(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Who Will Be Harmed? -- Strike for the Planet week 97 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-05 You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference! This is the letter for week 97 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents of the topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile… STRIKE FOR THE PLANET What happens if you don’t act? Shouldn’t you know? Or don’t you care? This week’s topic is Who Will Be Harmed? Why do anything about climate change and the current mass extinction event? What difference does it make to SF? Let’s break it down! situation effect locations in sf sea level rise1, 2 flooding, disease, erosion, storm surges Treasure Island, SFO, the Marina, the Embarcadero, downtown, the ballpark, China Basin, Islais Creek vicinity, Heron’s Head, India Basin, Hunters’ Point, and Candlestick initially increased heat3, 4 dehydration, death, productivity loss, mental impairment, violence Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Bernal Heights, Hunters Point, Dogpatch, Ingleside, the Mission, the Marina, downtown, the Embarcadero, and North Beach at first air pollution/smoke5 stress, eye and respiratory tract irritation, reduced lung function, bronchitis, asthma, heart failure, stroke, premature death, toxic exposures all of SF, but unequally based on income, institutional racism, sexism, and age megadrought6, 7 water shortages, running out of water, increase in wildfires, plant and animal extinctions, migration and refugee crises all of SF, but unequally based on income, institutional racism, sexism, and age food8, 9 lower nutrition, increased child and elder care difficulties, reduced socialization, increased stress and precarious job situations, bad health outcomes, bad life outcomes women, children, the elderly, populations already at risk, populations already suffering from food insecurity — all of SF but unequally based on income, institutional racism, sexism, and age But that’s not all! Forget geography, let’s consider demographics. Because, as you can see above, it’s not just where you are but who you are that matters. Different populations are differently resilient based on resources and inherent vulnerabilities. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have vulnerabilities that make them more susceptible to heat, reduced food and water access, disease, and displacement from climate change.10, 11, 12 The poor, those living in areas with few to no trees, those living in areas with aging or poor infrastructure, communities and individuals suffering from institutional racism, and women are all denied resources to cope with climate change13, 14 and so are also disproportionally impacted. But wait! There’s more! Destroy the biosphere and everything goes down. Bay Area businesses are already starting to lose due to climate change.15 From agriculture16 to real estate17, 18, energy19 to tourism20, 21, construction22 to fishing23, these losses are only the first of what will be a cascade of losses and failures to SF’s business community. And these are just the start. The insurance industry is unsustainable and will become inaccessible to most, then likely crash.24 Government services will be reduced as the costs of cleaning up after climate disasters climbs.25 (We’re getting first-hand experience of this from Covid though we’re nowhere near done with its costs — witness the school budget cuts to come, for example.26) As government downsizes, the rule of law will be impacted.27 Not only is governance at risk, but people in government are as well.28, 29 And then there’s everything else! Kill a biosphere and you destroy the species that live in it, the ecosystems that form it, and the ability of the planet to support human life or, really, most life.30 Please note that the longer we wait to take real action, the less likely human survival becomes.31 So qui bono? Was there ever any question about this? The rich, of course. But — and this is the kicker — only for a very little while, basically now. Then they die, too. Because you can’t survive if you destroy your life support system. Do you care about the harm being done to SF? Or, as Wendell Berry asks in his poem, “Questionnarie”32: 5. State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child. Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill. Why are you letting the rich run (and destroy) SF? Why are you listening to the selfish and greedy? They don’t care about the city, its people, or its future. They just want to chew us up, suck out as much profit as possible, then spit out the remnants. They don’t care about us, or about you. Who do you care about? Your not acting is harming the people of SF. It’s now or never; damage is already being done and it’s only going to get worse. Can’t you see that time’s up?33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 Current conditions are worsening daily.41, 42 You have to fight for the people of SF now! FOOTNOTES 1. Glen Martin. “Study: Rising Seas Are Quickly Sinking Bay Area Landfill Zones”. California Magazine. 7 March 2018. Cal Alumni Association UC Berkeley. https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2018-03-07/study-rising-seas-are-quickly-sinking-bay-area-landfill-zones . 2. Ana Dvorak, Helena Solo-Gabriele, Andrea Galletti, Bernardo Benzecry, Hannah Malone, Vicki Boguszewski, and Jason Bird. “Possible impacts of sea level rise on disease transmission and potential adaptation strategies, a review”. Journal of Environmental Management. 1 July 2018, pg. 951-968. Pub Med. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29679917/ . 3. Allegra Kirkland. “What climate change will do to three major American cities by 2100”. Yahoo! finance. 18 October 2019. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/climate-change-three-major-american-090015056.html . 4. Neelu Tummala. “What Climate Change Does to the Human Body”. Scientific American. 29 August 2020. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-climate-change-does-to-the-human-body/ . 5. “Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke”. Air Now. Accessed 3 March 2021. https://www.airnow.gov/sites/default/files/2020-10/wildfire-smoke-guide-revised-2019-chapters-1-3_0.pdf . 6. See Strike letters for weeks 1, 20, 52, and 82 for more details. 7. “Megadrought caused mega biodiversity loss”. CSIRO. 17 July 2019. Science Bulletin. https://sciencebulletin.org/megadrought-caused-mega-biodiversity-loss/ . 8. Nicola Davis. “Climate change may be behind fall of ancient empire, say researchers”. The Guardian. 13 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/nov/13/climate-change-may-be-behind-fall-of-ancient-empire-say-researchers . 9. ed. Bruce Clements and Julie Ann Casani. “Food Shortages”. Disasters and Public Health (Second Edition). Science Direct. 2016. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/food-shortages. 10. Maya Earls. “Children Are Particularly Vulnerable to Climate Change’s Health Impacts”. Scientific American. 14 November 2019. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/children-are-particularly-vulnerable-to-climate-changes-health-impacts/ . 11. John Abraham. “Medical scientists report on the impact climate change is having on health”. The Guardian. 5 May 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/may/05/medical-scientists-report-on-the-impact-climate-change-is-having-on-health . 12. Christopher Flavelle. “Climate Change Tied to Pregnancy Risks, Affecting Black Mothers Most”. The New York Times. 18 June 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/climate/climate-change-pregnancy-study.html . 13. Mary Halton. “Climate change ‘impacts women more than men’”. BBC News. 8 March 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43294221 . 14. Beth Gardiner. “Unequal Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change”. Yale Environment 360. 9 June 2020. https://e360.yale.edu/features/unequal-impact-the-deep-links-between-inequality-and-climate-change . 15. UH News. “Climate change, bats linked to COVID-19 pandemic”. University of Hawai’i News. 5 February 2021. https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2021/02/05/climate-change-bats-covid19/ . 16. Michael Hiltzik. “Column: Study indicates that climate change will wreak havoc on California agriculture”. Los Angeles Times. 9 March 2018. https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-climate-agriculture-20180309-story.html. 17. Patrick Sisson. “How climate change creates a ‘new abnormal’ for the real estate market”. Curbed. 29 October 2019. https://archive.curbed.com/2019/10/29/20930330/real-estate-climate-change-federal-reserve-flooding . 18. Diana Olick. “Climate change will crush real estate values for investors who don’t prepare, new report says”. CNBC. 8 April 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/08/climate-change-will-crush-real-estate-values-for-unprepared-investors-report.html . 19. David Stoms, Guido Franco, Heather Raitt, Susan Wilhelm, and Sekita Grant. “Climate Change and the California Energy Sector”. California Energy Commission. 18 December 2013. https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=72412 . 20. Andy Coghlan. “Tourism is four times worse for the climate than we thought”. NewScientist. 7 May 2018. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2168174-tourism-is-four-times-worse-for-the-climate-than-we-thought/ . 21. Charles Clifford. “COVID-19 outbreak has big impact on travel industry, turns SFO into ghost town”. KRON4. 7 April 2020. https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/covid-19-outbreak-has-big-impact-on-travel-industry-turns-sfo-into-ghost-town/ . 22. Ann Saphir. “How California’s wildfires could spark a financial crisis”. Reuters. 10 September 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-market-fire-idUSKBN2611TK . 23. Nicholas Duva. “7 industries at greatest risk from climate change”. CNBC. 22 October 2014. https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/22/7-industries-at-greatest-risk-from-climate-change.html . 24. Elliott Goat. “How climate change could crash the global insurance sector”. The Week. 21 March 2019. https://www.theweek.co.uk/100350/how-climate-change-could-crash-the-global-insurance-sector . 25. Malka Older. “Climate change means the government faces more costs from natural disasters. If only it admitted it.” NBC News. 1 October 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/climate-change-means-government-faces-more-costs-natural-disasters-if-ncna1059901 . 26. Jackie Botts. “Schools, health face deep cuts in California’s $203 billion budget”. CBS8. 14 May 2020. https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/state/schools-health-face-deep-cuts-in-californias-203-billion-budget/509-c90b6a94-46df-4a44-8507-e0cc774b7acb. 27. Damian Carrington. “‘Climate apartheid’: UN expert says human rights may not survive”. The Guardian. 25 June 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/25/climate-apartheid-united-nations-expert-says-human-rights-may-not-survive-crisis . 28. Justin Worland. “Why Climate Change and Terrorism Are Connected”. Time. 15 November 2015. https://time.com/4113801/climate-change-terrorism/ . 29. Erin Schumaker. “Utah epidemiologist latest target of attacks on health officials by anti-science protesters”. ABC News. 30 October 2020. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/utah-epidemiologist-latest-target-attacks-190700574.html. 30. Christine Ro. “The animals that will survive climate change”. BBC Future. 4 August 2019. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190730-the-animals-that-will-survive-climate-change. 31. Luke Darby. “Human Civilization Isn’t Prepared to Survive Climate Change”. GQ. 17 June 2019. https://www.gq.com/story/climate-change-david-spratt . 32. Wendell Berry. “Questionnaire”. Poetry Tree on the Charles. Accessed 29 September 2023. poetrytreeonthecharles.net/... 33. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736 . 34. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report . 35. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html . 36. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ . 37. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html . 38. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/ . 39. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/ . 40. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/ . 41. Lauren Frayer. “Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away”. NPR. 7 February 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965046888/scores-are-feared-dead-in-india-after-himalayan-glacier-breaks-away . It’s now looking like it was a landslide which makes the situation worse. 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