Climate Lynx

When I write or speak to children about their climate predicament, I tell them these things: 1.      Climate Change is solvable. 2.      You, our youngest generation, have a problem. Even if you are old enough to vote, you are still outnumbered by us old people. 3.      The good news is there is no law prohibiting you from educating parents, grandparents, or any other adult.   Climate change is a threat to your future. You have the moral high ground. You can ask anyone to be attentive to your argument about climate change. 4.      Your knowledge, although supported by the best science in the world, will not be easily accepted by us old folks. After all, we know it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks. Be patient, I advise, you have 97% of all climate scientists and nearly every science organization on earth working to make your future promising.   You are not alone and the momentum is wit...

  Four and a half years ago, while listening to the Republican primaries, I predicted Donald Trump would be the next president of the US. He would, I said, win the nomination and from his Republican perch, exploit our natural tribal differences and turn those differences into hateful racial divisions. Additionally, with his indefensible proclamation, “Climate Change is a Hoax”, he was appealing to our ignorance because we are predominantly science illiterate. Additionally, I felt, the greatest threat of him becoming president would not be the damage to our institutions he would inflict, (and he has inflicted grievous damage), but after his four-year term if he were to be legitimately beaten at the polls, (and he was legitimately beaten), he would be a threat to our democracy. On January 6 th, our cherished democracy had a near death experience. While all this has disappointed and angered me, none of the tragedy of the last four years was unforeseen. What was my plan afte...

Albedo is how reflective or how white something is. Fresh snow, on natures list of white things, ranks at the top. The term, when talking about climate change, is used occasionally but I have a tough time remembering it. I must run through a few experiences, and chuckle, before I can start a serious conversation on the climate implications of less snow and ice, in other words, our loss of albedo. One personal episode always pops into my head when I think of albedo. It occurred just after finishing a job in Morocco. I was on a train opposite a couple of well-tanned German gals returning home from a beach holiday. Their English was perfect, so we chatted easily. One of the girls told me about an experience on the beach when something bright caught her eye about a kilometer away. It was getting closer and so bright white she said she had to squint her eyes in pain. The object, she said, was an Englishman! Their Teutonic sense of humor appealed to me and I joined in their laughter. S...

I am writing with my headlamp on at a picnic table at my campsite in Custer, Wi. This weekend I took in the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair that is the combined celebration and information dissemination shindig put on by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. (MREA) This was their 30 th celebration.   What started as a gathering of off the grid hippies is now a world-renowned organization actively interacting with and is to a large extent the organization that has made solar power reliable, affordable and the natural choice of citizens who want to be environmentally responsible and independent. They are fully integrated with the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. (NABCEP) http:www.nabcep.org/. The old hippies are now experts who work hand and hand with scientists, engineers, and other professionals. Thanks, in no small part to this organization, solar and wind are not only the most responsible forms of energy but are now the least expensive and safest for...

This year, just as the climate convention class of 2020 was winding down, a guest who has always been invited but who had never attended before, paid a surprise visit.   The doors to the convention center opened with a gust of windblown snow. The attendees lively chatter abruptly ceased.   They turned to the entrances to witness green, blue, and pink waves of color enter the building in waves of undulating florescent curtains. The northern lights had arrived and lit the hall. Along the floor ran a silver white fluffy arctic fox who leapt onto the stage as flocks of the northern birds, chatty chickadees, flitted by chattering a greeting. White silent fliers, the arctic owls soared inches above the guest’s heads. Dumbfounded and a bit startled the audience turned its attention to the doors in apprehension of what might appear next. A Lady and a gentleman strode in. He appeared to be dressed in a simple lab coat. She, on the other hand, wore a brilliant white mink overcoat...