Climate change is a source of great anxiety for me and I know it is for many others especially those that are my age and younger because it's our future that is at risk.
I alone can't change climate change - it's on corporations and governments to make the big change. But I still do my part in signing petitions and emailing and calling my senators and representatives. I also live in a house with solar panels (especially in Arizona - makes a lot of sense), my parents drive electric hybrid cars, I'm trying to get through all my skincare and hair products and when I finish them - I'm going to make them from scratch, I'm no longer going to buy through fast fashion. Doing all of that makes me feel so much less anxious.
I started thinking recently that I wanted to start posting on my blog about books, articles, photographs and documentaries regarding the earth and climate change. I don't just want to highlight the depressing news, but also what others are doing that makes me feel hope. This probably won't be weekly, just when I feel like writing.
BOOK: Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North by Nancy Lord
Going into my freshman year of college, Western Washington University suggested we read Early Warming. I bought it and got a third into the book when I just stopped. Seven years after, I finally read and finished it. The book was published in 2011 and the dangers and warnings that Nancy presents are scary as how has the environment worsened since then?
Summary of the book: In Shishmaref, Alaska, new seawalls are constructed while residents navigate the many practical and bureaucratic obstacles to moving their entire island village to higher ground. Farther south, inland hunters and fishermen set out to grow more of their own food--and to support the reintroduction of wood bison, an ancient species well suited to expected habitat changes. First Nations people in Canada team with conservationists to protect land for both local use and environmental resilience. In Early Warming, Alaskan Writer Laureate, Nancy Lord, takes a cutting-edge look at how communities in the North--where global warming is amplified and climate-change effects are most immediate--are responding with desperation and creativity. This beautifully written and measured narrative takes us deep into regions where the indigenous people who face life-threatening change also demonstrate impressive conservation ethics and adaptive capacities. Underpinned by a long acquaintance with the North and backed with scientific and political sophistication, Lord's vivid account brings the challenges ahead for us all into ice-water clarity.
Even though this book is talking about problems specifically presented almost a decade ago, it's still relevant and is a very important read - especially from a reader in the Southwest.
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Jimmy Chin, @jimmychin
Jimmy Chin is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, National Geographic photographer and mountain sports athlete known for his ability to capture extraordinary imagery and stories while climbing and skiing in extremely high-risk environments and expeditions.
Allysha Cartledge, @ally.photog
Taken from her website: Allysha is an aerial (drone operator) and land based Photographer and Videographer. She is currently based in The Kimberley Region of Western Australia but was born in Perth. Her passion for Aerial Photography has grown immensely since being here as the unique Kimberley landscape continues to inspire her.
DOCUSERIES: Rotten on Netflix
Summary: Rotten dives deep into the food production underworld to expose the corruption, waste and real dangers behind your everyday eating habits.
Each episode focuses on something different - honey, allergies, chocolate, avocados, etc. I started watching this series with my mother and it is quite interesting and a little... depressing. Everything you purchase has a bit of scandal with it - a bit of corruption. It really makes you pay attention when you go to the grocery store and honestly, it makes you want to buy only from a local farmers market. But if you do that, you are also not giving money to those who so desperately need it in other countries. It's a cycle of what should I do? What can I do? I honestly don't have an answer to that.
ARTICLE:
Bug Breeders Are Cultivating Waste-Guzzling Flies to Gobble Up America's Trash by Colleen Stinchcombe by Medium
"Knippel is one of a growing number of bug breeders rearing black soldier flies to help simultaneously tackle three of the biggest environmental issues in the United States: greenhouse gas emissions, irresponsible land use, and food waste. Black soldier fly larvae convert waste into a popular garden fertilizer: their poop, which is called frass... Worms take a minimum of two to six months to produce castings that gardeners covet — even longer for Knippel, who uses a special process for his worm beds — while his larvae demolish 100 pounds of barley on a lazy day. They can process “10 times that,” he says, easy."
New super-enzyme eats plastic bottles six times faster by Damian Carrington by The Guardian
"A super-enzyme that degrades plastic bottles six times faster than before has been created by scientists and could be used for recycling within a year or two. The super-enzyme, derived from bacteria that naturally evolved the ability to eat plastic, enables the full recycling of the bottles. Scientists believe combining it with enzymes that break down cotton could also allow mixed-fabric clothing to be recycled... Plastic pollution has contaminated the whole planet, from the Arctic to the deepest oceans, and people are now known to consume and breathe micro plastic particles."
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A photo of mine of this beautiful world:
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