Aug. 7, 2026
Editor: H.R. Moody
“We are in a battle not to make America great again, but to make all people human in the eyes of each other again.”
-Michael Meade
See also: “The Troubled World Outside and the Knowing Self Within”
Song of Quietness
The Fire This Time
Data Centers
Evidence for Rapid Climate Change
A Climate Dream
Trump Talk
Sustainability or Over-Consumption?
Items of Interest
Reasons to Worry: It’s for the Birds
A Little Laughter
Coming Events
by Robinson Jeffers
Drink deep, drink deep of quietness,
And on the margins of the sea
Remember not thine old distress
Nor all the miseries to be.
Calmer than mists, and cold
As they, that fold on fold
Up the dim valley are rolled,
Learn thou to be.
The Past—it was a feverish dream,
A drunken slumber full of tears.
The Future—O what wild wings gleam,
Wheeled in the van of desperate years!
Thou lovedst the evening: dawn
Glimmers; the night is gone:—
What dangers lure thee on,
What dreams more fierce?
But meanwhile, now the east is gray,
The hour is pale, the cocks yet dumb,
Be glad before the birth of day,
Take thy brief rest ere morning come:
Here in the beautiful woods
All night the sea-mist floods,—
Thy last of solitudes,
Thy yearlong home.
Robinson Jeffers (1887 to 1962) was a pioneer of ecopoetics. Jeffers lived and died in Carmel, California, where he built by hand a beloved tower, shown below.
Europe’s Heat Waves. . “What’s causing Europe’s deadly heat waves?” The climate pollution no one is talking about.
Climate Consequences. “How do scientists know if climate change made a heat wave, extreme storm or wildfire worse?”
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. “Many more people likely perish from smoke exposure during large fire events than perish directly in the fire, and many more people are made sick.” Yale Climate Connections. See also: “Silent Calamity: The health impacts of wildfire smoke”
Europe is Burning. “Europe is burning – and if Trump’s war on the climate is not met with sanctions, things will only get worse”
Both Rich and Poor. Fire and climate crisis “George and Amal Clooney evacuate from French house: ‘We don’t know whether our beautiful home will survive’ “
Data Centers. “The U.S. Economy’s Omni-Trend: Data Centers”
See also: “AI is an energy and water hog, here’s what you can do to counter that”
Power Cutoffs from Data Centers. The threat is real.
Pollution from Data Centers. Trump’s EPA will not protect us.
• Global Temperature Is Rising.
• The Ocean Is Getting Warmer
• The Ice Sheets Are Shrinking
• Glaciers Are Retreating
• Snow Cover Is Decreasing
• Sea Level Is Rising
• Arctic Sea Ice Is Declining
• Extreme Events Are Increasing in Frequency
Here is a dream, “Diamonds and Tornado,” from Paco Mitchell:
I am in a house with several others. A tornado is coming. We prepare for it by practicing sky-diving maneuvers—ways to stay in touch as we hurtle around inside the vortex of the great whirlwind. There will be no escaping the tornado. In fact, a square hole has even been built into the ceiling of the room for the explicit purpose of permitting our absorption into the massive tornado. The last thing we have to do before the tornado hits is to swallow a handful of diamonds.
When the tornado finally arrives, the atmospheric pressure drops and we are all sucked up in the turbulence. As we whirl around with the debris inside the giant funnel we try to execute our ‘maneuvers’ to stay in touch. The experience is awesome and frightening, but when I remember the diamonds I have ingested, I know that—whenever and wherever I land—the diamonds will be with me and will form the basis of a new life.
Paco Mitchell understood his dream to furnish him with a personal orientation and guidance, a form of wisdom, as he says, during a time of upheaval and change. He notes that “Diamonds and Tornado” should be read as a collective dream, since we are all facing a tornado of planetary proportions. Books such as Dreaming the Future by Kenny Ausubel, cofounder of the Bioneers Network, document the threats around us likely to grow larger in decades to come: global warming, diminishing energy resources, and world-wide financial turbulence, heralded by the economic downturn like what happened in 2008.
Paco Mitchell’s dream, he believes, is a message for us all to “stay in touch,” as the dreamer is urged to do by practicing “maneuvers.” We cannot stop or even control the planetary forces gathering strength. But the dream suggests another message. Along with “staying in touch,” each of us must do something else: we must “swallow a handful of diamonds.” What could be the meaning of this strange image? Mitchell believes that diamonds represent essential values that “must be incorporated, assimilated, embodied,” as in the “diamond body” of Buddhism.
Trump & Elders. “Who Will Protect Us from this Man?” in Aging in America
Trump Tries to Terminate Climate Funds. Courts say no. “Divided federal appeals court says Trump administration was wrong to terminate climate funds” Let’s hope the Supreme Court supports this.
Endangered Species. “ ‘Death sentence’: Trump administration to open habitats of endangered species to logging and mining”
Trump’s Corruption. “Truth Social Legalizes Insider Trading”
You can read about this without a paid subscription:
Trump’s War on Climate. “Europe is burning – and if Trump’s war on the climate is not met with sanctions, things will only get worse”
This is a 19th century cartoon documenting the downsides of gluttony. It could also be a cartoon for what it means to live in an over-consuming society, where we are using up the resources of future generations on planet Earth. Sometimes it’s hard to say “no.” But if we don’t restrain fossil fuel use, we will say “no” sometime anyway.
Climate War Zone. “We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate war zone” by Rebecca Solnit. Recently I had the good fortune to meet in person Robert Hubbell. Yesterday, he was driving through the hot Central Valley in California, the State where I live. In his newsletter, “Today’s Edition,” before citing the Solnit article Hubbell noted that “Temperatures of 110°F are not uncommon during summer months in Bakersfield (California), but the long-term trend for average temperatures is increasing.” We will be feeling the impact of this on food production this summer and in time to come.
Bad Acts by Big Oil. “They Wanted to Hold Exxon Accountable. Then they got hacked.”
Need to Think More Deeply about Climate. “Winter Is Coming”
Denial of Climate Change. “Long, Hot Summer” Why So Many are in Denial
About Global Warming.
Clean Energy? See “The Fraud of Clean Natural Gas”
See also Bill McKibben,
Decarbonizing. “Want to Decarbonize Your Life? Here’s How. Why — and how — consumer choices matter.”
Seniors Voting on Climate. “Calling All Seniors: When we vote, we are heard; a plan of action” Let make sure they (we) vote on climate action.
See also: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/obituaries/richard-heinberg-santa-rosa/
A Climate Policy that Lasts? It’s possible, but it will our work for it.
California Condor: Nearly extinct but now making a comeback
No, not worry for the birds but for us. I’m not talking about the canary in the coal mine. I’m talking about a bigger problem: the birds that aren’t here. What we don’t notice because, like climate change, things that happen slowly, imperceptibly.
live in California. Unlike my brother, I wouldn’t call myself a “birder.” But I enjoy watching birds from my window. I still see some, mostly Crows, but fewer than before. It’s not my imagination or lack of looking. I’ve found that across North America bird populations have fallen by about 30% since 1970. Why has this happened? Tidal marshes have been disrupted, pesticides are used excessively, lawns and agricultural chemicals create a loss in insects that are food for birds. And, yes, climate change is a factor, too.
I still appreciate the Hummingbirds that come and I know that the Crows don’t deserve their bad reputation. I keep looking out my window. But I mourn the things I don’t see—that is, the many of the birds that used to be here.
Thanks to my friends at Fridays For Future in Palo Alto who explained some of this to me last week. “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
“Iran Says It Will Reopen Strait if Trump Admits He Lost in 2020.”
(The Borowitz Report: Not the News)
TEHRAN (The Borowitz Report) In a major setback for Donald J. Trump, the government of Iran announced on Thursday that it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz when he admits he lost the 2020 election.
“The whole world knows you lost, moron,” the official Iranian statement read.
In addition to an admission of defeat, Iran demanded that Trump agree that the disintegration of the Reflecting Pool’s lining was caused by his own “epic incompetence.”
Rounding out their list of demands, which they called “non-negotiable,” the Iranians insisted that Trump admit that his poll numbers are historically awful, that other world leaders regard him as a laughingstock, and that he is in only slightly better physical condition than Mitch McConnell.
SUSTAINABILITY. “International Conference on Sustainability, Climate Tech, and Green Innovation” (Aug. 7-8, 2026, Boston, MA). Contact: info@conferencefora.org
SUSTAINABILITY. “International Conference on Sustainability, Climate Tech, & Green Innovation” (Aug. 9-10, 2026, Chicago, Illinois) Contact: info@conferencefora.org
BILL MCKIBBEN. “Monthly Dose of Climate Hope” (Aug. 12, 2026, 5 to 6 pm ET)
McKibben talks about collective power, grassroots movements, and how to beat big oil. Sponsored by Climate Action Now.
INNER ELDER & ECOLOGY. “Your Inner Elder Awaits” (Aug. 13, 2026, 5 pm PT)
Sponsored by Full Ecology group. 45 mins on Zoom.
SENDING POSTCARDS. “Post carding Orientation” (Aug. 14, 2026, 9 am PT)
Focused on Texas but practices are relevant for all states. Midterms are 88 days away. Hosted by the Environmental Voter Project.
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.
For more background on the Spiral Process behind this work.
More about Constance Washburn at: www.constancewashburn.com
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
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