Rattle, rattle

It's tin cup day at the Climate According to Life

I launched this newsletter on Earth Day of this year not sure how it would work out. As something of a luddite I had my doubts. But now, going on seven months, I am fairly astounded at how glad I am I gave it a shot.

Poet Gary Snyder advises “get the work done,” and writing this newsletter has helped me do just that. And I am making friends, becoming part of a community of other life-minded folks and getting to write directly to you beautiful subscribers out there wherever you are.

What hasn’t gone so well is the economics. Part of it is my fault, as I haven’t pushed on it, wanting to make this as simple and welcoming for the reader as I can. But now I must face financial reality and get on my digital knees to beg.

As a housepainter, I can find work to keep me afloat, but the work I want to be doing is right here, investigating and writing the story of the climate according to life. And I have a number of projects I am eager to get to, such as

1. an examination of how the climate dynamics elucidated by Millan Millan in the Western Mediterranean Basin show up in other parts of the world, such as central Chile, also a Mediterranean-style climate, and now in the grip of an extended drought.

2. an exploration of the life work of Dr. Roger Pielke Sr., who according to Millan Millan, “wrote the book,” on mesometeorological (regional scale) climate modelling. He’s also devoted his career to studying and bringing more scientific attention to the crucial coupling between land and atmosphere, but has been effectively ignored by climate-science leadership. We’ll look at some of his main recommendations, focusing on his recent paper: Climate and Ecology of the Earth: The Same Biogeophysical System.

3. a deep dive into forests, how they influence local and global climates and how clearcutting and monocropping has damaged their ability to cycle water and resist wildfires. The climate mainstream treats all forest-fire anomalies as a result of carbon emissions; we’ll look at the effects of decades and centuries of industrial harvesting. Are our forests being rendered hydrologically helpless?

4. an assessment of the official Assessment, the IPCC’s most recent Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. We’ll dive into this 3,850 page tome and try to figure out the nuts and bolts of how the IPCC treats land use and water cycles in their modelling and recommendations.

Of course, to do that work I need to be sitting at my desk, not standing on a ladder, and your paid subscription makes the former possible. As an encouragement to become a foundation member, I’m offering signed copies of my poem and essay collection called The Silence of Vanishing Things.

If things are too tight for you right now, I get it. Welcome. If you can be sure to hit the share button that would be great.

And thank you for giving the gift of your time to read my work. I am honored and grateful.