Miscellaneous Monday

 

Tributes to Dolly Parton grew under the mural in west Asheville NC following her death Aug. 25, 2026.

Actually the world is suffering from just one Donald.

Fond memories of driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC to the Orchard at Altapass for home-made apple pie a la mode!

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Just a few of Jess Craven's "Extra! Extra!" good news:

A judge struck down Texas’s ban on drag shows, telling people offended by them “just don’t go.” Bravo!

Under Mayor Mamdani, NYC is expanding its free doula program and will reach thousands more expectant mothers.

Meta will pay up to $17.1 billion in a landmark settlement over social media addiction claims.

For nearly a month, the key force standing in the way of Trump’s border wall project in southeast Arizona has been a person (not always the same one) sitting in a 200-year-old tree. So far, they’re succeeding.

After months of public comment about data sharing and oversight, Asheville, NC’s City Council voted 5–2 in a packed, heated meeting to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety.

Arkansas Medicaid is now covering doula care, complying with a new law meant to improve maternal health.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library confirmed it would continue her legacy and send free books to millions of children around the world.

In Kansas, “bearded, burly” trans men are entering women’s restrooms to show the “absurdity” of bathroom bans.

After Olivia Rodrigo announced Friday that Daisy Chain Fields had raised $10 million for women-focused nonprofits, Melinda French Gates doubled that number, totaling the donation to $20 million.

A federal judge upheld Oregon’s plastic pollution and recycling program, the first court ruling on the legality of state laws designed to hold producers responsible for the cost of dealing with their waste.

Mapquest has joined the resistance.

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Go see the Aug 30 publication which ends with a video by teenager, Charlotte, in Valencia giving her opinion of Flock cameras to her local council. It's amazing!

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This is important to know...as well as saying Olorunnipa's name is kind of nice to do! From: Heather Cox Richardson Aug 30 "On Thursday, August 27, Tolouse Olorunnipa reported on the attempts of Republican lawmakers to restrict the ability of naturalized and dual citizens to run for office. In several states, Republican lawmakers have introduced measures to cut those Americans out of candidacy for elected positions, while in Congress, at least five Republicans have called for prohibiting them from federal judgeships, Cabinet posts, ambassadorships, and congressional seats. The push has come in the wake of the rise of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and other naturalized U.S. citizens whose policy positions those like South Carolina representative Nancy Mace consider un-American. These policies are, of course, the ones voters elected people like Mamdani to put into place. In her comments to Olorunnipa, Mace said: “This isn’t personal. It’s about what standard we want for the people entrusted with enormous power over the American people.” Her word choice was revealing. Our elected officials are entrusted with the enormous power of the American people, not over them." ---------------------------- Climate change anyone? In case you haven't looked at many of the details: "A horrific flash flood in the Himalayas has left more than 500 dead and thousands missing in Nepal and China – and it appears to have begun with collapsing ice. A huge chunk of glacier on the north face of Langtang Lirung sheared off and slid down the mountain, triggering a gigantic landslide of rock and ice that ultimately registered as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake when it reached the valley floor.    “When a glacier of that scale collapses, it generates a lot of water, and then there’s a cascading sequence of events… where the water and the sediment combine and bulks up and creates the flood," explained Andrew Mackintosh, a glaciologist at Monash University.    The resulting flood wave traveled down a nearby river valley, washing away a border crossing between Nepal and China, wiping out bridges, sweeping away homes and people, and caking the landscape with mud.   We know that climate change made this event more likely. Himalayan glaciers and, indeed, all over the world — are rapidly retreating. As Ashim Sattar, an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar who studies Himalayan glaciers, said: "there’s a very straight link between climate change and these types of disasters." And once again, those who contribute least to the climate crisis (per person carbon emissions in Nepal are 20 times less than those of a typical American or Canadian) are most affected." From Katharine Hayhoe -------------------- When I was a student at the University of Florida (Gainesville) in the 1980s, I lived in student housing with my youngest son. Upstairs were a couple and their little baby from Nepal. He was studying forestry and she knew almost no English. They were the most gentle loving people I knew, and I remember taking them to the Atlantic beach so she could see the ocean for the first time. I think of how they left America to return to Nepal where he was going to help plant trees and manage forests, and their son is now in his 40s (as is my son!) ------------------ And I can't postpone my ire over the murder of the beautiful cherry trees:

Launch of SpaceX hauling a new batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites for their second-generation high-speed low earth orbit internet satellite constellation.  Seen on 8.25.26 5.33 am Blue Ridge Parkway Bedford Cnty VA

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Sharing with Monday Murals

Getting high(er)

 Only 2 more days in the month of June. It has sure been a busy month!

A compass in the sidewalk outside our local history museum surprised me, that State St. in Black Mountain flows North-east to South-west...rather than just E to W. Well, it does have a few bends that are almost unnoticeable.

And it tell us the elevation is 2,499.1 feet above sea level. I'm going to move to Durango CO at the end of July, and it's 6, 532 feet in elevation. Not sure exactly what part of town it is, since there's a big hill behind my soon-to-be-apartment building, with Fort Lewis College located up there. 

But the message to me is it's 2-1/2 times higher than where I now live. Thus all my trips up to the mountains nearby on the Blue Ridge Parkway. (You thought I just loved them, which is actually true.) What will I do when I have really high mountains to climb? OK, I'm not planning those trips until I can acclimate to the altitude where I'll be sleeping! Pulmonologists are saying I may acclimate in a few weeks. I still get to sleep with oxygen and my CPAP. And I have portable oxygen for possible need as well.

The other day I talked to scheduling in Durango and made my first doctor's appointment. A primary care provider. I'm learning to talk to the people on the ground, so to speak. The insurance folks thought another doc was taking new patients, so I called there for an appointment the month after my move. Nah, when I got the scheduler at the hospital where all the doctors are part of a network, she said that doc wasn't taking new patients, and what kind of doc did I want, an internist or general practitioner.

I honestly didn't know the difference. But I told her my major needs and she said a GP would do well. Of course he'll probably be 25 years old, and I may have to drive through awful traffic to get to him, where the first choice was 2 blocks from my soon-to-be apartment. 

There have been times in my life when I was unemployed and had no health insurance. We stayed healthier then, I think.

Wouldn't it be nice to have good healthcare that is free and no longer dependent upon profit making insurance companies?

How is it that this country has gotten into this mess?

My soon-to-be apartment building on the left, but my apartment will be on the other (west) side of the building.

I can't wait to see this boulevard covered in snow! Of course I may eat these words!

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For climate change interest:

See the new site as described in this NPR article for up to date info that's no longer available from NOAA due to the government cutbacks. climate.us

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5869615/climate-noaa-data-trump-doge?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwY2xjawSrZTNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFvcFV4MDJVTjB4b21xdURnc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHj6tvo_8YB7uXgj3HtJr8fpZQMUyFeuvqZ4qlFdBdGE3cdB9c3y01gA6w3w1_aem_nHmjFgA4B9JfVK5bHI1GnA

Wealth disparity and climate change

Good climate news as COP-30 is about to start in Brazil.

What about climate energy? According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, the clean tech revolution is “exponential, disruptive, and now.”

By the end of the decade, 14 countries will source all their power from renewable sources and seven countries are already doing so—Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Kenya, Bhutan, and Paraguay. Wind and solar are cheaper to build than fossil fuel plants almost anywhere on the planet, and China makes more money from its clean energy exports than the U.S. does from its fossil fuel exports.
 
Clean technology has become dramatically more affordable, while global investment has multiplied almost ten times and solar output has increased twelvefold. Today, 1 in 5 cars sold worldwide are electric, up from 1 in 25 in 2020. “The energy system is being transformed by the exponential forces of renewables, electrification, and efficiency,” the RMI report says. And land use is changing too: heading into COP30, Brazil’s deforestation rates have hit an 11-year low.

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However the world is in trouble still:

We now live on a “planet on the brink” as global warming accelerates, according to the 2025 State of the Climate report. The authors evaluated 34 of the planet’s vital signs, including carbon pollution, ocean temperature, air temperature, and extent of sea ice, and found 22 to be at record levels. 
 
2024 was the warmest year on record and 2025 is going to surpass it: a signal of “an escalation of climate upheaval.” The authors found global efforts to curb carbon emissions extremely insufficient to avoid dangerous impacts, and wrote that this marks “the beginning of a grim new chapter for life on Earth.”
 
“We are hurtling toward climate chaos. The planet’s vital signs are flashing red. The consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now,” the report states. “This unfolding emergency stems from failed foresight, political inaction, unsustainable economic systems, and misinformation. Almost every corner of the biosphere is reeling from intensifying heat, storms, floods, droughts, or fires. The window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing.”

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The US doesn't send a delegation to the COP30 negotiations, however.

Although the COP negotiations are technically between countries, many representatives from city, state, province, or other regional governments will be in Belem, too. This is why our voices and our votes matter at every level: because they can help catalyze change in the places where we live.
 
For example, in the U.S., California generated 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources last year. The city of Chicago, whose climate impacts analysis I led in 2008, is powering all of its more than 400 municipal buildings with clean energy. In Detroit, nearly 1,400 urban farms “not only address food insecurity but also serve as a model for sustainable land use in post-industrial cities,” as this article explains.

Cities around the world, from Belfast to Budapest, are incorporating climate into planning for healthier and more resilient neighbourhoods. States and provinces from Australia to Brazil are setting their own emission reduction goals, and their plans to meet them. They’re building green schools in West Kalimantan, Indonesia and setting up “climate desks” in every local government council in Cross River State, Nigeria.
 
For all the negative tipping points we seem to be surpassing in the natural world, there are also scores of positive tipping points that can be triggered by actions we take. As Matt Simon writes here, “People can influence communities, communities can influence cities, and cities can influence nations. These critical junctures, then, can spread like a contagion—in a good way.” 

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Thanks Katharine Hayhoe!

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Then there are the obvious signs of wealth!

Borrowed from another blog...Southwest Daily images

"No one really lives here full-time.  Most buyers are wealthy young people from up north who fly in for occasional long weekends.  The cheapest unit in the final tower starts at $3.5 million.  Kalea Bay is an advertisement for the problem of income inequality in this country."

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His next post was about a golf course being built nearby. After all, what's a millionaire to do on the weekend in Florida (or North Carolina?) Many millionaires live in the mountains in  their "cabins." They just aren't as visible being behind trees most of the year!

Meanwhile I talk with friends about food insecurity/insufficiency in our area (Black Mountain and Swannanoa NC). SNAP may be reinstated, or maybe not... according to some media announcements. We can only hope.

See my earlier post about all the local efforts to provide alternatives for those who could no longer purchase their family's groceries each week. 

Grateful living is important in the world because in our constant pursuit of more and better we can easily lose sight of the riches that lay right in front of us and within us.

Guri Mehta

Neuro What? (plus some good climate change news)

 Calm

A word which reflects a state of being that's somewhat alien to many of us.

Here's some from Daily Om, complete with it's photo of the day. Which is why I get this in my in-box every day. Sometimes I read it. Sometimes I don't. I offer it for educational information only.

With gentle neuro-calming exercises, you can rewire the way you respond to stress, restore balance, and remember what it feels like to be at ease.

Life has a way of piling things on — stress, distraction, and burnout. Sometimes we carry it for years without realizing it, but feeling this way doesn’t mean you’re broken. Your brain and body are doing their best to keep up with constant demands; they’re simply signaling that they need your care.... Neuro-calming activities can be as simple as pausing to take a deep breath, softening the tension in your shoulders, or stopping to feel the ground beneath your feet. Each time you do, you’re sending a small but powerful message to your nervous system: You’re safe now. ... Over time, these small, intentional practices create ripples of change that move through your whole being — helping you when you feel overwhelmed to regain mental clarity and focus, and feel more relaxed and in control again. This is the power of neuroscience — learning that peace doesn’t come from outside circumstances, but from the way you choose to care for yourself with awareness, compassion, and an open heart.

Peace. An idealistic state of being, where no one wants to harm another. Except for the animals who depend on eating others to continue their existence. Are humans ingrained the same way, wanting to exist only by demolishing the lives of others? Just my thought for today.

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And a bit of good news on Climate Change!! Yes Katharine Hayhoe has published again, but this time the editor is Anne Therese Gennari.

"Activating climate’s ‘silent majority” is a phrase coined by The Guardian earlier this year. It alludes to the hidden truth that most of us around the world – a full 89 percent – want stronger climate action but mistakenly believe we are the minority.
 
What’s missing isn’t the science, technology, or innovative climate solutions, but rather our willingness to speak open-heartedly about the world we care about and the changes we desire. We must trust that what we feel so urgently, others feel too – and when we speak up, we can join forces.
 
But why aren’t we already doing this? Why are we kept in this ‘spiral of silence’? That is the question I’ve been asking myself for years, and it is what led me to launch a company that focuses on that mission. The answer is not straightforward, but it’s simple: we need to shift the narrative on climate change.
 
I’m a Climate Optimist by professional title, mission, and passion, and what has become so clear to me is that optimism is a practice. Optimism is not merely a mindset or an attitude; it’s a strategy, a mission, a lifestyle choice. In my opinion, one should choose to be radically optimistic or not be radical at all.
 
To turn from silence to collective action, we must understand and activate the powerful forces we have at our disposal. We must recognize that in a time that matters so much, we ourselves as individuals can become the tipping points our future relies upon.

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( Katharine here - AT’s words here remind me of a quote from “just shower thoughts” I read not long ago: “When people talk about travelling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small; but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small.” Just think about that for a minute!)

SOURCE: Why optimism is a radical act

<talkingclimatenewsletter@172836257.mailchimpapp.com>

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And related to this...

I do NOT recommend the book which was the discussion focus from our UU Church's Social Action Committee last summer...by another author. "Not the End of the World" by Hannah Ritchie. She gives global statements without good science to back them up, and concludes there is no climate crisis. 

Just so you know I do try to have an open mind about climate change.

Granny Glamour and...

 Thanks, Asheville Art Museum

Reality.

A friend lives in Pittsboro in central NC, where the remains of tropical storm Chantel dropped 10 inches of rain in just a few hours. Flooding of course. One life lost that I've heard. 

But actually I don't hear much because the focus is on the bigger horror story from Texas' flood, where over 100 lives have been lost.

No comparison needed. Just that there are limits to how many stories appear on the news, even on FaceBook or Bluesky

I am reminded so much of the storm that changed our environment here in western NC. It was good to see on our local news Mon. night that some folks from Beloved Asheville were about to depart to help out in Texas.

And on Tuesday on Facebook I saw the same organization saying:

SWANNANOA BELOVED VILLAGE

BeLoved Asheville  · nsSpodorethl8l54ff01112mgi68li7ctchc2t8020ll7iuu406l9m3cg760  · 

When the waters rose suddenly in Chapel Hill, we moved with love and urgency.

Today, we’re delivering emergency supplies to our neighbors in Central NC after the flash flooding turned lives upside down. It wasn’t just the roads that were underwater — homes, hopes, and safety were shaken in an instant.

Rapid response has become a skill we’ve had to grow — not out of luxury, but survival. It’s about showing up now, not later. It’s about seeing the danger and saying, we will not let you face this alone.

We invite you to dream and build with us — a network of Rapid Response Mutual Aid across the country. We protect each other.

We move not just with supplies… but with solidarity.

#MutualAid #RapidResponse #ChapelHillFlood #SolidarityNotCharity #WeProtectUs #DisasterRelief #LoveInAction #CommunityCare #ClimateJustice #RiseTogether

Outside helpers may offer their knowledge and assistance, however the big thing these catastrophes bring is the coming together of neighborhoods. We are learning the hard way that small groups of like-minded (surviving) people can make a BIG difference when we're pushed into huge changes.

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Reality

I go this way to the grocery store once a week. This car appeared here last week. Directly behind it is the overpass of I-40 over Blue Ridge Rd. It's clearly been pulled from a waterway, after the September 27, 2024 flooding here.  The Swannanoa River is a block away. This building across the street from the car (below) is not being demolished because it is on land which will eventually be part of a new I-40 interchange. So we get to see it daily, and cross the one-way bridge over the stream below. That also won't be improved upon until the interchange is constructed. 

Yes indeed, climate change is real!

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Yale Program on Climate Change Communication gives this:

• Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 (69% versus 15%).

• A majority of Americans (60%) understand that global warming is mostly human-caused. By contrast, 28% think it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment.

• 65% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming. This includes 29% who say they are “very worried.”

• 58% of Americans think extreme weather poses either a “high” (18%) or “moderate” (40%) risk to their community over the next 10 years.

• Additionally, 64% of Americans think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, including 34% who think weather is being affected “a lot.”

• 12% of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming.

Today's quote:

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable…but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Agatha Christie An old photo: This is me around 11-12 years old.