Each year, I look so forward to Eid Al Adha – the holiest holiday for Muslims worldwide – but not this year. As I watched my daughters prepare for the celebrations with joy, I learned of a horrific crime. A 36-year-old woman dressed in traditional garb was set on fire on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. She was the same age as me, walking in the city where I was born and raised. This comes at the heels of two Muslim women in Brooklyn who were physically assaulted by a woman as they pushed their babies in strollers. As if this news wasn’t enough, we also learned that a mosque in Fort Pierce, Florida, which Omar Mateen reportedly used to visit, had been set on fire. They had to cancel their planned holiday celebrations as a result. How could I enjoy the day without thinking of them? Instead of celebrating as planned, the community in Florida has to explain to their children why someone would intentionally set their place of worship, their sanctuary, on fire the night before the highest holy holiday. These horrific acts follow the execution style murders of an imam and his assistant in Ozone Park, and the stabbing of a 60-year old Muslim woman in Queens. These are only the stories that make the headlines. I don’t think we know the extent of the impact, trauma and pain of Muslim communities nationwide. Muslim Americans found themselves caught in a conversation about how close Eid Al Adha was to the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Pundits wondered whether Muslims would alter their annual Eid celebrations for sensitivity purposes. This insinuation both disappointed and outraged me…
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Tag: New York
Climate guru James Hansen warns of much worse than expected sea level rise | Environment | The Guardian
The current rate of global warming could raise sea levels by “several meters” over the coming century, rendering most of the world’s coastal cities uninhabitable and helping unleash devastating storms, according to a paper published by James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist who is considered the father of modern climate change awareness. The research, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, references past climatic conditions, recent observations and future models to warn the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will contribute to a far worse sea level increase than previously thought. Sea level rise is accelerating; how much it costs is up to us.
Without a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the global sea level is likely to increase “several meters over a timescale of 50 to 150 years”, the paper states, warning that the Earth’s oceans were six to nine meters higher during the Eemian period – an interglacial phase about 120,000 years ago that was less than 1C warmer than it is today. Global warming of 2C above pre-industrial times – the world is already halfway to this mark – would be “dangerous” and risk submerging cities, the paper said. A separate study, released in February, warned that New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai will be among the cities at risk from flooding by 2100. Hansen’s research, written with 18 international colleagues, warns that humanity would not be able to properly adapt to such changes, although the paper concedes its conclusions “differ fundamentally from existing climate change assessments”. The IPCC has predicted a sea level rise of up to one meter by 2100, if emissions are not constrained. Hansen, and other scientists, have argued the UN body’s assessment is too conservative as it doesn’t factor in the potential disintegration of the polar ice sheets. Hansen’s latest work has proved controversial because it was initially published in draft form last July without undergoing a peer review process. Some scientists have questioned the assumptions made by Hansen and the soaring rate of sea level rise envisioned by his research, which has now been peer-reviewed and published.
read more Source: Climate guru James Hansen warns of much worse than expected sea level rise | Environment | The Guardian
Intermission: Heres What Happens When a Piano Is Abandoned on the Streets of Manhattan
The sight of a lone piano on the sidewalk can be both sad and beautiful. So when Anthony Sherin of the New York Times noticed that someone had left a piano in front of his apartment, he decided to document what happened to it.
via Intermission: Heres What Happens When a Piano Is Abandoned on the Streets of Manhattan.
When I moved to Canada from Auckland, New Zealand, the piano that I saved up for so hard in order that my son could play, was left abandoned in storage.
A few years later he called me from Australia, asking me to send it to his friend in Auckland. “He has two young children, mum, and no money”, he said. “They would love the piano”.
The fleeting pang of regret that I would never again see my son seated at that piano took me by surprise.
Watching this exquisite footage evokes all kinds of feelings and memories of wonder, of striving, of watching a shy young boy overcome enormous stage fright and play exquisitely.. and above all else, beauty.
A Call to Arms: An Invitation to Demand Action on Climate Change | Politics News | Rolling Stone
At the moment, the overwhelming sense around the world is nothing will happen in time. That’s on the verge of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy – indeed, as I’ve written in these pages, it’s very clear that the fossil-fuel industry has five times as much carbon in its reserves as it would take to break the planet. On current trajectories, the industry will burn it, and governments will make only small whimpering noises about changing the speed at which it happens. A loud movement – one that gives our “leaders” permission to actually lead, and then scares them into doing so – is the only hope of upending that prophecy.
via A Call to Arms: An Invitation to Demand Action on Climate Change | Politics News | Rolling Stone.
The Spiral Turns 