Author: Tracy Abell

Climate Movement Monday: Not Too Late

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Welcome back to another edition of Movement Mondays in which I typically highlight a frontline community that’s bearing the brunt of the climate crisis and then offer an action you can take on behalf of that community. Today, I’m taking a different approach and offering a choose-your-own-adventure. Here is Earthjustice’s Action Alert page listing a number of topics for which you can write a quick letter, such as getting chemicals out of water OR saving the endangered Gulf of Mexico whale from extinction OR supporting Green Energy for Puerto Rico. Remember: brief and to-the-point letters are absolutely fine.

I also want to share an excerpt from a book that arrived in the mail today.

From Rebecca Solnit’s opening essay:
To hope is to accept despair as an emotion but not as an analysis. To recognize that what is unlikely is possible, just as what is likely is not inevitable. To understand that difficult is not the same as impossible. To plan and to accept that the unexpected often disrupt plans–for the better and for the worse. To know the powerful have their weaknesses, and we who are supposed to be weak have great power together, power to change the world, have done so before and will again. To know that the future will be what we make of it in the present. To know that joy can appear in the midst of crisis, and that a crisis is a crossroads. 

NOT TOO LATE: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility (edited by Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young Lutunatabua) is available for purchase through Haymarket Books at 30% off.

I always love to hear when you’ve taken action, read something inspiring, or just want to high-five across the miles, so please share in the comments.

Here’s to a world in which there’s truly justice for all. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Botanic bouquets

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Today I joined a new friend from Barnraisers and his family for a visit to the Botanic Gardens in Denver. They live out of state and while we’d only met via zoom, he and I  connected through the screen. Happily, his spouse and son were equally fun to talk with. I purposely left my camera at home so as not to be rude about interrupting conversations to take photos, but these beauties were too hard to resist and I used my camera phone to capture their essence.

Here’s another clump highlighting the stems which resemble fluffy evening gowns:

Hooray for the beauty of Pasque Flowers!

Standing at the edge

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there’s got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you’re at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together. ~ Yo-Yo Ma

Okay, mourning dove.
It’s just you and me.
One . . . two . . .  three . . . JUMP!

Climate Movement Monday: Weelaunee Forest & Cop City

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I highlight a frontline community that’s disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and then offer an opportunity for you to take action on that community’s behalf. Today the focus is on the South River Forest aka Weelaunee Forest and Cop City in Atlanta, surrounded by a largely Black neighborhood. Note: I started writing my own version of events but realized there was no point in reinventing the wheel. Here, instead, are some handy graphics from Defend the Atlanta Forest to get you up to speed:

Additional info: from 2017-2021, the South River Forest (Weelaunee) was the centerpiece of a proposed 3,500-acre greenspace that would be protected from development. Then Cop City was announced in November 2021. Read the history of the forest that includes stolen Muscogee land and a prison farm (here and here).

Additional info: Cop City would be the largest police training facility in the U.S., training police in urban warfare using firearms, tear gas, helicopters, and explosive devices. Cop City is made possible through donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation from entities such as Amazon, UPS, Delta Airlines, Home Depot*, and Wells Fargo.

 

 

Additional info: Dekalb County Commission plans to bulldoze an historic cemetery in an adjacent neighborhood in order to build a $5 million intersection for trucks servicing the movie studio.

 

 

 

Additional info: the Atlanta PD has also charged 42 people with domestic terrorism, the majority arrested while attending a peaceful music festival in the forest. “Domestic terrorism” carries a minimum 5-year sentence and maximum 35-year sentence. Previously, this charge came as result of injury or death to 10+ people, but is now being used in relation to property damage.

In summary, what we’re witnessing here is climate destruction and an escalation of the police state. It’s no coincidence that as conditions worsen for workers and the most vulnerable communities in this country, and as the climate crisis ratchets up, the powerful are pushing to expand and militarize the police. They see the dystopian future in which desperate people will be fighting for food and water, and have decided that rather than invest in people and planet, it’s best to train police in urban warfare in order to suppress uprisings against the ruling elite.

There are many tactics being used to #StopCopCity and while I live in Colorado, I’ve been able to show solidarity by making legal donations, along with phone calls and emails asking contractors to PLEASE earn goodwill in their community that overwhelmingly opposes this project by cutting ties with Cop City.  Defend the Forest offers these suggestions:

There are many ways to get involved. You can support online, help organize your community, show up for actions, or any other number of activities depending on your availability and comfort level. The movement appreciates the need for diverse tactics, meaning many forms of struggle that move towards a common goal. Here’s some more ideas:

  • You can sign up for sporadic text alerts here: 470.606.1212
  • You can Visit the forest at 3251 W Side Place, Atlanta GA 30316.
  • You can donate to on-the-ground forest defense and community groups.
  • You can donate to legal & bail support fund for protestors.
  • You can donate to the lawsuit challenging the Dekalb County movie studio land swap.
  • You can organize protests, send phone calls or emails, or help with direct actions of different kinds to encourage contractors of the various projects to stop the destruction. You can find some of the contractors here: stopreevesyoung.com
  • Call Brasfield & Gorrie (678.581.6400), the Atlanta Police Foundation (770.354.3392), and the City of Atlanta (404.330.6100) and ask them to cancel the project and to remain peaceful with tree-sitters and other on-the-ground protesters.
  •  You can form an Action Group in your community, neighborhood, town, city, college, or scene. Together, you can host information nights, movie screenings, potluck dinners, and protests at the offices of contractors, at the homes of the board members, on campus, or elsewhere. You can post and pass out fliers at public places and shows, knock on doors to talk to neighbors and sign them up for text alerts, fundraisers, or actions, or you can innovate new activities altogether.
  • You can conduct independent research about the destruction of the forest, construction projects, their funders, their contractors, or lesser-known details about the project using public records searches or other open source investigation techniques and send your findings to us at defendtheatlantaforest[at]protonmail[dot]com
  • You can organize to join or create a camp in the South River/Weelaunee Forest. Respect people’s space and try to be friendly.
  • Finally, you and friends or your group could organize to caravan down to the forest from near or far during weeks of action.

THANK YOU IF YOU’VE READ THIS FAR! I’D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON ALL THIS. It’s a lot of information, but it’s important to have this on our radar.

The powerful believe they can stream-roll over people and planet. Me? I believe in people power. Solidarity! ✊🏽

*update: Home Depot Workers United calls for Home Depot to pull their support for Cop City

I receive this melodious gift

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

Just ran out on the trails for the first time in a couple weeks. I don’t usually go out there on the weekends because it’s more crowded than during the week but I’ve missed the open space, so off I went. And my fears were correct: there were quite a few people and dogs out there. However, someone I’m always happy to share that space with was also there:

Wikimedia Commons: Photo by Rick Bohn

My first Western Meadowlark of the season! As I chugged up the slog, my ears were suddenly filled with liquid song and for a split second, I couldn’t remember what I was hearing. And then my brain processed the sound and I grinned. When I reached the top/turnaround point, I did some stretches as the meadowlark sang its little heart out. I finally spotted it up on the ridge, atop a yucca plant, and called out, “Thank you! I receive the gift of your song!”

And then I ran back down the trail. Oh, happy day.

My refuge

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

We went for a walk at 8:00 this morning despite the cold temperature because we wanted to be back inside before the wind started blowing again. And we just made it. As soon as we returned, I went out to clean and refill the bird bath (which was filled with pine needles, dirt, and other debris from yesterday’s wind) and that’s when the wind began raging again. (Note: the bath’s already polluted but there’s no point in cleaning now).

As noted yesterday, my anxiety levels were high (update: the fire in Park County spread to Teller County and has now burned 1,200 acres) and I chose to put on music loud enough to drown out the sound of the heavy gusts of wind while I played with ink and paints.

I copied each of these animals from a drawing book and consider them a huge success. Not because the crocodile looks like she has mumps or because what appears to be an otter was actually supposed to be a weasel. No, I consider my little art session a success because for a while there I was not thinking about our wildfire evacuation kit, the extreme drought and water shortage here in the West, or how the Biden administration continues to authorize more oil and gas drilling on federal lands. Instead, I was focused on drawing silly little pictures and learning how to use paints.

And now I’m going back to my art table where I’ll turn up the music and create some more. Oh, and comfort Emma when she gets agitated about those 50-mph gusts of wind.

Wishing you calm wherever you are.

Dust in the wind

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

The wind is BLOWING right now. (Per my phone, weather is currently: “62 degrees and blowing widespread dust.”) It’s warm and very dry here in Colorado and one wildfire’s already burning in Park County. My wildfire anxiety is HIGH. Emma’s pressed up against my feet right now because the house shakes and the roof creaks with each particularly strong gust of wind. Making matters worse, tomorrow’s supposed to be even windier than today. Ugh.

I’m going to abort my writing plans and instead play loud music to drown out the nightmare outside while I create some art. Before I go, here’s a tree I photographed yesterday when we hiked at Castlewood Canyon State Park (where the wind had already started). We still had a lovely time.

I went searching for a wind-related quote and found this which feels like a good antidote to my current windy reality and a good match for this photo.  Enjoy.

We never look deeply into the quality of a tree; we never really touch it, feel its solidity, its rough bark, and hear the sound that is part of the tree. Not the sound of wind through the leaves, not the breeze of a morning that flutters the leaves, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk and the silent sound of the roots.
 ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Howlin’ for You

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

My days often begin with hoop-dancing in my living room where I put on loud music and dance around for 20 minutes or so, snapping my fingers and singing off-key. In addition to the birds (and squirrels) at the feeders outside the window, I’m also frequently joined by Emma. Typically, she’s in whatever room Zippy is occupying but something about the music and my dancing gets her going, and she’ll suddenly appear in the entryway, wagging her tail and smiling at me. That’s my cue to begin howling.

Emma immediately joins in.

She usually stays out of the way, content to howl from the edge of the dance floor, but this morning she moved in close to the action.

You’ll have to trust that my hoop is spinning around me and my head is thrown back to howl with Emma. Zippy sprang into photographer action when I called to him, but the camera had the long lens on it which didn’t allow for a wide angle shot.

But baby, we were both howlin’ for you.

Climate Movement Monday: U.S. Postal Service edition

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I highlight a frontline community that’s suffering the worst effects of the climate crisis and then suggest a quick action you can take on behalf of people and planet. Today my focus is the U.S. Postal Service.

I’ll start by saying I’m a huge fan of the USPS. I think it’s a wonderful government agency that provides a vital service and I’ve enjoyed engaging with our mail carriers over the years. When Larry retired, people in the neighborhood put up signs to thank him and wish him well. Our current carrier is John, a pickleball fanatic who pretends to race me in his truck when he sees me running. John’s postal truck was built in the 1980s which means it guzzles gas and has heavy emissions. John walks as much as he can while delivering but when he drives, it’s with the door open. Imagine breathing in exhaust fumes all day.

The good news: the USPS recently announced the purchase of nearly 10,000 electric vehicles. The bad news: the USPS is also planning to purchase the same number of gas-guzzling, polluting vehicles. Per Earthjustice:  Buried in the Postal Service’s press release trumpeting the electric trucks was a paragraph detailing its plans to put nearly 10,000 new polluting trucks into our communities before it even finishes the environmental review its legally required to do. The Postal service could buy close to 18,000 more of these polluting trucks in the coming years.

Why? Well, one big problem is the Postmaster General: Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee put in place to destroy/privatize the Postal Service (because, among other things, mail-in-ballots). Biden has retained DeJoy despite calls to fire him and appoint someone who actually believes in the USPS mission.

So, today I’m asking you to take 2 quick actions:

  1. Let the Postal Service know you want it to finish its environmental review before it puts any more polluting trucks onto our streets.
  2. Let the USPS Board of Governors know they must make it a priority to fire Louis DeJoy before he destroys the Postal Service.

Thank you in advance for taking action on behalf of this vital institution, the workers, the climate, and our air quality. And remember, if you get a friend to do the same, you will have doubled your impact.

Solidarity! ✊🏽

Sunday Confessional: my March madness

/ Tracy Abell

For someone who’d supposedly sworn off men’s college basketball, I’ve sure watched an awful lot of shooty-hoops over the past ten days. As in, nearly every single game played.  My bracket is an abomination due in large part to not having watched any games or read about any teams or players this season. I was one hundred percent clueless coming into the tournament.

For example, I picked Purdue to win it all. Instead, Purdue, which was one of the 1-seeds, got knocked out in their very first game by the 16-seeded team from Fairleigh Dickinson. Apparently, it was the worst upset in March Madness history. However, because San Diego State beat Creighton today, I actually have one correct pick in the final four! (Note: I’m aware there are few things more yawn-inducing than someone blathering about their bracket, but I wanted to document my experience here. 🙂 )

Despite my lack of skills in picking winners, I’ve had so much fun this year watching the games. I truly love college basketball and mostly stopped because the NCAA tournament exploited the athletes who were barely getting by (as in, not having enough to eat) while the NCAA literally made a billion dollars a year, most of it from the tournament. It’s still very bad, but as of 2022, athletes can now earn money from endorsements and sponsorships. (So there you have my justification for participating in March Madness, which isn’t solid, I know.) But I have to say, it’s given me a lot of joy.

And now that we’re down to four teams that I’ve watched play in multiple games, I’m going to make one more prediction: UConn* will prevail.

*Wildebeest predicted this from the start.

Thankful Thursday: a world worth fighting for

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

It seems everywhere I look, people and planet are suffering because the powerful are making decisions that benefit a select few. Sometimes (okay, frequently) I’m overwhelmed by the feel of this Whack-a-Mole reality in which it’s one awful thing after another being inflicted on us in the name of capitalism and Christofascism. However, nature always brings me back to myself and while this photo is from another year and another season, its beauty centers me today.

View from Eaglesmere Lake Trail. Sept 28, 2021

Today I am grateful for the many, many people putting themselves on the line for a better world. And today I vow to remain in the fight because this planet and all its inhabitants are worth fighting for.

Climate Movement Monday: updates + quick action on old growth forests

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I highlight frontline communities experiencing the worst of the climate crisis and then offer a quick way to take action on behalf people and planet. Confession: today feels especially difficult because:

  1. It’s the 20 year anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq despite the millions of us around the world who took to the streets to shout NO! (surprise: war causes ongoing harm.)
  2. The final report from the U.N.’s  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)  was released today and, among other things, says “The suffering is worst in the world’s poorest countries and low-lying island nations, which are home to roughly 1 billion people yet account for less than 1 percent of humanity’s total planet-warming pollution. But as climate disruption increases with rising temperatures, not even the wealthiest and most well-protected places will be immune.” But the report’s not all doom. Despite its stark language and dire warnings, the IPCC report sends a message of possibility, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and a member of the core writing team for the report. “It’s not that we are depending on something that still needs to be invented,” she said. “We actually have all the knowledge we need. All the tools we need. We just need to implement it.”

All the more reason for us to keep on fighting for policies that ensure a just transition to clean, renewable energies for ALL. We CAN do this if we join together. So, please, read on.  🙂

UPDATE on legal challenges to the Willow Project:

Here’s the press release about Earthjustice filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration on March 15, just two days after Biden authorized the Willow Project. (Trustees of Alaska filed a separate challenge on behalf of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic ((SILA)) and conservation groups.) From the press release:  

This is the second time the Bureau of Land Management has approved the Willow project. The Trump administration first approved the project in 2020. Conservation and Alaska Native groups challenged the approval, and the court threw it out as unlawful in 2021. It instructed BLM to reassess the project’s full climate impacts and consider alternatives that would lessen its overall impacts. In approving Willow for the second time, the Biden administration has failed to heed these instructions, producing an environmental analysis that falls short in these same respects.

TAKE QUICK ACTION FOR TREES!

I received an email from Earthjustice this morning asking for action on old growth forests. On Earth Day 2022, Biden took an important step toward protecting mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. Now, we need to push Biden to create a strong, lasting, national rule to protect those forests from logging. You can do that here. (If you’re pressed for time, here’s my letter you can copy and paste:

Thank you for your executive order directing the conservation of mature and old-growth forests. The next step is to create a strong, lasting national rule that protects mature and old-growth trees and forests across federal public lands from logging. Protecting and recovering these natural climate solutions would be a key piece of U.S. climate policy, a sign of international leadership, and an enduring legacy of your administration.

Safeguarding and expanding carbon-rich forests on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands is an important, cost-effective, and timely approach to fighting the climate crisis. Mature trees store and continue to absorb large amounts of carbon in addition to providing the public with clean drinking water, habitat for imperiled wildlife, and world-class recreational opportunities.

Please, be a leader and act to protect these forests.

(Note to anyone not wanting to receive emails as a result of the petition: remember, you can always opt out!)

Thank you for reading and taking action.  Solidarity! ✊🏽

Climate Movement Monday: Willow Project update

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I highlight frontline communities that are enduring the worst of the climate crisis AND offer ways to take action on behalf of people and planet.

This is an especially hard post to write because today Biden went back on his campaign promises** and authorized the Willow Project in the Western Arctic. I’ve been writing about this issue for a while and am outraged this decision was made despite the millions of people who called, wrote, and signed petitions opposing the project. This decision came despite the science stating loudly and clearly that we must keep all fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change. Make no mistake, this decision came courtesy of heavy lobbying by the fossil fuel industry.

But the fight isn’t over. Environmental groups are not backing down. Here’s an excerpt from a CommonDreams write-up:

Sonia Ahkivgak, social outreach coordinator for Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic—which organized a letter of opposition to the Willow project signed by more than three dozen Indigenous-led groups—said in a statement that “the Biden administration’s approval makes it clear that its call for climate action and the protection of biodiversity is talk, not action.”

“The only reasonable solution to the climate emergency is to deny new fossil fuel projects like Willow,” said Ahkivgak. “Our fight has been long and also it has only begun. We will continue to call for a stop to Willow because the lives of local people and future generations depend on it.”

Sign up for updates from and/or donations to SILA (Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic here.

Earthjustice (Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer) has already been prepping a legal challenge to this decision and that’s a good thing because as they point out here:

Interior’s decision approves three drilling pads, which combined will produce 92% of the oil ConocoPhillips initially sought to develop, a staggering climate impact amounting to more than 260 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG). The GHG emissions from Willow will equal that of 56 million cars driven for one year, or nearly 70 coal fired power plants operating for one year. This project is also intended to be a stepping-stone for future development. ConocoPhillips has described Willow to its investors as the “next great Alaska hub,” saying it had identified up to 3 billion barrels of nearby prospects that could be accessed if the Willow infrastructure were in place. ConocoPhillips holds about 1 million of the 2.5 million acres already under lease in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

You can support Earthjustice with a tax-deductible contribution here. 

I will continue to write about the Willow Project and let you know how to stay involved. Thank you to everyone who’s read these Climate Movement Monday posts over the past months and taken action. You’re appreciated! And if you haven’t yet taken action, I hope you’ll join us in the fight. No matter where we live, we’re all in this together. People power is the answer! Solidarity! ✊🏽

**Biden campaign promises:

 

Thankful Thursday: hiking edition

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

We took a much-needed break today and headed to Staunton State Park for a hike. This is the second photo I took (the first was of the trail map) and, as you can see, Emma was enthusiastic about the clean mountain snow. I caught her mid-submarine and the snow was flying.

It wasn’t all snow, however. There were also patches of treacherous ice and sections of trail with mud thick enough to suck the boots off your feet. (Almost.) Fortunately, Emma isn’t interested in rolling around in mud.

Here are Emma and Zippy on the switchback ahead of me. A forest feels so different when blanketed with snow and while I enjoyed the entire hike, I was especially happy when amongst the trees.

True to form, we didn’t make it to our destination (Elk Falls Pond) because we ran out of time. But this was our view when we  stopped to eat shortly before turning around to head back. Nothing but clean air and warm sunshine.

It was seven miles of rejuvenating happiness and I’m grateful for those hours in nature.

Twofer Tuesday: towhee edition

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

I love me some Spotted Towhees which frequently hang out in our backyard. We often hear them scrabbling through the mulch and leaves as they jump forward and scratch backward with both feet, and over the last two summers they nested in the yard which meant we also got to hear the juveniles making their raspy cries for their parents. Spotted Towhees have a high entertainment value.

These images were taken within days of each other last October and might possibly be the same bird. The only thing I know for sure is that they are not-great images!  But what better way to celebrate Twofer Tuesday than with two poor photos of the same subject?

This first one is woefully out of focus but we still get the the slightly punk rock attitude with those ruffled head feathers and red eye.

The second photo gives us a lovely view of the towhee’s back along with a glimpse of its underside. You know, to help with identification. HA. Mostly, it’s a nice shot of our deteriorating timbers and weed-choked pavers.

My mother-in-law once told Zippy that Spotted Towhees were her favorite bird (but then thanks to her memory issues, she promptly forgot that statement.) No matter, I remember and every time I see one, I think of Alice. Sweet-sweet-teeeeaaa.

No more mourning

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

For the past couple months, I’ve been struggling with my new middle grade project idea, trying to land on the “correct” tone and approach. I’ve written a bunch of scenes, but knew I was missing the mark. Today in desperation, I turned to the google and asked a convoluted question about how to write a first draft when wandering around in the dark inside your head, clueless about how to find the right approach to the story. And this came up!

None of this approach is new to me, but the way J. Elle framed the info resonated, plus the timing was just right. This afternoon, I was in the right head space to take in the info and think about my project in these terms. I now have a short pitch and tent pole moments, although those may still change. I’m mostly just excited to have a solid-ish foundation upon which to build. No matter what happens next, I feel as if I’m moving in the right direction.

Mourning Dove. July 20, 2022

No more sad, mopey mourning for me. This project is finally on its way and for that, I am grateful.

Caturday at the condo

/ Tracy Abell

Over the past week, the entire household moved room to room, following the sun. The Costco Box Condo is typically a prime late-morning location, but ever since I put the bed on the upper level, Marcel (in white) won’t go up there because he has an aversion to all non-human beds. This means Brother Loki is free to lounge in the penthouse or on the second floor. He’s happy most anywhere he can nap.

In this image, though, it feels as if Marcel is silently admonishing me for ruining his perch. Know what? I’ve just decided I will remove that little bed.

Well done, Marcel.