(7/11) CLIMATE CHANGE IN AN AGING SOCIETY

Edited by Harry (Rick) Moody

“I have no right to despair. I insist on hope.”

-Howard Zinn, author of

A People’s History of the United States

• Hedgehog (a poem)

• The Heat Has Arrived

• El Niño

• Dept. of Good News

• For America’s 250th Birthday

• Bad News, Too

• Trump Talk

• Sustainability & Future Generations

• What About Age?

• Items of Interest

• Climate Action Now

• Coming Events

by Paul Muldoon

The snail moves like a

Hovercraft, held up by a

Rubber cushion of itself,

Sharing its secret

With the hedgehog. The hedgehog

Shares its secret with no one.

We say, Hedgehog, come out

Of yourself and we will love you.

We mean no harm. We want

Only to listen to what

You have to say. We want

Your answers to our questions.

The hedgehog gives nothing

Away, keeping itself to itself.

We wonder what a hedgehog

Has to hide, why it so distrusts.

We forget the god

Under this crown of thorns.

We forget that never again

Will a god trust in the world.

For a long time many thought global warming was far in the future. They were wrong. It has already arrived:

Image of Global Warming. This is how you see how global warming is real. It’s a video from NASA tracking global temperatures 1880-2026.

See also: “The Heat Is On” by Paul Krugman

Heat Rules. “Trump Quietly Weakened Heat Rules Just in Time for a Broiling Summer” What thermometers tell us is not a hoax.

Is Climate Change the cause? Yes: “Without Climate Change, U.S. Heat Wave Called ‘Virtually Impossible’ “ (NY Times, July 3, 2026)

Silent Killer: Why Is Extreme Heat So Deadly?

Not Just Heat but Water, too. Climate change may seem far off in the future. But it’s already a life-and-death matter here in the USA. For example, last year on July 4th, flash flooding killed dozens of campers in Texas. The time to act is now.

Prediction Markets and Wildfire. “Will betting on wildfires lead to arson?

Fire survivors say using prediction markets to gamble on wildfire is ‘morally reprehensible.’ “

The National Centers for Environmental Information has compiled the data. No, Trump didn’t cause El Niño. and global warming is likely to make it more extreme. It’s here and it’s time to get familiar with it: El Niño and the Southern Oscillation, also known as ENSO is a periodic fluctuation (i.e., every 2–7 years) in sea surface temperature (El Niño) and the air pressure of the overlying atmosphere (Southern Oscillation) across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The presence of an El Niño, or its opposite – La Niña – sufficiently modifies the general flow of the atmosphere to affect normal weather conditions in many parts of the world. (from ChatGPT)

Getting discouraged about climate change? Look for positive trends, too:

Dashboard. A new dashboard that tracks national and state-level progress on deploying clean energy finds that the U.S. produced nearly three times as much solar, wind and geothermal power in 2025 as in 2016.

Voters Are With Us. More than any other industry, voters say that they are concerned about the political influence of oil and gas.

Brazil. Brazil’s Atlantic forest, the country’s most threatened biome, last year recorded its lowest level of deforestation since monitoring began 40 years ago, a new report shows.

Native Americans Fight Back. A South Dakota mining company has cancelled a drilling project in the Black Hills after opposition from Native American tribes and local groups.

Beyond Hope: Removing a major stumbling block to acting on behalf of the Earth

California Dreaming. California announced a $1 billion rebate program for electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks as part of an effort to boost sales of zero-emission semis

Joining California, Massachusetts became an official member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global network of more than 1,400 governments and organizations.

For America’s 250^th Birthday:

We have more than 250 reasons to celebrate clean energy!

Global Bad News. “World Bank to abandon goal to devote 45% of lending resources to climate change projects”

Heat Deaths. “Spain and France face more heat after scorching June caused 2,000 deaths”

“Theodore Roosevelt said the national parks were the greatest gift this country ever gave itself and the greatest idea we ever gave the world. But Trump took that gift and sees a piggy bank for his own pet projects.” (From Mike Levin)

Betrayal of Conservation. “Trump to attend opening of Roosevelt library amid overturning conservation efforts”

Fight Dirty Drilling. “Trump Moves to Subsidize Dirty Drilling, Cut Out the Public, and Send Taxpayers the Bill” We have until Aug. 24, 2026 to offer public comment on this proposal.

Conflict of Interest? “Trump only has one interest: himself” by Robert Reich

Pardoning Polluters. Trump gave pardons to people who tried to overthrow the U.S. government on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s now giving pardons to polluters to deliberately disable emissions devices on cars.

“Sustainability is a new idea to many people, and many find it hard to understand. But all over the world there are people who have entered into the exercise of imagining and bringing into being a sustainable world. They see it as a world to move toward not reluctantly, but joyfully, not with a sense of sacrifice, but a sense of adventure. A sustainable world could be very much better than the one we live in today.”

“We don’t think a sustainable society need be stagnant, boring, uniform, or rigid. It need not be, and probably could not be, centrally controlled or authoritarian. It could be a world that has the time, the resources, and the will to correct its mistakes, to innovate, to preserve the fertility of its planetary ecosystems. It could focus on mindfully increasing quality of life rather than on mindlessly expanding material consumption and the physical capital stock.”

-Donella H. Meadows, in Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update

Since the USA is turning 250, anyone who’s 83, nearly that, like me (age 81 and a half) has been around for a third of the official national story. Elders are important witnesses to this difficult moment in our civic life. We have the baseline to judge the present against a past long enough to really see what’s special about right now.

We who are elders vote, on average, at a higher rate than young people. The question is: Will we respond to the present moment and to the challenge we face? Will we work for those who live after us? We need to hope we will act and we should encourage others, whatever their age, to respond to the challenge we face.

My message is inspired by a recent publication by Third Age, of which I’m a long-time member.

Planetary Health Check. Our planet’s vital signs are flashing red.

7 out of 9 Planetary Boundaries are breached. We have to act now.

Home Batteries. Better than ever—important for solar power.

A Reflection on the 4^th of July. Not optimistic. I may not even agree with it. But worth reading: “America at 250: We Had a Good Run”

Editor’s comment: When pessimism promotes paralysis, run the other way.

Consciousness. What does it mean? How is it important for understanding the climate crisis? Valuable answers here.

Democrats on Climate Change. “This Is the Week for Democrats to Start Saying ‘Climate Change’ Again.” The party has gone quiet on the issue. As a heat wave sends temperatures soaring past 100, they can’t remain mum any longer.

Do you have 2 minutes a day to learn about the climate crisis? Yes, you do because you have a computer or cell phone and you’ve read this far. Do you have 2 minutes a day to do something to stop the climate crisis? Yes, you do because that’s all it takes to send 5 messages to legislataors, business leaders, media managers and others. Climate Action Now volunteers have prepared the messages, signed by you, with your city, and a sentence saying why you’re writing: e.g., “I’m a grandfather who cares about the future for my grandchildren.” That’s what appears on all my messages. I send 40 messages every day—maybe in 20 minutes, sometimes when I’m sitting bored in a Zoom meeting.

You can do this. It’s free and the work has all been done by volunteers. Just contact Climate Action, download the app and start clicking. More about Climate Action Now at: https://www.climateactionnow.com/

CLIMATE ACTION. “Fifteen Minutes for Our Future” (July 13 2026, 9 am ET) Countdown to Midterm Elections. Actions to protect democracy. Sponsored by Third Act Vermont. On Zoom.

SACRED LISTENING: Sacred Listening Circle (July 14, 2026, 7 pm ET).

Sharing and witnessing grief, anger, and fear around the climate crisis. Sponsored by Third Act. On Zoom.

CLIMATE STORY TELLING. “Storytelling for Connection & Action: Democracy Focus” (July 14, 2026, 4 pm ET). Skills to tell the climate story. Sponsored by Educators Group in Third Act. On Zoom.

ECOLOGY. “Full Ecology Deep Dive” (July 14, 2026, 6 pm MDT). Health well-being, and climate. Zoom event at no cost. For more about this event, see: https://fullecology.com/

See also: Full Ecology: Repairing Our Relationship with the Natural World by Gary Ferguson and Mary M. Clare

SUPREME COURT. “Responding to Court Rulings that Restrict Democracy” (July 15, 2026, 5 pm PT). Sponsored by Focus for Democracy.

ECO-GERONTOLOGY: “Aging, Care & Our Relationship with Nature” (July 23, 2026, 4 pm PT). Aging, care, nature connectedness and regenerative futures.

CLIMATE AND AGING: Interest Group Meeting (July 23, 2026, 11 to 12 noon, ET) Hosted by the Gerontological Society of America.

EMBRACING ELDERHOOD. “Embracing Elderhood on Behalf of All Life” (Sept-Oct., 2026) This is not a free offering. It’s an on-line offering on a sliding scale and it is offered by someone I know personally: Constance Washburn. It is guided by the “Work That Reconnects” and inspired by the late Joana Macy. More information at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfxjYeOj09w77cqFy6DlJZi0OI6122s7Nz87liR5KgbYnvFFA/viewform

More background about the Spiral Process behind this work.

More about Constance Washburn at: www.constancewashburn.com

YOUTH VOTERS: “Mobilizing Youth Voters” (July 15, 2026, 10-11:30 am PT). 50-55 million young people could make a difference for democracy if they turn out. The Civics Center is working to register high school students to become voters. This even is sponsored by Elders for Sound Democracy.

Thanks for reading. If you found some of this helpful, please leave a comment below.

From Harry (Rick) Moody

For more about this book or other newsletters, contact H.R. Moody at hrmoody@yahoo.com