A Thinkin' Problem

Climate change is a frustrating issue to write about. We know for certain it is the greatest existential threat to human survival, but we don't know how to explain that to people in terms they can understand.

Bill Gates was interviewed by CNN Sunday and accurately called climate change a polymath problem. That's because one has to have mastered multiple disciplines and to have absorbed a multiple of complex information to make sense of the issue..

But we do not have the simple language that breaks through to people who don't understand multi-variable analysis of data. So we are stuck.

That is why young Greta Thunberg is so important. While Bill Gates, Al Gore, and so many others try but can't get through to any but a. small portion of the population; she speaks directly and bluntly to her generational cohort about what is happening.

Climate change is *not* theoretical. What happened in Texas is climate change. What happened in California and Colorado with the fires is climate change. What happened with the monster hurricanes is climate change. What is happening to the Pacific Islands that are receding back into the sea is climate change.

Our descendants -- yours and mine -- will be dealing with a planet of extreme weather events, shrinking habitable land mass, species extinctions, and probably political extremism as well.

The extremism arises directly out of ignorance. Foolish fantasies like the idea that renewable energy sources caused the problem in Texas or that a giant laser beam from space caused the wildfires are the product of undereducated minds incapable of processing complex information and incapable of drawing accurate conclusions.

In other words, the people spreading such nonsense are idiots.

It's not as if the horrific changes coming could not be mitigated if we as a species got our act together. It's that collectively we are not getting smart enough fast enough to do so.

And that is the tragedy.

***

Nobody knows the limits of non-fiction better than journalists. Because we spend our careers ascertaining the documentable truths. We don't make things up.

But great fiction allows us to explore the unknowable without worrying about accuracy or fact-checking.

So the best novels and short stories can reach the truths that remain beyond our grasp as journalists. Perhaps the best example is love. What is love? How can *that* be fact-checked?

Journalists are no good at answering that question. But maybe the poets know.

***

The news:

* In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules (NYT)

* FDA authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine (WashPo)

* Iran Rejects Offer of Direct U.S. Nuclear Talks (WSJ)

* Cuomo Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by a 2nd Former Aide (NYT)

* China created a story of the pandemic. Some people revealed details Beijing left out (CNN)

* Everyone in Sitka, Alaska, who's age 16 or older can get the COVID-19 vaccination. The tribal health service there has been so efficient, they've already vaccinated those at higher risk. (NPR)

* We’ll never reach herd immunity if we don’t vaccinate more non-white people (WashPo)

* Mexico's president expected to ask Biden to share U.S. vaccines, say sources (Reuters)

* Biden team readies wider economic package after virus relief (AP)

* The fatal assault in San Francisco on a defenseless older man was the latest terrifying episode for Asian-Americans, many of whom have endured racist taunts, rants and worse during the pandemic. (NYT)

* Biden administration promises focus on environmental justice (AP)

* San Francisco Parents Work to Recall School Board Members -- Frustrated with the pace of plans to reopen public schools, parents are mobilizing against the city’s elected school board, arguing it has given priority to social justice issues over getting students back in classrooms. (WSJ)

* California’s intensified fires are increasing the threat to Highway 1 (WashPo)

* Trump has no remorse about the deadly violence he incited with his lies about a stolen election in his uprising against the U.S. Congress. This much was clear when the ex-President put the Republican Party on notice on Sunday that he intends to use his hold on its grassroots to try to suppress the vote heading into the presidential election in 2024, in which he hinted he might run. In his first public remarks since leaving the White House, he also dangerously lashed out at Supreme Court justices for failing to intervene to throw him the election he clearly lost to President Joe Biden. (CNN)

* Younger Military Personnel Reject Vaccine, in Warning for Commanders and the Nation -- About one-third of the troops have declined to take the vaccine. Many say they worry the vaccines are unsafe or were developed too quickly. Others want a sense of independence, even in uniform. (NYT)

* Allies of Rep. Adam Kinzinger launch new super PAC to support Republicans who have bucked Trump (WashPo)

* The Toronto Blue Jays spent more on free agents this winter to bolster an exciting young lineup. Their fans love them. The only problem is they still can’t play in Canada. (WSJ)

* Dozens of leading Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners charged with subversion (Reuters)

* A potential U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, coupled with a weak Afghan security force, mean the Taliban will likely continue to capture, condemn and torture thousands. (NYT)

* At least 18 killed in Myanmar on bloodiest day of protests against coup (Reuters)

* Disney Installs Animatronic Christian Missionaries To Convert Natives On Jungle Cruise Ride (The Onion)

***

My Netflix bingeing reached a new level when I somehow ended up watching a Korean serial drama, "Crash Landing on You," that just keeps going and going. It is about a South Korean woman who while hang-gliding is swept by a storm into North Korea, where a soldier discovers and protects her from capture.

Of course they fall in love -- the true definition  of an impossible love.

It's relatively well-done, which is to say it's addictive in a Netflix kind of way...

***

Yes, I admit I've got a thinkin' problem
She's always on my mind
Her memory goes round and round
I've tried to quit a thousand times
Yes, I admit I've got a thinkin' problem
Fill the glass up to the top
I'll start with loving her
But I don't know when to stop
I'll start with lovin' her
But I don't know when to stop

-- David Ball

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