TOO DAMNED HOT

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Yes, but try getting off the planet!   It was 111 degrees a few days ago in Bilbao. There were sweltering temperatures all over Europe and great swaths of the U.S.,evoking memories of our 116 degree heat bomb in Portland two years ago. I mention Bilbao, because some people  I know live in a centuries old building on the 4th floor in that city. One was ill with covid, running fevers, no a.c..  I’m glad they'll back in the U.S. in August and live in a place with air conditioning.

Billions of people all over the world will never have that luxury of a.c., which ironically causes more carbon emissions; hence, more climate change. By visiting our grandchildren in Spain, traveling  in 5 countries, and taking 15 flights from place to place, Paul  and I were culpable for more carbon emissions. Setting aside carbon credits is a bandaid on a broken dike.

Floods, fires, melting icebergs, freezing temperatures,  sizzling temperatures are now the norm of Climate Change. This weekend Portland and Southern Oregon will again be too damned hot. Lucky me. I have a.c. But I am guilty of being part of the problem! But will I stop traveling? I don’t know. I know I will keep using a.c. when it’s too damned hot.

In Ravenna, famous for it’s Byzantine art mosaics, we saw the work of a contemporary mosaisist, Luca Barberini. He  so profoundly depicted the climate crisis, I want to share this photo Paul took of one of the art pieces. 

The  Palazzo Rasponi dalle Teste hosted OCEANDIPITY, a solo exhibition of Luca Barberini. Barberini is a renowned mosaic artist in Ravenna, the home of Byzantine-era mosaics in basilicas and other ancient buildings. To appreciate these works, you need to zoom in as close as possible to see the minute details of the mosaics.  

Paul Fishman