climate denialism Archives - Macska Moksha Press

How We Are All Climate Change Deniers

June 22, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

*Cartoon by Ken Avidor. More of his work can be found at Bicyclopolis*

Recent polls have shown that the number of US citizens who believe in climate change is rising (see here, here, and here). These numbers have been hailed as positive—even as “a new era of public concern about climate change”—and they are positive, as far as such things go (with US Americans ranking 3rd in the world for climate change denial). They reflect media coverage of extreme climate events all over the world and the well-publicized predictions of respected organizations that are projecting disaster within thirty, twelve, or even five years. However, it’s also true that these percentages go up and down over time and that once current storylines run their course—and summer is over in the northern hemisphere—the rise in numbers will prove to be soft.

But “soft” is also how we could describe belief in climate change in the US in general. Regardless of claims made to pollsters, virtually all of us—both socially (which is increasingly online) and to ourselves (more importantly)—are actually climate change deniers when the rubber hits the road.

An apt expression, we might say, since we all need to stop driving.

That wasn’t intentional, but yes, let’s start there.

The Troubles of “Invasive” Plants – zine

January 16, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

“On the topic of so-called ‘invasive’ plants, we don’t have an axe to grind, but there sure is one we would like to dull.”

“The Troubles of ‘Invasive’ Plants” is a 21,000+ word project by Nicole Patrice Hill & Kollibri terre Sonnenblume for Macska Moksha Press. Excerpts are posted online (see below), but the full version is available only as a zine that you can download here free-of-charge.

Hardcopies are for sale here.

The Scarlet “I”: Climate change, “invasive” plants & our culture of domination

January 16, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

This is part three of a three part series. Read part one & part two. The full series, along with additional material, is available as a zine, here.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) [Photo by KtS]

By Nicole Patrice Hill & Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Changing plant communities at the local scale are symptomatic of the changing climate globally. Patterns of temperature, precipitation and seasonal timing are shifting, and with them, the patterns of birth, growth, reproduction—and survival—of all living creatures.

One widely observed syndrome is “season creep,” in which Spring has been arriving progressively earlier in the calendar year. This does not mean that every Spring starts sooner than the year before, but that an overall trend has been observed. For example, a survey of leafing, flowering and fruiting records from 1971-2000 for 542 plant species in 21 European Union countries showed advanced timing for 78% of the plants. According to other sources, “Spring events, such as blooming, frog breeding and migrant bird arrivals, have advanced 2.3 days per decade.” Winter snow cover duration—as measured from Fall to Spring—has decreased throughout the Northern Hemisphere since 1978. The earlier the snow melts, the less water is available during the hot summer, which affects a wide range of plants, animals and other life.

Winters have been warming. For example, the average February maximum temperature in the US rose by 0.3 F per decade from 1895-2016. This general rise in the “floor” has been accompanied by an increase in “extreme” events, such as “false Springs” when temperatures warm up enough to trigger life cycle stages in a variety of species. When more “normal” weather arrives later—or another extreme event follows, but this time on the cold side—a plant can be injured or even killed. A common example is when a hot spell causes fruit trees to flower, and then a frost—even just a “normal” one—zaps the flowers, thereby taking out that year’s harvest.

When we were farmers, we experienced how extreme events affect crops. In the Spring of 2013, periods of warmer-than-average weather alternated with periods of colder-than-average weather a few times, and the transitions between them were quick, as in 36 hours. Spring greens thriving in “normal” cool temperatures would go to flower prematurely when the temperature rapidly heated up. Then, warm weather crops would stall out when the temps fell. Annual vegetable plants don’t do well with such erratic conditions and we watched helplessly as our failure rate climbed.

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