I’m sure many of you remember when Ukrainian singer Jamala won the Eurovision song contest with ‘1944’. The song concerns the deportation of the Crimean Tatars (including Jamala’s great-grandmother) by the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin to central Siberia. The song was released amid renewed repression of the Tatars with the Russian annexation of Crimea. The songs chorus is in the Crimean language based on a folk song she heard from her great-grandmother. With the current events, the song has gained new poignancy and a renewed following. Here are the lyrics and her performance.
When strangers are coming They come to your house They kill you all and say We’re not guilty not guilty Where is your mind? Humanity cries You think you are gods But everyone dies Don’t swallow my soul Our souls
Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım
We could build a future Where people are free to live and love The happiest time
Where is your heart?
Humanity rise You think you are gods But everyone dies Don’t swallow my soul Our souls
Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım
I note that the film, ‘Nomadland’ is nominated for several Academy Awards. I read the book it is based on in 2018 and posted a short review on Facebook. It’s the story of the many thousands who have lost their homes and been forced to live in campers, trailers, vans and so forth…’wheel-estate’. It’s a very difficult existence, scrabbling to make a bit of money and always at the mercy of those who can evict them from their bit of hardtop at any time. It’s just going to get worse when the eviction moratoriums expire soon and thousands, maybe millions are evicted from their homes.
So do what you can to encourage affordable housing policies and, if you see someone in a van or camper parked in the woods or in a parking lot overnight, don’t call the cops…they may have nowhere else to go.
Here’s what I wrote back in 2018:
I just finished reading ‘Nomadland’ by Jessica Bruder. It’s a rather depressing book about the tens of thousands…maybe more, no one knows…who lost essentially everything in the Great Recession and have traded in their middle-class lives for ‘wheel-estate’. hopping from one temporary, low-wage job to another while living in their vans and trailers.They are working as Amazon ‘Camperforce’ – 70 and 80-year olds walking 15 miles or so on a concrete floor stooping, reaching, bending and pulling for trivial wages to help Amazon deliver its goods during the holiday season. Amazon has dispensers on the walls giving out free ibuprofen and acetominephen.The work as campground hosts in the summer, again for minimal wages and they work the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota in the late fall – all just to get by for another year.Check out their website – Amazon has one for camperforce and workamper.com is informative about the jobs that are available.For those of us who are comfortable in retirement, it’s worth a read to understand the challenges facing those who aren’t.
February was Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month. I thought I might recognize both.
Kamala Harris
We’re all happy to see Kamala Harris poke a hole in the glass ceiling by being the first woman of color to be elected Vice-President of the United States. But there are many others who came before her.
Birthplace of Mary McLeod Bethune in Mayesville, SC
Bethune was born in 1875 to parents who had been slaves. With the help of benefactors, she attended college hoping to become a missionary. Instead she began teaching school and founded a school for girls in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Mary McLeod Bethune with students in Daytona Florida
In 1931, the school merged with the Cookman Institute for Boys eventually becoming Bethune-Cookman University.
She was active politically, working to register black voters. In 1924, she was elected president of the National Association of Colored Women and went to work straightening out their finances and establishing a national headquarters in Washington, DC – the first black-controlled organization to be headquartered in Washington. In 1935, she founded the National Council of Negro Women in New York.
She worked to elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The National Youth Administration was a creation of the Roosevelt Administration. She lobbied the organization for minority involvement so aggressively that she was offered an appointment as administrative assistant. Within two years she was promoted to Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, becoming the first African-American female division head in the US Government. More than 300,000 black young men and women were given employment and work training on NYA projects.
She became friends with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – especially Eleanor. She had unprecedented access to the White House through her friendship with the First Lady and used her access to Create a coalition of black leaders called the Federal Council of Negro Affairs, but more popularly ‘The Black Cabinet’.
Mary McLeod Bethune (left) and Eleanor RooseveltOfficial Portrait of Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris
Patricia Roberts Harris, a native of Mattoon, Illinois was a gifted scholar who graduated from Howard University with honors in 1945. After earning her law degree from George Washington University Law School, Harris became an attorney in the criminal division of the Department of Justice in 1960. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed Harris co-chairman of the National Women’s Committee of Civil Rights.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Harris as Ambassador to Luxembourg. By accepting this appointment, Harris was the first African American woman to serve the United States as an ambassador. Harris would continue to be a force in the Democratic Party serving as chairman of the credentials committee in 1972 and a member-at-large of the Democratic National Committee in 1973. Her due diligence and commitment to social justice and civil rights would catch the attention of presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Harris as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, which made her the first African American to serve in the United States Cabinet, and the first African American woman to enter the line of succession to the presidency. At Harris’ confirmation hearing, she was asked would her background prevent her from effectively serving as Secretary of Housing and Urban and Development. Harris responded:
“I am one of them. You do not seem to understand who I am. I am a Black woman, the daughter of a Pullman car waiter. I am a Black woman who even eight years ago could not buy a house in parts of the District of Columbia. I didn’t start out as a member of a prestigious law firm, but as a woman who needed a scholarship to go to school. If you think I have forgotten that, you are wrong.”
After serving as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in 1979 Harris became Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the largest cabinet agency in President Carter’s administration.
In 1969, Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman to serve in Congress, or, as she preferred, the “first black woman congressman.” She was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 and the Congressional Women’s Caucus in 1977. Chisholm was also the first woman and the first African American to seek the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1972.
n 1977, Shirley Chisholm made history again when she became the first Black woman and second woman ever to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee, which sets the conditions for debating legislative bills on the floor of the House of Representatives.
On November 3, 1992, Carol Moseley Braun became the first African-American woman elected to the US Senate. She was quite liberal on social issues and was strongly pro-choice. When she was elected, women were not allowed to wear pants on the floor of the Senate. She and Barbara Mikulski challenged the rule and both wore pants onto the floor. Female support staff soon followed their lead and the rule was changed in 1993.
She made headlines when she convinced the Judiciary Committee not to renew a design patent for the United Daughters of the Confederacy because it contained the Confederate Flag. She also made a plea to her colleagues about the symbolism of the Confederate flag, declaring, “It has no place in our modern times, place in this body, place in our society”.
I’ve left out lots and lots of courageous and trailblazing women. I’ll try to post about some of them in the coming months.
A contingent of nurses arrive in the southwest Pacific area, received their first batch of home mail at 268th Station Hospital, Australia, 11/29/1943Mae Carol Jemison became the first African American woman accepted into NASA’s space training program on June 4, 1987. Five years later, on September 12, 1992, she became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
For the past 20 years the American economy has grown at a paltry 1.9% per year. Many economists suggest that, even before the pandemic, the economy was running about 5% below its potential. Interest rates have been very low and inflation hasn’t reach the Fed’s target of 2% for many years. We now have a team in place that seems ready to run the economy hot for a few years; it’s a unique opportunity.
The Federal government is injecting substantial stimulus into the economy with the $1.9 trillion Covid recovery package on top of previous relief packages. Look for another trillion in infrastructure investments to come. There seems to be about the same amount tied up in consumer accounts that might be released as the economy opens up and the Federal Reserve is committed to keeping interest rates near zero.
What does all this mean? In a hot economy, anyone who wants a job can get one. People who are now not in the labor market are going to re-enter and wages are going to rise. A hot economy will pull people into the economy that are now excluded. Those with criminal records who have difficulty getting a job will have no problem. Disadvantaged communities will see new opportunities. While it might seem to some that we have been close to full employment, it hasn’t generated any inflation because the way we count unemployment doesn’t adequately recognize those who are only part-time but want to be full time, those who have given up searching or those who are intentionally excluded.
Let’s take a chance and run the economy hot and give everyone a chance for a good job and a good wage.
One of the critical issues the Biden administration needs to deal with is Climate Change. Sea level rise is one of the effects of climate change. The image shows tidal flooding in Norfolk, Virginia. Since the 1970s, the number of flooding events in Norfolk has tripled. Sea level in Norfolk is projected to rise another six inches in the next 9 years and this kind of flooding will be at least a monthly event. Let’s go back to the cause of sea level rise.
Greenhouse Effect. Earth receives radiation from the sun in the form of ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared radiation. Some of this is reflected back into space, some is absorbed by the atmosphere and some by the earth itself. Because the earth is much colder than the sun, it radiates at much longer wavelengths and these longer wavelengths can be absorbed by certain gases in the atmosphere heating the atmosphere and radiating the heat right back at the surface. These gases are called ‘Greenhouse Gases’.
In order to maintain the Earth at a stable temperature range, it is critical that the energy being absorbed by Earth from the sun and the energy being radiated back into space be in balance. If too much energy is radiated back into space, the Earth will cool and if too little is radiated back, the Earth will warm.
Greenhouse Gases. The Greenhouse Effect is caused by ‘greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere. Chief among these are carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere has increased dramatically and, as a consequence, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased.
This has thrown off the balance between the amount of energy absorbed by the Earth and the amount radiated back into space thus warming the planet and everything on it. The average global temperature in 2020 was approximately 1.84 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1951 – 1980 average. Further, the rate of increase is growing.
Global Warming has a number of effects:
Sea Level Rise is caused both by the melting of glaciers and other water locked up as ice such as the Greenland ice cap and the Antarctic ice cap and the thermal expansion of water as the temperature of the oceans increases. Roughly 750 million tons of ice is melting every year due to global warming. The seas have been rising for some time and the rise is accelerating. Here are graphs of the recorded sea level at Lewes Delaware and Baltimore Maryland. I chose these because they have a relatively long history. The trend is unmistakable.
Many of our coastal cities and towns are already seeing increased levels of flooding and it will get worse.
More Severe Weather. The Atlantic basin had a record number of hurricanes this past year likely due to warmer water and changed wind patterns. Severe flooding events are also increasing both in the U.S. and around the world. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water and thus an increase in flooding rains. A series of sudden thunderstorms caused this flood in the Washington DC area.
Weather-related disasters have been increasing and will continue to increase as global warming continues.
Disease. Global warming has increased the spread and occurrence of vector-based diseases. Malaria, Dengue, Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases are spreading to the United States. Yellow Fever is on the horizon and various forms of encephalitis are spread more easily as there are more frost-free months for mosquitos to feed and breed. Tick-borne diseases have more than doubled in the last 13 years including lyme, spotted fevers and babesiosis.
Wildfires. Warmer and drier summers lead to an increase in wildfires as we have seen both in California and Australia in the past year.
Increased Extinction Rates. As climate changes, species will have to adapt. Some will make it and some won’t. While animals can move to cooler climates, trees cannot. And animals that are already at the highest latitudes, such as Polar Bears which depend on sea ice, will disappear.
Ocean Acidification. So far about 30% of the excess carbon dioxide generated by human activity has been absorbed by the oceans. This is a good thing for the atmosphere but a bad thing for the oceans. As carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans it forms a weak acid called carbonic acid. This makes the oceans slightly more acidic and the process is continuing. This is very bad news for creatures that rely on carbonate to make their shells. These creatures include some of my favorites – mussels, crabs, oysters, clams and others such as coral that are critical to the bio-diversity of the ocean.
There are many other effects but let’s go on to what we can do about it.
Accelerate the switch to renewable energy for electricity production. Roughly 30 percent of US carbon-dioxide emissions come from electricity production, mostly from natural gas and coal. As a bonus, reducing the use of natural gas will also reduce the emission of methane through leaks – a potent greenhouse gas. A carbon tax will make a big difference here.
Accelerate the switch to electric vehicles. Roughly 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from transportation – primarily from the burning of petroleum products. A carbon tax along with a buyback of older, more polluting vehicles will have a strong impact.
Reduce industrial emissions. Roughly 22% of US greenhouse gas emissions are from industrial activities, primarily burning of fossil fuels but also through leaks in production equipment. A carbon tax along with a return to stronger rules on leaks and bans on certain activities such as flaring gas will make a big difference. More and better recycling will also reduce the amount of energy required to produce many items.
Eat less meat. Cattle are responsible for some 35% of methane emissions in this country. More efficient production will help as will a reduction in consumption.
The President has proposed a large investment in renewable energy and ‘green’ jobs and these are certainly needed, but I don’t think they go far enough. A significant carbon tax is going to be required to incentivize industry to take steps and make investments that will reduce carbon dioxide generation. The tax should focus not just on direct emissions but also on downstream emissions over the lifespan of the product. The government also needs to support efforts to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, primarily by reforestation efforts and perhaps taking some land out of agriculture and returning it to forested land. Regulations governing petroleum and natural gas exploration and production need to be strengthened. There’s really no time to waste.
I’ll have more on this soon, but I welcome your thoughts. Our grandchildren are depending on us.
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