Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Meditation about Empathy on a Dying World, by Kenn Orphan

Image by Tanya Hart via Flickr

by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
March 29, 2023

Recently, I’ve been listening to The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy, by American composer Christopher Tin. [Video below] It is an arrangement based on the poems of Emily Dickinson, Sara Teasdale, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Christina Rossetti. It is sung beautifully by Voces8 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Tin composed this marvelous arrangement as a memorial to various bird species that have been driven to extinction by habit loss, pollution and encroachment. The pieces soar and dive in a powerful rollercoaster of emotion, especially when one has been a student of extinction for as long as I have.

The IPCC’s “Final Warning,” by Andy Worthington

Image by Matt Hrkac via Flickr

by Andy Worthington
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Andy Worthington’s website, Mar. 22, 2023
March 25, 2023

On Monday, the frenetic gossipy world of nonsense and distraction that, rather sadly and shamefully, constitutes most of what passes for news and culture these days paused for a moment to reflect upon the publication of the most significant document that will be published this year — the latest climate change report prepared by the climate scientists of the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the United Nations body founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide “regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.”

Ralph Nader and Dahr Jamail: We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth

By Ernest Smith via Wikipedia, Public Domain, Link

Dandelion Salad
March 13, 2023

with Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader Radio Hour on Mar 11, 2023

In a jam-packed program full of abundant insight, Ralph first welcomes back Dahr Jamail to discuss his work We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth about what we can learn from indigenous people who have survived incredible disruptions to the climate to their families and to their way of life.

Behind California’s Extreme Weather Emergency, by Scott Scheffer

Image by CAL FIRE Official via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Scott Scheffer
Struggle ★ La Lucha, Mar. 6, 2023
March 7, 2023

March 3 — While the giant U.S. energy corporations and banks seek out every way to profit from the climate change emergency that they inflicted on the world, extreme weather events are becoming the new normal.

Jodi Dean: A Proposal to Save the Climate: Decommodify, Decolonize and Decarbonize the Country

Image by Break Free via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
February 18, 2023

BreakThrough News on Jan 13, 2023

After years of catastrophic droughts, deadly storms have put 90% of Californians under flood watch. The torrential rainstorms in the state have created deadly flooding and mudslides that have killed 17 and left hundreds of thousands without power. The flooding in California, along with the deadly winter storm that ravaged much of the US through Christmas, is part of the long-predicted impacts of climate change.

The World Bank — Underneath The Rhetoric, The Usual Right-Wing Prescriptions, by Pete Dolack

Image by Joe Brusky via Flickr

by Pete Dolack
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Systemic Disorder, Feb. 1, 2023
February 4, 2023

Every so often, the World Bank puts out a paper that calls for better social protection or at least a somewhat better deal for working people. The public relations people there evidently believe we have very short memories.

Larry Wilkerson and Paul Jay: US Navy Puts Climate Change at Top of Threat List

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

theAnalysis-news on Jan 24, 2023

Larry Wilkerson reports on a webinar where the U.S. Navy described climate change as an existential risk. Will the civilian leadership finally take urgent action?

Kill Capitalism Before It Kills Us, by Paul Street

Image by Infinite Ache via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Paul Street Report, Jan. 24, 2023
January 26, 2023

“It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and then of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism.” — Fredric Jameson, The Seeds of Time, 1994

Exxon Got Rich. We Got Played, by Rivera Sun

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 21, 2023

When I was a teenager, I knew global warming was caused by fossil fuels. So did Exxon.

Nuclear Fusion Hype: A Boost For U.S. Armaments, Not Clean Energy, by Scott Scheffer

Image by Duncan Rawlinson – Duncan.co via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Scott Scheffer
Struggle ★ La Lucha, Jan. 7, 2023
January 8, 2023

Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, led a press event on Dec. 13 to announce a major scientific breakthrough at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Human and Environmental Rights Come With Mutual Responsibilities, by David Gallup

Image by Friends of the Earth International via Flickr

by David Gallup
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 19, 2022

If we want a world where our human and environmental rights are elevated, we must place as much importance on our responsibilities to humanity and the planet as we put on our rights.

Beyond Razor Wire: A Connected Planet, by Robert C. Koehler + American Scar: The Environmental Tragedy of the Border Wall

Image by Ignatian Solidarity Network via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 17, 2022

“Ducey insists Arizona holds sole or shared jurisdiction over the 60-foot strip the containers rest on and has a constitutional right to protect residents from ‘imminent danger of criminal and humanitarian crises.’”

The Powell Memo Revisited, by Brad Wolf

Image by Joe Flood via Flickr

by Brad Wolf
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 12, 2022

Justice, it seems, is hard to find. Thousands of grassroots organizations across the country seek justice for their concerns. In the US, some 13,785 nonprofits work for civil rights and social justice. Organizations focused on international justice such as peace, refugees, and international aid number 23,532. There are 27,402 environmental groups.

Lula Da Silva’s Election Is A Victory For The World, by Derek Royden

Image by Oliver Kornblihtt via Mídia NINJA via Flickr

by Derek Royden
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 28, 2022

On October 30th, Brazilians voted in a presidential runoff election that was won by Luiz ‘Lula’ Ignacio Da Silva. It was a victory by the narrowest of margins, although in fairness, the president elect’s opponent had the clear support of the federal highway patrol, which reportedly set hundreds of roadblocks in areas of the country that had supported the former president in the first round of voting.

COP27 Continues the Climate Summit Ritual of Words Without Action, by Pete Dolack

Image by Tim Dennell via Flickr

by Pete Dolack
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Systemic Disorder, Nov. 23, 2022
November 26, 2022

This has become, sadly, a yearly ritual by now. The world’s governments gather together to discuss what should be done about global warming, and finish their time together by issuing statements of concern while doing little concrete to actually solve the problem. And so it is with COP27.