Some of us garden for wildlife and seek to make our yards refuges for birds, insects, etc. Douglas Tallamy has championed this movement and provided many resources to assist gardeners. I cannot imagine living without my fellow creatures. Let us all do everything we can to stave off these extinctions, even regenerating the soil and promoting healthy habitats.
Agreed 100 percent. When I was in the city of Buffalo we all had postage stamp sized yards. A neighbor had a butterfly bush and an array of flowers. The bees and butterflies found them, a tiny oasis. It was fantastic.
When I lived in rural areas, simply allowing what was wild to proliferate was part of the strategy. One home I owned sat on 1.5 acres (.6 hectares), most of it in the backyard. The mowing was time-consuming and of course destructive. Surrounded by trees, I began mowing less and less by following the perimeter of the shadows cast by them. This allowed the weeds and wildflowers (Queen Ann's Lace, purple loosestrife and tiger lily's among others) to proliferate, and the shape undulating with the shadows felt natural. This attracted more insects and birds and gave cover to rabbits and fox we saw more frequently.
We also planted flowering trees near the house and perennials along rock walls I built from stones easily available from fields of previously farmed land. Neighbors were friendly, and my friend Stanley allowed me to take them at will. There was also a large, neglected rhododendron bush I encouraged. Eventually, mowing was cut in half from four hours to two.
My heart is broken. I remember when the Blue Jays used to annoy me. Now I would give anything to see and hear one. We've had no birds even at our bird bath this year. I haven't seen a cardinal, our state bird, since spring. And then only one or two. No robins. We even only rarely see a crow. It's unbelievable!
Where do you live? I think other readers bird observations would be helpful to hear. Sad to hear of your lack of birds. There were a few here initially, but have vanished. It’s been extremely hot and dry here. Perhaps that’s why.
Just my $.02, but, here in the big trees of Oregon, I’ve seen good things, like an increase in butterflies this summer.
Our local Crow family visits us multiple times each day and by the growing number of fledglings, is thriving. There is a “murder” in the treetops most evenings.
Stellar Jays have been named “the Blue Air Force” here, due to the way they flock in when peanuts are about.
Chickadees and Nuthatches are queued up in the maples, waiting for their turn at our window feeder. Their frenetic activity treats my old eyes every few minutes.
Each morning at dawn, I cop a squat on my back porch, turn on my “Merlin” app and see how many different birds I can hear. To catch the songs of 12 different species of birds in 10 minutes is not unusual. It’s a great app.
So, you can see why it is still possible for people, mostly the uninformed and the misinformed, to assume everything in the world is hunky-dory. It’s so much easier!
Thanks to Geoffrey and other writers spreading these inconvenient truths, we are well informed. Let’s all do what we can to keep the facts of climate change as prominently displayed as possible. Perhaps sanity will prevail.
Dare I say it’s been relatively quiet in Oregon this fire season. We’ve yet to smell smoke from any fires and the air has been, for us in the Portland metro area, free of those nasty particulates that fires generate. I believe California has had plenty of fires, though. Things can change quickly in fire season.
Actually we've been recently told that the drought is over in Virginia for now. It's been hot, but not the hottest summer I remember. We never have fed the birds in the summer, thinking that the little ones needed to learn to forage on their own. But we always start feeding in the fall. I certainly hope we'll see some action then. Generally sunflower seed. I'm going to do some suet this year, too.
I’m in Central Florida living in a subdivision, but the surrounding land has ponds and a lot of vegetation as it’s cattle country.
I feed birds every day and luckily see many Blue Jays, mourning doves, a few Cardinals, rabbits, and plenty of squirrels. I see the occasional wild turkey, an armadillo, and lots of sandhill cranes. Also on the ponds are herons, occasional storks and whistling ducks and of course, alligators. In the winter, there are more bird species than now.
But I do remember growing up in Florida and we would see tons of robins in the winter and that is not the case now …only a few. And a lot more starlings and crows than I see now.
Florida still has a lot of swampy low lands and there’s a big conservation effort here to preserve a lot of this, but developers seem to win out and a lot of land is being taken over for more and more homes and apartments. Just too many people.
But I do feel Florida is one state that does make a fair effort to preserve wildlife. There are some native plant nurseries here that sell pollinator plants. And they’re trying to build a Florida corridor up the state into Georgia.
Florida is a ground zero state for climate change caused devastation, I'm sure you well-know. Glad you're inland and not near the Gulf of "America." I'm also glad you're able to enjoy the wildlife, much of which is unique to Florida in this country.
Swampy wetlands, looked down upon by industrialists have a reason for being, just as every other ecosystem on the planet that have been essential for humans and the life we are familiar with thriving since the advent of the Holocene Epoch just 12,000 years ago. It's deeply disappointing that humans can't see in the long term, and plan for it wisely.
Yes, developers eventually win out, and once a wild place that functions as an organ of the planet is lost, it's gone forever, and cannot be replaced or restored.
The planet has been incredibly resilient, if only we had heeded the warnings of the brightest in the 1960s and 70s.
Wildlife corridors are a good thing, but ultimately inadequate, IMO. I worked for The Nature Conservancy as a freelance graphic designer in the early 2000s, promoting the idea. NGOs working with corporations give too much away. The dedicated environmentalist Max Wilbert explains the dynamic well in this article, a long but very worthy read:
Oh! Also, in May of 2022, we had a mother screech owl and four babies in the large maple in our backyard. It was thrilling to hear them and to occasionally see them. We invited bird lover friends who also got to see them. Thank goodness I got a few pictures and one blurry video. I don't expect that to ever happen again.
Made a trip through British Columbia back in the day. Parked in a nice spot at a campground and watched as the first moose I’ve ever seen sauntered right through the middle of the tents that were setup there. Sometimes your first comes easy.
I’ve yet to see an owl in the wild, despite multiple attempts by I’ve made hiking through known owl habitat. They do haunt me some summer evenings when the windows are open. Their hooting calls echo through the tall doug firs all around us. Teasing me. “We’re here, can’t you see?”
I’ve spent decades so far on bringing biodiversity science into public policy, strategy, education , civil dialogue and film, with programs like citizen-science-fueled and bird-based biodiversity early warning systems (in African countries). My childhood experiences in the USA were very similar to yours. So this is a lifelong sadness and frustration, also for me. Thank you for articulating it so vividly and relatably.
What I was harshly reminded of, when returning to the USA in 2017 to run a small biodiversity institute, was that American culture and laws are based on a world view of commodification and self-interest, that species had value mainly if they could be hunted, fished or logged, and perhaps only if their pollination activities supported our own food security - but that latter point was mainly known to a few agencies and Americans through the communication efforts of things like the Global Pollinator Project and how it influenced agencies like USDA.
So this drove me to the conclusion that without a shift of civilization, economy and mindset - and the starting of conversations about what mistakes have brought humanity to this point - we biodiversity and bird scientists were simply shouting into the wind.
I had sensed this decades ago and should have acted much more boldly then, but was young and didn’t quite know how to step outside my own boxes and stride up to the center of the room and lobby for systemic change. And, probably, for spiritual change.
Now in my sixties I am trying my damnedest (e.g. with a global research, action and media platform that I’ll be building in France from this fall: temporary and very incomplete site here. https://www.phoebebarnard.com/futures).
Literally everything we know and love is at stake, as you so beautifully articulate. And it’s a tall order to compete with the distractions and risks of AI, autocracy, gossip and celebrities. So your work could not be more important right now and I will help spread it as much as I can. Thank you ✨
Phoebe, first thank you for your life-long effort to affect change at so many gritty levels. Working through bureaucracy and personalities is challenging, tiring, and sometimes ugly. I witnessed it in my father's career as an academic all too often.
When I started this work four years ago, it was to fully understand climate change and then overshoot as my knowledge grew. I realized people were not getting the information or emphasis our polycrisis requires to affect fundamental change in our values, which is core to surviving our predicament. I sadly believe we have crossed numerous tipping points, but still believe in doing what we can, to salvage what we can, and regret not making this the focus of my life long ago.
Like most, I thought somebody else would figure it out. How foolish of me.
Yes, we have enormous distractions, an autocracy movement affecting more countries than just the US, and AI is profoundly nefarious in multiple ways. It's all daunting, but once we see the threats there is no turning back. I was struck by this on your website:
"We in the conservation community have too often made the mistake of trying to impress ordinary people with science -- and ordinary people aren't impressed - rather than connect them with the stories, characters, values, and memories about which they care most."
I think that's an important recognition. Connecting with people emotionally seems key to me. I believe most in the US are miserable at this point, but cling to what is known out of fear of the unknown. We have to communicate an entirely new vision of society and get people excited about it.
Absolutely, and sorry to overlook your important message here, where you probably initially wrote it. I am hoping you could take part in this global platform for planetary and societal futures that I’m starting to build, based in France - let’s keep talking on email - pbarnard@uw.edu. https://www.phoebebarnard.com/futures.
"Don’t go into climate change and overshoot. Stick to how ALL of us are getting shafted." From my two/ three years doing Extinction Rebellion activism I strongly came to the conclusion that focusing on biodiversity loss and local observable issues like air pollution is far more likely to engage members of the public than starting "climate change". For Millenials and older (especially for those of us who grew up in the countryside I guess) it is thinning of the dawn chorus and the mass loss of insect life are palpable experiences that don't take too much reflection and memory to recognise.
Wise words based on real experience. Observable environmental changes should be safe ground. The MAGA in my life I mentioned is a cousin. She lives in rural Pennsylvania and has owned and worked with horses all her life. She must surely have seen the insect population drop and be aware the countryside is growing quiet. Common ground that don't require the words "climate change."
Fireflies, another wonderful childhood memory. Or standing in the middle of a rhododendron bush with the unconcerned bumblebees doing their thing. Dragon flies, I have a real thing for dragon flies. Nature is imbued in our genes. I feel part of the psychosis we're witnessing is from our abrupt removal from the natural world since the Industrial Revolution. I mourn, too. Thank you for commenting.
The lost of issues that require instant corrective action that are being wholly ignored is enough to make one lose one’s mind. I’ve given up on mankind.
It's been two weeks since I've written an article. I have a couple of others I haven't been able to finish. The mental toll of awareness and watching fools plunging ahead in self-destructive behavior is heavy. I feel your despair, too, Jan.
I watched the inimitable Miriam Margolyes (Professor Sprout in Harry Potter) visit New Zealand. She talked, gently, to some, white European settler, dairy farmers, a growing export industry there. They were obviously defensive but simply denied that methane was a problem and that climate change was a problem. The government what to tax them for methane but their MAGA type lobbying (obviously with lots of money with an interest in exploiting NZ land and resources behind it) is resisting it.
Yes, some of the MAGAs are realising that the CDC doesn't only push pharma products, they also monitor how much sewage is allowed to enter the water of impoverished people.
You're right it's not right or left, it's industry who have created a divide between those hating the 1% using 'covid' and gender ideology. Which has very effectively got us fighting each other.
We can only fight the 1% by ceasing to fund industry by not buying their products.
Yes, it's classic divide and conquer strategy that has been playing out for decades. The protective social policies of government enacted by FDR after greed imploded the stock market have been turned on its head while industry makes out in subsidies and tax breaks. One cannot credit Rupert Murdoch and Fox "News" enough for the narrative that government is the enemy. Can government be an enemy? Of course, and now in the US we're seeing the progression started in the Reagan years become outright criminality and fascism, in part fueled by racism which is in this country's DNA.
I have called on people to boycott numerous times as well as pull their money from the worst fossil fuel supporting banks, strike, and protest.
There is essentially no middle class left in this country, and rising prices from Trump's flailing around with tariffs raise the question if boycotting will be necessary at all. Most people don't have discretionary income at this point anyhow.
Tariffs or no tariffs, inflation is baked in now from climate disasters reaching the tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars, and dwindling harvestable oil. The 1% have extracted about all they can from us. Whether it's synergy, ignorance or deliberate, a brutal population reduction is coming on many fronts, planet-wide.
Thank you for taking me along on such a vivid (and visual) journey of your childhood. I am shocked at how the loss of insects and bird life is not more widely discussed. When I raise it, people don't seem to notice or care.
I'm glad the writing painted a picture. Usually, I'm more informational, but a piece like this lets me breathe out a little, and hopefully gives readers a sense of who I am. I hear you. It's deeply frustrating to me that most people won't discuss these issues.
Thanks again for sharing your vital insights and life experiences. This gives me energy to keep doing my thing to accomplish the same goal. You are a prophet of our time. The energy and guidance is available if we share to contribute to a new, as yet, unknown positive future for Mother Earth.
Thank you for such a high compliment. I don't feel like a prophet, I feel like I just share what should be common sense. I'm glad my thoughts are valuable to you.
Great post, Geoff, and a topic that is on my mind every day. I'm on an island in the Med, atop a hillside, rain almost non-existent, water trucked in by tanker. I awake each morning to silence - there is - as they say - nothing like a bit of peace and quiet! Only, for me, such a sentiment is accompanied by dread cos' I know what it means. The only noise is the obscene roar of the island's bored youth on motorbikes hurtling along the winding road across the valley down to the nearest beach doing time trials (something that sickens me like Formula 1 - seems we really can't get to extinction fast enough). As for birds, of course, my landlord's two cats don't help, but hey, pets....
The heat in southern Europe (and largely ignored, at least in the US, northern Africa) are enormously disturbing. The increasing fire destruction and agricultural loss are trends that are only going to worsen. Canada is having what will likely be its second-worst wildfire season ever, and incomprehensible amounts of land have been burning in drought-stricken California. The water trucks you mention are necessary in other places such as Mexico City.
Yet, as you point out, we continue to race cars and much of the population ignores fast-moving reality, whether it's youth on dirt bikes or purchasing death, product by product from Bezos' Amazon.
Consumer and entertainment culture has destroyed our ability to think and sense of purpose.
Cats are wonderful creatures, I've had many, but always kept them indoor. They are prolific hunters.
Thank you for reading and commenting, William. It's appreciated.
Just drove 2500 miles from London to San Sebastian in northern Spain, around western France and back to London. Never had to clean bugs off the windscreen, like I used to in my youth. No insects > no birds. No insects > no humans. The extinction is visible.
That's a long ride, certainly indicative of collapse. It's the same here. I haven't had to clean bugs off of my windshield for years, nor do I get insects in the house anymore. And you're right, insects are critical whether most people understand that or not.
You paint compelling word pictures, Geoffrey. Always a pleasure to read your work.
On the topic, it’s just too bad that huge money can’t be made by *saving* and protecting our fellow animal species. That would give humanity’s survival at least a fighting chance.
Thank you for that. It was pleasurable conjuring up old memories. I wish kids today played in the dirt and ran all day. It's a difference maker. Money, greed is the heart of our problem. Our situation is a matter of values. As a longtime reader, you know that's my opinion. I appreciate the comment.
You have been hard at work, Geoffrey. This was brilliant. Brutal, unvarnished truth. I love it, and I hate everything in it. Thanks for keeping us well informed.
"Stick to how ALL of us are getting shafted. To have a chance, we must agree on the common enemy."
"to have a chance" - ah, wouldn't it be loverly!
= Who do you perceive to be the common enemy? Is it all about the evil billionaires? who, I agree!, are indeed evil.
Or have we unwittingly created a system in which there will of necessity be both billionaires & the wretched of the earth?; & if the latter, how much control over this system do we have?
Unlike other mammals, do we have free will? or just the perception of it?
How many of the 8B of us humans have to "agree on the common enemy" in order for us "to have a chance"?
Do we have a chance? Honestly, in four years of work here my optimism is dim. Our behavior continues to be delusional, and the science points to too many tipping points passed, or fated to be passed soon.
Billionaires as individuals are by far the most destructive force in terms of personal damage, but most of us in the "developed" world bear some responsibility as well.
I have advocated for dropping out of the system as much as possible financially with moving money out of fossil fuel sponsoring banks, striking and boycotts. However, in truth, at this point with our besieged planet so obviously failing, and our survival dependent on it, these actions are insufficient. The entire system needs to be thrown out. We're talking revolution, words from someone who never dreamed of advocating for such a thing, but our backs are to the wall.
Revolution is under way in Trump's America, absolutely the wrong kind, accelerating the ecological crisis of the planet and trampling human rights. Is this the revolution we're going to accept? Revolutions good or bad, are carried out by a handful of people compared to the greater population, perhaps there is hope in that.
I am using my free will to call out the lunacy. It's not a safe choice, and I am well-aware of what I am doing. Thanks for commenting.
Animals play such a large role in our psychology, easily evidenced in even in shallow popular culture. We anthropomorphize them, admire them, fear them, and have come to control and dominate them to the point of our demise, not just physically, but spiritually. I find your "digression" perfectly relevant. The destruction of the natural world goes beyond science to things that can't be measured and Shakespeare's inclusion of the nightingale suggests an awareness and connection that has been waning long before his writing.
Some of us garden for wildlife and seek to make our yards refuges for birds, insects, etc. Douglas Tallamy has championed this movement and provided many resources to assist gardeners. I cannot imagine living without my fellow creatures. Let us all do everything we can to stave off these extinctions, even regenerating the soil and promoting healthy habitats.
Agreed 100 percent. When I was in the city of Buffalo we all had postage stamp sized yards. A neighbor had a butterfly bush and an array of flowers. The bees and butterflies found them, a tiny oasis. It was fantastic.
When I lived in rural areas, simply allowing what was wild to proliferate was part of the strategy. One home I owned sat on 1.5 acres (.6 hectares), most of it in the backyard. The mowing was time-consuming and of course destructive. Surrounded by trees, I began mowing less and less by following the perimeter of the shadows cast by them. This allowed the weeds and wildflowers (Queen Ann's Lace, purple loosestrife and tiger lily's among others) to proliferate, and the shape undulating with the shadows felt natural. This attracted more insects and birds and gave cover to rabbits and fox we saw more frequently.
We also planted flowering trees near the house and perennials along rock walls I built from stones easily available from fields of previously farmed land. Neighbors were friendly, and my friend Stanley allowed me to take them at will. There was also a large, neglected rhododendron bush I encouraged. Eventually, mowing was cut in half from four hours to two.
My heart is broken. I remember when the Blue Jays used to annoy me. Now I would give anything to see and hear one. We've had no birds even at our bird bath this year. I haven't seen a cardinal, our state bird, since spring. And then only one or two. No robins. We even only rarely see a crow. It's unbelievable!
Where do you live? I think other readers bird observations would be helpful to hear. Sad to hear of your lack of birds. There were a few here initially, but have vanished. It’s been extremely hot and dry here. Perhaps that’s why.
Just my $.02, but, here in the big trees of Oregon, I’ve seen good things, like an increase in butterflies this summer.
Our local Crow family visits us multiple times each day and by the growing number of fledglings, is thriving. There is a “murder” in the treetops most evenings.
Stellar Jays have been named “the Blue Air Force” here, due to the way they flock in when peanuts are about.
Chickadees and Nuthatches are queued up in the maples, waiting for their turn at our window feeder. Their frenetic activity treats my old eyes every few minutes.
Each morning at dawn, I cop a squat on my back porch, turn on my “Merlin” app and see how many different birds I can hear. To catch the songs of 12 different species of birds in 10 minutes is not unusual. It’s a great app.
So, you can see why it is still possible for people, mostly the uninformed and the misinformed, to assume everything in the world is hunky-dory. It’s so much easier!
Thanks to Geoffrey and other writers spreading these inconvenient truths, we are well informed. Let’s all do what we can to keep the facts of climate change as prominently displayed as possible. Perhaps sanity will prevail.
Glad you’re seeing something better in Oregon than I’m seeing in Buffalo. What’s your fire and smoke situation this summer?
Dare I say it’s been relatively quiet in Oregon this fire season. We’ve yet to smell smoke from any fires and the air has been, for us in the Portland metro area, free of those nasty particulates that fires generate. I believe California has had plenty of fires, though. Things can change quickly in fire season.
Yes, California is having devastating fires as is Canada again, projected to be the second-worst fire season ever, on the heels of 2023.
I'm in the Appalachian mountains in Southwest Virginia.
Actually we've been recently told that the drought is over in Virginia for now. It's been hot, but not the hottest summer I remember. We never have fed the birds in the summer, thinking that the little ones needed to learn to forage on their own. But we always start feeding in the fall. I certainly hope we'll see some action then. Generally sunflower seed. I'm going to do some suet this year, too.
Pulaski County
Wonder if heat is a factor for you, too. Drought?
I’m in Central Florida living in a subdivision, but the surrounding land has ponds and a lot of vegetation as it’s cattle country.
I feed birds every day and luckily see many Blue Jays, mourning doves, a few Cardinals, rabbits, and plenty of squirrels. I see the occasional wild turkey, an armadillo, and lots of sandhill cranes. Also on the ponds are herons, occasional storks and whistling ducks and of course, alligators. In the winter, there are more bird species than now.
But I do remember growing up in Florida and we would see tons of robins in the winter and that is not the case now …only a few. And a lot more starlings and crows than I see now.
Florida still has a lot of swampy low lands and there’s a big conservation effort here to preserve a lot of this, but developers seem to win out and a lot of land is being taken over for more and more homes and apartments. Just too many people.
But I do feel Florida is one state that does make a fair effort to preserve wildlife. There are some native plant nurseries here that sell pollinator plants. And they’re trying to build a Florida corridor up the state into Georgia.
Florida is a ground zero state for climate change caused devastation, I'm sure you well-know. Glad you're inland and not near the Gulf of "America." I'm also glad you're able to enjoy the wildlife, much of which is unique to Florida in this country.
Swampy wetlands, looked down upon by industrialists have a reason for being, just as every other ecosystem on the planet that have been essential for humans and the life we are familiar with thriving since the advent of the Holocene Epoch just 12,000 years ago. It's deeply disappointing that humans can't see in the long term, and plan for it wisely.
Yes, developers eventually win out, and once a wild place that functions as an organ of the planet is lost, it's gone forever, and cannot be replaced or restored.
The planet has been incredibly resilient, if only we had heeded the warnings of the brightest in the 1960s and 70s.
Wildlife corridors are a good thing, but ultimately inadequate, IMO. I worked for The Nature Conservancy as a freelance graphic designer in the early 2000s, promoting the idea. NGOs working with corporations give too much away. The dedicated environmentalist Max Wilbert explains the dynamic well in this article, a long but very worthy read:
https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/non-profits-as-controlled-opposition?publication_id=555107&post_id=171163413&isFreemail=false&r=putep&triedRedirect=true
I hope Florida continues to fight for the natural environments that are still intact.
Unfortunately, the bottom line for all the problems we are seeing in the world. Today is money. The greed will ruin everything.
Warnings about greed are age-old, yet it keeps marching forward. Even if we don’t believe in it, we are forced to participate in the system.
Oh! Also, in May of 2022, we had a mother screech owl and four babies in the large maple in our backyard. It was thrilling to hear them and to occasionally see them. We invited bird lover friends who also got to see them. Thank goodness I got a few pictures and one blurry video. I don't expect that to ever happen again.
Owls are awesome, hard to spot. I had one for years that I frequently heard, but never saw.
I'm thrilled that I never lost that video or those photos. But it's nothing like having the real thing 50 ft away.
Made a trip through British Columbia back in the day. Parked in a nice spot at a campground and watched as the first moose I’ve ever seen sauntered right through the middle of the tents that were setup there. Sometimes your first comes easy.
I’ve yet to see an owl in the wild, despite multiple attempts by I’ve made hiking through known owl habitat. They do haunt me some summer evenings when the windows are open. Their hooting calls echo through the tall doug firs all around us. Teasing me. “We’re here, can’t you see?”
One day, my friend, one day.
I lived in moose country for years, a considerably less stealthy animal I think, and never saw one of them either, lol.
I’ve spent decades so far on bringing biodiversity science into public policy, strategy, education , civil dialogue and film, with programs like citizen-science-fueled and bird-based biodiversity early warning systems (in African countries). My childhood experiences in the USA were very similar to yours. So this is a lifelong sadness and frustration, also for me. Thank you for articulating it so vividly and relatably.
What I was harshly reminded of, when returning to the USA in 2017 to run a small biodiversity institute, was that American culture and laws are based on a world view of commodification and self-interest, that species had value mainly if they could be hunted, fished or logged, and perhaps only if their pollination activities supported our own food security - but that latter point was mainly known to a few agencies and Americans through the communication efforts of things like the Global Pollinator Project and how it influenced agencies like USDA.
So this drove me to the conclusion that without a shift of civilization, economy and mindset - and the starting of conversations about what mistakes have brought humanity to this point - we biodiversity and bird scientists were simply shouting into the wind.
I had sensed this decades ago and should have acted much more boldly then, but was young and didn’t quite know how to step outside my own boxes and stride up to the center of the room and lobby for systemic change. And, probably, for spiritual change.
Now in my sixties I am trying my damnedest (e.g. with a global research, action and media platform that I’ll be building in France from this fall: temporary and very incomplete site here. https://www.phoebebarnard.com/futures).
Literally everything we know and love is at stake, as you so beautifully articulate. And it’s a tall order to compete with the distractions and risks of AI, autocracy, gossip and celebrities. So your work could not be more important right now and I will help spread it as much as I can. Thank you ✨
Phoebe, first thank you for your life-long effort to affect change at so many gritty levels. Working through bureaucracy and personalities is challenging, tiring, and sometimes ugly. I witnessed it in my father's career as an academic all too often.
When I started this work four years ago, it was to fully understand climate change and then overshoot as my knowledge grew. I realized people were not getting the information or emphasis our polycrisis requires to affect fundamental change in our values, which is core to surviving our predicament. I sadly believe we have crossed numerous tipping points, but still believe in doing what we can, to salvage what we can, and regret not making this the focus of my life long ago.
Like most, I thought somebody else would figure it out. How foolish of me.
Yes, we have enormous distractions, an autocracy movement affecting more countries than just the US, and AI is profoundly nefarious in multiple ways. It's all daunting, but once we see the threats there is no turning back. I was struck by this on your website:
"We in the conservation community have too often made the mistake of trying to impress ordinary people with science -- and ordinary people aren't impressed - rather than connect them with the stories, characters, values, and memories about which they care most."
I think that's an important recognition. Connecting with people emotionally seems key to me. I believe most in the US are miserable at this point, but cling to what is known out of fear of the unknown. We have to communicate an entirely new vision of society and get people excited about it.
Absolutely, and sorry to overlook your important message here, where you probably initially wrote it. I am hoping you could take part in this global platform for planetary and societal futures that I’m starting to build, based in France - let’s keep talking on email - pbarnard@uw.edu. https://www.phoebebarnard.com/futures.
"Don’t go into climate change and overshoot. Stick to how ALL of us are getting shafted." From my two/ three years doing Extinction Rebellion activism I strongly came to the conclusion that focusing on biodiversity loss and local observable issues like air pollution is far more likely to engage members of the public than starting "climate change". For Millenials and older (especially for those of us who grew up in the countryside I guess) it is thinning of the dawn chorus and the mass loss of insect life are palpable experiences that don't take too much reflection and memory to recognise.
Wise words based on real experience. Observable environmental changes should be safe ground. The MAGA in my life I mentioned is a cousin. She lives in rural Pennsylvania and has owned and worked with horses all her life. She must surely have seen the insect population drop and be aware the countryside is growing quiet. Common ground that don't require the words "climate change."
I feel helpless
I take a daily dose of reality and mourn the loss of what I always believed would always be there
I miss the fireflies
I miss the bugs and the bees
I cherish the sight of every bird that still comes around
Life is balancing the appalling loss with the need to do what is in front of me.
I read you often.
Thank you for your writing.
Fireflies, another wonderful childhood memory. Or standing in the middle of a rhododendron bush with the unconcerned bumblebees doing their thing. Dragon flies, I have a real thing for dragon flies. Nature is imbued in our genes. I feel part of the psychosis we're witnessing is from our abrupt removal from the natural world since the Industrial Revolution. I mourn, too. Thank you for commenting.
The lost of issues that require instant corrective action that are being wholly ignored is enough to make one lose one’s mind. I’ve given up on mankind.
It's been two weeks since I've written an article. I have a couple of others I haven't been able to finish. The mental toll of awareness and watching fools plunging ahead in self-destructive behavior is heavy. I feel your despair, too, Jan.
I watched the inimitable Miriam Margolyes (Professor Sprout in Harry Potter) visit New Zealand. She talked, gently, to some, white European settler, dairy farmers, a growing export industry there. They were obviously defensive but simply denied that methane was a problem and that climate change was a problem. The government what to tax them for methane but their MAGA type lobbying (obviously with lots of money with an interest in exploiting NZ land and resources behind it) is resisting it.
Yes, some of the MAGAs are realising that the CDC doesn't only push pharma products, they also monitor how much sewage is allowed to enter the water of impoverished people.
You're right it's not right or left, it's industry who have created a divide between those hating the 1% using 'covid' and gender ideology. Which has very effectively got us fighting each other.
We can only fight the 1% by ceasing to fund industry by not buying their products.
Yes, it's classic divide and conquer strategy that has been playing out for decades. The protective social policies of government enacted by FDR after greed imploded the stock market have been turned on its head while industry makes out in subsidies and tax breaks. One cannot credit Rupert Murdoch and Fox "News" enough for the narrative that government is the enemy. Can government be an enemy? Of course, and now in the US we're seeing the progression started in the Reagan years become outright criminality and fascism, in part fueled by racism which is in this country's DNA.
I have called on people to boycott numerous times as well as pull their money from the worst fossil fuel supporting banks, strike, and protest.
There is essentially no middle class left in this country, and rising prices from Trump's flailing around with tariffs raise the question if boycotting will be necessary at all. Most people don't have discretionary income at this point anyhow.
Tariffs or no tariffs, inflation is baked in now from climate disasters reaching the tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars, and dwindling harvestable oil. The 1% have extracted about all they can from us. Whether it's synergy, ignorance or deliberate, a brutal population reduction is coming on many fronts, planet-wide.
But we’ll always have Mars, right?
I'm in favor of Elon leaving the planet. Sad we're not focusing on this one. Mars is pure ego.
It doesn’t take a scientist to understand that colonizing Mars is pure fantasy.
Thank you for taking me along on such a vivid (and visual) journey of your childhood. I am shocked at how the loss of insects and bird life is not more widely discussed. When I raise it, people don't seem to notice or care.
I'm glad the writing painted a picture. Usually, I'm more informational, but a piece like this lets me breathe out a little, and hopefully gives readers a sense of who I am. I hear you. It's deeply frustrating to me that most people won't discuss these issues.
Thanks again for sharing your vital insights and life experiences. This gives me energy to keep doing my thing to accomplish the same goal. You are a prophet of our time. The energy and guidance is available if we share to contribute to a new, as yet, unknown positive future for Mother Earth.
Thank you for such a high compliment. I don't feel like a prophet, I feel like I just share what should be common sense. I'm glad my thoughts are valuable to you.
Great post, Geoff, and a topic that is on my mind every day. I'm on an island in the Med, atop a hillside, rain almost non-existent, water trucked in by tanker. I awake each morning to silence - there is - as they say - nothing like a bit of peace and quiet! Only, for me, such a sentiment is accompanied by dread cos' I know what it means. The only noise is the obscene roar of the island's bored youth on motorbikes hurtling along the winding road across the valley down to the nearest beach doing time trials (something that sickens me like Formula 1 - seems we really can't get to extinction fast enough). As for birds, of course, my landlord's two cats don't help, but hey, pets....
The heat in southern Europe (and largely ignored, at least in the US, northern Africa) are enormously disturbing. The increasing fire destruction and agricultural loss are trends that are only going to worsen. Canada is having what will likely be its second-worst wildfire season ever, and incomprehensible amounts of land have been burning in drought-stricken California. The water trucks you mention are necessary in other places such as Mexico City.
Yet, as you point out, we continue to race cars and much of the population ignores fast-moving reality, whether it's youth on dirt bikes or purchasing death, product by product from Bezos' Amazon.
Consumer and entertainment culture has destroyed our ability to think and sense of purpose.
Cats are wonderful creatures, I've had many, but always kept them indoor. They are prolific hunters.
Thank you for reading and commenting, William. It's appreciated.
Just drove 2500 miles from London to San Sebastian in northern Spain, around western France and back to London. Never had to clean bugs off the windscreen, like I used to in my youth. No insects > no birds. No insects > no humans. The extinction is visible.
That's a long ride, certainly indicative of collapse. It's the same here. I haven't had to clean bugs off of my windshield for years, nor do I get insects in the house anymore. And you're right, insects are critical whether most people understand that or not.
You paint compelling word pictures, Geoffrey. Always a pleasure to read your work.
On the topic, it’s just too bad that huge money can’t be made by *saving* and protecting our fellow animal species. That would give humanity’s survival at least a fighting chance.
Thank you for that. It was pleasurable conjuring up old memories. I wish kids today played in the dirt and ran all day. It's a difference maker. Money, greed is the heart of our problem. Our situation is a matter of values. As a longtime reader, you know that's my opinion. I appreciate the comment.
You have been hard at work, Geoffrey. This was brilliant. Brutal, unvarnished truth. I love it, and I hate everything in it. Thanks for keeping us well informed.
Will you visit me in Alligator Alcatraz, Walt? Don't forget to get a T-shirt, cap and coffee mug when you visit.
Visit? Hell, I’ll smuggle in cannabis up my keester for you, my friend.
"Stick to how ALL of us are getting shafted. To have a chance, we must agree on the common enemy."
"to have a chance" - ah, wouldn't it be loverly!
= Who do you perceive to be the common enemy? Is it all about the evil billionaires? who, I agree!, are indeed evil.
Or have we unwittingly created a system in which there will of necessity be both billionaires & the wretched of the earth?; & if the latter, how much control over this system do we have?
Unlike other mammals, do we have free will? or just the perception of it?
How many of the 8B of us humans have to "agree on the common enemy" in order for us "to have a chance"?
Do we have a chance? Honestly, in four years of work here my optimism is dim. Our behavior continues to be delusional, and the science points to too many tipping points passed, or fated to be passed soon.
Billionaires as individuals are by far the most destructive force in terms of personal damage, but most of us in the "developed" world bear some responsibility as well.
I have advocated for dropping out of the system as much as possible financially with moving money out of fossil fuel sponsoring banks, striking and boycotts. However, in truth, at this point with our besieged planet so obviously failing, and our survival dependent on it, these actions are insufficient. The entire system needs to be thrown out. We're talking revolution, words from someone who never dreamed of advocating for such a thing, but our backs are to the wall.
Revolution is under way in Trump's America, absolutely the wrong kind, accelerating the ecological crisis of the planet and trampling human rights. Is this the revolution we're going to accept? Revolutions good or bad, are carried out by a handful of people compared to the greater population, perhaps there is hope in that.
I am using my free will to call out the lunacy. It's not a safe choice, and I am well-aware of what I am doing. Thanks for commenting.
Animals play such a large role in our psychology, easily evidenced in even in shallow popular culture. We anthropomorphize them, admire them, fear them, and have come to control and dominate them to the point of our demise, not just physically, but spiritually. I find your "digression" perfectly relevant. The destruction of the natural world goes beyond science to things that can't be measured and Shakespeare's inclusion of the nightingale suggests an awareness and connection that has been waning long before his writing.