Ivan Light Ph.D.

Ivan Light, Ph.D. received a doctor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and settled into a career of research and teaching at UCLA. His research specialty was the economic sociology of immigration. In his words, "This specialty gave me no substantive background in environmental science, but plenty of background on social movements and political change. I retired from UCLA in 2008 and bought a house in Inverness in 2010. I joined St Columba’s Church then and I have been a congregant ever since."

St. Columba's Solar Panels by Anna Haight

Bill McKibben reports in his recent newsletter

The really big climate news today is the new report from the UN Environment Programme on the “emissions gap”—the distance between the commitments made by countries to cut carbon, and the amount that scientists say is required. The news is not good—of all the countries on earth, only Madagascar is meeting the challenge, and we’re still set to see the planet warm an impossible three degrees.

The world is yet to turn the tide on rising CO2 emissions, with the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere climbing 1.3% last year, UNEP said. The landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 set a goal to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels, and ideally to 1.5C. To meet the more ambitious target, countries must collectively commit to cut emissions 42% by the end of the decade and 57% by 2035, compared with 2019 levels.

“We need global mobilization on a scale and pace never seen before — starting right now, before the next round of climate pledges — or the 1.5C goal will soon be dead,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s executive director.

But here’s the part that kills me. We could get back on track by spending…about one percent of the world’s GDP each year.

When it comes to finance, UNEP said the cost of the transition is relatively affordable. While funding for mitigation needs to be more focused on developing countries, investment globally must increase between $900 billion and $2.1 trillion per year, roughly 1% of the world’s total economic output, to achieve net zero by 2050. To explain how dumb our delay is, here’s another new study that tries to point out the economic damage that’s beginning to mount, even in rich America.

“I think the cost of climate [change] is increasingly a threat to our already very fragile fiscal outlook,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. Factoring in the prospect that the government must spend “tens of billions or hundreds of billions more each year to help mitigate the fallout of climate events,” he added, “the outlook looks even darker.”

One percent of GDP would be the savviest financial planning in the history of the earth.

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IN THE NEWS

In this section we highlight one organization that is contributing to the health of the planet. Last issue we focused on The Grove Collaborative for reducing the use single use plastics in consumer products . This issue we focus on their partnership with The Nature Conservancy's Emerald Edge program.

The Nature Conservancy announces A Partnership to Help Protect Our Forests

The Nature Conservancy ‘s Emerald Edge program seeks to protect a vast swath of the coastal-rainforest system from the Pacific Northwest to the Tongass, which includes most of Southeast Alaska.

Forests like the Emerald Edge are the Earth's largest above-ground "pools" of carbon, helping keep excess carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But the decimation of old-growth trees and other extractive commercial practices are putting these forests—and the climate—at risk.

Tongass Rainforest in Emerald Edge © Chris Crisman

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Grove Collaborative are partnering in support of conservation led by Indigenous First Nations, Alaska Natives, and coastal Tribes. These communities have been intimately connected to these lands and waters for millennia and are leading efforts to support sustainable economic and community development and heal the bonds with these lands and waters so they can continue to support life for generations to come.

Two Million Acres Closer to a Sustainable Future Grove is on a mission to transform the products you use at home into a force for good. Over an eight-year partnership (January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2030), Grove will contribute $1,500,000 to the Emerald Edge to support Indigenous-led conservation across 2 million acres of the Tongass Rainforest of Southeast Alaska.

Salmon Southeast Alaska's communities rely on the Tongass' abundant rivers and streams for food security.

© Chris Crisman

The Emerald Edge spans over 100 million acres of lush forest, rivers, islands, and mountain streams in Washington state, Oregon, Alaska, and British Columbia. As the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest, it sustains thousands of species—including salmon, bears, wolves, whales, and humans—and plays a critical role in regulating the global climate. 

Indigenous Peoples Are Key Leaders in Conservation



Community stewardship of the Tongass National Forest helps maintain the natural wealth of this region. Indigenous communities, whose cultures and livelihoods are deeply intertwined with the ecosystem, have for hundreds of years been shut out of land-use decision-making and the economic benefits of the region’s natural resources by governments and conservation groups alike. TNC and its Canadian affiliate Nature United are working across the region to build trust and support Indigenous Peoples in asserting their rights and authority over their lands and waters so they can protect the integrity of the landscape and sustain the cultural and economic life of their communities.

Wild Women’s Tongass Wilderness Kayak Pilgrimage

By Sylvia Timbers, CED member

Twenty years ago, for a year, we prepared—ten women, bound by the dream of a sacred adventure into the heart of Alaska’s Tongass Wilderness. After months of planning, five floatplane journeys from Petersburg ferried us, two by two, with our kayaks and all the gear that would carry us through the immensity of this untamed land. The final flight left us on an unnamed island, where the horizon stretched endlessly into untouched, wild beauty.

Paddles dipped into the crystalline waters, and we began our ten-day pilgrimage. Beneath our boats, silver salmon surged toward their distant promise, while eagles soared above in watchful arcs, their cries echoing in the vast silence. Each stroke pulled us deeper into the embrace of this ancient land, a place where the weight of mountains met the immensity of the sky humbling us in their presence

The humpbacks came to greet us, their great bodies breaking the surface, close enough to drench us in their breath. Once, we almost capsized when a full breach occurred directly in front of us. On the shore, we glimpsed deer swimming between islands, and moving quietly among the ferns, their forms like whispered secrets in the trees. At night, the wolves sang from unseen corners of the forest, their voices haunting the edge of our firelight.

Just before departing for our next island we encountered three grizzlies, a distance below us at the bottom of a ravine. They stood up to smell us, noses twitching and paws waving. We froze. Then, hearts racing, we ran to our loaded kayaks, jumped in and furiously paddled. It felt as though Mother Nature herself had granted us safe passage. Humbled and grateful, we resumed our journey deeper into her wild arms.



Nights beneath an infinity of stars brought a silence so profound, it became its own kind of music. The wilderness spoke to us not in words, but in the language of wind and water, hymns of stars and solitude. Here, in this place where human footprints had not yet fallen, a new kind of love was born—love for the land, for the creatures who shared it with us, and for the parts of ourselves we discovered in this wild, quiet place. We returned rapturously transformed, knowing we had touched the sacred.