Greetings !It’s a few days late, but I wanted to share this ‘Cosmic Relief’ from kindred spirit Joe Jordan about the Summer Solstice. Since meeting Joe at a Solar Conference many years ago, Joe has shared his astronomical knowledge with enthusiasm at numerous Solar Schoolhouse events.  Enjoy!- Tor

We could all use a little “cosmic relief” now and then — especially these days! … So, here’s some for you. …..

TODAY (Sat.,6/20), at 2:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time — our hero “Mr. Sun” will be directly overhead for some lucky fish (or maybe boat) in the ocean … ~ 200 mi. NE of the Hawaiian islands — at the farthest-north latitude where the sun can EVER be seen straight UP ( so you have NO SHADOW ! ) : ~ 23½ degrees N.

In Santa Cruz, CA., the sun at that moment will be a little to the west of south, already past its peak of the day here. But today, at OUR “SOLAR NOON” when the sun’s at its peak for the day, the sun will also be at its high-point for the whole year: the highest in the sky that it can ever be seen FROM HERE — just 13½ degrees down DUE SOUTH of our OVERHEAD POINT, or “ZENITH”. (So today’s high-point will be higher up in the south than all other daily high-points.)

Today this solar-noon peak for us comes at 1:10 PM local time (Pacific Daylight). … (Wondering why this “solar-noon” high-point-for-the-day occurs more than an hour after 12-o’clock noon? That shift is mostly an effect of our being on Daylight Savings Time — an hour later than “standard” time.)

The word “solstice” basically says that “the sun [‘sol’] is ‘standing still’ [‘stice’, like ‘stasis’ or ‘stationary’].” A lot of folks assume that means standing still in time — in the sense that, e.g., the time of sunset stops getting later from one evening to the next, and now starts its return to earlier times. THAT WILL HAPPEN, soon — BUT NOT THIS EVENING ! Surprisingly, the latest sunSET for the whole year doesn’t happen until the 27th of June — about a week from now! And likewise, the earliest sunRISE already happened, about a week before this solstice day! Nevertheless, total duration of daylight (or, sun-above-horizon time) for the whole year is still at its maximum, today. … I’ll write more later, about this topic of why “solstice” does NOT refer to extreme (“folding”) points of the sun’s setting and rising times.

The “turning-around” (and coming to a halt for just an instant, as when an upward-thrown ball reaches the very top of its trajectory) to which “solstice” refers, is much more directly & simply a spatial thing (involving direction, not time — the stuff of ~ Stonehenge).

The high-point-for-the-day of the sun is always when its direction is DUE SOUTH (as seen in this part of the world). Every day for these last six months (since the winter solstice) the sun-at-solar-noon has been climbing up that “MERIDIAN” (vertical-plane north-south “stairway to heaven”), crossing it higher and higher from day to day — until today when it begins return to descent from day to day. Correspondingly, the sunset position along the western horizon (AND sunrise position along eastern horizon) are at their farthest-north extreme-points TODAY, and come to a HALT in their northward progress (“solstice”) as the sun starts to “fly south for the winter” ! ***

Many other interesting things to tell you about this — but, hey, time flies when you’re having fun! ***
–Joe Jordan.
(originally posted on Planet Watch Radio)

(A summary of the Project Drawdown presentation at the Sebastopol Carbon Conversation on September 4, 2019)

By Pauline Allen [posted September 18, 2019]

On September 4th more than 80 people gathered at the Sebastopol Grange to hear Crystal Chissell of Project Drawdown speak at the first Sebastopol Carbon Conversation, a series of talks on climate solutions hosted by The Rahus Institute, The Sebastopol Grange, and 350 Sonoma. Project Drawdown, a non-profit born in Sausalito California in 2014, has created an ongoing research collaboration to model solutions that go beyond merely halting the increase of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and go one step further to drawdown those atmospheric GHGs, thereby reversing global warming. After reading Drawdown The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming, or reading about these solutions on Project Drawdown’s website people feel hopeful in a way that they don’t typically when talking about climate change. Another unique aspect of Project Drawdown’s work is that it includes sectors not typically considered when talking about solutions to the climate crisis, such as gender equity and food systems. Chissell shared that of top 20 Drawdown solutions 12 are about food systems and land use, so we don’t need a technological fix; we need to live in better cooperation with the earth. 

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Since 2017 when the Drawdown book came out, Project Drawdown has continued to strive for comprehensive research, building new partnerships, and inspiring change. Chissell pointed out that to be really comprehensive the continued research would look at solutions such as reducing consumption, peace, and an equitable and just transition; however there isn’t data available for these yet. Excitedly, Chissell shared that new research which will be released soon includes ocean solutions. Project Drawdown has partnered with Penn State University, which offered a scholar program this summer and is hosting the first Drawdown Conference, called Research to Action: the Science of Drawdown.

“The era of the hero is over. There is no one solution or one organization that will fix the climate crisis. All the drawdown solutions are important because they are designed as a system.”

Drawdown is a great resource for educators around the globe. Local teachers have found that it is a great tool for students to start their own research projects and design climate solutions for their school community. To share ideas for teaching climate solutions, teachers in Sonoma County have begun meeting in the Teach Climate Soco group. Nationally, Drawdown Learn is hosting their second annual Drawdown Learn Conference for educators in New York on October 18-20th.

In Bamenda, Cameroon, one man was inspired to share Drawdown solutions. He recruited a team of volunteers to educate people about these solutions in urban and rural areas. He’s estimated that they have engaged with about 10,000 people. With agriculture employing 70% of the population in Bamenda and  poor education for girls, the solutions that are most appealing here are afforestation, regenerative agriculture, educating women and girls, reducing food waste, and forest protection. 

Project Drawdown was asked to sponsor a booth at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. The man that hosted the booth shared that many people in Zimbabwe believe in climate change since cyclone Idai hit in March. They are already implementing many Drawdown solutions including; reducing food waste, family planning, educating girls, regenerative agriculture, rooftop solar, afforestation, conservation agriculture, clean cookstoves, led lights, water saving, recycling, and eating a plant-rich diet. With a smile, Chissell shared that this is a great example to keep things in perspective; we may find it difficult to cut emissions or change our behavior, meanwhile in one of the poorest countries in the world some of the people who have contributed the least to global emissions and are feeling the effects the most, have already implemented myriad solutions.  

Drawdown is meant to be a starting point, a shift in the climate crisis conversation from despair to reality based hope. There is work to be done at every level– individual, community, national, global– beginning with informing ourselves and others, then implemented solutions. An example of Drawdown inspiration at the city level is the City of Cincinnati, which looked at Drawdown solutions when revising their Green Cincinnati Plan. All of the Drawdown solutions exist, yet they still need politics to support their implementation, which is why it is important to continue communicating with your representatives. 

What steps should we take going forward? Chissell again emphasized the importance of cooperation. “The era of the hero is over.” There is no one solution or one organization that will fix the climate crisis. All the drawdown solutions are important because they are designed as a system. We should inform ourselves. Visit drawdown.org. Read the actual text of the Green New Deal resolution. Find someone to work on this with and hold each other accountable. Join a group. Join a movement. Be willing to change your attitude and behavior. 
Visit solarschoolhouse.org/sebastopolcarbonconversations to see the schedule for upcoming Sebastopol Carbon Conversation talks