Shifts
on beach trips and the senate bill
We’re at the beach this week—Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We arrived last night, carrying everything we own in our regular-sized Prius. As Leon Black told Larry David after driving his Prius across the country, this car has heart. Ours is eight years old and has been than 150,000 miles, including near-daily drives up and down our insane driveway, and it still gets better than 45 miles to the gallon.
It’s also surprisingly roomy, like a Volkswagen clown car. For this trip, we fit four people, four suitcases, two bags of Bea’s books, Harriet’s many purses, my computer/work bag, two bags of nonperishable food, an inflatable stand up paddleboard, two boogie boards, Richard’s skateboard (he plans to teach Bea), beach toys and towels, and three bikes on the back. Oh, and a giant-sized box of Nerds which Harriet informed us as we crossed the intracoastal waterway she had just spilled into my computer bag. We even stopped for a grocery pickup and carried those bags with us too (on our laps, but still!).
We made it! After a quick supper in our rental apartment, we walked to the beach. It was a little after eight and getting dark, but the beach was full of people. I’ve been to Hilton Head with my family for a few years now (and my parents have been coming here for decades), but I’ve never seen so many people on the beach at night. Was something happening? Sea turtle sightings? Dolphins? Sharks?
I think it was because of the weather—over ninety yesterday, very humid, and still in the mid-eighties at dusk. That’s hot for the beach! I think people may be making a climate-motivated shift—instead of roasting themselves during the day, they’re enjoying the ocean when it’s more bearable.
On the one hand, this is kind of a depressing thought. Is avoiding daytime hours at the beach the new normal? Nobody was reading or lounging or building sandcastles—though there were kids playing and splashing at the shore. On the other hand, it’s reassuring to see that a large group of Americans appear to be in agreement that a certain level of heat and sun exposure is too much. Maybe there will be lots of people during the day too—we’ll see, though it’s a little cooler today, so it may not be the best comparison.
Another momentous shift happened yesterday—Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to advance the Inflation Reduction Act, which is also the largest piece of American legislation addressing climate change ever. Just a couple weeks ago, this deal seemed dead in the water—but Democrats were able to get holdouts back to the table, and it’s happening. Even though the bill isn’t perfect, I feel so hopeful and excited about it.
Here are some of the major things in the Inflation Reduction Act:
-It will lower the price of prescription drugs.
-It will create 1.5 million new clean-energy jobs by 2030.
-It will set a minimum tax (15%) on billion-dollar corporations.
-It will save lives (3,900 a year by 2030) by reducing air pollution.
-It will help people shift to cheaper, cleaner, electric sources of power (thanks to this bill, we’re all expected to spend around $1000 less on energy bills a year by 2030).
-It will help people buy money- and energy-saving electric vehicles, electric induction ranges, and solar panels through up-front incentives.
-It will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from peak 2005 levels by 2030.
I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve been so exhausted by the dread and fear I’ve felt about my children’s future—a terrifying future that we’ve made for them, but that is heartily co-signed by the death cult of Republicanism (every single Republican senator voted against this historic, life-saving bill). I think about it every day. When you live in climate dread, everything starts to feel significant. Every storm, every above-ninety-degree day, every disappearing puddle seems like a warning, a window into the future.
But here, finally, is a shift in the right direction.
Today is nicely overcast, a little rainy, slowed-down. The frogs are signing in the little stream next to our place, and Harriet and Bea found a manmade pond they’re calling a “turtle sanctuary.”
How are you feeling today, Frog Troublers? Hot? Hopeful? Both?
That bill makes me hopeful for a shift, too -- both for what it includes, and also for the future prospects of legislators who know what is right being committed to doing something.
I am concerned about the provisions for making gas pipelines easier to permit, and as a former Southwest Virginian I am particularly worried about the Mountain Valley Pipeline -- time for some activism : )
Thanks again for this and all the posts, Belle and Bea!
I so appreciate the intertwining of your voices and way you range between Game Instructions to sacred Moon Cycles to Nerds and Larry David... All of life included. Happy Late Summer!
I am hopeful …… now that this bill is signed. I continue to hope that there will “ be an adult in the room “ one of these days when the Republicans gather. Pelosi really nailed it when she used that phrase yesterday. Love you all. Stay hopeful. Pat.