On February 26, in Ohio, 65 degrees in the capital of Ohio, following a month of warm sunny days in what is typically our coldest and darkest month, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved bids to lease our public lands, Salt Fork State Park (largest state park in Ohio) and two Wildlife Areas, Valley Run and Zepernick to oil and gas companies. What was soooo disturbing, they approved a bid under market value as brought to the attention of the commission by fellow commissioner and ff attorney. Volunteer opposition with Save Ohio Parks https://saveohioparks.org/ were present to protest and hold accountable, we have worked in opposition to this since December 2022 initiating two law suits with Earth Justice, Ohio Environmental Council, and others. The attorneys submitted request for a stay last week which was dismissed. Some of us testified against the legislation allowing setting leasing forth in 2011. Third Act Ohio also worked deeply on this. The utter heartbreak for our present and future public trust. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ohio-commission-awards-bids-to-frack-oil-and-gas-under-state-parks-wildlife-areas/ar-BB1iVkig, https://ohiodnr.gov/business-and-industry/municipalities-and-public-entities/commissions-and-councils/oil-gas-land-management-commission. We will continue to be present in opposition and oversight. Our state administration and this agency are complicit in climate chaos by allowing Oil and Gas to lease our lands.
This one hit home. I was born & raised in West Michigan; in 1982 I rode my Electraglide down to Florida "for the winter," and ended up staying far too long. Like you, I adore winter - especially the snow. Years turned to decades, and not a day went by that I didn't long to return to my northern roots. New job, new home, new relationship - always a reason to stick around for another year, until I could no longer tolerate it.
Finally, in 2009 I had an opening to return to Michigan, but a few years later, in order to find work (I'm a teacher), I had to move overseas, living for another 6 years in hot climates. I finally retired in 2018 and have maintained a home here since then - just 5 miles from my childhood home.
Yes, today's "winters" are nothing like the ones I recall from my youth. Like Chicago, we experienced high temps yesterday - mid-60's here and 70 inland. However, today it's 24℉ here, with a light coat of snow. And while I share your sadness at the premature death of "Old Man Winter," I'm reminded of the last line from Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind:" "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
For years I've turned to this line when experiencing emotional turmoil: don't worry - things will get better. Seasons change, winter turns to spring, and so on. Today's drop in temperature and reappearance of snow symbolizes, to me, the fact that while I can no longer enjoy the long, cold, snowy winters of my youth, now & then I can step outside, fill my lungs with this cold, arctic air, and watch the snow swirl around me. And for that moment, I'm home again.
Reminds me of a friend, who has mobility issues, who loves the snow, but has a difficult time getting around. BTY, the freak out Western Washingtonians are so famous for during snow, it's absolutely true.
I'll admit, as a fellow lover of winter, this one was hard to get through. Thank you for your important reporting and witness to this unfolding crisis. Excuse me while I go read some good-news articles on Grist. 😥
I'm a 75-year-old Hoosier and remember those winters where we never saw a robin and all the seasons seemed more defined. I recall a harmony and predictability to nature. Now documented change and disruption is all around and STILL the general public doesn't seem alarmed. Polls don't seem to rank climate change among top concerns. And the MEDIA isn't helping.
I've read Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley and several passages mention CBS News coverage of, even advocacy for, the environmental movement that the book chronicles from the 1950s to the 1970s. I've written and emailed CBS News/Paramount for nearly a year with my concerns about how they now cover climate change issues, and have never received a reply. If anyone knows an effective way to get their attention, I'd like to hear it.
As Greta Thunberg has said “how can we expect people to demand drastic change in order to safeguard our present and future living conditions if they don't know the reason why those changes are needed.” We need traditional, trusted media to consistently cover the background of climate change events and provide context.
I agree so strongly with your last point. At age 70 and frustrated by my lack of real understanding, though I have been reading about it for years (and joined 350.org 12 years ago), I embarked this January on a 3-month course (given by Coursera and the University of Western Ontario), called Connecting for Climate Change. What a lot I am learning, not only about how climate change is measured and caused, and by whom, but also about indigenous knowledge on the subject.. which is more and more being welcomed by EuroWestern scientists, for its deep historical connection with and understanding of the land and climate. Unfortunately, it hasn't made me feel any less depressed, when I read and hear reports such as this Bill's.
Thank you, Bill. It is painful to see winter fading into memories. I was an avid skier for 56 years. Injured my knee at age 68 and haven't been able to ski since. I am so sorry, that due to ignorance. then unjustly denying the rapidly increasing data in order to get the last dollar from a destructive product (fossil fuel) rank higher in a significant portion of our political world. We, Homo sapiens may deserve what we have wrought, but other species that will become extinct did not deserve to die for our greed. Unfortunately Homo sapiens, seem more like cockroaches - we will survive.
I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that your newsletter today, Bill, was almost unbearable to read. I, too, grieve for the destruction of Nature on Earth. I admit I had to skim through a lot of the bad news. I know, I know, we need to be told but it was too much for me today.
I did like the bit about "CSDDD becomes a key instrument in the global fight against climate change" and "$366 million for rural renewable energy projects, many on tribal lands", go, Biden! "The other solar panel" is hopeful too, and Bill Barron's ride across Utah attending 22 meetings on Climate.
Loved Mike Robert's song -- music is an incredible tool for inspiring climate action. I got a grant from Earth Alliance's Delicious Nuggets to make my climate action music video, "Take Some Action (to Get Some Action)." Maybe Mike can do the same?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG-xTlKqbPE
Thanks for sharing this. I adore winter and my kids do too. We’ve barely had winter on the Maine coast and I’m heartbroken thinking of the lack of winter ahead just as much as I worry about all the other dire consequences of warming.
The part about the moose was horrifying to me too (another reader mentioned it).. And have read about that illness where people become allergic to meat from a certain tick disease, it's very worrisome!
Here in Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast, Lyme disease is endemic, we have lots of black legged ticks and Lyme. And winters are milder, less snow, the ticks are not taking a break I understand from dog-walkers. We've had two humungous snow storms in February this year but mostly none otherwise, at least here in the southwestern part of the province. Today is rain, the ground is bare again in my South Shore region, 50 F. We do have milder winters than many due to dangling out in the Atlantic, but we no longer have the late Jan-February cold snap that used to last for about 2 weeks. Now it's a day or so. Still enough with the Polar Vortex last year in a day or two to kill a big part of Nova Scotia's small wine industry. (I have read that the big wine industry in BC's Okanagan was wiped out this year by a similarly extreme cold snap.)
Last year we had our province's biggest forest fires ever due to the driest April on record. I don't know that our couple of big snowfalls will prove enough to stave off another spring drought, but March may change things yet.
Recent disturbing news about our coastline as sea levels rise and hurricanes increase in intensity (we've had some major destruction in the past couple of years, partly from storm surge), is our conservative provincial gov't has just announced they will NOT proclaim the Coastal Protection Act that has been in the works since 2019. It was passed in the legislature, they just needed to proclaim it into force with regulations. Then they said they were going to get more public input. Now it is dead, and instead they're creating an "app" so coastal property owners can evaluate their own risk!! Good grief.
This does not account at all for the impacts to neighbouring coastline of building hard seawalls that result in beach erosion, not only under them but next door. It's enraging and, as in most cases, it appears individual wealthy property owners or business owners are being placated at the expense of the greater good. Business as usual. To everyone's detriment.
The topic of fast fashion and the microplastics from our clothes is also a tough one and I am committed to avoiding fleece and such as much as possible. Am already a rare purchaser of clothes (am fashion avoidant), and try to make use of thrift and consignment stores to find quality stuff that endures.
It is all so overwhelming the numerous crises we have wrought, but we have to try what we can in our spheres of influence. Our current project is to take advantage of govt incentives for converting our old oil furnace to heat pump. Thanks for your reporting.
PS the other notable change here is the ocean temperatures. When I was younger it was around 11C in the summer at our local beaches. Past couple summers have seen 17-24C. I now actually can enjoy swimming at our beaches! AND we now know we have quite a few great white sharks that are along the coastline as well. AND our favourite local beach lost a huge part of it's tree-lined dune due to being scoured out in hurricanes last year, trees are toppled all along the edge, roots dangling out. The whole slope of the beach has changed, a rocky headland has been totally exposed where it used to be partially sand-covered. We know sand comes and goes in winter storms but this was the most dramatic change at this beach that I can recall. And the beach side part of the campground (it's a provincial park) was destroyed, trees toppled and parking places flooded with sand. So, there's that. Just what I notice in my tiny corner of the world.
I share your sadness about the lack of real winter this year. Snow comes briefly if at all. My snow shovel sits unused by my garage. I used to love going for a run in the quiet of falling snow. Now I look around and wonder why aren't people more disturbed by this? I feel like the elephant in the room is getting bigger every day and yet people are not talking about it. IMO there should be climate coverage on the news every day. I don't understand why not. You are writing for those who already understand; how do we bring in the rest?
Robins are chirping in southern British Columbia today. That joyful sound is two months early ! They arrived the first part of February and they usually arrive the end of March.
As we wrap up another record-hot month, I too am feeling solastalgia this morning! Thanks, as always, for contextualizing what's going on with the planet.
Bill Barron looks VERY much like my father--even though he lacks any trace of a Brooklyn accent.
And, in 2012 in Environmental Health Perspectives, I wrote about Bob Inglis's Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason U, in which he was trying to get conservatives interested in combating global warming
On February 26, in Ohio, 65 degrees in the capital of Ohio, following a month of warm sunny days in what is typically our coldest and darkest month, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved bids to lease our public lands, Salt Fork State Park (largest state park in Ohio) and two Wildlife Areas, Valley Run and Zepernick to oil and gas companies. What was soooo disturbing, they approved a bid under market value as brought to the attention of the commission by fellow commissioner and ff attorney. Volunteer opposition with Save Ohio Parks https://saveohioparks.org/ were present to protest and hold accountable, we have worked in opposition to this since December 2022 initiating two law suits with Earth Justice, Ohio Environmental Council, and others. The attorneys submitted request for a stay last week which was dismissed. Some of us testified against the legislation allowing setting leasing forth in 2011. Third Act Ohio also worked deeply on this. The utter heartbreak for our present and future public trust. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ohio-commission-awards-bids-to-frack-oil-and-gas-under-state-parks-wildlife-areas/ar-BB1iVkig, https://ohiodnr.gov/business-and-industry/municipalities-and-public-entities/commissions-and-councils/oil-gas-land-management-commission. We will continue to be present in opposition and oversight. Our state administration and this agency are complicit in climate chaos by allowing Oil and Gas to lease our lands.
Great, painful newsletter today. And many thanks for the mention of my excellent elder friends & me, even if you did add ten years to my age!
in my circles, that's a high compliment!
This one hit home. I was born & raised in West Michigan; in 1982 I rode my Electraglide down to Florida "for the winter," and ended up staying far too long. Like you, I adore winter - especially the snow. Years turned to decades, and not a day went by that I didn't long to return to my northern roots. New job, new home, new relationship - always a reason to stick around for another year, until I could no longer tolerate it.
Finally, in 2009 I had an opening to return to Michigan, but a few years later, in order to find work (I'm a teacher), I had to move overseas, living for another 6 years in hot climates. I finally retired in 2018 and have maintained a home here since then - just 5 miles from my childhood home.
Yes, today's "winters" are nothing like the ones I recall from my youth. Like Chicago, we experienced high temps yesterday - mid-60's here and 70 inland. However, today it's 24℉ here, with a light coat of snow. And while I share your sadness at the premature death of "Old Man Winter," I'm reminded of the last line from Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind:" "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
For years I've turned to this line when experiencing emotional turmoil: don't worry - things will get better. Seasons change, winter turns to spring, and so on. Today's drop in temperature and reappearance of snow symbolizes, to me, the fact that while I can no longer enjoy the long, cold, snowy winters of my youth, now & then I can step outside, fill my lungs with this cold, arctic air, and watch the snow swirl around me. And for that moment, I'm home again.
Just the right spirit. I never take a snowstorm for granted and enjoy the hell out of every one!
Reminds me of a friend, who has mobility issues, who loves the snow, but has a difficult time getting around. BTY, the freak out Western Washingtonians are so famous for during snow, it's absolutely true.
I'll admit, as a fellow lover of winter, this one was hard to get through. Thank you for your important reporting and witness to this unfolding crisis. Excuse me while I go read some good-news articles on Grist. 😥
I feel the same ❄️💔❄️
That one made me laugh.
I'm a 75-year-old Hoosier and remember those winters where we never saw a robin and all the seasons seemed more defined. I recall a harmony and predictability to nature. Now documented change and disruption is all around and STILL the general public doesn't seem alarmed. Polls don't seem to rank climate change among top concerns. And the MEDIA isn't helping.
I've read Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley and several passages mention CBS News coverage of, even advocacy for, the environmental movement that the book chronicles from the 1950s to the 1970s. I've written and emailed CBS News/Paramount for nearly a year with my concerns about how they now cover climate change issues, and have never received a reply. If anyone knows an effective way to get their attention, I'd like to hear it.
As Greta Thunberg has said “how can we expect people to demand drastic change in order to safeguard our present and future living conditions if they don't know the reason why those changes are needed.” We need traditional, trusted media to consistently cover the background of climate change events and provide context.
I agree so strongly with your last point. At age 70 and frustrated by my lack of real understanding, though I have been reading about it for years (and joined 350.org 12 years ago), I embarked this January on a 3-month course (given by Coursera and the University of Western Ontario), called Connecting for Climate Change. What a lot I am learning, not only about how climate change is measured and caused, and by whom, but also about indigenous knowledge on the subject.. which is more and more being welcomed by EuroWestern scientists, for its deep historical connection with and understanding of the land and climate. Unfortunately, it hasn't made me feel any less depressed, when I read and hear reports such as this Bill's.
Thank you, Bill. It is painful to see winter fading into memories. I was an avid skier for 56 years. Injured my knee at age 68 and haven't been able to ski since. I am so sorry, that due to ignorance. then unjustly denying the rapidly increasing data in order to get the last dollar from a destructive product (fossil fuel) rank higher in a significant portion of our political world. We, Homo sapiens may deserve what we have wrought, but other species that will become extinct did not deserve to die for our greed. Unfortunately Homo sapiens, seem more like cockroaches - we will survive.
I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that your newsletter today, Bill, was almost unbearable to read. I, too, grieve for the destruction of Nature on Earth. I admit I had to skim through a lot of the bad news. I know, I know, we need to be told but it was too much for me today.
I did like the bit about "CSDDD becomes a key instrument in the global fight against climate change" and "$366 million for rural renewable energy projects, many on tribal lands", go, Biden! "The other solar panel" is hopeful too, and Bill Barron's ride across Utah attending 22 meetings on Climate.
Loved Mike Robert's song -- music is an incredible tool for inspiring climate action. I got a grant from Earth Alliance's Delicious Nuggets to make my climate action music video, "Take Some Action (to Get Some Action)." Maybe Mike can do the same?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG-xTlKqbPE
Fantastic! I see an entire new genre emerging! I think we need a compilation album: "Sultry."
Love this idea!
I'm actually dreading seeing how bare and brown Mt. Rainier will look this summer.
Thanks for sharing this. I adore winter and my kids do too. We’ve barely had winter on the Maine coast and I’m heartbroken thinking of the lack of winter ahead just as much as I worry about all the other dire consequences of warming.
God it’s hard to read this. And harder to write, I’m sure.
Thank you
The part about the moose was horrifying to me too (another reader mentioned it).. And have read about that illness where people become allergic to meat from a certain tick disease, it's very worrisome!
Here in Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast, Lyme disease is endemic, we have lots of black legged ticks and Lyme. And winters are milder, less snow, the ticks are not taking a break I understand from dog-walkers. We've had two humungous snow storms in February this year but mostly none otherwise, at least here in the southwestern part of the province. Today is rain, the ground is bare again in my South Shore region, 50 F. We do have milder winters than many due to dangling out in the Atlantic, but we no longer have the late Jan-February cold snap that used to last for about 2 weeks. Now it's a day or so. Still enough with the Polar Vortex last year in a day or two to kill a big part of Nova Scotia's small wine industry. (I have read that the big wine industry in BC's Okanagan was wiped out this year by a similarly extreme cold snap.)
Last year we had our province's biggest forest fires ever due to the driest April on record. I don't know that our couple of big snowfalls will prove enough to stave off another spring drought, but March may change things yet.
Recent disturbing news about our coastline as sea levels rise and hurricanes increase in intensity (we've had some major destruction in the past couple of years, partly from storm surge), is our conservative provincial gov't has just announced they will NOT proclaim the Coastal Protection Act that has been in the works since 2019. It was passed in the legislature, they just needed to proclaim it into force with regulations. Then they said they were going to get more public input. Now it is dead, and instead they're creating an "app" so coastal property owners can evaluate their own risk!! Good grief.
This does not account at all for the impacts to neighbouring coastline of building hard seawalls that result in beach erosion, not only under them but next door. It's enraging and, as in most cases, it appears individual wealthy property owners or business owners are being placated at the expense of the greater good. Business as usual. To everyone's detriment.
The topic of fast fashion and the microplastics from our clothes is also a tough one and I am committed to avoiding fleece and such as much as possible. Am already a rare purchaser of clothes (am fashion avoidant), and try to make use of thrift and consignment stores to find quality stuff that endures.
It is all so overwhelming the numerous crises we have wrought, but we have to try what we can in our spheres of influence. Our current project is to take advantage of govt incentives for converting our old oil furnace to heat pump. Thanks for your reporting.
PS the other notable change here is the ocean temperatures. When I was younger it was around 11C in the summer at our local beaches. Past couple summers have seen 17-24C. I now actually can enjoy swimming at our beaches! AND we now know we have quite a few great white sharks that are along the coastline as well. AND our favourite local beach lost a huge part of it's tree-lined dune due to being scoured out in hurricanes last year, trees are toppled all along the edge, roots dangling out. The whole slope of the beach has changed, a rocky headland has been totally exposed where it used to be partially sand-covered. We know sand comes and goes in winter storms but this was the most dramatic change at this beach that I can recall. And the beach side part of the campground (it's a provincial park) was destroyed, trees toppled and parking places flooded with sand. So, there's that. Just what I notice in my tiny corner of the world.
I share your sadness about the lack of real winter this year. Snow comes briefly if at all. My snow shovel sits unused by my garage. I used to love going for a run in the quiet of falling snow. Now I look around and wonder why aren't people more disturbed by this? I feel like the elephant in the room is getting bigger every day and yet people are not talking about it. IMO there should be climate coverage on the news every day. I don't understand why not. You are writing for those who already understand; how do we bring in the rest?
Robins are chirping in southern British Columbia today. That joyful sound is two months early ! They arrived the first part of February and they usually arrive the end of March.
As we wrap up another record-hot month, I too am feeling solastalgia this morning! Thanks, as always, for contextualizing what's going on with the planet.
Bill Barron looks VERY much like my father--even though he lacks any trace of a Brooklyn accent.
And, in 2012 in Environmental Health Perspectives, I wrote about Bob Inglis's Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason U, in which he was trying to get conservatives interested in combating global warming
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/120-a347/