JeffreyTheCatAug 21, 2023
George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽

While Baja and Southern California receive torrential rain, a 100 year drought snarls traffic, with 200 cargo ships waiting to pass, through the Panama Canal because there’s not enough fresh water to fill the channel from freshwater lakes.

Climate change will affect us in ways we can’t imagine. We must end fossil fuel subsidies and new drilling now.

Aug 20, 2023 at 3:37pmWeb
Show threadTHIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVEDAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei but George, everything is fine #climatechange
Show threadUrsidinoj/The BjornsdottirsAug 20, 2023
@noplasticshower sarcasm isn't really so well taken in these contexts.
Show threadGambit (he/him)Aug 20, 2023
@noplasticshower @georgetakei didn’t you hear? It’s all part of the liberal agenda!
Show threadDavid BramianAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei also, animal agriculture subsidies and private jets. And also we need to use the Department of Defense budget to build green infrastructure worldwide. Otherwise we're all dead
Show threadChris StefanAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei
Show threadgluttoAug 20, 2023
@cstefan206 @georgetakei
..but for a brief moment in time immense shareholder value was created.
Show threadRichard R LeeAug 20, 2023

#ClimateApocalypse.

@georgetakei

Show threadMikeAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei Uncle George, we are in positive feedback loop. We need to survive what is coming, as there is no longer a way to prevent it. This is science, not defeatism. Stopping fossil fuel use will help, not stop this. Our best best to save what we have, convert now, ride it out and maintain a future for our children.
Show threadDagnabbit, Pascaline! 💥Aug 20, 2023
@georgetakei The 'fill the channel from freshwater lakes' is also so sad. Freshwater, direly needed on land. Humans really messed things up 😟
Show threadFloAug 20, 2023
@pascaline @georgetakei I would have also expected them to fill that channel with ocean water. So they pump in fresh water, which then ends up in the ocean? 🤯
Show threadDennisAug 20, 2023

@Flo_Rian @pascaline @georgetakei all freshwater ends up in the ocean. The canal is fresh water above the locks because it used natural rivers wherever it can. We wouldn't want to pump saltwater into the freshwater system and harm the ecosystem even more.

Plus the mixing of the gulf of Mexico and the pacific ocean ecologies wild do significant damage to both.

Show threadDagnabbit, Pascaline! 💥Aug 20, 2023

@Shadowfalx
No, of course not, but we need the water on land with the droughts so prominently damaging the land. Rivers being forced into canals and locks is so often a bad idea. Plus it often means some location hog the water, depriving other regions to make use of the river water.

@Flo_Rian @georgetakei

Show threadDennisAug 20, 2023
@pascaline @Flo_Rian @georgetakei yes, many canals can be problematic, but in this case the fact is the canal is very old and very much needed for today's interconnected world. We would produce more greenhouse gasses by not having an interconnected world. The fact remains that the drought is bad, but even without using the canal we wouldn't be in much of a different drought. The river water goes to the ocean, we just created dams to build lakes and a way to connect through the continental divide
Show threadgavinisdie Aug 20, 2023
@georgetakei but the slow and terrifying end of humanity is profitable -👴🏻💰
Show threadMaggieAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei An article in Nature magazine on how climate scientists are dealing with grief inspired me to revisit my personal discovery of the importance of imagination in education and our lives. "IMAGINATION SAVES" Medium link in the Mastodon.social post below.
https://mastodon.social/@maggiewashburne/110922841794596926
Show threadLinzaAug 20, 2023
@maggiewashburne @georgetakei I guess you were talking about Kimberly R. Miner's column? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02619-0
I’m a climate scientist. Here’s how I’m handling climate grief

Researchers must find personal ways to cope with impending losses — one way is by taking small solutions-oriented actions, says Kimberley R. Miner.

Show threadMaggieAug 20, 2023
@Linza @georgetakei Yes, it was cited in the essay. Thanks for clarifying. Empathy is incredibly important for solving problems.
Show threadViolette ValentineAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei I told teachers and classmates when I was in 3rd grade that we need to fix the planet now, before it's too late. They told me we had a hundred years before we had to worry about that. Funny how fast those hundred years passed.
Show threadSmerks1109Aug 20, 2023
@georgetakei Watched a David Attenborough show about the rapid disappearance of ice in the Arctic and how it affects the polar bear and seals. Heartbreaking. Not to mention how the ocean will rise. Know it’s not just the US, but we aren’t leading the way and we should.
Show threadSean Dague 🌎Aug 20, 2023

@georgetakei strong agree 👍.

Have you looked into @citizensclimate ? We're a group of largely volunteers working to put a price on pollution to effectively take away those subsidies. We do it through direct engagement with our elected officials. It's a great way for everyday folks to make a huge difference in addressing #ClimateChange.

Show threadBen FultonAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei Why can't they use salt water?
Show threadJ. Randall ToddAug 20, 2023
@benfulton @georgetakei note the access to inland lakes, image from Wikipedia
Show threadWade WainioAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei We must become an energy democracy and work to transition our economy to 100 percent renewable energy.
Show threadTexan TallyAug 20, 2023

@georgetakei Sheesh--makes me wonder what's around the corner. I'm in SE Texas and we haven't had so much as a sprinkle of rain since the 4th of July. My rain-barrels are usually nearly full through intermittent use and rain, but they're less than half full for the first time ever.

I've had to adjust the thermostat for night sleeping (taking a LOT of nights to get used to it) because my electric bill will be through the roof if I knock it down to >70F. The nights barely dip below 75F anymore and I can't afford to have that A/C go all night. It's at 80F right now (1pm) and turning on and off enough. If I'm outside for 10 minutes and come in, it feels freaking refreshingly cool. Any other year it would feel stifling.

I'm actually looking for more drought-resistant planting seeds for next summer and figuring out how long I can extend the planting for fall (probably 2 more weeks for many things b/c the heat's so damned persistent). Not looking forward to going out and cleaning up the garden beds around 5pm, but any later and I won't get very far.

Show threadCps10001Aug 20, 2023
@georgetakei Absolutely
Show threadSteffani CameronAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei and this is a lovely scenic photo of Kelowna, BC, Canada from this week. By photojournalist Ben Nelms. The other graphic was provided by NASA on Friday.
Show threadFafnerAug 20, 2023
@snarkysteff @georgetakei This should be a postcard for Earth.
Show threadM. PaxAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei Then there's all the bad air from all the fires.
Show threadJeff GriggAug 20, 2023

@georgetakei

Remember: The Panama Canal was built where it is due to the "diluvial rain" -- literally meaning "flood or deluge."

Their "rainy season" is "between May and December." This is late August. Expect "peak rain" in less than two months, in October.

This is Bad.

Show threadBrutticusAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei dont forget putting fossil fuel executives and shareholders to death for their part in the deception that could end life on earth. And seizing their assets so their heirs cant just keep on doing what their doing.
Show threadwauzAug 20, 2023

@georgetakei
Well. There is just too much shipping.

@LenaLia

Show threadLenaAug 20, 2023
@wauz @georgetakei also agree w that issue
Show threadDeterioratedStuccoAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei
A lot of the problem is that everything gets more difficult as a result of climate change - more obstructed, less predictable, more destructive, more hazardous, less productive.
Add that lot together, and it's a serious brake on fixing things.
Show threadLuna chanAug 20, 2023
@georgetakei We need thorium fission now.
Show threadMBinTXAug 21, 2023
@georgetakei I wonder how much added water the new canal requires vs. the old one and if that’s also a factor?
Show threadTexan TallyAug 21, 2023
@georgetakei @mbulkeley considering how much bigger it is with much larger locks (and fewer of them to boot)... yeah, that's a major factor. Maybe they'll have to restrict travel to the old canal only and leave the new one shut down. That'll mess with transport costs as those newer ships now have to go a helluva lot longer trip
Show threadcaseyjonesedAug 21, 2023
@georgetakei NOW!
Show threadPeteAug 21, 2023
@georgetakei the irony is that there's probably several oil tankers stuck in the Panama canal.
Show threadAl Holden Aug 21, 2023
@georgetakei If y'all just STOP BUYING GASOLINE NOW - then all that other "subsidies and drilling" stuff would probably stop too.