GLOBAL WARMING IS HERE AND NOW / CLIMATE CHANGE A STEP BEHIND

Arctic sea ice melting in Lancaster Sound, Nunavut, Canada. (Louise Murray/Science Photo Library)

Global warming is here and now and major climate change is a step behind. Many experts claim we will see a near ice-free arctic within 10 years. That would usher in rapid permanent climate change resulting in extreme weather events such as severe drought, massive flooding, prolonged cold spells and insufferable heat spells: Allen L Roland

Rapid global warming and the sea ice collapse  (see article) http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/16045-sea-ice-volume-has-collapsed  will also lead to the disintegration of the Greenland ice sheet and the release of the vast amounts of carbon currently locked in the permafrost ~ which will in turn intensify global warming. The facts are there ~ see Arctic Sea Ice Collapse 1979-2012 (PIOMAS) I min video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GetB-xs9D_A

We are all interconnected on a soul level and that particularly applies to Nature. Nowhere is that more obvious than when you watch the recent NOVA special, "Earth from Space"  See video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_QoKYvjhl4

This space-based vision of our planet is a spectacular story of interaction and connectivity but when you see through the heart ~ that same interaction and connectivity exists on a human heart-based soul level.

But we humans have devastated our planet Earth and our karmic debt is coming due. It will come in the form of severe climate change and it will eventually force us to surrender to our deepest innate urge to cooperate and unite with each other.

So let's explore the human cost of climate change and no one does it better than Andrew T Guzman in his recently published book  OVERHEATED / The Human Cost Of Climate Change.

 In Overheated, Guzman takes climate change out of the realm of scientific abstraction to explore its real-world consequences. He writes not as a scientist, but as an authority on international law and economics. A hotter world, writes Guzman, will bring unprecedented migrations, famine, war, and disease ~ It will be a social and political disaster of the first order.

Already we can see how it will work: The ten warmest years since 1880 have all occurred since 1998, and one estimate of the annual global death toll caused by climate change is now 300,000. That number might rise to 500,000 by 2030. Guzman shows in vivid detail how climate change is already playing out in the real world. Rising seas will swamp island nations like Maldives; coastal food-producing regions in Bangladesh will be flooded; and millions will be forced to migrate into cities or possibly "climate-refugee camps." Even as seas rise, melting glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas will deprive millions upon millions of people of fresh water, threatening major cities and further straining food production. Prolonged droughts in the Sahel region of Africa have already helped produce mass violence in Darfur.

Here are the facts on Global warming in the United States. More than 3,500 U.S. weather records were smashed in 2012 ~ this interactive map shows extreme temperatures, rainfall, floods, wildfires and floods in 2012 ~

" Tennessee and Wisconsin lead the list of states that had the highest percentage of reporting stations that logged new heat records, at 36 and 31 percent, respectively. March 2012 was the hottest March on record across the contiguous U.S., and July was the hottest single month ever recorded. Last summer also produced the worst drought in 50 years across the nation’s midsection; 1,300 counties in 29 states declared drought disaster areas. And wildfires burned more than 3.7 million hectares nationwide; the average fire size was 65 hectares, far exceeding the 2001-2010 average of 35 hectares."  See article ~ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=thousands-of-us-weather-records&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_ENGYSUS_20130117

A draft report from NCA (The National Climate Assessment), released in January 2013, provides the clearest evidence of the real effects of global warming and the resultant climate change in the form of extreme weather that is sure to follow ~  " Future generations of Americans can expect to spend 25 days a year sweltering in temperatures above 100F (38C), with climate change on course to turn the country into a hotter, drier, and more disaster-prone place…. The 1,000-page NCA report, the work of the more than 300 government scientists and outside experts, was unequivocal on the human causes of climate change, and on the links between climate change and extreme weather."  See article ~ http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/15535-a-hotter-drier-and-more-disaster-prone-america

Global warming is here and now and can no longer be denied but extreme weather and climate change will soon fully expose our selfish corporate folly and denial ~ but it will not be a painless transition. Just look at what happened in Australia in January of this year when wildfires raged and temperatures reached so high that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology had to extend its extreme temperature limit, adding new pink and purple colors to forecast maps to allow for temperatures of above 54C (129F).  See 2 minute video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du2plw_LxT0

In regards to the obvious need for an action regarding climate change ~ I completely agree with this quote by Robert Stavins, the head of Harvard’s Environmental Economics program: "It’s unlikely that the U.S. is going to take serious action on climate change until there are observable, dramatic events, almost catastrophic in nature, that drive public opinion and drive the political process in that direction."

Allen L Roland                         


http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/global-warming-is-here-and-now-climate.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations (allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

JOSIE MONAGHAN / VET MOTHER ANGEL OF ANTIOCH, CALIFORNIA

Josie Monaghan holding forth at her downtown Antioch Veterans Thrift Shop

Frustrated by the VA's failure to provide ample community based veterans support ~ Blue star mother, Josie Monaghan, has taken the bull by the horns and with the help of a band of committed local citizens has created a heart centered East County veteran's drop in center, in Northern California, to provide needed recreation as well as emotional support and counseling to our returning veterans: Allen L Roland

Fed up with the VA's in the box fixed thinking and bureaucratic inertia, as well as the rising rate of Veterans suicide ~ about 20 members of  the East County Military Family and Friends ( ECMFF ) along with about 250 supporters ~ all drawn together by heart centered chords of love, pride and compassion ~ created in 2010 a new alternative for returning veterans and their families with the ultimate goal of a drop-in recreation center where workshops and peer to peer events could take place at any time.

Originally located in a small veterans thrift shop in downtown Antioch, California the rapidly growing non-profit organization now includes an adjacent veterans antique store as well as a recently leased veterans recreation center ~ which will provide a space for workshops and informal peer to peer events with the full support of the Antioch city council.

The guiding light or Vet blue star angel mother behind this working dream is Josie Monaghan ~ whose vision, relentless energy and giant heart has drawn others, such as myself, to volunteer their services to help make her East County Veterans heart centered dream come true.

According to Josie, her dream is still a work in progress. As each day passes, the old thrift store becomes more like a home where miracles materialize. “It’s working,” Monaghan says, “I feel if it is something you’re called to do, the path will be easier for you because you’re committing to where you’re supposed to be.”

Monaghan is trying to obtain grants to hire a staff and possibly a counselor for the peer-resource center. During summer, local members of Kiwanis and the Los Medanos College Key Club have volunteered to fill the void.

“It’s really great volunteering here,” said 15-year-old Luigi Galvan. “I love the atmosphere, and of course it all goes to a good cause.”

Monaghan said she needs volunteers at her store, and people to donate money, goods and host fundraising events. Her job isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. For Monahan, that’s all that matters: “After sending a child or loved one off to war ~ and they come back ~ there aren’t that many things that are more important.”

Blue star mother Josie is living her dream and making a difference for returning  Veterans ~ and her theme of P=I=C=S Participation=Involvement=Commitment=Support

continues to weave its magic as myself and many others are drawn to participate and become involved in this unique and much needed community based East County Veterans resource center ~ which serves veterans in Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley and Brentwood.

Josie Monaghan is the living evidence of the power and magic of commitment ~ as famously expressed in this quote from Goethe ; " Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back ~ Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

East County Veterans Thrift and antique Store is open Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 925-206-4113 or email www.eastcountyveterans.org

"Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think you were put here for something less?"
Chief Arvol Looking Horse

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/josie-monaghan-vet-mother-angel-of_20.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net