Tag: climate change

“The world cannot wait — and neither will we.” Mayor Garcetti, Los Angeles

June 2, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I just received a beacon from the past. Last night I opened a trove of photos and came across a letter to my grandmother, from her best friend, dated October 13, 1944…when the world was at war…and her children and her friends’ children were fighting overseas. It seems each new day now we must be conditioned for the unpredictable challenges thrust upon us – and as long as the abnormal remains the norm for now, we must bravely […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Culture, Design, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: climate change, concrete solutions to the environmental crisis, make our planet great again

I am an American of immigrant descent…

June 4, 2016 by Vickie Lester

I am an American of immigrant descent, my family escaping persecution in Europe and Russia in the 1800s. My ancestors served their country starting in the Civil War, and in subsequent generations made lives based on these ideals — We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — in a country they were […]

Categories: Architecture, Culture, Design, Election, Film, History, Life, London, Memoir, Photography, Politics, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: American, climate change, country of immigrants, declaration of independence, father, film, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, history, Hollywood, immigrant descent, London, photography, Presidential Election, St Pauls survives blitz, the blitz, tyrants, We hold these truths to be self-evident

What you lose in a fire are your links to the past…

September 14, 2015 by Vickie Lester

We had word last night that the wildfire in California had swept through my eldest brother’s place in the Sierras. The extent of the damage isn’t known right now because the battle against the fire goes on. What I can tell you is the land there is some of the most beautiful in the world; rolling hills covered in spreading oak trees, sparkling streams, bright blue above by day — and at night the stars in the midnight sky glimmering […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Culture, Design, fashion, Film, History, Life, News, Photography, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: Butte Fire, California, California is burning, California wildfire, climate change, eldest brother, family, what you lose in a fire are your links to the past, whatever will be will be

California is burning…

September 12, 2015 by Vickie Lester

This is a picture one of my older brothers texted me on Friday moments before he got a mandatory evacuation order as the western side of the Sierras went up in flames. He said it was getting difficult to breathe. Both my brothers live in the area. If you look at a fire map of California you’ll see a lot of it is burning. Back in 2009 the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles burned. The plume from the fire […]

Categories: Architecture, Culture, Film, History, London, Los Angeles, New York, News, Paris, Photography, Science, Uncategorized, Weather • Tags: California is burning, climate change, climate summit Paris, concrete solutions to the environmental crisis, dangerous levels of air pollution, humanity as a geologic force

Pope Francis to Explore Climate’s Effect on World’s Poor – NYTimes.com

June 15, 2015 by Vickie Lester

…On Thursday, Francis will release his first major teaching letter, known as an encyclical, on the theme of the environment and the poor. Given the pope’s widespread popularity, and his penchant for speaking out on major global issues, the encyclical is being treated as a milestone that could place the Roman Catholic Church at the forefront of a new coalition of religion and science… …By wading into the environment debate, Francis is seeking to redefine a secular topic, one usually […]

Categories: Art, Culture, History, Life, News, Science, Uncategorized, Weather • Tags: climate change, encyclical, environment and the poor, Giotto fresco in Assisi, Pope Francis, St. Francis of Assisi sermon to the birds, vast inequities

David Mitchell talks about the weather – some witty and wise words on climate change

October 1, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Culture, Entertainment, Film, History, Humor, Life, London, News, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: climate change, David Mitchell, David Mitchell talks about the weather, to the point

At Commencement, Obama Mocks Lawmakers Who Deny Climate Change – NYTimes.com

June 15, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Speaking in gleefully sarcastic terms to a commencement ceremony at the University of California, Irvine, Mr. Obama likened those who deny climate change to people who would have told John F. Kennedy, at the dawn of the space program, that the moon “was made of cheese.” He saved his most scathing words for lawmakers who say they are not qualified to judge the issue because they are not scientists. These people, the president said, recognize the truth but will not […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Film, History, Life, Photography, Science, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: Angel's Camp, California, climate change, critical thinking, honey moon 6/12/2014, NASA, President Kennedy, President Obama, Science, the moon is made of cheese, The New York Times, UCI commencement