Author: Tracy Abell

Climate Movement Monday: share a climate victory!

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

On this final Monday of 2022, instead of asking you to make a phone call or send an email, I’d like you to join me in highlighting positive climate action around the world. The climate crisis can feel overwhelming, but good things are happening and it’s important to maintain hope for a livable future. So this week’s ask:

Share a climate victory in the comments. This can be something from your city or state, or news from another state or country. It can be a climate activist elected to office. If you don’t know of any specific climate victory, share a cool innovation you came across. Basically, I want to hype the endless possibilities for averting the worst effects of the climate crisis. 

I’ll go first.

 

In November, 70% of Denver voters approved the WASTE NO MORE ballot initiative. This will require Denver area construction sites to properly dispose of all waste and materials. It also requires businesses (restaurants, hospitals, apartment buildings, hotels, sporting arenas, festivals, etc.) to provide compost and recycling services.

This is very important because per the USDA “Food loss and waste also exacerbates the climate change crisis with its significant greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Production, transportation, and handling of food generate significant Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and when food ends up in landfills, it generates methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas.”

Per CBS Colorado, data from the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) and Eco-Cycle show that despite businesses in Denver generating about 55 percent of the city’s municipal waste, they weren’t required to recycle or compost. And now they are!

That’s one piece of good news here in Colorado!

What’s your good climate news? Please share in the comments to help expand perspectives on what’s possible when people work together for positive change.

#Caturday cattitude

/ Tracy Abell

Here’s Marcel on the coldest day of the year, tucked in between the venetian blinds and drafty window. Wouldn’t be me, on multiple counts. But I can’t fault anyone for following the sunshine.

Fortunately, we’re at a balmy 44 degrees right now. No sun, though, which might explain why Marcel is currently curled up asleep on the bed.

Happy #Caturday to all who observe!

Conjuring warm memories

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

It’s bitterly cold today and uppermost in my mind is that I’m exceedingly grateful for my warm home. We had to take our dog to the vet this morning and it was a slow fourteen mile drive. Many were equally cautious but, of course, there were those who treated the snowy-icy streets as their personal speedway. We had to detour on the way home to pick up something and by the time I was at the red light at the top of our exit ramp, I was looking forward to being off the road.

WHAM!

Rear-ended by someone who’d missed the memo that the streets were freaking slippery. The good news is there was no damage to the car (except the impact knocked the muffler tape loose and now our old Subaru is REALLY loud again). The bad news? The collision triggered my PTSD and I was weepy and shaky for a bit, not to mention suddenly feeling so much anger toward people. The unmasked and the fast drivers, aka the people who don’t seem to give a damn about anyone else’s health and well-being. Part of the issue is that I’ve been rear-ended a bunch of times over the years and I’m really, really sick of it.

But again, uppermost in my mind today as the temperatures dipped well below zero is that I’m exceedingly grateful for my warm home. In that spirit, here’s a beautiful Mourning Dove I photographed at the Chatfield Audubon Center last May. A much more soothing image than the puffed-out birds hunkered down in the trees today.

Peace until all of us.

Happy Solstice

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Today is the shortest day of the year and tomorrow we begin gaining daylight. Despite the incremental change at first, it’s still a huge boost to mental health. And we need it here in Colorado as we brace ourselves for an arctic blast. Tonight it will get down to -12 degrees F and tomorrow’s high will be a whopping -1 degree. And thanks to the climate crisis, we’re also smelling smoke from a wildfire in Boulder County (almost exactly one year after the Marshall Fire last December!) Cold enough to kill people and dry/windy enough to burn everything down. How’s that for messed up?

Anyway, this is some kind of hybrid dragonly/butterfly we found while clearing out my mother-in-law’s house. The six-inch by four-inch, bejeweled curiosity now hangs in my writing room window and I just photographed it as the foothills went dark. The bluish tinge is a result of the Arctic filter I applied, which felt appropriate.

Here’s to more hospitable days. Happy Solstice, everyone!

Climate Movement Mondays: Dirty Deal AGAIN

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

UPDATE 12.20.22: Manchin’s dirty permitting deal is NOT included in the omnibus spending bill. This is the power of collective action!!

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I share information about frontline communities enduring the worst effects of climate change and what we can do to help them. I started writing a post to celebrate the third defeat of Manchin’s dirty permitting deal last week and then found out (as expected), this zombie legislation hasn’t yet died. Now Manchin and Schumer want to add it to the omnibus spending bills this week.

One of my Denver zombie crawl images from years ago

PLEASE make some phone calls (or emails). Even if these senators aren’t from your state, it’s entirely okay to contact them. I say, “I am a climate constituent from Colorado where we’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the Marshall Fire that did over $2 billion in damages, and we cannot afford more fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline.” Unfortunately, you all have some climate crisis happening in your own state (drought, flooding, wind damage, etc). If completed, the Mountain Valley Pipeline will affect the climate for everyone, not only those in its path.

 

 

I’m looking forward to celebrating the fourth defeat of coal baron Manchin’s diry deal. Thank you in advance for standing with the people and planet. Solidarity! ✊🏽

 

Two magpies

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Two magpies flew in front of me as I ran on the streets this afternoon, providing a much-needed boost as my energy lagged. I called out to them, “Hello, magpies! I receive the gift of your beauty!”

Of course, I didn’t have a camera with me so here are two that visited my backyard almost exactly one year ago. The bird on the fence had just finished bathing and my photo session shows a continuous stream of magpies performing their ablutions.

December 19, 2021

I feel incredibly fortunate to see magpies on a daily basis. They’re stunning birds that never fail to bring a smile.

Winter running

/ Tracy Abell

Over the weekend, I made a vow to start running every other day again which meant today is running day. But it’s only 24 degrees. Ugh. So I decided to run inside on the treadmill, then thought about the monotony of treadmill running and decided to give it a try outside. I put on my warm togs and a face mask, hoping my glasses wouldn’t steam up.

Photo by Xeniya Kovaleva at Pexels.com

Although my mask wasn’t nearly as festive as that one and the neighborhood streets were dry, other than that this photo has the exact same vibe. HA. Just a happy-go-lucky run in frigid temperatures. I concentrated on inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth which mostly kept my glasses steam-free . . . until they weren’t and it became impossible to see. So I took off the mask and ran the rest of the way home. 

Now my cheeks are rosy-red and I’m happily indoors again, swimming in a warm sea of endorphins. Mission accomplished.

Climate Movement Monday: petition + phone calls needed

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays! Sometimes I feel like a voice in the wilderness, but I can’t stop sharing info and action items in support of those living on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We are ALL in this together. If you love plants, animals, nature, people, clean air & water, you have a stake in climate action.

Image by Filmbetrachter from Pixabay

Today, I’m asking you to:

  1. SIGN A PETITION urging Biden to uphold his pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. I’ve written before about the Willow Project (here & here) and if approved, this project would be a massive carbon bomb. Today, the Washington Post reported this:

    At the northern tip of Alaska, the city of Utqiagvik on Monday reached its warmest temperature ever observed between November and March, when the mercury shot up to 40 degrees — 36 degrees above the norm.

    The record-crushing high temperature was six degrees higher than the next warmest December reading ever measured there, in more than a century of records. It marked yet another exceptional extreme event in a region that is rapidly warming because of human-caused climate change.

    Clearly, we cannot afford the Willow Project.

    2. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES to stop Manchin’s dirty permitting deal. We’ve beaten it back twice before (here & here) and can do it again!!! From Climate Justice Alliance:

    • Call your Members of Congress (call script below) at 202-224-3121.*If for any reason this doesn’t connect you, find your Senators’ number here.

    Call Script for Democratic Senators: Hi, my name is ____, & I’m from ____. As your constituent I’m calling to demand that you do all you can to stop Senator Manchin’s dirty “permitting” proposal from being attached to any must pass legislation. Protecting our communities and climate is more important and we must transition away from fossil fuels now and protect communities’ rights to be free from harm in the process. Stand with the communities impacted by fossil fuels and the climate crisis and stop this permitting reform from being attached to any must-pass legislation.

    Call Script for Republicans Senators: Hi, my name is ____, & I’m from ____. I’m a constituent in your district calling to ask you to stop democratic Senator Manchin’s side deal on permitting reforms. Citizens and states should have the right to protect themselves. The bill proposed by Senator Manchin infringes upon our rights to protect ourselves by deliberately stripping us of our ability to speak out against toxic projects built near our front door.  Stand with the workers, farmers, and communities that are impacted by dirty energy projects built on their land, and stop Senator Manchin’s dirty “permitting” proposal from being attached to any must-pass legislation. 

    Thank you in advance for your actions! Solidarity! ✊🏽

     

Prison Library Support Network

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Today I did a two-hour Reference Volunteer Training with the Prison Library Support Network (PLSN). How it works: incarcerated people write to PLSN with reference questions that require research they can’t access in jail or prison then volunteers do the research and send the information via an intermediary from PLSN.

Image by Fifaliana Joy from Pixabay

After learning the basics of the program, we were divided into two-person teams in Zoom break-out rooms to answer one letter per team. We didn’t actually answer the letters, but did go through the steps in the process: read and identify the question(s) in the letter; review the mail policy for that particular prison*; brainstorm and list the information sources we’d use to answer our question(s); write out an example of how we’d list the reference materials (mailing address, URL, formal citation); describe any special formatting (PDF of website page, screenshot of chart, etc.).

It was an eye-opening experience. One of the trainers asked us to consider how many random things we “google” each day, which helped put into perspective some of the questions asked. For instance, my team’s letter was a list of 10 questions** that were a mix of “important” and what might be considered “not-so-important” questions that someone on the outside might quickly search on their phone while in conversation with a friend. Incarcerated people don’t have that ability, so  I totally get how they maybe just can’t stop wondering what is the world’s longest snake species.*** My teammate and I prioritized the questions and focused on how we’d gather information for those, with the hope we’d also have room in the response for the “not-so-important” answers.

It’s a little intimidating to think about being entrusted with these letters and sifting through ALL the information out there. But there’s lots of support within the group and there’s a person who reviews everything before the response letters get mailed. Better yet, we get to choose the letters we answer which means I can focus on topics within my wheelhouse rather than, for instance, answer legal questions. There’s a countrywide network of volunteers with varied backgrounds and some have law degrees, others are research librarians, and there’s probably a zoologist who knows about that world’s longest snake. 

If you’re interested in this project, PLSN offers a training session each month. They emphasized today that completing the training did NOT obligate us to be part of the program. We were free to check it out and see what we thought. (I’m gonna go for it.) 

————————–
*Here’s a peek at the confusing and convoluted mail policies in Arkansas:

AS OF AUGUST 21, 2017, In an effort to reduce the introduction of contraband into our facilities, inmates will only receive two sheets of 8½ x 11 inches of copy paper, which will include a copy of the envelope and three pieces of the correspondence on the four-sides of the two sheets of copy paper. Only black and white copies will be made, and no cards, larger size paper, or anything else will be manipulated to fit on the copy paper. Additionally, any general correspondence that exceeds these limits will be treated as contraband. The inmate will have thirty (30) days to pay for return postage or it will be destroyed. Please write all letters in dark ink only (black or blue ink). Do not use pencils or yellow markers because it will reduce image quality. Note the examples below that illustrate copy quality when using ink versus pencil.

** new policy limits each letter to three questions

*** not a question from today

Rattling doors and windows

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

It’s yet another windy day here in the Denver metro area and we’re supposed to be out walking with our dog right now because if we wait any longer, the sun will disappear behind the foothills before we return home (and then Tracy will be sad and blue). But if we go now, we’ll have to duck our heads and push into the wind that’s gusting hard enough to rattle this house.

This heavy wind is more and more common as climate change affects weather patterns and a sensible society would make it a priority to harness the wind in place of the fossil fuels that have caused the climate change. But no, this society coddles Senator Joe Manchin, the coal baron who will not let his dirty permitting deal die. We blocked him from attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) earlier this week and now he wants to either amend the NDAA with that dirty deal or attach it to the year-end spending bill. Note: in an attempt to woo Republican senators, the deal is even worse than before, with the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) still front and center.

CALL TO ACTION:

Call your Senators (connects automatically): 888-997-5380

Call Script: “Hi, my name is ____, & I live in ____. As your constituent OR someone concerned about MVP and environmental justice, I’m urging you to vote NO on any amendment or must-pass legislation that advances Manchin’s Dirty Permitting Deal.”

If you have more time, please call Senators on this Priority List:

Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Senator Carper (202) 224-2441
Senator Schumer (202) 224-6542
Senator Schatz (202) 224-3934
Senator Murray (202) 224-2621
Senator Reed (202) 224-4642
Senator Leahy (202) 224-4242
Senator Warnock (202) 224-3643
Senator Ossoff (202) 224-3521
Senator Padilla (202) 224-3553
Senator Smith (202) 224-5641
Senator Whitehouse (202) 224-2921
Senator Van Hollen (202) 224-4654
Senator Cardin (202) 224-4524
Senator Klobuchar (202) 224-3244

And if you have any pull with the Wind Goddesses, please ask them to calm it down here in Colorado. 🙂

Kinship

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

This Acorn Woodpecker, photographed at Cave Creek Canyon Ranch in May of 2019, is going after the suet with a laser focus. 

I can relate. These last few days, I’ve been food-obsessed. Yes, some of that’s been mindless eating and/or eating my emotions as we careen through multiple planetary crises. I’m like a bear fattening up for the winter . . . hungry all the time. Not for suet, though. Yech.

Climate Movement Monday: phone calls needed asap!

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I share info along with calls to action on behalf of frontline communities that are enduring the worst of the climate crisis.

I’m coming in briefly with this one because the issue moved faster than anticipated.

Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi are in talks to attach Manchin’s Dirty Deal to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Quick summary: this dirty deal is a fossil fuel industry wishlist to fast-track fossil fuel projects, gut bedrock environmental protections, endanger public health, and push Manchin’s pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline. WE STOPPED IT IN SEPTEMBER AND WE CAN STOP IT AGAIN!!!

Action: phone calls needed ASAP.

Senate Majority Leader Schumer: (202) 224-6542
Speaker Pelosi: (202) 225-4965
House of Representatives switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Message: Do NOT attach Manchin’s “permitting reform” to the NDAA or any other must-pass legislation. Protecting our communities and climate is much more important than  giving another gift to the fossil fuel industry. Stand with the communities impacted by fossil fuels and the climate crisis, and stop the dirty deal! 

Solidarity! ✊🏽

PLEASE wear a MASK

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

I went to a department store today to pick up an online order. As I wandered about trying to locate the pick-up area, I probably saw about fifty people. Fifty unmasked people, many of whom were standing right next to each other in the check-out line.

This is the first time since the start of the pandemic that I’ve been somewhere in public where I was the one and only person wearing a mask. It’s very troubling. Horrifying. Rage-inducing.

What is going on? Peer pressure? Don’t trample on my freedom? Denial?

Because despite the powers that be saying the pandemic is over, it absolutely is not over. Those officials are downplaying the entire situation in order to protect capitalism. They are more concerned about the economy than people’s health. The equivalent of 9/11 deaths are happening each week. We are witnessing a mass disabling event. And if our for-profit healthcare system isn’t there for us now, do you think it’s going to offer support and services when the entire workforce becomes disabled?

Pediatric hospitals are overflowing as young children battle multiple viruses they are more susceptible to as a result of previous Covid infections. Children are dying from Covid, the flu, RSV, and Strep A. There’s a shortage of pediatric antibiotics and fever medication, not to mention the year-long baby formula shortage. 

There’s so much more to say: the huge increase of “sudden deaths,” the blood clots, the seizures, heart attacks, the brain damage, etc., but I’ll stop here because I’m about to cry from anger and frustration.

Please, for the love of humanity, wear a mask (and not those saggy blue surgical masks). My public library gives away free KN95 masks and I bet yours does, too. But if you can’t access any, contact me and I will order some to be shipped to you. I get mine here.

Dark too early

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

Each time the sun disappears behind the foothills it feels like a door slamming shut, locking me in a dark dungeon of despair. I mean, five o’clock and it’s pitch black outside? As G.O.B. would say on Arrested Development, “Come on!” But as a friend reminded me, we’ll start gaining daylight on December 22nd. I just have to hang in there until then.

I searched Pixabay for a night image that would convey my misery and happened upon this delightful Eurasian Pygmy Owl.

Image by Erik Karits from Pixabay

I’m going to try to reframe my outlook and think about this time of day being good for owls. It makes me slightly less grumpy to think about them out there in the dark, stalking and killing unsuspecting prey. At least someone’s enjoying themselves.

Happy day recap

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

My birthday camping trip last week was a grand success (especially in  light of today’s frigid temperatures and snow). The weather cooperated and while it was definitely chilly in the morning, the sun shone for much of the two days. Here’s the view out the van window on my birthday morning.

After it warmed up a bit and I’d had coffee and sunflower butter smeared on a rice cake, I decided to celebrate my day with a run. The lake’s water level was low and as long as I stayed away from the wetter muck near the water, my shoes wouldn’t collect the heavy mud. So I began my run in the lake bed, thinking I’d go about three miles. But while running across the sand, I remembered my 50th birthday and how I’d celebrated with a 50-minute run on a San Diego beach. I spontaneously decided to do the same, except this time the run would be 60 minutes.

Here’s part of my route (picture taken the day before):

That photo shows a deceptively flat surface, but it was a pretty technical run because of hardened footprints and bike-tire tracks in the mud, patches of weeds, and the inexplicable paver stones and concrete blocks scattered about. I had to pay attention to where I placed my feet.

 

 

Still, I enjoyed seeing gulls and Canada Geese as I ran.

I took this photo the next morning so maybe not the exact same geese I passed.

After 30 minutes on the dry lake bed, I ran on trails near the lake for another 30 minutes. That ground was also uneven. Plus, the trails were short and connected in various places so I found myself doubling back to circle around again. All this to say, my pace was not-fast and my various joints began to tire of the celebratory run. Near the end, I checked my watch about every two minutes, thinking “Please, let it be 60 minutes!” And finally, it was.  Hooray! I’d run a total of 5.83 miles which wasn’t even a 10-minute mile pace. BUT, I didn’t do a face plant. Victory!

Later, I took a nap in the van as the sun shone on me through the back windows. All in all, a very nice day. Well done, me.

Climate Movement Monday: support on Giving Tuesday

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I provide information and ways to support the frontline communities suffering the worst effects of climate change. Whether we want to face facts or not, the climate crisis is upon us and the sooner we act the better our chances to lessen the impact. Either way, an energy transition will happen. Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday so I’m highlighting organizations working hard on behalf of frontline communities. Donations of any amount (today or tomorrow) are greatly appreciated!

Image by Shameer Pk from Pixabay

Founded in 1997, Appalachian Voices brings people together to protect the land, air and water of Central and Southern Appalachia and advance a just transition to a generative and equitable clean energy economy.

To achieve this, we work to end harmful fossil fuel practices such as mountaintop removal coal mining and construction of unnecessary fracked-gas pipelines. We also strive to shift to clean, 21st-century energy sources including energy efficiency, solar and wind power, and stand up to monopoly utility practices that put profits over people. Our ultimate goal is to establish economic solutions that create community wealth and sustain Appalachia’s mountains, forests and waters.

The NDN Collective Climate Justice Campaign builds power throughout Indigenous communities in order to tackle the climate crisis. Our team runs and supports campaigns aimed at ending extraction, contamination, and violence in our territories. We advance policy changes, coalition building, and advocacy, while supporting the solutions-based work happening across our nations that utilizes traditional ecological knowledge in order to develop climate adaptive solutions that reflect our values of living with respect for all sources of life.

Healthy Gulf’s purpose is to collaborate with and serve communities who love the Gulf of Mexico by providing the research, communications, and coalition-building tools needed to reverse the long pattern of over exploitation of the Gulf’s natural resources.

We are preparing to launch an unprecedented solutions campaign to offer communities around the world a just pathway to 100 percent renewable energy. We need to set up infrastructure and ways of collaborating to bring clean energy access and justice to our systems everywhere. 

Thank you in advance for reading and donating. Solidarity! ✊🏽