Causes to Celebrate: The Phoenix

Continuing with our climate causes today, I wanted to highlight a publication by Eric Holthaus.  A meteorologist and a climate journalist, Eric also published a book last year, The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming.  He has been featured in many publications including Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal, and is the co-founder of Warm Regards, a climate podcast about people.

Photo Credit: Karen Edquist
Photo taken from this Rolling Stone article

I first encountered Eric during his stint at The Correspondent, and I was excited to see someone willing to talk about the human costs that climate change is having on our world.  Rather than simply seeking to convince people only with science, he sought to put a face and a name to the climate emergencies that continue to threaten the globe.  He also offered a view of what climate activism means and shared ways in which we can help center the discussion on the people affected by climate change so that we  can create meaningful solutions that preserve a future for humanity on Earth.

While he often talks about the effects of climate change and its toll on us humans, he also wants to help us imagine new ways of thinking about our future in which we meet the challenges of climate change and build forward with resilience and environmental kindness--both to our fellow humans, and the natural world around us in which we live.

These qualities are what drew me to his writing and kept me invested after his departure from The Correspondent.  So when I learned that he was launching a new site where he was going to share his thoughts, ideas, and reporting, I jumped right in with both feet and haven't looked back since.

Phoenix logo by Tara Slade

The Phoenix continues Eric's journey to share this human side of the climate emergency, and as he puts it: 

Here at The Phoenix, I’m focused most closely on humanizing this planetary emergency: being transparent about the challenges we’re facing and the complex emotions we’re all feeling, and being honest about what we need to do to radically transform our society.

I chose the name The Phoenix because the world is on fire, and we’ve got to create a new one from the ashes.

This is the place where I'll share with you stories from frontline communities and voices from the most affected people and places enduring the climate emergency.

This is the place where we’ll create space for each other to process the shared trauma and grief and joy and elation that comes along with doing this world-building work.

This is the place where we’ll help teach each other about what’s happening in this transformative moment, and how we can be a part of it.

I'm so excited to share this with you as I truly believe that it's important that climate change isn't seen as just an emergency, or an issue, or a political talking/sticking point.  There are real people experiencing real problems (as many Texans well know from just a few weeks ago.)  And we can't just pretend these things don't exist.  We can't keep putting off the hard work simply because we want things to go back to "normal."  It's time to have these conversations; it's time to look into the human faces of our changing climate and remember that we have a say in how our world moves forward.

And so, that is why I am so thankful that I get a chance to share The Phoenix with all of you as today's cause worth celebrating.

Causes to Celebrate: DeSmog

One of my favorite sites about climate disinformation is called DeSmog.  I found them a few years ago when I was looking into the idea of climate change and trying to learn more about it; so that, I could hold my own in a discussion (or argument.)  The articles produced by their team and their Global Warming Disinformation Database are incredibly well-written and well-researched.  But like many sites of this sort, much of it is done by independent journalists who likely work elsewhere but are passionate about protecting the environment and calling out lies and misinformation when they see it.

Based in Seattle, WA, the site was started in 2006 and has since won numerous awards for its reporting.  Their findings and research have also featured prominently in other national publications, and they've helped several major news networks create compelling stories that highlight the problems with climate change denial.  Here is their stated mission taken from their About page:

DeSmog exists to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science on climate change.

An overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists agree that the globe is warming — the world's climate is changing — and that the indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels is to blame. We know that the risks are incalculable and, increasingly, we understand that the solutions are affordable.

Unfortunately, a well-funded and highly organized public relations campaign is poisoning the climate change debate. Using tricks and stunts that unsavory PR firms invented for the tobacco lobby, energy-industry contrarians are trying to confuse the public, to forestall individual and political actions that might cut into exorbitant coal, oil and gas industry profits. DeSmog is here to cry foul — to shine the light on techniques and tactics that reflect badly on the PR industry and are, ultimately, bad for the planet.

But perhaps their most valuable resource for learning about those involved with perpetuating climate disinformation is their Global Warming Disinformation Database.  It links various organizations, clubs, and companies to those that support them, following the money trail to shine a light on where there are obvious conflicts of interest.  It also lists the names of prominent men and women who are being paid to perpetuate lies or promote bad science regarding the climate--some of them scientists themselves, but many of them just simply part of the grift that surrounds the energy industry.

Dipping a Foot into the Deep End

You know how they say that you should do something that scares you every day?  Well, I may not do that -every- day, but lately I've been looking at myself and trying to find the things that actually make me happy.  It's not that I don't know how to be happy, of course, but what is it in life that actually makes me happy?

Being with John, of course--that's easy and a given, but everything else is sort of a mixed bag.  Even reading, which I love, isn't always easy.  For example, I've started reading The Library Book, but trying to get back to it has been...daunting.