171 / The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness In The Path Of Climate Disruption / Dahr Jamail

In this joint interview with [RS], we speak with Dahr Jamail — investigative journalist and the author of ‘The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption.’ After meeting Dahr for his book release at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, [RS] and I sat down with Dahr to discuss his journey writing this book. “[Dahr] embarks on a journey to the geographical front lines of [climate disruption] —from Alaska to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, via the Amazon rainforest—in order to discover the consequences to nature and to humans of the loss of ice.”*

In our discussion with Dahr, [RS] and I ask him to elaborate on his work in exploring the dire consequences of human-caused climate disruption, including his on-the-ground research into the rapid and accelerating impacts of climate disruption in some of the most dramatically affected places on Earth. These places include one of his favorite peaks to climb — Denali in Alaska -- as well as numerous other mountains and glaciers; Camp 41 in the Amazon Rainforest — under the stewardship of world-renowned ecologist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy; the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia — undergoing a massive die-off as a result of warming oceans and acidification. Dahr — having met a diverse set of scientists and researchers all over the world engaged in their own direct research into the impacts of climate disruption in their own respective fields — gets into the deeply felt sorrow, anger, and grief that he, and many of the scientists he interviewed for this book, are feeling in the face of the unfolding mass extinction currently underway as a result of human-caused climate disruption and ecological collapse. We discuss the enormous difficulty of adequately responding to this information, both on a personal level, and on a wider collective level, particularly within the context of an oligarchic corporate capitalist system that puts the continuation of “business as usual” above everything else.

More than anything, this discussion with [RS] and Dahr is about acceptance — acceptance of the predicament we find ourselves in, as well as the tragic and sacred duty we have as conscious beings to learn to say good-bye these places and beings that are disappearing as a result of human industrial culture and its centuries long impact on the planet’s living systems. Within that space of acceptance, we can proceed into our uncertain future with maturity, purpose, and clarity. We discuss these subjects and more in this episode.

Bio:

Dahr Jamail, a Truthout staff reporter, is the author of ‘The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption.’ Dahr reported from Iraq for more than a year, as well as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last 10 years, and has won the Izzy Award and the Martha Gellhorn Award for Investigative Journalism, among other awards. He lives and works in Washington State.

This episode was produced jointly with [RS] for his show Moving Forward on PRN. Follow his work here: https://movingforwardprn.podbean.com

Episode Notes:

Learn more about ’The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption’ and purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/TheEndOfIce

Learn more about Dahr and his work: http://www.dahrjamail.net

Keep up to date on Dahr’s climate dispatches at Truthout: http://bit.ly/TruthoutJamail

Read a segment of ‘The End of Ice’: http://bit.ly/2FXYMTz

The song featured in this episode is “ACT I: Sea Borne” by Dead Can Dance from the album Dionysus.