Paradise is burning

August 11, 2023

          I am on the road and have about 5 minutes of access to the internet to upload the newsletter, so I am writing without links to sources for this edition. Instead, I am relying on my recall of stories I heard on satellite radio while driving across California’s Central Valley. I appreciate your understanding for more than the usual number of inaccuracies/mistakes in today’s newsletter.

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          Paradise is burning. My wife and I are heartsick over the loss of life and destruction of communities and habitat in Hawaii. To the many readers of this newsletter in Hawaii, we hope you and your families, homes, and communities are safe. When you are able, please send a note letting us know that you are okay.

          The destruction in Hawaii from wildfires is unprecedented. The fires are the product of long-term changes in weather patterns and land management practices. They are part climate change, part natural disaster, and part man-made accelerant. The effects are devastating and should be shocking to all Americans. The loss of life is tragic. As I sat in a roadside café and watched video of the fires in Hawaii, the news feed running across the bottom of the newscast said, “Florida under first state-wide heat advisory.”

          While paradise burns and a state known for heat and humidity experiences an unprecedented heat advisory, you would think that all Americans would treat the emergency as a five-alarm fire. Instead, the opposite is happening—at least among Trump's MAGA base.

          Florida has approved the use of course materials from the conservative organization PragerU to teach (read: indoctrinate) Florida students about the “climate change hoax.” As described in the report I heard today, PragerU wants to combat the notion allegedly being “peddled by climate activists” that the climate crisis threatens our existence. Instead, PragerU claims that climate change is natural, and the evidence is inconclusive about the role of humans in accelerating global warming and extreme weather.

          As usual, MAGA disinformation begins with a grain of truth and quickly veers into lies and deceit. Yes, earth’s climate has been changing for as long as the earth has existed. But our current climate crisis relates to the release of carbon into the atmosphere at unprecedented levels over the course of a single century by burning fossil fuels that took hundreds of millions of years of geologic processes to create. That is not “natural” and the role of humans in releasing greenhouse gas into the atmosphere is not open to debate, nor is the effect of that gas on global climate.

          Like many MAGA positions that can be simultaneously maddening, disheartening, and dangerous, MAGA climate denialism contains the seeds of its own defeat. Most Americans recognize the threat of human-caused climate change, but younger voters are especially motivated by the issue. As we move toward a critical election for our nation (and the world) in 2024, Democrats should make fighting the climate crisis a prominent part of their messaging. That messaging has the twin virtues of being an area where Joe Biden has exceled and one in which MAGA disinformation is being disproved before our very eyes as we watch our earth—our paradise--burn.

          To all in Hawaii, you are in our hearts.

A quick note about a consequential special election in New Hampshire.

          Sarah O. sent this note about Democratic candidate Hal Rafter in New Hampshire:

There is a Special Election in New Hampshire on September 19th for a State House seat, Rockingham District 1.  If the Democratic candidate, Hal Rafter, wins, it’ll bring the NH State House to a tie, and end MAGA majority and extremism in the NH State House. So it’s REALLY important.

Hal Rafter will be on a Zoom with NYC groups tomorrow, Friday morning at 11am ET. And Nell Scovell will introduce Hal! Register here to receive the Zoom link: https://www.mobilize.us/markersfordemocracy/event/575246/

There is also a States Project New Hampshire Giving Circle raising to support Hal’s race on the ground. It’s called The Granite State Giving Circle and the link to contribute is: https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/JXjhKeA/Ralph-Marty-s-Giving-Circle And there is a match going through Monday so any contribution will be matched up to $1,000 per individual!!!! So any size contribution packs a bigger punch! If lots of people gave a small amount it could really help.

Concluding Thoughts.

          We are currently at our remote cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Two years ago, a wildfire came within a mile of our cabin. The fire was driven by a historic drought that killed tens of millions of trees—which became weakened and diseased as they competed for scarce water. We watched helplessly as the fire creeped closer to our cabin each day—until the first autumn rains halted its progress.

          From Hawaii to California, Florida, the Midwest, Northeast, South, and Northwest, all Americans are threatened by the unpredictability of human-caused climate change. Americans are at their best when they face a common threat. Tonight, everyone in America is pulling for our brothers and sisters in Hawaii. When this is over, we should remember that feeling of unity and common cause. It is the only way we can reverse centuries of disregard for our earthly paradise.

Talk to you tomorrow!