Bryan, Thanks for sharing this update. My brother-in-law, John Snell, has reported how the community has pulled together, but still, the recovery will take months. Also, I agree with your thoughts on the longer term issues.
Your thoughtful ramble is a gift, for which I am grateful, Bryan. Thank you for stepping aside, for making time to create a story that brings us along and offers us a seat in your canoe, glimpses of a place, your place, turned upside down. I'm achey with you at the thought of the residual fear, of rivers and clouds, seen now in ways that perhaps your eyes and those of your town mates have never previously even considered. I'm awed with you at the casual appearance, the hopeful talisman of a swallowtail butterfly flitting and floating above flooded streets. May each step back toward a calmer, more settled place stretch your heart and fill your ever-observant eyes with wonder. Namasté
Thank you Bryan. I have been thinking of you- the pictures of devastation are grim, but ,as usual, Vermonters know how to support each other. What troubles me the most is how little I have heard the words climate change up here. What pleases me the most is the birds, bees, butterflies are all carrying on. I saw the most beautiful Checkerspot I have ever seen. yesterday.
So few people understand the importance of and threats to habitat. Roads, too, especially highways and freeways. In Rob Chaney's book "The Grizzly in the Driveway" he's got one passage about a grizzly wearing a tracker who was repeatedly and over a long period of time deterred from exploring a wider range by the barrier of a highway. (There's a new book, "Traffication," about car-centric culture and how roads in particular devastate nature. I haven't read it yet but listened to this new interview with the author on the War on Cars: https://thewaroncars.org/2023/07/18/108-traffication-with-paul-donald/)
Thank you so much for this, Bryan. I am so, so grateful for the work you do and the way you continue to be present in the world in all its beauties and painful losses.
One of the many things I took pride in, with the Company/Corporation I worked for, was their commitment to environmental protections of plant and animal/bird species and of Native American artifacts. Training was done to identify habitats, address seasonal factors and highlight awareness, work was stopped if an unexpected discovery was made. Climate changes impact more than we know, the lessons will keep coming, when will we learn to act accordingly instead of responding only to address the aftermath?
This is perfect, Bryan, and heartbreaking. It's a clear-eyed, open-hearted note from one of today's countless climate ground zeroes. I love that you took this opportunity to ask your readers to look outward from the floods at the big picture rather than merely looking in with sympathy. Really well written, from stem to stern. And of course, thank you for taking the time to send people my way. I'm honored.
p.s. I'm sure that like me you were moved by your fellow Vermonter Bill McKibben's latest post.
Nailed it! (Soon as I heard this news, I thought of you guys—and awaited this essay.)
Yes! "Basically, nature suffers most from the ways we eat and buy stuff." and oy.
Bryan, Thanks for sharing this update. My brother-in-law, John Snell, has reported how the community has pulled together, but still, the recovery will take months. Also, I agree with your thoughts on the longer term issues.
Your thoughtful ramble is a gift, for which I am grateful, Bryan. Thank you for stepping aside, for making time to create a story that brings us along and offers us a seat in your canoe, glimpses of a place, your place, turned upside down. I'm achey with you at the thought of the residual fear, of rivers and clouds, seen now in ways that perhaps your eyes and those of your town mates have never previously even considered. I'm awed with you at the casual appearance, the hopeful talisman of a swallowtail butterfly flitting and floating above flooded streets. May each step back toward a calmer, more settled place stretch your heart and fill your ever-observant eyes with wonder. Namasté
Thank you Bryan. I have been thinking of you- the pictures of devastation are grim, but ,as usual, Vermonters know how to support each other. What troubles me the most is how little I have heard the words climate change up here. What pleases me the most is the birds, bees, butterflies are all carrying on. I saw the most beautiful Checkerspot I have ever seen. yesterday.
So few people understand the importance of and threats to habitat. Roads, too, especially highways and freeways. In Rob Chaney's book "The Grizzly in the Driveway" he's got one passage about a grizzly wearing a tracker who was repeatedly and over a long period of time deterred from exploring a wider range by the barrier of a highway. (There's a new book, "Traffication," about car-centric culture and how roads in particular devastate nature. I haven't read it yet but listened to this new interview with the author on the War on Cars: https://thewaroncars.org/2023/07/18/108-traffication-with-paul-donald/)
Thank you so much for this, Bryan. I am so, so grateful for the work you do and the way you continue to be present in the world in all its beauties and painful losses.
One of the many things I took pride in, with the Company/Corporation I worked for, was their commitment to environmental protections of plant and animal/bird species and of Native American artifacts. Training was done to identify habitats, address seasonal factors and highlight awareness, work was stopped if an unexpected discovery was made. Climate changes impact more than we know, the lessons will keep coming, when will we learn to act accordingly instead of responding only to address the aftermath?
Thank you for putting it all in perspective for us, Bryan. I hope you and yours stayed safe in the flood.
You are the first person I've read who uses the term "global heating" instead of "global warming." It is a dire shift in understanding, isn't it?
This is perfect, Bryan, and heartbreaking. It's a clear-eyed, open-hearted note from one of today's countless climate ground zeroes. I love that you took this opportunity to ask your readers to look outward from the floods at the big picture rather than merely looking in with sympathy. Really well written, from stem to stern. And of course, thank you for taking the time to send people my way. I'm honored.
p.s. I'm sure that like me you were moved by your fellow Vermonter Bill McKibben's latest post.