CLIMATE CHANGE IN AN AGING SOCIETY

Can’t We Just Adapt to Climate Change?

Those who control the present, control the past; and those who

control the past control the future.”

-George Orwell

• What We’ve Done to the Earth

• An Old Oak Tree (A Dream)

• What Do Elders Owe the Young?

• El Nino: Coming Our Way

• Yes, We Can Afford to Response to Climate

• The Big Bad Banks

• Trump Talk

• Recommended Reading

• Items of Interest

• Coming Events

• A Little Laughter

The Race War or What We’ve Done to the Earth

-Fatimah Asghar

so I count my hopes: the bumblebees

are making a comeback, one snug tight

in a purple flower I passed to get to you;

your favorite color is purple but Prince’s

was orange & we both find this hard to believe;

today the park is green, we take grass for granted

the leaves chuckle around us; behind

your head a butterfly rests on a tree; it’s been

there our whole conversation; by my old apartment

was a butterfly sanctuary where I would read

& two little girls would sit next to me; you caught

a butterfly once but didn’t know what to feed it

so you trapped it in a jar & gave it to a girl

you liked. I asked if it died. you say you like

to think it lived a long life. yes, it lived a long life.

Comments by Steven Aizenstat: “What is this tree expressing about itself through the dream image? What is the ‘spirit’ in the tree asking on behalf of itself? … Death of the oak does not occur overnight. The natural process of decomposition takes place over time, life gradually leaving the leaves, limbs, trunk, and roots. Dream images which reflect this process of dying may continue to present themselves to the dreamer as the felled oak in the world continues to dream.”

From “Tending the Dream Is Tending the World” Stephen Aizenstat

I recently gave a talk on climate at a senior center, and I could see that people paid attention and listened. They were not happy. On the way out a gray-haired woman said to me “If that’s the future, I’m glad I won’t live that long.” What kind of answer is that? Sticking one’s head in the sand doesn’t make problems go away. There are Four Horsemen of the Climate Apocalypse not just the future: they’re already here: fire, flood, drought, and heat wave. People who are old today have, over the course of their lives, contributed much more to creating the problem of climate change than, say, newborns or children. Yet it is our children who will bear the burden of dealing with a problem that elders have created.

This disparity of generational responsibility is a huge ethical problem which must be addressed. Bill McKibben, founder of Third Act, praised the work of young people in climate advocacy, but he also said: “So far the kids have had to do all of the work and they’ve done an amazing job. But it’s not fair to ask 18-year-olds to solve this problem.” People of different age-groups have different views about action around climate change. But elders, like me, owe much to future generations.

El Niño. No, weather is not climate. I pay little attention to weather changes in this newsletter. But here’s something could be a teaching moment for Americans who sometimes tune out when climate is mentioned:

“El Niño forms in Pacific as experts say it will likely turbocharge extreme weather”

Meteorologists in US predict it will be the strongest of century, while UN secretary-general calls it an ‘urgent climate warning.’

Can we afford fix the climate challenge? Well, somebody has enough money. Consider these figures to see why:

Elon Musk has now become a trilllionaire. Put that in perspective. One man alone has as much money as 17 countries on planet earth. Yes, we can afford to respond to the climate crisis.

What is wrong with this picture? What’s wrong with America?

Remember that Musk, when he was unloosed on the federal government, made cuts in USAID that will kill 14 million people, many of them children (from The Lancet). Shouldn’t a trillionaire be held accountable for mass murder?

But good news: In May, solar produced a record of more than 45 terawatt-hours and generated more U.S electricity than coal for the first time. Help is on the way!

Even if you drive an EV and live on electricity from solar panels, you may still be supporting fossil fuels and climate pollution if you have a bank account. JP Morgan Chase is the biggest bank among of all the “Dirty Dozen” banks.

But Bank of America and Citicorp are also high among the Dirty Dozen.

Why do they do it? As my brother-in-law said to me, Whatever question you ask, the answer is always the same: Money.

See also: “Banking on Climate.”

The banks are not alone. Remember that Big Oil = Big Profits: “$ 30m each hour: Big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers”

Did Trump Know What He Was Doing? Maybe not. But think about fossil fuels and follow the money: “The Billionaires’ War: The ultrawealthy put Trump in power but other people will pay the price”

America Fails Again. “UN backs historic climate crisis ruling, despite US attempts to stop resolution”

ANTIFA Does Not Exist. But you can still go to jail for bad thoughts:

“ ‘People should be scared’: convictions in US ‘ANTIFA’ trial set dangerous precedent”

Trump Against Green Power? “Donald Trump’s disastrous Iran war has delivered a huge boost for renewable energy around the world — except in the U.S.. Trump has so far done more to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy than any other single individual in history.” (Paul Krugman)

Success in Advocacy. “Trump administration has backed off plan to end ocean monitoring: The administration is abandoning its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system critical to understanding climate change and marine ecosystems. Our success was bowing to a bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill.” (NY Times, June 16, 2026)

Revival after Trump. “The Coming Revival of America” Trump has shown us why we need a good and decent government. From Robert Reich.

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE, by Andrew E. Dessler (third edition, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021).

CLEARING THE AIR: A Hopeful Guide to Solving Climate Change in 50 Questions and Answers, by Hannah Ritchie (2026).

CLIMATE CHANGE: A Very Short Introduction (4th Edition) by Mark Maslin (Oxford Univ. Press, 2021).

Media and Climate. NPR closed its climate desk and the Washington Post, now controlled by MAGA promoters, has laid off most of its climate staff. CBS is controlled by Bari Weiss, a well-known Trump ally, and they are censoring “Sixty Minutes” and other news operations. This is just what Orban did in Hungary until he was turned out of office. It’s not too late for America to act.

Nuclear Power. Should this be needed to cope with climate change? There are conflicting views on this issue.

Climate and Voters. Democrats rethink the climate pitch: “Democrats rethink the climate pitch after election autopsy finds voters cared more about costs”

Project Drawdown. Looking for science-based climate optimism? Here it is.

Climate Grief. Does age bring grief? “How to cope with climate grief (and rage)”

Climate Writers. There’s a new resource here: The Third Act Writers Substack, “Democracy, People & the Planet,” which launched last month and will publish a post every Saturday. For a subscription sign up here.

GENERATIONS. “Generations United in Action: A Month of Hope Health and Community” (June 23, 2026, 7 pm to 8:30 pm, ET). Sponsored by Elders Climate Action and cosponsored by Moms Clean Air Force.

DEMOCRACY. “Elders for Sound Democracy’s Voting Action Team” (June 23, 2026, 11:30am to 1 pm, PT). Sponsored by Elders Action Network.

RESILIENCE REALITIES: (June 23, 2026, 9 to 11 am, PT). The Climate Dialogue Group presents a full group dialogue on “Resilience Realities: Applications and Practices from a global perspective.” It’s an invitation for voices where resilience is not only a priority but a way of life: What is our collective learning and global consciousness?

MIDTERMS. “Midterm Recommendations” (June 23, 2026, 5 pm PT). Hosted by Focus for Democracy.

DATA CENTERS. “Fighting Back: the Corporations Behind Data Centers” (June 24, 2026, 6 pm ET). From Third Act.

SENIORS TAKING ACTION. Nancy Pelosi is guest speaker (June 24, 2026, 11 am ET)., Join this event on https://www.wetheseniors.org/

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. “The resurgence of civic engagement in communities across America” (June 24, 2026, 11 to noon, PT). We can’t effectively face the climate crisis without democracy. Listen to this event for guidance.

FAITH. “Hope and Joy Series: Cultivating Faith, Healing the Earth, Living with Courage” (June 25, 2026, 7 pm ET). Wisdom and resilience in a time of disruption. From Third Act.

(The Borowitz Report: Not the news)

TEHRAN (The Borowitz Report)—In an astounding achievement for a first-time author, on Wednesday Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei nabbed the #1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list with a business book entitled The Art of the Deal.

The publicity materials provided by the publisher tout, “From the mind of a man who negotiated the sweetest deal in the history of the Middle East, learn how to fend off a hostile takeover—and win!”

“Don’t just be a leader,” the book jacket urges. “Be a Supreme one!”

Among the topics covered, the book “shows, in five easy steps, how to turn a tiny body of water into a money-spinning goldmine.”

An advance excerpt from the book’s first chapter begins, “Rule #1: Only negotiate with morons.”

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