Difficult Decisions and Dogs
Navigating these wild times
The situation in Puerto Rico and Florida, in the aftermath of deadly hurricanes, is truly awful. My heart goes out to everyone who lost so much – loved ones, homes, virtually all personal belongings. It is good to see elected officials dropping partisanship to work with the Biden Administration in getting help to people who really need it just now. I don’t mind my tax dollars going to help fellow Americans rebuild their homes and lives. However, I don’t want the money to go to rebuilding in regions that are destined to get wiped out again.
Our new climate-changed normal demands difficult decisions. For example, a lot of communities in current coastal zones are going to have to relocate. A recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notes that U.S. coastal regions are virtually locked-in to sea-level rise of at least a foot by 2050. Nicole LeBoeuf, NOAA National Ocean Service Director, stated, “By 2050, moderate flooding — which is typically disruptive and damaging by today’s weather, sea level and infrastructure standards — is expected to occur more than 10 times as often as it does today. …. These numbers mean a change from a single event every 2-5 years to multiple events each year, in some places.” The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that more than 300,000 of today’s coastal homes in the U.S. will be at risk of chronic inundation by 2045. In Florida it will be about ten percent of all current coastal residential properties. Combine sea level rise with intensified and more frequent major storms and these communities don’t stand a chance.
Similarly, a lot of places in the arid west (think Las Vegas) really shouldn’t exist from a rational resource-availability perspective. There just isn’t enough water to sustain them and the water crisis is only getting worse. In summer of 2021 the U.S. government announced its first ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado river when Lake Mead, the largest water storage reservoir in the U.S., dropped below 40 percent capacity. The Colorado water issues affect states including Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Mexico. The region is in severe, prolonged drought and the changing climate has reduced snowpack which historically helped fill reservoirs. The simple ugly truth is that western water laws are insane and function outside the laws of physics; there are more allocated water rights on paper than there is water in the Colorado river.
I was encouraged to note that, for the first time I’m aware of, some mainstream media covering the damage caused by the recent hurricanes, did occasionally ask the question of whether or not people should rebuild in the same places. Even President Biden noted, “We can’t build back to what it was before. You got to build back better because we know more is coming.” However, he only spoke to building stronger houses, buildings and electrical grids. It is likely a bridge too far for an American president to point out to constituents that in fact they aren’t going to be able to go back to their old norms.
The very same week Biden visited the devastation zones in Puerto Rico and Florida, OPEC announced it was going to reduce oil production to keep oil and gas prices higher. The Biden administration called the move “shortsighted” in light of the global energy uncertainty influenced by Putin’s war in Ukraine. What’s shortsighted is continuing to plow forward in the unquestioned pursuit of economic growth at all costs, and willful ignorance of the depth of system change that must take place to ensure a livable future. What’s also shortsighted is failing to revolt against a system in which petro-dictators and oil lords keep all of us enslaved to their manipulations of energy flows and prices.
One of my main goals in writing about climate, environment, and economic system issues, is to encourage readers to question assumptions, to think more creatively about how to navigate the wild times we live in. In the wake of weather-related events, it is usually assumed communities will rebuild and government resources will help them do so. Perhaps it’s time to redefine “rebuild”. Rebuilding better may require rebuilding in a different location and it surely ought to mean rebuilding with a smaller footprint, and ultra-energy and resource efficiency. Rebuilding could be about helping people recover from loss and redesign societal patterns rather than merely reconstructing buildings.
These times of upheaval we are in call for massive creativity in redesigning systems and civilization. They call for rethinking our thinking about how we organize ourselves at the personal and societal levels. I believe we are also being called to rebuild our values and to remember that we are a part of, not apart from, the rest of Nature. The hope for me is that Nature flexing her muscles more and more powerfully will indeed propel us to meet this moment.
In honor of these wild times we are living in and the very gift of being alive on an amazing planet.
Cylvia
Life with Livvy and Lotta Dog
OK, so I write about some heavy stuff. And Gods bless you, you guys and gals read it and you take action in your own ways to make our world a better place. I’ve been toying with an idea about sharing something far lighter -- the incredible experiences I have with my dogs and the lessons these amazing creatures bring to our lives. So here is my first crack at Life with Livvy and Lotta Dog. I’d love to know what you think. I’ll also be sharing on my Instagram and Facebook pages because I have some really fun video footage.
About eight years ago my life blew up in very painful and public fashion. In desperation I started working with a therapist and very early on she asked what my hobbies were. … Crickets. … I couldn’t give her an answer. I worked a lot and my running and weight training was more discipline than a hobby. She advised I change that and I did dabble with drawing for a while. And of course, there was my beloved soul dog Tessa whose love and entertainment was priceless during those dark times (and all times).
Shortly before COVID hit, and a few months after beloved Tessa passed, I adopted Freya from Rhodesian Ridgeback rescue. She was five years old, 95 pounds, and had had very little training or socialization. She pulled like a charging racehorse, jumped and clawed me, and had anxiety attacks. Immediately her nicknames became Freya the Freight Train and Lotta Dog. Lotta Dog stuck.
After taking her 95-pound, middle-aged hound self to puppy kindergarten, I started some basic agility lessons with her because that’s what was available at the time. I fell in love with it. I loved learning the layout of the course and how to train Frey to do the jumps, and tunnels and teeter totters. Freya liked the activity well enough but her true love was the training treats.
After a couple years of lessons I decided to get serious and Freya retired from a non-illustrious, non-career in agility. Her greatest contribution to the sport was all the vacuuming of dropped treats so that other dogs would not be distracted during their runs.
Enter Olive, AKA Livvy. She’s a Border Collie, now fifteen-months old. Her smarts and love of training is off the chain and both challenging and super fun.
At first, I didn’t know if Freya was going to tolerate another dog and it was nerve-racking introducing tiny Olive to towering Lotta Dog. As it turned out Freya loved the pup and I fell deeper in love with Freya watching her play hard, and sometimes pummel the little menace when she became an over-excited snapping piranha.
In my low moments these two lift me up and are the source of so much laughter. They also help me develop patience muscles, not always pleasant but a worthy undertaking. If I get a little slothful their needs get me up exercising again. Because of them I am now part of a great local dog agility community, forming new friendships.
Along the way I got a real camera and have so much fun photographing the agility events. My old therapist would likely be pleased to learn I now have two healthy hobbies.
Dogs are family and teachers. I think it no coincidence that D-O-G spelled backwards is G-O-D.
Thanks for reading and as we say in the agility world, “may the course be with you.”
P.S. I still bring Lotta Dog along for agility practice every now and then just because she likes being part of it, especially the snacks.
#climatechange #dogagility #economics #sustainability