Can I just...lament...how hard it can be to be the "most cautious" one? And there's no secret agenda on my part. I want to protect myself and my family. I do not want to harm anyone. But I am a villain for *checks notes* not attending command performances of the family, in stifling unfiltered air, with people who in every way do not take any precautions, and will not mask to see me.

Yes, my evil plan of staving off disability/death and trying live is coming together. I love to be accused of *inflicting loneliness* on selfish people. How will I cope with this tremendous moral injury.

If I'm wrong, we missed a few parties. If I'm right....I've saved and extended our lives. No BBQ is worth my health and the health of my family. If you're so desperate to see us, you figure out what needs to happen. Also, don't blame me for being "difficult" when I won't go indoors with you, but we can't be outdoors due to...*gestures* general apocalypse weather.

Stop trying to crawl back up the nostril of 2019. It's gone. Don't be a coward, figure out what to do now.

@mikebabcock @breadandcircuses Here's a contribution from me by way of perspective.

The Australian Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20 burned so hot that they sent columns of fast rising hot air 16 kilometers up into the atmosphere, forming what are called Pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These clouds generated thunderstorms which in turn lit more fires via lightning strikes.

Birds were sucked up into these columns of hot air. Next day 1000s of dead birds littered the ground and sea.

Smoke from these fires reached the stratosphere and completed a circle of the earth's atmosphere, satellite images revealed.

Sources: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146125/explosive-fire-activity-in-australia

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-021-00192-9

#Australia #wildfires #bushfires #climate

July is "virtually certain" to be the world's warmest month on record, say scientists, and UN chief Antonio Gueterres has warned the world has now entered an era of “global boiling”.

One month on a planet reeling from the impact of our continued reckless stupidity.

#climate #ClimateChange
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-bcea7bff-641f-4cbf-b091-26491409fbdc

It's not complicated. Anyone can understand that when forests burn, it's a LOSE-LOSE proposition for the climate and the environment.

We lose trees and grasslands and sometimes also peat that have been storing carbon, AND we send that previously stored carbon into the atmosphere, thereby sharply increasing CO2 emissions, which then push temperatures up even higher, drying out more of the forests and raising the risk of lightning storms which will ignite *more* fires — a massively destructive vicious cycle.

"Wildfires are set to DOUBLE Canada's climate emissions this year"
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Ffinancialpost.com%2Fcommodities%2Fagriculture%2Fwildfires-double-canada-climate-emissions

It's almost impossible to imagine anything *worse* than burning boreal forests, but that's what is happening, both in Canada and in Siberia. And STILL we keep on drilling for more oil in Alaska, mining the tar sands in Alberta, and fracking the hell out of everywhere else. Why? Because capitalism! 💰💰💰

MORE ON BOREAL FORESTS --
"Two of the countries at greatest risk are Russia and Canada, and not coincidentally, these are two places where the fossil fuel industry is making bad conditions even worse."
https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/110423387240605334

MORE ON FRACKING --
"12 US states where fracking is most prevalent"
https://stacker.com/science/12-states-where-fracking-most-prevalent

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #CO2 #Emissions #Pyrocene

It should be outright illegal to have a thing that has recurring billing that you can sign up for by clicking a button on a website but you have to "phone, fax, or email a signed letter" to terminate.

[Edit to add: Fyi to anyone replying to this, I do not live in the US or Europe, and lots of people have already chimed in to say that it is or soon will be illegal in those jurisdictions. That's great! However it doesn't help me much.]

From the Dept. Of Obvious:

Justice Department opposes #Trump's request to view classified #documents at Mar-a-Lago

#legal #JackSmith
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-opposes-trump-request-to-view-classified-documents-at-mar-a-lago/