Truth against webs of Lies
- Article Published At:
- Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Date of Publication:
- August 6th, 2022
This past month has been one of extreme weather across the globe. The US has had a continuation of the western drought, extending up into Oregon where temperatures were above 105oF for several days. With high temperatures came several wildfires. In the UK temperatures rose above 40 oC (104oF) for the first time, and 34 weather stations broke their all-time records. The UK temperature map matched the one that the Met Office predicted a couple of years ago for 2050. The Met Office chief of science and technology Stephen Belcher said with British understatement: "I wasn't expecting to see this in my career, but the UK has just exceeded 40°C"
The still more extreme heat wave in southern Europe is a warning of how far we've pushed the planet's climate into dangerous territory, and how unprepared we are for what's coming. Santarem in Portugal reached 46.3oC (115.3oF) and Alamonte in Spain hit 45.6oC, approaching temperatures in the Sahara. These record extremes are related to a split in the jet-stream with a region of upper level low-pressure air that was stalled off the coast of Portugal for days. It is known as a “cutoff low” because it was cut off from the normal mid-latitude westerly winds; and it is pumping hot air northward from the Sahara. Wildfires are burning in many countries. These temperatures have never been seen in the weather records over Europe which extend back two centuries.
In previous Planet columns I have discussed examples where the living Earth, the Creation, appears to be taking over the climate system to specifically damage our fossil fuel infrastructure which ‘business-as-usual’ refuses to dismantle. Eastern Australia is experiencing new record floods in Queensland and New South Wales after devastating wildfires in the same region. This is where the Australian coal mines are located. The latest catastrophic flood around Sydney was July 2-4, 2022. A huge storm cell brought a year’s worth of rain (about four ft) in three days to some areas and led to the evacuation of 85,000 people, as their homes were flooded. Sydney is surrounded with coal mines so the Earth’s reason is obvious. Companies were mining more the 10 billion tons of coal per year and enjoying cash profit margins of about 45%. No-one is discussing the connection - instead the claim has been made that Australia is not responsible for the climate consequences as the coal is burnt elsewhere!
The last week of July, Kentuckyhad extreme flooding (guess where!) in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield. The people are weeping, but the Earth’s reason is not being discussed. On one level society understands that accelerating climate crisis is out of our control unless we rapidly cut the burning of the fossil fuels. This we have refused to do for decades because it is so profitable. So the living Earth, which is responsible for all life on earth, is taking over and targeting our fossil infrastructure, as well as planning to flood our coasts. So far we refuse to discuss the implications of this, since we pretend we are the smart species in charge. In reality we live buried in webs of lies. This has been very obvious this past month.
The US Supreme Court was stacked by Trump with fake Christians (see last month’s discussion) who are rapidly rewriting US law, mostly in favor of traditional male chauvinist conservatism. Women’s abortion rights were abolished, states efforts to restrict voting were supported and the right of the EPA to manage climate change was removed. These are all based on lies about women’s rights, state rights and the rights of life on Earth. Of course managing climate change would be unfair to capitalists who have had the freedom to make money destroying the planet for decades.
This month the Jan 6 committee exposed in detail the webs of Trumpian lies related to the false claim that he won the 2020 election (that he and his government knew was a lie). He then organized and ordered the Jan 6 attack on the Capital by a bunch of armed supporters in a failed attempt to stop the counting of the votes that showed Trump had lost. He advised them to kill the vice-president if possible, and refused to bring the riot under control, since his plan was to overrule the US constitution. With a mid-term election coming, the dark fascist wing of the Republican Party continues to support Trump’s self-centered lying agenda, even though they know it is false! They are afraid of this lying bully, so they have to reject every trace of the “Truth that might set them free”! This is the tragic political context in the US.
Fortunately the Creation, not the political idiots, is in charge, and we can assume that the interests of the Creator will sweep over the webs of lies. This is obvious to all true Christians, as well as all indigenous people, true Buddhists, and so on. We can hope that some will glimpse the Truth and take the side of the Creator, even as climate extremes sweep the planet.