The stately cottonwood trunk branches into a “Y” about fifteen feet up.  While the main trunk continues growing straight and tall, the branching limb, also of considerable girth, has decayed.  Strips of bark dangle leaving it mostly bare; woodpecker holes grace the upper stretches.

        As I passed underneath a pileated woodpecker’s tap-a-tap-tap drew my attention to the base of the decayed off-shoot limb.  She was chipping out small chunks of soft wood finding tasty morsels as she worked.  About a third of the once-sturdy branch’s diameter had already been whittled away.  At some point it’s destined to fall.  That busy woodpecker is tipping the scale toward an inevitable major disruption of that tree.
 
        COVID continues to be a terrible scourge and has upset almost every aspect of our lives.  It too is tipping the scale toward a different major disruption – the inevitable demise of fossil fuels as our primary energy source.  Coal and petroleum have been modern society’s go-to sources of energy for more than a century.  But like that once-sturdy branch they are destined to fall.

        Poppycock you may say, but consider:

• COVID is causing a dramatic reduction in transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions.  Carbon dioxide is the chief man-made heat-trapping gas emitted when burning fossil fuels.  CO2 emissions  have dropped 7% in 2020, the largest drop ever. 
• Exxon, the petroleum giant and once one of the most profitable corporations in the world, was nudged off the Dow-Jones Industrial Average Index earlier this year.
• Coal burning worldwide peaked in 2013.  Eight U.S. coal mining companies filed for bankruptcy last year.
• China, the world’s most populous country and biggest fossil fuel greenhouse gas emitter, recently announced a goal of net zero emissions by 2060.
• Clean renewable energy sources like wind and solar have been the least expensive way to generate electricity for over two years.  And with increasingly efficient appliances and lighting the use of electricity is declining.
• Energy companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new energy sources such as “green hydrogen.”

 
        Disruptions are quite unsettling, and 2020 was full of them.  But they aren’t all bad.  Our local “disrupter,” that pileated woodpecker, has been making frequent appearances in our neighborhood.  Perhaps she’s a harbinger of hope for the brighter future that 2021 is sure to hold for us right here on the only home we’ll ever know where we’re all forever… Earthbound. 

        “Yeah, I used to think I was hot stuff. Turns out I was only MADE for hot stuff,” Sty lamented. “I used to stand tall with my buddies, clean and bright.  Then came my big chance!  Ten minutes later… I’m history; cracked and stained, sittin’ in the corner booth of a crummy diner,” Sty Rofoam-Kupp groused.  “But I’ll show ‘em.  They ain’t seen the last of me.  I’ll still be around 500 years from now poking out of some landfill.”

        Across the table sat Polly, bent over and crumpled.  “Think you got it tough?  I was a shapely young thing with dreams of the big time - bursting full of an alluring, exciting, bubbly beverage.  But I was stuffed with water, plain water,” Polly Ethylene–Ba’Tel sniffled. “Then some lady actually paid money for my plain old water and gave me to her kid.  He took a couple sips, dumped the rest and squished me.”

        “Yada, yada, yada; I’ve heard it all before,” Mike Roplastic cut in.  “Someday ya’ll going to look just like me and a gazillion other guys.  Twenty years ago I was a cheap toy at the bottom of a cereal box.  Got played with a couple times then was lost in the backyard, chewed on by critters and ended up in the groundwater.  A pump sucked me out, and before I knew it me and a couple of my buddies got poured into you, Polly.  Yup, I’m a microscopic fragment in one of the droplets left inside you.”

        Sty, Polly and Mike continued grousing.  Soon they’d be cleared off and thrown out.  Polly hoped for a new assignment through a recycling  program, but there were no guarantees.  Sty was destined to be smooshed in a landfill for the next several hundred years.  And who knows where Mike will show up next, in pancake syrup, your bloodstream, or in a fish fillet destined to be part of someone’s dinner?

        They continued swapping tales like the fact that half of all plastic ever manufactured has been made in the last 15 years.  And, there’s enough plastic dumped into the oceans to fill FIVE garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world!

        “What ARE these humans going to do about this plastic mess?”  Polly pondered. “Because this is their only home.  It’s where they’re forever… Earthbound.”  (More next time!)  

         Hugh Mankind was in a tight spot.  A whopping 68% of the vast array of living creatures Mother had provided on the ark had gone missing in just the last 50 years!  Hugh took a long look in the mirror and knew the loss didn’t just happen on its own accord.  Embarrassed and a bit ashamed, Hugh declared, “I’ve consumed, burned, and wasted way too much.  Time to change my ways.  Let’s turn this ship around!”

        Hugh needed a plan, and he found just the thing - the Bending the Curve Initiative.*  It’s a method that uses multiple state-of-the-art models and scenarios to find the best way to reverse biodiversity declines.  “Whew! It’s not too late to steer this ark toward a more life-supporting direction,” Hugh cried with relief.

        He called in his top three lieutenants.  “Let’s tackle this problem with a three-pronged approach,” he began.  “Ima, I want you to work in the area of increasing our CONSERVATION efforts.  We’ve gotta protect the natural landscape and resources that we still have.”  “Aye, aye Captain,” Ima Onnit saluted. 

        “Les, next let’s find innovative, more efficient means of PRODUCTION.  For example, we need to grow more food on fewer acres.  Energy-wise, we can’t continue to rely on carbon-based fossil fuels.  Phase them out and transition to clean, renewable energy sources as quickly as possible,” instructed Hugh.  “Got it!” Les Gitterdun grinned.

        “And Leta,” Hugh continued.  “You’re in charge of CONSUMPTION.  We need to reduce food and energy waste.  The ‘throw-away and buy-more’ mind set has gotten us into this pickle.  Can you find ways to instill a better appreciation of every resource?” “I can Sir.  Follow me!”  Leta DuWhay nodded.

        Ima, Les and Leta set to work crafting major policies designed to assist the ark in “bending the curve” to set it on a new course.  But besides policies, each of the almost 8 billion individual units in the ark were instructed on how each of them could do its part.  Less use of pesticides, harsh chemicals, plastics and Styrofoam, and more backyard natural areas, plant-centered diets, and high-efficiency lighting, appliances and vehicles.

        The ark proved to be quite resilient, and before long it charted a more life-sustaining trajectory.  Lost inventory slowly began re-populating the vessel.  Hugh smiled with relief because this ark is the only one he’ll ever pilot.  On it he’s forever… Earthbound.  
*https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-us/ 

Dateline 1970
        Hugh Mankind stepped back and admired the amazing ark his mother had set up for his use.  The ark held every imaginable animal and plant on the land, in the sea and in the soil itself.  This enormous vessel was brimming with a complex web of life - a paradise.  What more could he possibly need or want?

        Hugh had been traveling on the ark for what seemed like generations, but he’d never really taken stock of the ark’s inventory.  Mother had hinted that doing so would be a good idea. “Then periodically update your inventory, say every 10 years,” Mother requested.  So in 1970, Hugh created an enormous spreadsheet to inventory the contents of the ark.

        Before he knew it, ten years had flown by and it was 1980.  Hugh got out his clipboard and methodically reviewed the inventory.  “Hmm… we’re missing some stuff,”  Hugh said scratching his head. “Well, I suppose some of this stuff sort of goes in cycles,” he speculated.

        Then just as quickly another ten years had flown by, time for the 1990 inventory.  Hugh hoped the depleted inventory he’d noticed earlier had somehow miraculously rebounded.  He found just the opposite.  Fully 1/3 of the 1970 inventory was gone, vanished, kaput!  “What’s going on?” Hugh wondered.  “Surely it’s not something I’m doing,” Hugh wanted to believe.  But deep down he knew the truth about who was being irresponsible.

        The decades slipped by.  In 2000 another 15% had disappeared.  By 2010 an additional 12% was missing.  Hugh had a comfortable life filled with conveniences, so he tried not to think about the losses.  But he worried that Mother might stop in to inspect the inventory.  Then one day in 2016, there she was, and she was NOT happy.

        “Hugh, what have you done?!  The water and air are tainted with contaminants.  And look at all this plastic trash - yuck!  Where’s all the missing inventory?  And have you turned up the heat?  It’s way too warm in here.”

        Hugh handed Mother Nature the 2016 inventory.  Red with embarrassment, Hugh confessed that the ark had lost fully 68% of that complex eco-system since the 1970 baseline.  “Too much consumption, burning, and wasting.  I’m changing my ways.  Let’s turn this ship around!” he declared. 

        Next time - Hugh’s rescue plan for the only ark he’ll ever inhabit where he’s forever… Earthbound.    

Dateline 2075
        Jenny Rayshuns-Toocome spread open her great-grandmother’s huge scrapbook. “Never forget the 20-20 foresight folks had in 2020,” Granny had admonished her.  “Those were hard times, but we kept our wits about us and thought of you, Dearie.” 

        Gone now but fondly remembered, Jenny flipped through Granny’s collection of news clippings and mementos.  Articles about Covid-19, racial unrest, unemployment, and school and childcare challenges filled the first half of the book.  The second half was entitled: Environment.

        And oh, the articles that filled those pages!  Rising global temperatures resulted in the nine hottest years on record occurring in the fifteen years prior to 2020.  The increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases melted the sea ice in the Arctic so that only 50% remained compared to that of the 1980s.  Then the fires!  The number of square miles burned annually across the three west coast states was six times the average between 1950 and 2000.  The hurricane season? - a  record breaker!  Meteorologists had to reach beyond the English alphabet with Greek letters to name the oh-so-numerous storms.  All-in-all it was a financial, infrastructural and human-misery mess.

        Clearly, something had to change.  Perhaps an inspiring message from Dr. Sandra Steingraber triggered that change. ”We are all musicians in a great human orchestra, and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony.  You are not required to play a solo, but you ARE required to know what instrument you hold and play it as well as you can.  You are required to find your place in the score.”

         One by one the “instruments” began to join that musical score.  Clean, renewable energy and battery storage became the low-cost, preferred option for energy generation.  Then Covid-19 forced much of society to shift to at-home work and distance learning so  transportation fuel use dropped, and the skies began to clear.  Society was beginning to embrace the fact that transitioning away from dirty fossil fuels didn’t have to mean monetary pain but could actually mean financial savings and economic growth.

        As the “instruments” tuned up, all that was still needed was effective policy and leadership to direct the Save the World Symphony.  With 20-20 foresight, folks headed to the polls and chose conductors who would wisely direct that great human orchestra and save their planetary home where countless future generations to come will be forever… Earthbound. 

        Bea and Ima set out on their journey but were uncertain about the best route.  Nevertheless, down the path they went until they came to a fork in the road.  A couple of sketchy looking fellas were beckoning them to head their way.

        “Come on down ladies!  Lots of fun this way!” Rumor and Hear-Say called out.  “You can believe any old thing you want or just make stuff up yourself, the juicier the better!”  Ima and Bea took a few steps that direction and then thought the better of it and turned back to the main road.

        They hadn’t gone far when they came upon another split in the path.  Looking down one side they saw three gals lounging on hammocks sipping tall frosty drinks.  The three figures waved. “This way ladies.  Take a load off!  Let us fix you a drink,”   Convenience, Bias, and Preconceptions called out lazily.  “Wow! This looks like the easy route.  Should we go this way?”  they wondered.  But they resisted the temptation and continued on down the main lane.

        After traveling a bit farther they approached yet another fork in the road.  A lone, disfigured, ugly wretch yelled at them from one path.  “Don’t be a fool.  You’d be crazy to go that way.  Do you know what could happen to you?  It’s doom and disaster I tell ya,” Fear warned.  “Maybe we’d better do as he says,” Bea suggested. “Oh, just ignore him,” replied Ima. “He’s just trying to scare us.  Let’s go the other way.”  And they did.

        Before long… yep, another fork.  One path was crowded with a raucous mob of characters all calling out, “This way!  Don’t you dare turn your back on us now.  It doesn’t matter what any of those others say.  You KNOW this is the way we always go,” screamed Tribalism, Peer Pressure and the rest.

        But on the main route a sharp-looking young fellow greeted them.  “Welcome!  Let me help you find your way.  It’s just ahead,”  Cy Ence  offered.  Then they spotted the entrance where a young girl held the door for them.  “Thanks for keeping me in mind as you decide,”  Jenny Rayshuns-Toocome smiled.

        Eagerly, the Voter sisters, Ima and Bea A. Voter, stepped into the polling place and chose leaders who will care for our only home where we and all future generations to come are forever… Earthbound.  

        “Welcome once again to the Inter-galactic Broadcasting Company News Hour.  I’m Whayout Thair somewhere in the universe.  Last time our correspondent, Yagotta Seethis, reported on the dire circumstances of the inhabitants of a planet called Earth.  For an update, let’s go directly to the Milky Way Galaxy where Yagotta is standing by.”

        Yagotta Seethis – “Thanks Whayout.  As you know, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from burning carbon-based fuels such as petroleum products, coal, and wood along with belching livestock have heated Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.  But Earthlings are fighting back.  Ordinary citizens, organizations and governmental bodies have sprung into action.”

        Whayout Thair – “How so?”

        Yagotta Seethis – “For example, a huge transformation is underway in electrical generation.  Clean, renewable solar and wind energy is now the least expensive way to generate electricity.  Indeed, many residences and businesses generate some or all of their electricity on their own rooftops.  Even better, humans are becoming more efficient in their use of energy.  They’re using the resources of organizations such as Focus on Energy (focusonenergy.com) to save money and lower GHG emissions.  Many feel that lowering energy use is patriotic!
           
        Whayout Thair – “Wow!” Sounds like individuals can make a significant difference right in their own homes.  Are there opportunities for those who want to do more?”
           
        Yagotta Seethis – “You bet!  Local organizations like the newly formed Iowa County Clean, Local, Energy Alliance – Now (CLEA-N) can use help with projects like its free LED light bulb exchange and its community solar initiative. The local newspaper will soon have more information on how folks can participate.  These kinds of community-based programs make it easier for humans to modify their lifestyles to save money and help create a cleaner planet.
             
        Whayout Thair – “You mentioned government involvement. What’s happening on that front?”
           
        Yagotta Seethis – “Earth economists from across the political spectrum agree that a fee charged to the companies that sell carbon-based fuels would be a game-changer.  This would incentivize the energy marketplace to transition to clean energy sources.   The money collected would be distributed back to the citizens.  In the U.S.A. these types of provisions are in a bill labeled H.R. 763.  If enacted, greenhouse gas emissions would drop significantly and the economy would grow all without additional government regulations.”
           
        Whayout Thair – “Sounds like members of Team Earthlings are determined to rescue the only home they’ll ever know where they’re forever… Earthbound.”    

        “Welcome to the Inter-galactic Broadcasting Company News Hour.  I’m Whayout Thair somewhere in the universe.  Let’s go directly to a story we’ve been following in the Milky Way Galaxy where our correspondent Yagotta Seethis is orbiting a planet called Earth.  Yagotta, are you there?”

        Yagotta Seethis – “Thank you Whayout.  A dramatic story is unfolding on Earth where  the humans have gotten themselves into quite a pickle.  For hundreds of years they’ve been extracting carbon-based fuels from their planet and using them to build their societies.  But these fuels have caused greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane to build up in their atmosphere making the planet warmer and warmer.”

        Whayout Thair – “Can you give us a sense of how warm it’s gotten?”

        Yagotta Seethis – “Certainly.  One clever earthling painted a 20-foot fence depicting the past 2,000 years.  Each one-foot section represents 100 earth-years. She used shades of blue to represent cool temperatures, white for averages, and red for warm temperatures.  Almost the  entire fence is painted in lovely shades of blue and white.  Strikingly, the last two feet, which represent modern times, are colored in shades of red that become darker and darker until the final few inches where a brilliant fire-engine red color represents the current decade.”

        Whayout Thair – “Wow! That’s a dramatic change.”

        Yagotta Seethis – “Indeed it is.  This past July, for example, is the 2nd hottest ever recorded.  July 2020 also marked the 427th-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average.  The increase of droughts, extreme weather events, fires, ocean acidity and elevation, and polar ice cap melt are actually changing the face of the planet.  I intercepted a conversation between a couple of old-timer earthlings.  One stated sadly, ‘This is no longer the same planet I was born on.’”

        Whayout Thair – “The situation sounds serious.  Are humans doing anything about it?”

        Yagotta Seethis – “Oh yes!  These earthlings are a clever species.  The great majority of them are waking up to the seriousness of this issue.  Their scientists and engineers have created the technology capable of harnessing clean fuels that would help turn the situation around.  The challenge now is to break away from old habits and practices.  Next week I’ll report on how individuals, organizations and governments are responding.  You see, they have to because this is the only home they’ll ever know.  It’s where humans are all forever… Earthbound.”    

        “I’m so tired of this pandemic,”  Betty sighed.  “It seems like it’s been going on for years.  And we’ve lost so many community members.  When are we ever going to get back to normal?” she wondered aloud.

         “It’s been a tough time for all of us,” Barney consoled her.  “And no wonder you’re sick of it,” he added.  “We’ve been fighting this pandemic in Wisconsin for at least 10 years now!” Barney Brownbat reminded her as he darted after another plump mosquito.
 
        The disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) gets its name from the white fungus that grows on a bat’s nose disrupting its hibernation.  This weakens and often kills the creature.  WNS has affected at least 13 bat species in North America killing up to 6.7 million bats and decimating our once-common friend, the little brown bat.
 
        Annoyed by that mosquito buzzing in your ear?  Bats are here to help.  They feast on insects each night to the tune of $4 billon of free pest removal services in the U.S.  One bat can eat between 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes and other flying pests in just one hour!  As a result, farmers need to use fewer pesticides saving them money and reducing the amount of poisons released into our environment.  In tropical areas fruit eating bats pollinate flowers and help disperse seeds.

        We need bats not only for their productivity but also because they occupy their own special niche in a balanced ecological web of life.  So ten years ago the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey Wildlife Health Center and University of Wisconsin wildlife experts to find ways to prevent bats from getting infected or to treat those who do. 

        This daunting task has included surveying bat populations and their roosting and hibernation haunts, working to develop vaccines, and monitoring bat movements with tiny bat-toted transponders.  The persistent work is paying off as this year scientists are finding some evidence that the disease may have bottomed out, and we may be entering a WNS stabilization period. 

        Later…Betty and Barney were trapped, vaccinated and recently spotted flying high over Old Man Tennessen’s place – the first bats seen there in years.  They’re a welcome sign of hope, scientific know-how and Mother Nature’s resiliency unfolding here on the only home we’ll ever know.  It’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.  

        “And I’m not sleeping very well either,”  Bea Draggled added.  Bea was over-wrought and pouring her heart out.  It’s this Covid thing, and her daughter’s unemployment insurance running out,  and concerns about school and daycare in September, and always looming in the background is the climate crisis.  “It’s almost more than I can take!” Bea sniffled.

        May U. Beewell held her friend’s hand and listened quietly. “Of course you’re sad.  Of course you’re worried about your kids and family.  Of course you’re angry and not sure why.  Of course you’re frustrated by conflicting messages from our leaders.  Of course you’re grieving for losses that will continue on indefinitely.  Of course you’re energized to show up and do what you can.  Of course you care*,”  May comforted Bea.

        That evening, Bea remembered the old adage, “Action is the antidote to hopelessness and despair.”  She also remembered that the Wisconsin Climate Task Force has been holding public listening sessions seeking comments about creating a comprehensive plan to address climate disruption.  Wisconsin had once been a Midwest leader in clean energy generation - a key component in any plan.  But sadly we’ve fallen woefully behind our neighboring states. 
So with the July 31comment deadline fast approaching, Bea got right to work.

            As she wrote down her thoughts, Bea felt her neck muscles relax and her headache subside.  A sense of calm and purpose enveloped her as she envisioned a cleaner, more prosperous energy future for Wisconsin that includes:

• Policies that provided financial incentives for land management practices that pull climate-disrupting CO2 from the air and incorporate it into the soil where it will enhance fertility.
• Greater investment in energy efficiencies like those in the remarkably effective Focus on Energy programs.
• An expanded transportation electrification system including an efficient Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
• Third Party financing policies for distributed energy resources.  This would allow more Wisconsin residences and organizations to install renewable energy technologies without incurring debt or contending with significant up-front financial costs.

 
        After doing her one small part, of course Bea slept more soundly that night.  Of course none of us can bear these burdens alone.  But of course, together we CAN build a better world here on the only home we’ll ever know.  It’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.    
 
        *”Of Courses” courtesy of Dr. Renee Lertzman