Navigating the Summer 2023 Heat, Flood, and storm Crisis:

@jsr78 Hey Jsr, it is nice to hear from you again!  Do you have a link to back up the statement that the "government's emergency fund is almost depleted." I remember your posts and they were always great and factual.  But I couldn't find  Which emergency fund. and which government? U.S.? Texas?  FEMA? I've tried to research that statement but couldn't find a link.  

@tesseract 

Saw lightening in the distance but no rain. yet.

The downstairs is holding now at 84.  Upstairs air is working so far.  Hopefully what is wrong can be fixed in a timely manner.  Thank you for sending the cooling energy.  We will need it.  

@jeanne-mayell fema fund,  newer article.

@lovendures  We had a severe thunderstorm last Thursday. Lightning struck and hit a tree in the front on the property line with my neighbors. It also blew out the transformer on the pole. It flipped breakers and  blew modems and light bulbs and sockets here. Power was out for 7 .5 hours. It was as hot and humid in the house as it was outside.  So ...no dancing in the rain here LOL too much lightning!!!

I have been really using my Instant Pot and recently drug out my old George Forman grill and eating lots of raw fresh veggies... I hear ya on the too hot to cook. I have learned to make biscuits in my toaster oven and cornbread as well... a lot cooler than heating the whole kitchen up with the electric range.

I have a sneaking feeling that for us here in the Deep South? EL Nino is gonna bring just as crazy a winter as it has summer.  I think my corner of state will see a couple of big snowfalls this winter. EL Ninos usually does that to us and a strong one does for sure.

@lovendures I've had one of these for several years. The tray is heated from underneath to cook the crust, and it rotates under an electric element in the head to cook the top. It takes about 12-15 minutes to fully cook a pizza, even from frozen. It generates minimal heat because what it does produce is focused on the pizza, and only for a very short time. Amazon is $20 cheaper if you get it there. :-)

Thanks @jsr78 for the heads up. I searched and found links to your news which I am supplying here for our readers. It is true that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) which funds U.S. disaster relief, is set to run out of money before peak hurricane and wildfire season in this super el nino year. https://www.axios.com/2023/07/14/fema-disaster-fund-hurricane-wildfire

(Incidentally, I was surprsed to see they are still paying out for hurricanes Sandy and Irene and other disasters that happend many years back.) 

Congress will then have to replenish FEMA's coffers or people will go without relief. This replenishment will likely happen.  In an election year, neither Biden or the GOP candidate will deny funding.

At some point, the Feds will be pressed to issue declarations that people living in high risk areas will no longer be covered no matter what happens. But I don't understaand FEMA's principles. Given the high level of climate denial in the U.S., I don't know if they've even considered declaring areas so obviously high risk that FEMA won't cover them. 

BTW, FEMA only covers principle residences and not rentals or vacation homes. At some point, I would think that the riskiness of living in some low country areas, some of which are at or below sea level,  and Florida and Gulf coastal areas has to outweigh the government's willingness to cover them. 

Am reading the latest climate study by James Hansen et al., who is the climate scientist I respect the most. He has put out a study for peer review that has found that (1) the last ten years of reducing air pollution in coal plants and commercial ships has caused warming to increase, putting us on a track to double warming by 2050.

Apparently the aerosols of pollution has a shielding impact. It brightens clouds and reflects sun rays back into space, and  significantly protects the earth from warming. This is not news they wanted to learn but it is well researched at this point. It seems logical that policymakers will use this information to study and perhaps create non polluting aerosols to cool the earth. 

He also points out again that ancient climate data shows that at 450 parts per million carbon in the atmosphere (the Greenhouse Gas blanket that humans have created by burning fossil fuels), all the earth's ice was melted.

We are currently at 420 ppm and rising steadily at a somewhat linear pace, but it now appears to be acelerating somewhat.  25 years ago we were at 386. We need to be at 350 or less for the earth to operate normally.  

At some point, scientists talk about reaching a tipping point and they don't know what that tipping point will be. The Paris talks agreed it was 1.5 degrees centigrade over pre-industrial levels although that level is debatable. 

For the last ten years, I have had visions, and they are more vivid now, of people surviving and adapting, but with a much changed lifestyle, lots of migration, living in summer below ground or in the opposite hemisphere where it is winter to our summer. I also believe people will start planting trees in huge quantities, dramatically reduce grass lawns in favor of natural land covering. 

Our prediction group has been meditating on these and other questions, and will be posting the results on our Prediction Page over the next day or two.  We are optimistic and believe that people will adapt.  

But I do wish to impress people who don't already realize it, that the time has come to prepare their homes and make plans for best ways to adapt. 

A climate news explanation that i just found, but was published at the end of May: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052023/james-hansen-climate-change-2-degrees-2050/

Hansen's July 2023 study publication: 

While the world burns and floods, check out the insanity going on regarding the Climate Darth Vaders, and the mainstream media isn't even reacting. The good news is that even city employees are gettig involved. 

Great Youtube by of all people, the NYC's comptroller! Stop investing in climate chaos and start investing in climate solutions. 

Jeanne, I absolutely loved the podcast that you and others did for the most recent reading the future session. It was so great to hear all of your lovely voices and associate them with the names I encounter here. And although we have many challenges ahead of us, your conversation left me uplifted and hopeful.

Something you said in the podcast really resonated with me (I'm paraphrasing): When you're feeling down or anxious about the future, ask Spirit how you can be part of the solution to what's bothering you.

After I listened to the podcast, I went and sat outside beneath the shade of the old oak tree in my backyard, with my feet in the cool water of a kiddie pool in the seemingly unending Texas heat, and asked Spirit how I could be part of the solution to the climate crisis. Literally a few minutes later a huge male yellow-and-black Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly came flying through. It circled around the backyard a bit and then flew into the front, where I've planted a pollinator garden with mostly native plants and a few well-adapted non-natives. It started nectaring on the Mexican sunflowers there and suddenly it hit me that Spirit might have given me my answer right there. Since the pandemic I've become passionate about preserving and creating habitat for pollinators, and maybe this was a sign to keep at it. Maybe this can be one of my contributions to building a more beautiful world out of the climate crisis.

@gbs Oh @gbs, what a beautiful moment you shared for us ALL.  I too have been planting native plants in hopes of attracting pollinators. So far this summer, just two white butterflies and one swallowtail, compared to 30 years ago when the garden was loaded with monarchs.  So I have my work cut out for me. But I am hopeful about it. 

Thank you again for enjoying the recording I just posted of our most recent RTF readings.  I do love that recording. I also love hearing the voices of those who participated: @Andrew, @Baba, @Bluebelle, @Lovendures, @Seaholly, @TonyaW, and @Teriz.  They loved doing this together and next month we will likely do it again and include more people. @cc21, @deetoo, and @Clara were unable to make it this time but over time, you all will hear everyone's voice. There are others as well who have done Read the Future nights who might join in over time. This first one was a trial run. 

@gbs 

I love hearing how the butterfly came in response to you question.  Yes, you are helping and your actions to matter.  It is a reminder that we all have our own individual tool to play.  No act is too small if done with positive intentions. 

I am so happy you enjoyed the podcast/ audio.  We didn’t know how it was going to go but we had a good time making it and all want to do one in the future.  It was wonderful to gather together for this awesome project! It was interesting too.

They are racing to save baby birds from the heat in Phoenix. Until I saw this story, I hadn't thought about the baby animals suffering from this heat. I am so glad volunteers are on hand to help.  @Lovendures, perhaps you have heard about it. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/24/phoenix-heat-wave-birds-wildlife-rescue/

Also 

How to keep birds cool in the summer heat? 

Also want to tag more people because this heat wave is now spreading the the center of the country and perhaps to the east coast. 

After reading the above article, I'm adding ice to our bird bath, and have moved it and our bird houses to shady places, as well as no pruning, so it stays shady in more places that birds nest. 

@deetoo @Bluebelle @unk-p @tonyaW @seaholly

@jeanne-mayell We have not had a terrible heat wave this year, although there is still time for that to happen.  However, it’s very dry and the deer are constantly in our garden searching for tender morsels.  Adding ice to your birdbath sounds like a wonderful idea.  Our birdbath is in constant use and I would think the birds would flock to your shady, cool water bath.  Do you have a hummingbird feeder?  That might help, too.

@jeanne-mayell 

I have been watching the wildlife during this record breaking summer heat.   What I have noticed about the birds is somewhat common for hot weather, but a bit more extreme.  They are very loud in the morning in particular.  Lots of squawking and communication between each other while sitting in shade around 7-9 am.  Not much heard or seen of them after that time except after the late afternoon sprinklers go off.  Then it is a bird party in my backyard, but low energy because of the 110 plus temps. 

We have grass in our yard, mostly because of summer weather.  Yes, it is not a good thing for a drought stricken state, however it is helpful for a boiling summer state because grass helps cool down the land and air.  It is much cooler than a desert landscape.  We have a great deal of wild life which frequent our yard and the grass (and trees) make it a safe haven for wildlife.

Birds and bunnies will congregate in shady areas of the grass.  They will drink from sprinkler produced puddles.  Even the hummingbirds will drink from the puddles.  Bunnies will spread out their bodies in the cooler damp dirt (shaded and wet) for hours. Birds of prey including owls will even rest on the grass which is very odd.  

Bobcats have been known to take refuge in yards with swimming pools.  

I have not seen actual baby birds this summer,  But I have heard a noisy baby calling out for food in the mornings. I have also seen juvenile quail with their parents in my yard.  

We always get geckos which sneak inside and climb on our windows and walls.  I have seen only one baby gecko this year, not sure where they all went. 

Birds I have viewed on the lawn this summer:

Grackle, quail. hummingbirds ( yes, ON the lawn) , sparrow, doves, woodpeckers brewers blackbirds, and starling.

Crossing the street ...roadrunners.

In years past owls and hawks would visit in summer.

Here's a helpful NYT article about how to support birds through this heat. It's a gift article, so you don't need a subscription to read it.

Something I've learned is the importance of changing the water daily and scrubbing the water receptacles well. In the Texas heat, at least, algae can form on the bottom of the saucer, bowl, etc. within a day. So I take a scrub brush to them each morning before I refill with water.

Similarly, if you keep a hummingbird feeder, you should change the nectar every other day, to keep it from fermenting in the heat and thus harming the birds. 

@gbs That NYTimes story was so delightful.  I love watching birds bathing in my bird bath. First they perch on the edge, then quickly look around, then dip their beaks in for a drink.  It is all so cautious. Then they step into the bath, look around again, and then they make an explosion of it, with water going everywhere. The article showed different scenarios of birds bathing. 

Also I didn't know that if you change the water once a day, you don't have to worry about mosquitos breeding. 

During our recent Q&A session with seers, I had a climate change prediction that humans and animal/fish/bird species will adapt to rising temperatures.  Here's an article from the New York Times about European cities relying on age-old ways to cool homes and city streets.  In some ways, we will look to the past to adapt and in other ways, we will have new revolutionary ideas about coping with heat.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/world/europe/europe-heat-buildings-air-conditioning.html

@jeanne-mayell @gbs

I think it takes at least 3 days for mosquitos to breed.  I leave several shallow containers of water out at different spots because my birdbath is unusually tall, and i don't know if the possums and some other creatures can jump that high. It's so hot that the water doesn't last more than a day, so no worries about mosquitos.

Another thing i have been doing is putting produce scraps and peels (and any fruit that is over-ripe) in the fridge to get it cold, and then putting it out for the animals. It disappears very quickly! The squirrels and birds especially love orange slices, but they never eat the orange peels. They do like apple peels and things like that, though. 

@unk-p Thank you. ❤️ 🍓 🍒