I haven’t added a new post to my blog since my sister passed away almost 6 months ago, but sadness fades and life continues. You either keep moving on or you stop, like a static image with the world continuing to play around you. Maybe I was stopped for a little while. Maybe my voice just went silent for a time. But I am back, and I have things to say about science, climate, and what’s happening in Australia.

Climate change doesn’t happen over night. It’s slow and subtle, only showing little signs here and there along the way to make its presence known to those who are paying attention: scientists.

The people who enjoy their ways of life and who have no wish to sacrifice their comfort (even if it’s only modest comfort in some cases) laugh and call climate change a sham or a joke. They make fun of the people who are trying to show us how the pieces of the puzzle fit together because they refuse to see the whole picture all at once. Seeing that whole image all at once would be devastating to their self worth, their identity, their way of life, and (for some) their bank accounts.

Source: Robert Schlegel, Ocean Frontier Institute
(borrowed from the Washington Post article.)

This is our planet. We only have one. It is a glorious and wonderful place, and to pollute it and treat it like a giant garbage can is repulsive. We need more sustainable energy, we need more recycling, we need more renewable resources, and we need to get off of our asses and act like the sentient, intelligent, and responsible creatures that we are and take care of our planet.

This article “On land, Australia’s rising heat is ‘apocalyptic.’ In the ocean, it’s worse,” by Darryl Fears at the Washington Post, does a good job of sharing some of the oceanic changes that have been taking place well before the Australian fires began and puts into perspective what live in Australia is like rightnow. The land may be on fire, but so is the ocean. For the creatures living in the sea, the 2 degree temperature rise is like living in an inferno, and we all know that’s just not possible.

You can read a certain number of Washington Post articles for free each month. I recommend reading this one: “On land, Australia’s rising heat is ‘apocalyptic.’ In the ocean, it’s worse,” by Darryl Fears.