Are you like us and enjoy watching Richard Attenborough‘s Planet Earth series? Recently Sue and I started rewatching Planet Earth II, which was first streamed in 2023. The documentary series is beautifully filmed and well worth watching, both seasons, but the second series continuously reminds us that we are en route to losing so much of our natural world.

In the first season, Attenborough admitted that for many years he was a skeptic about climate warming, but more recently, he has come to understand that our planet is facing an existential climate warming crisis. In fact, he says he believes that we might not have more than 20 years to deal with our climate catastrophe or suffer irreparable consequences.

The polar regions, which act as our planet’s air conditioner, are warming faster than other regions in the world. Ice cover reflects heat; water absorbs it; it really is as simple as that. Every year, because of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, more and more of the ice cover in both the Arctic and Antarctic is melting; and it may not be too long into the future before the Arctic Ocean is no longer frozen over in the winter. Greenland and the continent of Antartica are melting faster and faster each year as well. Ocean rising looks inevitable, threatening many American cities like New York, Norfolk, Miami, and New Orleans to mention only a few. Already many coastal cities flood after every rain, and a hurricane could completely inundate and decimate one or more of them.

As many of you know over the past decade we have enjoyed visiting San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where we were introduced to bird watching and the work of the Audubon Society of Mexico. You really never forget the first time you see a Vermillion Flycatcher sitting on a Saguaro cactus or a Caracara soaring in a Mexican blue sky. But even in San Miguel, these birds are less common because of overdevelopment and climate change.

When you visit your favorite park, do you ever think to yourself, “There don’t seem to be as many birds as there were when I was a child?” Well, it’s true. “The North American bird populatidon is down by 2.9 billion or 40% of all breeding adults, with devastating losses among birds in every biome. Forests alone have lost 1 billion birds. Grassland bird populations collectively have declined by 53%, or another 720 million birds.” You only need to be a frequent walker in your local city park or feed birds in your backyard to notice the decline. Pollinators and other insects are declining even worse.

Many governments world wide, though, continue to act like there is no climate change. Unfortunately, our government, after decades leading the fight to save the environment, has done a complete volte-face or reversal dealing with this issue. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill, now law, has placed our country totally in thrall to the fossil fuel industry. In addition to taking away health care and basic nutrition from millions of poor Americans, It threatens to destroy the small progress we have made in the last couple of decades dealing with climate change.

Over the last century the US government has subsidize the fossil industry to the tune of trillions of dollars, far more than what we have recently done for the green industry. This administration seeks to return to that old burn baby burn paradigm to the detriment of all of our futures. Why? What good, for example, does it do to cripple the EV industry here in America? If our car industry is not allowed and encouraged to compete with China in the manufacturing of EVs, the entire industry will die. The future of transportation is not with the gas combustion engine. China is about to eat our lunch.

I am at best a mediocre environmentalist and a half-assed recycler. I don’t think twice about booking a flight across country or to Europe or Latin America. Fortunately though we still have managed, almost without planning, to reduce our carbon footprint, at least in part. We live in a high-rise apartment in densely populated downtown Denver. For three or four years after we retired and moved to Denver, we did without a car, but during the pandemic we decided that with all of our medical appointments and grocery shopping, etc., we needed a car. We at first bought a hybrid, but after a couple of years passed it on to our daughter, Bryn.

Sue and I then bought a 2022 Chevy EV Bolt, but, being the astute bargainers we are, we didn’t get a subsidy or rebate. That didn’t matter. We just wanted a small electric car to get around town. Since buying it, we have spent about $80 a month to recharge it, but not another cent for upkeep or maintenance. And every time I drive it, I feel just a little bit better about helping the environment. EVs will not singlehandedly fix the climate crisis, nor are they for everyone, but in ten years, we and the rest of the world are going to be driving Chinese, Korean, or Japanese electric cars because the American automobile industry will be defunct or on its last legs, trying to sell gas burning cars that no one wants or needs .

By nature, I am an optimist and always have been throughout my life. I’ve always felt that life is good and that positive thinking is the best way to face life.  Fortunately, I have not suffered many tragedies or insurmountable setbacks, so it has been easy to remain optimistic.

More and more, faced with the political and cultural turmoil in our country, maintaining that optimism has become harder and harder. We are barely five months into the Trump presidency and it seems that the forces of autocracy, greed, and graft are riding high.

This week our imbecilic but powerful president has tried to normalize the presence of our military in American streets to maintain “law and order.”  Such actions by the English monarchy in the 18th century was one of the main reasons leading up to the American revolution. We wanted no king then, and we certainly don’t need one now.

Trump and his minions have complete control of the executive and legislative branches of the government, and we can only hope that the third branch, the judiciary will save us and the world, from this madness. This president and his MAGA minions are completely within their rights to enact laws that set forth their retrograde agenda.  (They won the election!) They can promulgate a budget that will bankrupt this country and make the superrich in this country even richer, while making the rest of us poorer and sicker.

One aspect of this complete takeover and decimation of our government which is most incomprehensible to me is the war on science and education–how can any 21st century educated person doubt and question the scientific method and the pursuit of knowledge in order to understand our world and what we have done to it over these last two hundred years of the Industrial Revolution.

All of this was brought to mind recently as I began reading a story in the New York Times about the Atlantic Hurricane season which began on June 1. We are completely unprepared for it because of the decimation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by DOGE–the so called Department of Government Efficiency.  Elon Much may be gone, but his henchmen and the damage that they have and will inflict on the government and the nation remains.

NOAA has lost more than twenty percent of its personnel, and the vast majority of that lose is made up of senior scientists and experienced  administrators.  Local offices around the country have been closed or have had to reduce their hours of operation for lack of budget and personnel.  This year, NOAA’s fleet of hurricane hunters are likely to be grounded or inoperable because of budget cuts rather than patrolling the storm clouds above the Atlantic and Gulf.

Twenty years ago, we had to wait for tropical storms to actually form before we could begin to study them and predict where they might strike and with what intensity.  But because of modern computers and science, coupled with experienced and talented administration and staffing, we can now predict with incredible accuracy the first indication, development, path, and intensity of hurricanes.

Explosively developing super storms used to happen only once a decade in the recent past, but because of climate warming, they are now almost a yearly occurrence, and they are inflicting an incredible amount of infrastructural damage, but because of accurate early warnings, storm death tolls are usually small. This could all change with the emasculation of NOAA and the National Hurricane Center, many more lives might be lost.

It is much the same story with our National Institutes of Science and Medicine. Researchers and scientists have been fired, retired or resigned.  Grants are not being dispersed to our major universities to study disease and epidemics–work that takes good minds, sound research, and dedication.  Thanks to the charlatans who now run these agencies, the American population has lost confidence in vaccines; we could see thousands of people die because of this, many of them children. Measles is one of the more virulent and deadly of diseases, but as a society we now seem to be saying—who cares? The parents of children who die from this an other childhood diseases will care.

And yet our biggest cultural worry is that a “trans girl”  might be allowed to compete in girl’s high school sports or use a woman’s bathroom. Is that really the most important issue of out times?

But back to the US soldiers and marines patrolling our streets. It now seems that this government only worries about “illegal aliens” in sanctuary cities; if they are working on farms or in the hotel and tourist industry, then they are OK.  This campaign against undocumented immigrants is madness.  We need these immigrants to take care of our old people and mind our children. We need them to build the millions of houses and apartments we so desperately lack. Who’s going to build and repair our roads, bridges and other infrastructure?

We don’t have to spend billions of dollars to round up peaceable, hard working, law-abiding people with storm troopers.  We can spend that money and effort on enacting better immigration laws and creating the administrative structures to deal with people who are seeking a chance to live and raise their children in a better place.

People who are willing to lie to the American people are in charge of our military and intelligence agencies, and it seems to me that they would be willing to go to war and certainly are willing to cozy up to the new Russian czar.

Our health infrastructure has been handed over to a man who doesn’t believe in science and is set to fire thousands of scientists and researchers whose jobs are to protect the health of our country and ensure that our food industry is not poisoning us.

Elon Musk and his band of bumblers is threatening the IRS, Social Security, and Medicare. Like so many other Americans, Sue and I depend on our social security checks along with my government pension to live, and when Musk calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme and closes local offices, you have to pay attention. How many poor people will lose their access to public health?

And talking about a government pension, I served in the military and worked for the government for more than thirty years, and the vast majority of people that I worked with were hard-working and dedicated public servants who took great deal pride in the job that they were doing. There is waste and fraud in the government, but this administration doesn’t seem to be looking for it in the most likely and obvious place–The Pentagon, now run by a former Fox News weekend host, who has no moral compass and lies to the American public and is willing to violate the law by holding meetings with no public records.

Public libraries and museums serve communities all over this country; why are we slashing their budgets and rescinding their community grants? Their share of the federal budget is minuscule, but what they do with it provides programs and services for thousands of communities that are life changing and enriching. How many children will not learn to read?

USAID has saved millions of lives throughout the world and made many friends for our country, but it is now totally decimated and emasculated, totaling ignoring all the good it has done over the last 80 years, again with an incredibly small amount of national resources. This week, Myanmar has been devastated by a horrendous earthquake which has claimed thousands and thousands of lives. In the past we would have been Johnny on the Spot with life saving services and outreach. The US response this week was to send three people…that will create a lot of friends for us. Meanwhile the Chinese are there and making sure that the international press covers their humanitarian outreach. How short-sighted!

Are we sure that the fossil fuel industry will look out for the environment and do no harm to our clean air and water? I’m not… I had much rather trust the now fired EPA scientists to do that job. Are we prepared to throw away all that has been done over the last 40 years? Climate change is real and will not stop just because we deny it. What kind of world do we want our children and grandchildren to inherit?

We can’t even visit a national park to escape the bad news because their gates are closed. Budgets and staffing have been slashed. Again a small piece of the national budget for an incalculable good, but that doesn’t seem to matter as long as we can get rid of a DEI program or two. Come on, I mean, who thinks the Smithsonian is corrupt or harboring satanic organizations?

Yesterday, the administration announced crippling tariffs on almost imports (except Russia!). It is overturning 80 years of international trade agreements that have made the US the leading economy of the world, and despite what the president and his lackeys say, tariffs are a tax that we will all have to pay! We are imposing tariffs on our friends and allies alike–how can that be right–I mean Canada; what is he thinking?

And how long will it take for our IRA funds to recover–so far we have lost 10% of its value.

I can go on…but you get the picture.

But I am also hopeful…

because we have patriots like Cory Booker who is willing to stand up to a president who wants to be our first king. Yesterday, he stood and spoke truth to the Senate and the country for 25 hours…breaking the record last set by a man who was defending our segregationist and racist past. I hope that I can follow his invocation and “cause some good trouble.”

The future of our democracy is in the balance.

Monday, January 20, Inaugural Day, was a cold winter’s day in Denver…and for our country an even colder and bleaker winter’s day.

As any of you who know Sue and me, we are dyed in the wool Democrats who were very disappointed in the outcome of the November election. America elected Donald Trump and returned him to the White House; it wasn’t a mandate, but it was decisive.

We had hoped that, despite the often divisive language in the campaign, that we would all be invited to work together to move this country forward in peace and prosperity, building an inclusive and more equitable future.

But we don’t feel invited or wanted. We hear no outreach or inclusion. The Episcopal Bishop of Washington speaks for us: “Have mercy on those who feel afraid.” All the immigrants who care for the young, old and sick or who cultivate and harvest our food or build and repair our homes and roads. All LGBT people. All people who believe that we can and should find a way to power our homes and cars, without destroying our natural world. Where is the outstretched hand for support and comfort? Is there room in America today of us? I despair but continue to hope.

As John Lennon said, “it’s time to love each other right now.”

Peace and love!

These past weeks since the first presidential election have been a tumultuous time for dyed in the wool Democrats like us. After watching the debate, where President Biden seemed lost and totally out of it, I remember Sue telling me that she had a knot in her gut and felt sick, both physically and mentally.

I was willing to give Joe more benefit of the doubt, saying to myself and anyone who would listen, that he was a good president and good man…but it was clear to many of the party leaders that he was not up to another term. Thankfully, he was given enough time to make the decision on his own to withdraw in favor of Kamala; a brave and selfless decision. Wow, what a ride it has been since then.

We loved the DNC; we joyfully watched the entire convention. Each night, especially for stalwarts like us, was well produced and interesting to watch, building to the final night. Hilary Clinton, Barack & Michelle Obama, Oprah, and Coach Walz all delighted and informed. Didn’t you love Gus Walz standing up and saying “That’s my Dad!” Kamala gave a perfectly crafted and delivered acceptance speech.

With 70 days to election, the polls have Kamala up by two to five points nationally and holding onto the Blue Wall (Pennsylvania, Michigan & Ohio.) Let’s hope it continues to look so hopeful.