a salute to trees

post #473
           I am not following the president impeachment happenings each day, though I do try to stay informed since I am, in general, a bit of a politics junkie. However I'm finding the toxicity spills over everywhere, with much that stuns and dismays.  Cruelty tears me up. (Kids in Cages??!) Not facing the changing climate, in particular, makes no possible sense at all to me. (Fossil fuels forever? I don't see how or why.)
         I don't want to take time tonight to make any kind of long list. Where my house is located, we don't talk politics a lot and when we do It doesn't feel unfriendly. My Kentucky county has, until Trump, always voted for the Democrat for president. 

         My monthly writers group of over 20 years enjoys giving a joint donation every year instead of gifts to each other at Christmas. This year we decided to find some way to express support for actual ongoing projects that are trying to do something on the ground, so to speak, directly related to the climate. Here are two articles we use to research our decision. I don't include either one in its entirety, so I hope it doesn't end up being too confusing to be helpful.

article #1: How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change

Here’s a five-step plan to deal with the stress and become part of the solution.

By Emma Marris

Ms. Marris is the author of “Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.”

• Jan. 10, 2020. New York Times

You are scrolling through the news and see yet another story about climate change.

Australia is on fire. Indonesia is drowning. At the same time, Donald Trump is trying to make it easier to build new fossil-fuel projects.

As you read, your chest tightens and a sense of dread washes over you, radiating out from your heart. You feel anxious, afraid and intensely guilty. Just this morning, you drove a gasoline-powered car to work. You ate beef for lunch. You booked a flight, turned on the heat, forgot your reusable grocery bags at home. This is your fault.

As an environmental writer, I’m often asked for guidance on coping with climate change. I have thoughts. Even better, I have a five-point plan to manage the psychological toll of living with climate change and to become part of the solution.

Step 1: Ditch the shame.

The first step is the key to all the rest. Yes, our daily lives are undoubtedly contributing to climate change. But that’s because the rich and powerful have constructed systems that make it nearly impossible to live lightly on the earth. Our economic systems require most adults to work, and many of us must commute to work in or to cities intentionally designed to favor the automobile. Unsustainable food, clothes and other goods remain cheaper than sustainable alternatives.

[The rest of the article is available if you have access to a NYT subscription or a library.

Credit...Evan Cohen

There's much more to the article, but I want to include here an earlier article that was helpful for us, from VOX, December 18, 2018, by Sigel Samuel:

article#2: Want to fight climate change effectively? Here's where to donate your money.

        The article features 5 options, and we are going for the first one, called COALITION FOR RAINFOREST NATIONS.  If anyone wants help locating the article, please let me know and I can dig around and send a link.  

       Note: Since I do believe that trees are essential for life on earth and irreplaceable, and since I will probably end up writing other posts on this topic, I am also going to feature a tree each time. I revere trees. Here is one of many photos with trees that I've made.  The photo was made in England; it's an oak, in January. Thank you, tree. We need everyone of you.

      Stay warm, keep your cool, be bold, encourage bravery, appreciate a tree.

England, winter weather, Chipping Campden

post #370
       Yes, the current weather here in England is not for photos, but I have some anyway.  I also have a few more from earlier visits. (See last week's post.) BTW, the English are currently having a lot to say about the American political scene, holding Trump responsible for his own behavior and not seeing the rest of America as being like him.  I've heard some folks talk about being embarrassed by their own political leaders, so they may be more understanding that this just happens sometimes.
       On with photos, however. I will begin with some parings -- a photo from a time before with one I took in the last few days.

hard times, after more years than I can imagine.

two years ago

this Saturday -- I visit with June and Bill every time I come over.

This is a favorite photo that I have used on my notecards. Best hanging baskets in town.

This is the same building, on Friday. It's the Eight Bells pub. I never realized before that the church tower was visible behind it!  Two hooks for plants are visible on either side of the lower window.

 These next four photos were taken from inside the room I stay in when I visit here. There was snow early today, and then it changed to rain. I eventually went out in it, feeling very authentic....

across the street, looking to the right

across the street, looking left

 This bunch of four photos with two from a joint visit here my sister, Cathy, and I made, during our walk on the hills near town.

several years ago, but the same time of year....

I saw in passing yesterday that this butcher is still in business.  I'm sorry not to have the photo I made here many years ago before the EU stopped allowing fresh kills from hanging along the building outside.

And, at the end, two signs in England of the times:

a note card my step-mother really likes, which she received from my sister, Robin, exactly a year ago, right before the looming inauguration, while contemplating life without the steady, intelligent, and decent man, Obama