Redefining hope in a world threatened by climate change » Yale Climate Connections

Here's what leading thinkers, writers, and educators say about how to keep going in troubled times.

Prerhaps you have read that The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom has decided to use the terms climate emergency, crisis or breakdown instead of climate change in its news stories; and global heating instead of global warming. As social and cultural circumstances alter, words and their power change their meanings and impact, and the public in the end may have to adapt by using new words.
Or sometimes we can try to refine or redefine old words to fit new circumstances. For instance, hope, which as verb and noun has long implied both desire and expectation: “I hope [desire] that we can solve the climate problem” or “I have little hope [don’t expect] that our civilization will survive this existential climate crisis.” But what happens when desire outstrips results, and then discouragement leads to hopelessness, despair, cynicism, paralysis? When hope starts to sound passive and empty?

Here, from some leading thinkers, writers, philosophers, and educators, are a few useful, maybe even inspiring, ways to rethink hope. Click on the links for more good words.

• Amory Lovins: “Many of us here stir and strive in the spirit of applied hope. We work to make the world better, not from some airy theoretical hope, but in the pragmatic and grounded conviction that starting with hope and acting out of hope can cultivate a different kind of world worth being hopeful about, reinforcing itself in a virtuous spiral. Applied hope is not about some vague, far-off future but is expressed and created moment by moment through our choices. … Applied hope is a deliberate choice of heart and head. … Applied hope requires fearlessness.”

Continue reading: Redefining hope in a world threatened by climate change » Yale Climate Connections

Jony Ive’s Fragmented Legacy: Unreliable, Unrepairable, Beautiful Gadgets

“If you’ve looked at computers, they look like garbage,” Steve Jobs said to a group in Aspen, Colorado, at the 1983 International Design Conference. Jobs built the world’s wealthiest corporation making computers look great alongside Jony Ive, Apple’s outgoing chief design officer. Jobs and Ive took inspiration from Dieter Rams, the legendary industrial designer renowned for functional and simple consumer products.

Photo by DAMS Library/Flickr.

Continue reading at: Jony Ive’s Fragmented Legacy: Unreliable, Unrepairable, Beautiful Gadgets

The last migration of the monarch butterflies? | Environmental Action

In the 1980s, about 4.5 million monarch butterflies wintered in California. This year? There were only about 30,000.
I grew up in the Bay Area in the 1990s—monarchs were an important part of my childhood. I want them to be a part of my children’s memories, too.
Seeing a monarch butterfly takes me right back to being a child. Monarchs flew to California every winter season.

The monarch butterflies overwintering in the sanctuary on the coast of Northern California 
I took many trips to monarch sanctuaries in Santa Cruz and Monterey with my classmates, where we learned about their lifecycle, epic migration, and even why they have their color (to warn potential predators that they are dangerous!).
But these butterflies are vanishing. We need all hands on deck if we’re going to save them. Alarmingly, the population of monarch butterflies that spent the winter in California was less than 0.5 percent of its historical size—and this year’s population was down by roughly 86 percent compared to 2017.
Continue reading at: The last migration of the monarch butterflies? | Environmental Action

Tesla YouTuber Bjørn Nyland breaks 24-hour electric car distance record — 2,781km - Electrek

A common refrain about electric cars is that they’re fine for city driving but can’t do road trips.  This has been disproven many times, and Tesla owners in particular have an easy time on road trips due to Tesla’s excellent Supercharger network.
But today we’ve seen yet another reason not to worry about the capability to take EVs on long trips, as Bjørn Nyland has managed to drive 2,781km (1,728mi) in 24 hours in a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD.  Nyland set this record on IONITY quick chargers in Germany because currently, that network is significantly faster than Tesla’s Superchargers.
The previous record was 2,644km, set last year in a Model 3 by German Horst Lüning. Lüning previously held the record before that with 2,424km in a Model S.
Nyland wanted to emphasize that this record could be done in “realistic” conditions, so there was no closed course and common road rules were followed.  The record was set in Germany, on the Autobahn, and was done at high speeds, around 170km/h (105mph) much of the time.


Continue reading at: Tesla YouTuber Bjørn Nyland breaks 24-hour electric car distance record — 2,781km - Electrek

Are parts of India becoming too hot for humans?

India, the Arabian peninsula and gulf states, SW USA all will become unbearable- and then it will get worse...

Intense heat waves have killed more than 100 people in India this summer and are predicted to worsen in coming years, creating a possible humanitarian crisis as large parts of the country potentially become too hot to be inhabitable.
Heat waves in India usually take place between March and July and abate once the monsoon rains arrive. But in recent years these hot spells have become more intense, more frequent and longer.

A mirage shimmers in New Delhi on June 10, 2019.
India is among the countries expected to be worst affected by the impacts of climate crisis, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that even if the world succeeds in cutting carbon emissions, limiting the predicted rise in average global temperatures, parts of India will become so hot they will test the limits of human survivability.

"The future of heat waves is looking worse even with significant mitigation of climate change, and much worse without mitigation," said Elfatih Eltahir, a professor of hydrology and climate at MIT.

Continue reading at: Are parts of India becoming too hot for humans?

You could be ingesting a teaspoon of microplastic every week, study finds - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A new study has found that the global average of microplastic ingestion could be as high as five grams a week per person, which is the equivalent of eating a teaspoon of plastic — or a credit card — every week.
The study was commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and carried out by the microplastics research team at Australia's University of Newcastle.
It collated the findings of 50 international research papers in an attempt to provide an accurate calculation of ingestion rates.

PHOTO: WWF says since 2000 the world has produced as much plastic as all the preceding years combined. (Supplied: University of Newcastle, Maddison Carbery)
Continue reading at: You could be ingesting a teaspoon of microplastic every week, study finds - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Alaska sees record temperatures in heatwave

The US state of Alaska, part of which lies inside the Arctic Circle, is sweltering under a heatwave, with record temperatures recorded in several areas, including its largest city.
Temperatures reached 90F (32C) in Anchorage on Thursday, shattering the city's previous record of 85F.
Several other places in southern Alaska also set all-time or daily records.
Experts say the unusual weather has been caused by a "heat dome" over the southern part of the state.

The high pressure system is expected to move north next week.
Continue reading: Alaska sees record temperatures in heatwave