But the plane will fly whether I am on it or not. I say.

I will plant two trees per trip. I say.

Planes are still flying so surely it is not a problem. I say.

I am not giving up seeing my kids. I say.

I made a spreadsheet! I say.

As a writer for environmental sustainability it is impossible to justify my yearly travels. The flights needed to spend time with each of my little families feel essential. But it is not. And is not sustainable in our present period of climate crisis. With a lifelong study of environmentally sustainable practices and organic management behind me and in front of me I cannot pretend that my need to travel has not been harmful to my environment.

But I cannot not visit with my families.

Its all bull. At some point we must admit to ourselves that over consumption and thoughtless travel and single use anything are going to have to be reckoned with. I think they will ban single use tiny water bottles first. What do you think they should ban first?

And this is exactly why I am developing the carbon co-pay document. (Still a spreadsheet – of course). Because we can’t keep saying Just This Once OR Everyone Else is Doing it. Or but they are still selling them.

Basically if I do something I know directly harms my environment I have to PAY. And I go to the spreadsheet.

I apply a lot of it in my day to day living. For example: If I fly: I plant trees, If I buy a plastic wrapped sandwich as I travel, I don’t blow dry my hair the next morning. If I must have a coffee using one of those pod things (because I am at my sons house in California) (and I must) I turn my sons air conditioning up a degree.

(I know I am preaching to the choir but bear with me a moment. Without the pleasure of your company yesterday I did a lot of thinking as I traveled).

Yesterday I worked on a list of what I can do without. PLUS. How will I adapt to not having those things.

For example: Could I survive not being able to travel as freely as I do now? How can I do that differently?

If our scientists are to be believed (and I do believe them) we are running into a spike in our climate crisis shortly. The chances are rising due to emissions from human activities (that is me on my plane) and a likely El Niño weather pattern later this year and for the next four years, that there will be more heat for some and maybe more wet for others – or both at the same time, sometime in the next few years. Not very specific but it is the climate we are talking about. A perfect storm of sorts is coming”.

This will be our first test. We either moan our arses off or we plan ahead.

So even though the scientists are stressing that this will be temporary – (and using words like ‘chances’ and ‘possible’ we are going to be given a dress rehearsal.

What can you do without?

The air in Bloomington, Illinois was hazy when I took off yesterday. And the moon was going down as the sun was coming up but nobody was watching but Mrs Moon. They were all staring at their screens – probably looking at photos on the insta feed of pictures of the orange moon. We all just trudge through our days as the world burns down.

I remember a Vietnam war photographer tell me that if he viewed the carnage of war through the lens of his camera, then it did not affect him. It got to the point when he could not just look with the naked eye. His camera became his shield. If something really awful happened close to him he brought his camera up in front of is face, saying to himself I need to get this on film, when really he knew he was using the lens to distance himself from what was happening around him. He never forgave himself for not throwing the camera and film back in his pack and helping the medics.

I wonder if we do this with our phones and camera. Seeing everything as an image to be captured for publication. We have become documenters of our lives. Distanced. Will I just keep showing you temperatures as a graphic in this blog so we can look back and compare this day to a day ten years ago and nod sagely and say oh look – there you go – temps are so much higher now. When the spike of climate change meets El Nino and they collide up there in our atmosphere it is projected that we will be in for some challenging weather. Maybe not this summer but it is coming

Have you got a plan in place for your place? When things hot up like that our food chain goes into free fall. You might need to all move out to the Farmy!

For example – the weather has been so cold this spring in Visalia that the cherries are THREE weeks behind SO FAR. Pickers move from farm to farm and region to region and are contracted, which gives the pickers year round work. So the California cherry pickers are waiting here to start work now. But soon they will have to move up to Washington state for their harvest essentially leaving the orchards here unpicked. When the weather becomes unreliable the jobs of ordinary working people become directly impacted.

Our most fragile network is food. And electricity. I think. Do you think?

So, whats the contingency plan? I am working as hard and as fast as I can to teach people how to live with the elements, within their means, how to safely adapt, reduce consumption and conserve resources. How to develop robust resilient lifestyles.

Begin the plan to grown food around your home or on your porch. Know your farmer. Don’t buy a house on a flood plain (like my brother). Think about water security.

Anyway.

This weekend here is California, we are going out to orchards to pick (PYO) blueberries and maybe apricots and cherries. And tomorrow to the Farmers Market to buy veg. Today I bake bread and brownies!

Celi

PSS Substack

This afternoon I will be reading some old posts as podcasts over at SubStack. I think we are already into September 2011 because I am only reading my favourites. Feel free to join me. Here is where you can sign up for this. It is reader supported and ALL of May is FREE. (The California suburbs will be interesting to record from but my son does have a really large quiet wardrobe! ).

C