Austin Sierra Club Climate Crisis Committee

Austin Sierra Club Climate Crisis Committee
(First Tuesday every month - date change)

The Austin Sierra Club will meet in-person and Zoom on Tuesday, March 7 at 7 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 4700 Grover Avenue and on Zoom.
Map - https://goo.gl/maps/xpsSX2Myhn58S5qx6
Connect on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5133069449
Note: Enter through courtyard in front of church next to sanctuary. Signs will be posted.

Agenda:
30 min. – Announcements and breakout action teams
45 min. – Presentation: Bruce Melton will speak on his latest top billing article: Glacial Retreat and the Origins of Climate Change

Glacial retreat is one of the hallmarks of climate change but few realize that glaciers have been retreating since the end of the Little Ice Age, predating climate change, or at least climate change as it has been interpreted for decades. The Little Ice Age was a four century period between 1400 and 1850 that was about 0.6 degrees C (1.1 F) cooler than the previous 7,000 or 8,000 years, enough cooling to create very significant cold in many parts of the globe that affected crops and robustness of cultures. The widely debated cause(s) of the Little Ice Age has been hypothesized as decreased solar output and or increased volcanic activity, and or changes in quasi-stationary pressure system over the North Atlantic, but the crux of this story is that it has been widely believed that the Little Ice Age ended naturally and glaciers halted their advances and began receding, or maybe glaciers began receding from soot from the industrial revolution. But a 20-year old hypothesis on the timing of and cause of climate change is now becoming more robust. This Early Anthropocene Hypothesis states that climate change did not begin with the dawn of the industrial age at the end of the 19th century, it began 7,000 to 8,000 years ago with the discovery of agriculture and clearing of forests for crops. This human-caused warming was then cancelled out by natural cooling that should have been occurring for the last 7,000 to 8,000 years until human-caused warming from fossil fuels went berserk. In reality then, the Little Ice Age could simple be an extension of natural cooling that was ended by climate change and that there was no “natural” recovery. What we can learn from this is that there is a lot of uncertainty in many issues around climate change and deep and thoughtful interpretation should never be taken for granted.

See the rest of the article with before and after photography sliders here >

Covid: Masks not required but recommended.

Image: Big Bend National Park ocotillo mortality from drought induced ocotillo borer attack.

Action Teams -- Discuss Action Teams and allow people to sign up to continue the work to stop climate change, an imperative if we want our current civilization to survive. We’ve formed Action Teams on Austin Energy, the Permian Pipeline, Rio Grande Valley Support, Carbon Fee & Dividend, People Power, Data Entry, and Presentations and more. We have identified additional action teams we’d like to form, including Transportation, Climate Justice, Partner Organizations, School Education, and Social Media. Whether you have only minutes a month or hours a day, join us to build a mass movement to stop climate change. Or join another group fighting this vital cause.