My Dog “Climate” Died, Almost.

Do you remember your first heartfelt loss? For me it was when my best buddy, our family dog Beven, died. He ran out, yelped, and fell over dead.

Last year, without doing any prior research, I went to Ashland to listen to retired Climate Scientist, Guy McPherson. Because I failed to do any research, I did not know that the professor is the same man who told Bill Nye the science guy, on a National Geographic program, that he felt most of our species would be dead by 2030. He is back out lecturing with a revised drop-dead date of 2025.  I was feeling a bit like I did when my buddy Beven keeled over.

I know enough not to buckle with each new bit of information but, just the same, when someone puts forth research and an opinion like Professor McPherson, it’s depressing. My climate dog looked dead.

Eventually, I called a knowledgeable Environmental Professor. She said, “Hey, out of 30,000 climate scientists, he is one of about nine doomsayers.” This cheered me, my dog, Climate, twitched and appeared to be breathing.

Then, I received a publication from the National Academies of Science titled, “Trajectories of Earth Systems in the Anthropocene. *” When I read the title I thought, “Can these eggheads write anything easy to read?” Despite the title, the 16 scientists referencing 88 studies, put together a readable text.

Our scientists say we must aggressively intervene. Maybe, we have a decade, perhaps two decades. It is a dire warning, but it does leave hope.  My dog opened his eyes, jumped up, and wagged his tail.

The report presses for more science but not just in technology. They challenge us, the citizen, to expand our knowledge of the, “social sciences, and humanities.” 

If I was to sum them up, I would say the scientists are challenging us to work together to find the courage to meet the threat.

The inevitable consequence of letting things slide is, they warn, “…conditions that would be inhospitable…”.

There are lots of things we can do to help. One is to support our scientists by attending a climate march.

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