PhilipHarris's Blog

Is Climate Armageddon upon us? Well, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is yes, I believe that it is. The good news is that while we cannot stop it, we still have a little time to prepare for it.  I am not trying to be an alarmist, that bell has been rung by others.  And, while I am not a climatologist, you do not have to be one to read the message in the bottle.  From all that I have read, the climate tipping point has been reached and we cannot stop the rising tide, pun intended, of major climate change impacts. The best we can do is to prepare and brace for impact, and, take immediate actions to try to lessen the duration of the climate event that has already begun.

By know, you have hopefully heard about the just released White House Report on Climate Change.  I do not base my conclusions on the report but it does put it all into some level of perspective in terminology for the layman.  The hi9ghlights of the report, and its website, are as follows:

“Climate Change Impacts

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States: Report Home Page, The most comprehensive, authoritative report on Global Climate Change (http://globalchange.gov/)

1. Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced.

2. Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow.

3. Widespread climate-related impacts are occurring now and are expected to increase.

4. Climate change will stress water resources.

5. Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged.

6. Coastal areas are at increasing risk from sea-level rise and storm surge.

7. Threats to human health will increase.

8. Climate change will interact with many social and environmental stresses.

9. Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems.

10. Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today.”

The report details anticipated changes by regions of the United States and for many, it should be an eye opener.  My only concern over the report is that it sets the timeline for these changes a bit far into the future. Even a decade is too far as these events are happening now and the severity of the events will soon grow exponentially.  Keep in mind, every model that has predicted a climate change timeline has been proven wrong.  It is all happening faster.  Further, new factors emerge every day that speed up this timeline and unforeseen factors also pop up every day.  The snowball effect has begun and reports will be unable to keep up with the downhill train.  I would ask that you read some of the following stories that have hit various news and science sites.  The key word is “some” as this is just a smattering of what is not always making headline news.

“UN humanitarian chief John Holmes speaks during a press conference in Khartoum in May 2009. Some of the world's biggest cities are at growing risk of "mega disasters", the UN's humanitarian chief said Tuesday, warning that climate change was behind a rising number of natural catastrophes.

The Red Cross joined the UN in urging more investment to ensure that cities, villages and small communities were better prepared for natural disasters that are being amplified by global warming.

Natural and man-made disasters killed nearly a quarter of a million people in 2008 and warnings about looming disasters, particularly climate change, are not being heeded, the Red Cross said.

At 242,662 people worldwide, this was the second biggest annual toll of the past decade, according to a report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Nine in 10 of those disasters were weather-related and they caused up to 200 billion dollars (145 billion Euros) worth of damage, Holmes said, calling it an "enormous concern".

"The effects of climate change are being felt now; they're not simply some future threat."

“Extreme weather, drought, heavy rainfall and increasing temperatures are a fact of life in many parts of the U.S. as a result of human-induced climate change, researchers report today in a new assessment. These and other changes will continue and likely increase in intensity into the future, the scientists found.

Researchers representing 13 U.S. government science agencies, major universities and research institutes produced the study, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States." Commissioned in 2007, it is the most comprehensive report to date on national climate change, offering the latest information on rising temperatures, heavy downpours, extreme weather, sea level changes and other results of climate change in the U.S.”

“By mid-century, people may be fleeing rising seas, droughts, floods and other effects of changing climate, in migrations that could vastly exceed the scope of anything before, says a major new report. The document, authored by researchers at Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the United Nations University and CARE International, was released at a news conference in Bonn.

While the report does not attempt to put numbers to those potentially uprooted, estimates from other reports it cites range from 25 million to 50 million by 2010, to almost 700 million by 2050.

• Breakdown of ecosystem-based economies including subsistence herding, farming and fishing will be the dominant driver of forced migration.
• Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of natural hazards such as cyclones, floods and droughts. Rains in parts of Mexico and Central America, for instance, are projected to drop as much as 50% by 2080. Farmers in parts of Mexico and North Africa's Sahel region may already be moving in part due to changing rains.
• Sea level rise directly threatens the existence of some 40 countries. Saltwater intrusion, flooding and erosion could destroy agriculture in the densely populated Mekong, Nile and Ganges deltas. A rise of two meters, or six feet--well within some projections for this century-- would inundate nearly half the Mekong's 3 million hectares (7.5 million acres) of farmland. Some Pacific island nations including the Maldives (pop. 300,000) are already considering prospects for total relocation.
• Ongoing melting of alpine glaciers in the Himalayas will devastate the heavily irrigated farmlands of Asia by increasing floods and decreasing long-term water supplies. The glacier-fed basins of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow rivers now support over 1.4 billion people.
• Most migrants will probably move within their own countries, or to countries next door. Many will be poor, and many will be unable to move far enough to improve their lots. Ripples from resulting conflicts and collapses will hit richer countries.”

June 10th, 2009 by Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers

In Washington State, oysters in some areas haven't reproduced for four years, and preliminary evidence suggests that the increasing acidity of the ocean could be the cause. In the Gulf of Mexico, falling oxygen levels in the water have forced shrimp to migrate elsewhere.

Federal studies also found acidity levels in the North Pacific and off Alaska are unusually high compared to other ocean regions. The high acidity is already taking a toll of such tiny species as pteropods, which are an important food for salmon and other fish.

As greenhouse gas emissions increase, billions of tons of carbon dioxide from smokestacks and vehicle tailpipes are absorbed by the oceans. The result is carbonic acid, which dilutes the "rich soup" of calcium carbonate in the seawater that many species, especially on the low end of the food chain, thrive in, Warren said.

"If we lose it, it is gone forever," Warren said of the oceans' delicate chemical balance.”

Coral reefs throughout the Caribbean have been comprehensively 'flattened' over the last 40 years, according to a disturbing new study by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

This drastic loss of architectural complexity is clearly driving substantial declines in biodiversity, which will in turn affect coastal fishing communities.

"The loss of structure also vastly reduces the Caribbean's natural coastal defenses, significantly increasing the risk of coastal erosion and flooding."

More and more, scientists are getting a better grip on the nitrogen cycle. They are learning about sources of nitrogen and how this element changes as it loops from the nonliving, such as the atmosphere, soil or water, to the living, whether plants or animals. Scientists have determined that humans are disrupting the nitrogen cycle by altering the amount of nitrogen that is stored in the biosphere.

The study, in the June 19 issue of the journal Science, is the latest to rule out a drop in CO2 as the cause for earth's ice ages growing longer and more intense some 850,000 years ago. But it also confirms many researchers' suspicion that higher carbon dioxide levels coincided with warmer intervals during the study period.

The authors show that peak CO₂ levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 parts per million; but today, CO₂ is at 385 parts per million, or 38% higher.

"We know from looking at much older climate records that large and rapid increase in C0₂ in the past, (about 55 million years ago) caused large extinction in bottom-dwelling ocean creatures, and dissolved a lot of shells as the ocean became acidic," he said. "We're heading in that direction now."

“The current solar minimum has been so long and deep, it prompted some scientists to speculate that the sun might enter a long period with no sunspot activity at all, akin to the Maunder Minimum of the 17th century. This new result dispels those concerns. The sun's internal magnetic dynamo is still operating, and the sunspot cycle is not "broken."

Howe and Hill found that the stream associated with the next solar cycle has moved sluggishly, taking three years to cover a 10 degree range in latitude compared to only two years for the previous solar cycle.

The jet stream is now, finally, reaching the critical latitude, heralding a return of solar activity in the months and years ahead.” (NOTE: This is one of those events that could change everything in a very brief time span.)

“The world's ocean environment - and the fish in it - is facing catastrophe.

"These huge resources which we once believed to be renewable, that our whole human history has led us up until now to believe are renewable, are not renewable anymore because of what we are doing to them. And so our entire philosophical approach has to change. It is not going to be the same in the future as it was in the past." (FILM-The End of the Line)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The first comprehensive report into the human cost of climate change warns the world is in the throes of a "silent crisis" that is killing 300,000 people each year.

More than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth and that number is set to double by 2030, the report from the Global Humanitarian Forum warns.

"For the first time we are trying to get the world's attention to the fact that climate change is not something waiting to happen. It is impacting seriously the lives of many people around the world," the forum's president, former U.N.

Racing the clock: Rapid climate change forces scientists to evaluate extreme conservation strategies

May 25th, 2009

Scientists are, for the first time, objectively evaluating ways to help species adapt to rapid climate change and other environmental threats via strategies that were considered too radical for serious consideration as recently as five or 10 years ago. Among these radical strategies currently being considered is so-called "managed relocation." Managed relocation, which is also known as "assisted migration," involves manually moving species into more accommodating habitats where they are not currently found.

"…it is becomingly overwhelmingly evident that climate change is a reality; and it is fast and large. Consequences will arise within decades, not centuries."

"We have previously been able to say, 'let nature run its course.' But because humans have already changed the world, there is no letting nature run its course anymore.

There are many other stories in various science journals that tell of eco-system collapses; species extinctions; habitat loss; storm severity; ocean rise refugees; droughts; floods and more.  These are current events, not future events.  Add to this the disease issues caused by current climate change and the picture looks bleak.  The point is that with all of the talk of carbon caps and new technologies, people are being lulled into believing that we still have plenty of time to deal with the issue.  There is an attitude that we must first deal with the economy and then tackle tough climate change problems.  Sorry, we do not have that luxury.  Want to boost the construction industry?  Start now by building housing for climate refugees.  Begin now to move infrastructure away for coastal areas.  Relocate people now away from devastating storm zones.  Relocate people away from areas of looming water shortages.  Start de-centralizing power grids to prevent total power supply chaos.  Lots of jobs to be had from the pending disasters.  Will anyone really listen to this warning?  Probably not.  Nothing much will happen until a major catastrophe hits a major Western country.  Of course, by that time, it will be a bit late.  It would seem that the forces are gathering to bring about a major 2102 event.  The sad part is that it did not have to happen.  No one hears a prophet until after the prophesied event actually happens.  Nostradamus left some warnings along with the Hopi, Mayans and many more.  Just an aside, when Brian Doe and I wrote the first two books of the “Waking God” trilogy we thought we were speaking of events that would be a bit further into the future.  Funny how form can so closely follow thought.  I will never forget the quote that greeted students in my old junior high school, “A word to the wise is sufficient.”

I am no stranger to death.  I have lost a brother, father, aunts and uncles.  Having done farmsteading, I have lost many wonderful animal friends: horses, goats, dogs, cows, chickens, cats, ducks and more.  But, it is a little different when death comes home.  This story is about Irene, my mother-in-law.  She is not dead, yet.

Irene has lived with us for over two years.  We moved back to Maine from upstate New York in 2005 and she moved in with us in 2006.  She is 77 years old, had COPD and emphysema.  In the spring of ’06 she was hospitalized for pneumonia.  We discovered at that time that she was anemic, dehydrated, suffered weight loss and was not actively taking her medication.  This, to our embarrassment was not at all obvious in our weekend visits.  Basically, she could no longer care for herself.  She had been living alone in a senior apartment, her husband having died many years earlier.

Irene is on oxygen 24/7 and she needed constant care and she could no longer self medicate.  Being the only one in the family with someone home all day, my wife works as a legal transcriptionist over the internet, we decided that she would live with us.  Since that time she has gone from being hospitalized several times a year for pneumonia to only once.  About six months ago she had a bad cold and into the hospital she went.  She almost never came out.  It was very close.  But, she did recover and back home she came.  All has been well for some time.

A few weeks back she had a sudden problem with breathing.  At 3:30am the ambulance came.  Tests showed that one lung, which was operating at minimal capacity, had collapsed, for good.  It was also discovered that she had two shadows on her lung, mesothelioma.   Treatment for this would either kill her, or make her hospital bound for the rest of her life.  There was no more that could really be done at the hospital.  She qualified for hospice, meaning her life expectancy was less than six months.  She is now back home with us.  Hospice has given us an array of drugs to keep her pain free and they call and visit at least once a week.  They are really great and very supportive.  Irene will die here, at home. 

But you know, this woman is tough.  She does not know that she is under Hospice care; she does not want to know.  She is comfortable, alert and still a joy to have around.  Her day is spent mostly in bed, but she does sit at her table at meal time.  The drugs we give her are minimal because she is not in constant pain.  Occasionally, she gets real short of breath and will take medication that helps.  However, we know that death is here, waiting.  Irene has not given up.  She is planning her 80th birthday party.  Despite the prognosis, she may just make it.  We can hope, eh?  So, death may have to bide its time.

I will keep you posted on Irene.  Not so much for you, but for me.  After all, she is the mother of my wife, and that makes her special!

On May 6th, Governor Baldacci of Maine signed into law a bill allowing same sex marriage.  The Governor said, “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”  He went on to say, “This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs, it does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of church and state.”

Does this put the matter to rest in the State of Maine?  Unfortunately, no.  “We feel he kind of shortchanged us all,” said The Rev. Bob Emrich, pastor of Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church in Plymouth and a founder of the Maine Marriage Alliance, which opposes the law. “But that’s his prerogative. He’s the governor.”  According to AP writer Glenn Adams, Marc Mutty of the Roman Catholic Diocese said challengers expect to get the go-ahead by May 21 to begin collecting signatures to get a referendum on the bill, which was signed Wednesday by Gov. John Baldacci.  The Maine Jeremiah Project, a church based public policy group and The National Association of Marriage Enhancement are starting a petition drive to get the issue on the November ballot as a referendum question.

In my opinion, these church groups should really mind their own business!  If church and state are to be separate, as provided by our Constitution, then they should stick to their own concerns rather than trying to foist their ‘worn out dogma’ on others.  Nothing in this bill requires them to conduct same sex marriages.  They can continue to do practice their faith as they so choose.  The fact that they are trying to force their values on others is just another example of the evils of organized religion.  Why must everyone live the way they want people to live?  Why must they insist that they are right and everyone else is wrong?  There are other religions belief systems and that is why separation is guaranteed.  One could easily argue that the state should not accept religious marriage ceremonies as legal unless it is accompanied by a civil union as well.  Why should marriage be only what these religious leaders claim it should be?

Yes, we are one nation under God, but we are not one nation under the Baptist or Catholic version of God.  Christians need to get off this ‘everyone must believe as we do’ train.  This attitude has caused the world way too much suffering and strife and division.  Christianity is perhaps the only religion that purposely sets out to force others to act in its own image.   Maybe if religions practiced the true meaning of their teachings and acted with tolerance, love and compassion towards others, the world just might be a safer place.

Is the swine flu another case of health officials ‘crying wolf,’ a test of their emergency system in preparation for something else, a cover-up or even a hoax?  According to the World Health Organization, “Influenza is a highly infectious disease caused by a very unstable virus…annual epidemics are thought to result in 3-5 million cases of severe illness and from 250,000 to 500,000 deaths…The greatest public health concern lies in the tendency of Influenzavirus A to change suddenly and markedly, either through mutation or through the exchange of influenza virus genes or through the transfer of whole virus between host species into novel, genetically distinct subtypes…The result is the sudden appearance of a new virus strain to which populations may have no immunity and against which no existing vaccine may confer protection” (WHO 11/26/02, 111th Session, item 5.8). 

The WHO notes that the 1918 pandemic killed some 40-50 million people and that a “likely” new pandemic would kill around a half-million people in industrial nations alone.  Now, let’s take a look at the following numbers regarding the current swine flu, H1N1.  Keep in mind, that by the time you read this, the numbers will surely have changed.

-- THE UNITED STATES:  The number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States rose to 111 spread across 13 states, health officials said (THE NUMBER OF STATES IS NOW 22).

-- CONFIRMED INFECTIONS: Thirteen countries have been affected in addition to Mexico. According to the World Health Organization: The United States 91, Mexico 26, Canada 13, Germany 3, Britain 5, Israel 2, New Zealand 3, Spain 4, Austria 1.

The following countries have also announced confirmed cases: Costa Rica 2, Netherlands 1, Peru 1, and Switzerland 1.

- NATIONS WITH SUSPECTED INFECTIONS: Argentina 3, Australia 114, Chile 24, Colombia 59, Denmark 5, Finland 1, France 41, Ireland 3, Italy 20, Japan 1, Poland 2, Portugal 1, South Africa 1, South Korea 4, Sweden 5. (c) 2009 AFP

Everyone knows that WHO alert level has been raised to a level 5, 6 being the highest.  But in looking at the history and the numbers, is this justified?  We are looking at only a few hundred cases on a worldwide basis.  In the United States alone, the annual seasonal flu kills 36,000 according to the CDC.  Why all the fuss over the politically incorrect ‘swine flu?’  Is it possible that the high alert is just a test of our emergency systems?  If so, why now and why over a flu?  Is it possible that we are not being told the entire story and if not, what is really going on?  Is it possible that Vice president Joe Biden actually meant what he said but that he was not supposed to let the ‘pig out of the bag?’  What does he possibly know that we do not?  Or, as some have suggested who are really into conspiracy theories, is this just a ploy to get more money for the pharmaceutical industry or a way of diverting attention away from issues like the economy and climate change?

The numbers do not match the response.  Either we are being kept in the dark about what is really going on, or someone is playing a very expensive and dangerous game.  I am not a big fan of wasting taxpayers’ money on often wasteful and usually fruitless Congressional investigations.  But in this instance, someone needs to look into this and let the public know the truth about what is really going on.  Cry wolf, a cover-up, a test, a diversion?  You be the judge, but it is time to ask the questions.

There are those who would have us believe that resources and actions must be devoted to solving the world’s financial crisis at the expense of all else.  These same people would also have us believe that addressing the issue of climate change and the environment must be put aside in light of this new priority.  A recently released poll indicates that the issue of climate change has dropped to position number 20 as far as issues concerning the American public.  It is clear that the economic stress has taken a bite out of concern for the environment.  However, can we afford to lose sight of what is happening to the climate?  Are the issues of the economy and the environment really separate issues?  Can we have one without the other?

What is currently going on in the environment?  Keeping in mind that everything is happening faster than scientists have predicted, a brief snapshot is as follows:  Major Arctic and Antarctic shelves have collapsed which may make it possible for  land glaciers to now slip into the ocean; Major rivers around the world are losing water; Icelandic glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate; the Bering Sea may soon be ice free in the summer; The magnetic North Pole is rapidly shifting; the oceans are being depleted of fish; tropical diseases are moving further north and south from the equator; species are dying off at an alarming rate (this time period has been labeled the 6th great extinction); the earth’s population may have already reached its sustainability limit; bird migrations are changing; storm severity is increasing; wildfires are more frequent; droughts and crop failures are spreading; sea levels are rising; drinking water is disappearing, and need I go on?

How can anyone possibly believe that we can address economic issues at the expense of climate change issues?  Economies run on resources.  If the forests go, there is no wood for houses; if the fish die, there is no fishing industry; if re-emerging diseases start killing everyone off, there is no one to buy the products; if storm severity keeps increasing, all the insurance bail out money is wasted; if crops fail, there is no agricultural industry.  Industry would have us believe that getting the economy back on track is achieved by giving more money to banks and freeing up credit.  The sad part is that politicians have bought into this argument and they keep giving them more money, but the economy still worsens.  They do not want our precious dollars to go into new green companies or concepts because they are not yet prepared to gobble up those dollars.  And a result, they have convinced many that it comes down to a choice, the economy or the environment.

President Obama has taken a more holistic approach to solving our major public policy issues.  He seems to understand that you cannot treat the disease with a Band-Aid.   All facets of life are interrelated and the health of the whole is equal to the sum health of the parts.  What will it ‘profit’ us to regain an outdated economy at the expense of quality of life?  Are we that selfish that we are willing to sacrifice the planet for a few more years of buying junk?  The change that is coming is coming fast.  It is not centuries away.  It is happening now and may soon, if it has not already, be beyond the most valiant efforts to alter.   The brain cannot function without a heart; the economy function without an environment.  By our continued focus upon the things of life, we are losing any notion of the essence of life.  It is way past time to put away our childish things and to concentrate upon a world at peace with itself and its environment.  Blessings to the Earth!

It is interesting to study and look up words in the Bible.  For example, if you look for the word “saviour” in the Bible, these are the only references in the four Gospels: LUKE 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my SAVIOUR: LUKE 2:11 city of David a SAVIOUR, which is Christ the Lord; and, JOHN 4:42 is indeed the Christ, the SAVIOUR of the world.  None of these words were spoken by Jesus and none specifically say that Jesus is saviour.  Luke and John say that Christ is the saviour, but did they mean Jesus or were they referring to the concept of God within man, the Christ in each of us, is a saviour?

I am sure that fundamentalist, most whom have probably not even bothered to do this kind of search, would insist that “of course the reference is to Jesus” and it does not matter that Jesus never called himself the saviour.  I think there is a great stretch of imagination and wishful thing here.

If you look for the word “save,” there is no reference that Jesus died or gave his life to “save” you from your sins.  The closest reference is, JOHN 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to SAVE the world.  Clearly a revealing choice of words.  Jesus says, without much room for a differing interpretation, that if anyone hears what he has to say and does not believe him, that is okay!  “I came not to judge…”  One cannot help but wonder why so many Christians have condemned, judged, tortured and committed all manner of atrocities on those who were not followers of Jesus.  “I came…to save the world.”  By save, does he mean that if you believe in him you are saved?  Saved from what?  He certainly does not condemn those who don’t follow him so what does he mean by save?  Does he not mean that he came with a message of peace and love and if you believe and adhere to this message, the world will be a better place?  How can anyone reasonably make a quantum leap and think that this means that Jesus died for your sins?  How does any rational person come to the conclusion that Jesus died on a cross for your salvation? In Luke we read, “76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77 To give knowledge of SALVATION unto his people by the remission of their sins…”  This is not a claim of Jesus and, it is said that ‘knowledge’ of salvation is give.  Again, there is no reference to ‘salvation’ being achieved by someone dying on a cross.

As I drive to work there are many churches and many signs on those churches; billboards proclaiming the latest sound bite for the day.  All are now filled with such phrases as; ‘Jesus died for you,” “Jesus gave his life to save you,” “Jesus rose from the grave to free you of your sins,” etc.   Jesus taught that each of you is responsible for your actions.  He taught that no one should make judgments.  He taught that you can be perfect, even as gods.  He taught that there is a Christ within each of you.  Jesus never said that he died for your sins.  On the contrary, he taught that you are responsible for your life and your reality.  He never let you off the hook for your actions.  Those who think they can be a horrible person all week, and then be absolved from their actions by going to church and singing hymns are delusional. (See JESUS TAUGHT IT, TOO: THE EARLY ROOTS OF THE LAW OF ATTRACTION). 

All of these issues are explored and revealed in the first two books of the WAKING GOD TRILOGY.  Mantrella (a.k.a. Lucifer) says, “It is not about saving humanity, it never has been.”  Read the books and explore the context of these words.  Discover why any so called ‘salvation’ can only come from within.  Discover how religious dogma has actually been a force of darkness and not Light.  Go on-line and find a concordance of the Bible.  Do some research.  Explore your religious beliefs with an open mind.