Country something below an F. On a State level, we’re at least, up to a D. However, the worst grades go to the ministers who say masks and social distancing are optional. These ministers know better. How can a Christian not wear a mask? If you are a Christian and don’t wear a mask you break Jesus’s “love your neighbor as yourself” command. Yes, for you non-masked individuals that’s a bitter pill to swallow.