David T. Lange was one of my earliest readers, and a staunch supporter of the conclusion that pollution from ozone derived from fossil fuels and excess reactive nitrogen is killing trees - as well as people and other life forms on our planet. He had his own blog on the subject, WindSpiritKeeper, where he posted wonderful photographs, and gritty videos, documenting the damage - so obvious to us and yet so invisible to almost everyone else.
Aspen ~ DT Lange
I never had the fortune to meet David in real life, but we corresponded via email, and comments on each other's sites. I followed him in his travels as he sought solace in nature, from Santa Barbara to Arizona to Portland, Oregon, where he died in a hospital last November 9, from cardiac arrest and organ failure. His lungs had troubled him for years.
Tomorrow would have been his birthday. I will remember him as a sensitive, caring, perceptive and wry fellow traveler, who felt all the pain of our dying biosphere but still marveled at its lingering beauty. He walked cautiously the precarious line between integrity and condemnation, morality and respect, bitterness and compassion.
I can give no better tribute than to link to one of his last posts - A Rambling Letter of Confession to Extinct Children in a Dying Climatehere - and also, to say that as soon as I found out from his wife today that he had passed, a song I haven't thought of for a long time came immediately to mind. It is one I have always loved, only now I think of it as Green Leaves...because of him, in his search for peace, from the mountains to the sea. Goodbye my friend. The earth was a better place for your presence.
very dear Gail, I just opened witsend, which I rarely do these days because I know you have (as my self) already said about all you had to say. But after I fell in love with and learned the Bristlecone Pine song some time ago, I have been singing it regularly. When I read this article (http://www.livescience.com/57337-climate-change-killing-bristlecone-pines.html) an hour ago, I immediately wanted to get in touch with a kindred soul and opened your blog page. I sympathise with your loss and at the same time, I am so terrified by the future that I (kind of) envy everybody who dies "normally" surrounded by their loved ones. I also have more and more problems with my lungs. We are chocking to death. There is such a negative connotation around the choice of doing nothing, of letting go, of not moving any more, of refusing to see the good side of things, that I am now retiring more and more and more into solitude, just as peacefully as possible waiting for the end. Without bitterness, or anger. Just waiting and DOING less, and less, and less. love always
So good to hear from you Michele! I know what you mean...it's very true, the lucky ones are those will be gone before the looming shitstorm arrives - and even more so are those who never suspected it was on the horizon. On the other hand, those who were oblivious to their good fortune seem to often waste precious time whining about trivial dissatisfactions, so perhaps those of us who are cognizant are luckier still, up until safety is ripped away. Once the mind is fully open to the inevitability of collapse, there is nothing left but to suffer anticipatory anxiety, and try to make sense of the meaninglessness of extinction. At least I hope, David is free of that. Hugs! ~ Gail
Gail, A most lovely and moving tribute to dt. We had the fortune of having him over at Robert Scribblers blog until his comments suddenly stopped. There was much consternation and sadness at his loss. Please covey our very great regard for him.
Thank you Gail Another Special One has gone on, he will be in that better place for a while, but even there he will be seeking to fight on for all the beauty and life on this planet
Thank you so much for posting this beautiful tribute for CC Warrior. I, too, had never met DTL, but knew him from his online postings over at the Robert Scribbler blog. When his comments stopped, all of us wondered and worried about what had happened. I know I kept him in my thoughts and prayers..hoping he was just taking a break. I feel such sadness for this loss...for a man I never met, but for whom I felt a deep connection. May his spirit find peace.
Thank you, Gail. Such sad news to start the year. I never knew DT in person, but like many others---many thousands, probably---I had the good luck to "meet" him over at Robertscribbler's blog. He was a true inspiration there in his passion for and dedication to the cause of the environment in the face of climate change, posting endless photos, links, and thought-provoking commentary that always moved discussions forward in positive ways. He was always courteous and generous towards both newbies like me and "old hands" alike, a real voice of reason and humanity. I have missed him very much there. Please convey my deepest sympathies to his wife and family. Lead on, DT!
I know that I will not succeed in completely cleaning my act and cutting ties before my/our end. But that is the only thing I am interested in and working on. The path I follow requires assiduously leaving the lightest and cleanest (whatever that means for me at this point) traces, memories, attachments. I do not have a reason to do this, it just feels right. Fucke hisstory. Fucke words. And above all, Fucke plastic
Among the readers of witsend are 1000s of humans (including scribblers who understandably still need some hope) whose thoughts I read on so many blogs and meditated on over the years. (Like you Gail, with whom I am in touch since a few years and who is more than virtual in my life.) You all exist for me. You help me and others and I wish you the best next years to come, for which here are some of my observations or predictions (not in order of gravity).
On the political front: this is the most condensed 10 minutes of my last few months. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/12/30/the-real-reason-the-west-is-pushing-war-with-russia/?utm_content=buffer04545&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.
On the ice front: it will all go down in one piece, everywhere at the same time and the megacities will drown in the ocean with all their content. (This is one of my current meditations: with closed eyes, imagining the content of my apartment, to the last pin. There is so much stuff/shit just here, and it will all end in the water.) No humans will see, smell, nor taste that ultimate soup. Sooner than later, all (or most of) industrial civ will be underwater.
On the plastic front: fishes, birds, animals (including homo sapiens, sapiens?) are already full of plastic and man made chemicals. Not the remotest corner is spared on this small planet situated at the edge of a galaxy.
On the water and food front: dehydratation (sometimes by polluted water), starvation, death.
On the nuclear front: meltdown (in bikini).
On the methane and CO2e front: WOW
The other fronts are already shadows. michele/montreal (milendia) who thank all of you on this new year day for having been such good companions.
Hello Gail, and thank you for this update. We must be Doomers to be so bloody grateful for news that causes us to weep and memorialise and pontificate about whether the luckiest ones get to die first. I am proud to be in the company of you lot, even though I only have these tangents since I relinquished social media in order to bolster my safety as a (still temporary) migrant. As the pace of extinction increases, but not nearly as quickly as the pace of collective denial and psychosis, I find myself thinking at least once a day "Well, this shit is just going to make it easier to leave when it is no longer appropriate to be here." Reading the comment from the person who just withdraws more and does less, I felt such tremendous kinship. It is wonderful to have that reminder here from Wit's End.
And to anyone reading here who is an infrequent blog checker of all things Doomer, may I suggest you get a news aggregator service like feedly? It is a free way to keep track of unread blog posts without having to look at web pages that may be traumatic depending on our resilience on any particular day or any particular moment. The comments are almost as luscious as Gail's posts.
I, too, imagine David's Essence arguing in the aether that future life and sentience forms should avoid ALL of the pitfalls highlighted by homo sapiens. I am glad he is up there already providing his data to the multiverse.
Ah, I expected as much - after his long absence @ Scribbler's. Sorry he's gone, without having ever met him, only having an inkling of his presence from his many comments, I found him to be compassionate, knowledgeable and witty. My thoughts are given to his surviving family - may they cope and continue in his spirit.
This will be a pivotal year, where we may get a preview of collapse on the economic front, but the environment is what will ultimately end humanity's collective destruction of their home via our "big (bird) brains." There's increasing evidence that the toxic gases we've become familiar with (methane, hydrogen sulfide and ozone the most prominent) are increasing to the point where it's noticeable now:
Dozens of birds fall from sky along Route 22 near Whitehall, Pennsylvania https://www.sott.net/article/338496-Dozens-of-birds-fall-from-sky-along-Route-22-near-Whitehall-Pennsylvania
This signals another ramp up in the die-offs of marine life, birds, pollinators, etc., so it won't be long now, maybe a few more years of misery and death. Find peace within and know you're part of something much larger than planet Earth.
Loving thoughts to everyone and thanks for being here, now.
DT steered me here originally, so it is fitting that here is where I see he has left us behind. As others have said, he has been missed at the Scribbler. Most heartfelt concolences to all his friends and his family. He saw the things I see, and spoke of them with passion. He was a gift. aA
Hello Gail. You may have viewed this video, one that is, if one sticks with it to the finale, perhaps the most dire, yet inspiring and forth rightful, take on Earth's predicament, compliments, of course, of the worst among us. But, all of us are responsible, and we who've assisted the worst among us by not allowing them access to the have any control whatsoever may be most 'guilty'. i'm often asked, with nary less than the now anticipated stupid response: "Well, what can I do about it?" Plenty. Look at the fucking beautiful clouds, open ALL your goddamn senses, give a fuck! Couldn't hurt. Sorry (not). "Climate Engineering Cataclysm: A Live Presenation" By Dane Wigington. Best to all, robert schick
hi gail, thinking of you often... https://phys.org/news/2017-01-drought-forest.html now that the drought is supposedly "under control" and the trees are going to continue to die because drought was only one element in their demise (if at all), we will be inundated (sorry) by all kinds of explanations (including that they suffered too much under the dry period, even if it was only 4-5 years and trees have survived thousands of similar and worse events without problems). But we will not hear that their demise is caused in a BIG part by the use of cars, trucks and planes.
to Maestro Heart: there are no more (never) beautiful skies or clouds over my city since, I would say, around 2008. Not ONE day of blue sky not marred by contrails or overcasted. Among the reasons for the huge failure of crops in Europe now, notably in Spain, lack of light is one main problem because of dimming caused by all sorts of particulates, water vapour, abnormal cloudiness that permanently veil the light. Until one day, it suddenly clears and the temperatures go bonkers in a week. Do not give me your "Plenty." Keep your superficial and hopeful optimism for your sorry self. Opening all your senses in this city can be very dangerous.
Thank you for your thoughts Michele. Obviously you do not know me, and, of course i do not know the real you. If we were speaking eye to eye i'm fairly confident we would have much in common, much to deeply converse about. For those who do know me personally, both words--superficial and hopeful--would be the last terms applied. But of course neither of us truly know the other's deepest thoughts, do we? i almost never comment anywhere on the internet because words are so easily misunderstood and so often betray the writer. Perhaps of interest to you is my personal definition of 'hope': Hope derails action. Am i optimistic as to the future of this most beautiful planet? No. However, i attempt to not inflict more damage while alive. And i am 'sorry' you have so misunderstood who i am. In one sense we may all be 'sorry selves' for our egregious destructive actions and life-saving nonactions...best, robert
really sorry maestro, sometines I just loose my reason and snap. let us meet in a "next" "life" where words will not exist. michele (who would remove the dot on the i if she could)
i understand michele. Thank you for your response. All of us snap at times. How could we not? For the precious moments i have remaining i do my passionate best not to inflict any further damage on the planet i so love, albeit with emotions at times that only bring forth more tears than i believed one mere human body could produce. Yes, whatever 'next Life' is offered us i'm certain it wouldn't require words. All is ok Michele. Continue please, to keep breathing. i need to know there remain humans who care for the precious World we were gifted with. And, i do realize how deeply you feel things as i've read such words from you previously. You have not inflicted any damage. Always, robert
very dear Gail,
ReplyDeleteI just opened witsend, which I rarely do these days because I know you have (as my self) already said about all you had to say. But after I fell in love with and learned the Bristlecone Pine song some time ago, I have been singing it regularly. When I read this article (http://www.livescience.com/57337-climate-change-killing-bristlecone-pines.html) an hour ago, I immediately wanted to get in touch with a kindred soul and opened your blog page.
I sympathise with your loss and at the same time, I am so terrified by the future that I (kind of) envy everybody who dies "normally" surrounded by their loved ones. I also have more and more problems with my lungs. We are chocking to death.
There is such a negative connotation around the choice of doing nothing, of letting go, of not moving any more, of refusing to see the good side of things, that I am now retiring more and more and more into solitude, just as peacefully as possible waiting for the end. Without bitterness, or anger. Just waiting and DOING less, and less, and less.
love always
So good to hear from you Michele! I know what you mean...it's very true, the lucky ones are those will be gone before the looming shitstorm arrives - and even more so are those who never suspected it was on the horizon. On the other hand, those who were oblivious to their good fortune seem to often waste precious time whining about trivial dissatisfactions, so perhaps those of us who are cognizant are luckier still, up until safety is ripped away. Once the mind is fully open to the inevitability of collapse, there is nothing left but to suffer anticipatory anxiety, and try to make sense of the meaninglessness of extinction. At least I hope, David is free of that.
ReplyDeleteHugs! ~ Gail
Gail,
ReplyDeleteA most lovely and moving tribute to dt. We had the fortune of having him over at Robert Scribblers blog until his comments suddenly stopped. There was much consternation and sadness at his loss. Please covey our very great regard for him.
Thank you Gail
ReplyDeleteAnother Special One has gone on, he will be in that better place for a while, but even there he will be seeking to fight on for all the beauty and life on this planet
Also one who appreciated him on the RS Blog.
Much sorrow
Love Abel
Thank you so much for posting this beautiful tribute for CC Warrior. I, too, had never met DTL, but knew him from his online postings over at the Robert Scribbler blog. When his comments stopped, all of us wondered and worried about what had happened. I know I kept him in my thoughts and prayers..hoping he was just taking a break. I feel such sadness for this loss...for a man I never met, but for whom I felt a deep connection. May his spirit find peace.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gail. Such sad news to start the year. I never knew DT in person, but like many others---many thousands, probably---I had the good luck to "meet" him over at Robertscribbler's blog. He was a true inspiration there in his passion for and dedication to the cause of the environment in the face of climate change, posting endless photos, links, and thought-provoking commentary that always moved discussions forward in positive ways. He was always courteous and generous towards both newbies like me and "old hands" alike, a real voice of reason and humanity. I have missed him very much there. Please convey my deepest sympathies to his wife and family. Lead on, DT!
ReplyDeleteCate
Another Scibbler here, thanks for ending our worry over there .
ReplyDeleteColorado Bob
Dear Gail,
ReplyDeleteI know that I will not succeed in completely cleaning my act and cutting ties before my/our end. But that is the only thing I am interested in and working on. The path I follow requires assiduously leaving the lightest and cleanest (whatever that means for me at this point) traces, memories, attachments. I do not have a reason to do this, it just feels right. Fucke hisstory. Fucke words. And above all, Fucke plastic
Among the readers of witsend are 1000s of humans (including scribblers who understandably still need some hope) whose thoughts I read on so many blogs and meditated on over the years. (Like you Gail, with whom I am in touch since a few years and who is more than virtual in my life.) You all exist for me. You help me and others and I wish you the best next years to come, for which here are some of my observations or predictions (not in order of gravity).
On the political front: this is the most condensed 10 minutes of my last few months. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/12/30/the-real-reason-the-west-is-pushing-war-with-russia/?utm_content=buffer04545&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.
On the ice front: it will all go down in one piece, everywhere at the same time and the megacities will drown in the ocean with all their content. (This is one of my current meditations: with closed eyes, imagining the content of my apartment, to the last pin. There is so much stuff/shit just here, and it will all end in the water.) No humans will see, smell, nor taste that ultimate soup. Sooner than later, all (or most of) industrial civ will be underwater.
On the plastic front: fishes, birds, animals (including homo sapiens, sapiens?) are already full of plastic and man made chemicals. Not the remotest corner is spared on this small planet situated at the edge of a galaxy.
On the water and food front: dehydratation (sometimes by polluted water), starvation, death.
On the nuclear front: meltdown (in bikini).
On the methane and CO2e front: WOW
The other fronts are already shadows.
michele/montreal (milendia) who thank all of you on this new year day for having been such good companions.
Hello Gail, and thank you for this update. We must be Doomers to be so bloody grateful for news that causes us to weep and memorialise and pontificate about whether the luckiest ones get to die first. I am proud to be in the company of you lot, even though I only have these tangents since I relinquished social media in order to bolster my safety as a (still temporary) migrant. As the pace of extinction increases, but not nearly as quickly as the pace of collective denial and psychosis, I find myself thinking at least once a day "Well, this shit is just going to make it easier to leave when it is no longer appropriate to be here." Reading the comment from the person who just withdraws more and does less, I felt such tremendous kinship. It is wonderful to have that reminder here from Wit's End.
ReplyDeleteAnd to anyone reading here who is an infrequent blog checker of all things Doomer, may I suggest you get a news aggregator service like feedly? It is a free way to keep track of unread blog posts without having to look at web pages that may be traumatic depending on our resilience on any particular day or any particular moment. The comments are almost as luscious as Gail's posts.
I, too, imagine David's Essence arguing in the aether that future life and sentience forms should avoid ALL of the pitfalls highlighted by homo sapiens. I am glad he is up there already providing his data to the multiverse.
Hugs and kisses on wet cheeks, Kim/Phorus/Hecate
Ah, I expected as much - after his long absence @ Scribbler's. Sorry he's gone, without having ever met him, only having an inkling of his presence from his many comments, I found him to be compassionate, knowledgeable and witty. My thoughts are given to his surviving family - may they cope and continue in his spirit.
ReplyDeleteThis will be a pivotal year, where we may get a preview of collapse on the economic front, but the environment is what will ultimately end humanity's collective destruction of their home via our "big (bird) brains." There's increasing evidence that the toxic gases we've become familiar with (methane, hydrogen sulfide and ozone the most prominent) are increasing to the point where it's noticeable now:
Dozens of birds fall from sky along Route 22 near Whitehall, Pennsylvania
https://www.sott.net/article/338496-Dozens-of-birds-fall-from-sky-along-Route-22-near-Whitehall-Pennsylvania
This signals another ramp up in the die-offs of marine life, birds, pollinators, etc., so it won't be long now, maybe a few more years of misery and death. Find peace within and know you're part of something much larger than planet Earth.
Loving thoughts to everyone and thanks for being here, now.
Tom
DT steered me here originally, so it is fitting that here is where I see he has left us behind. As others have said, he has been missed at the Scribbler. Most heartfelt concolences to all his friends and his family. He saw the things I see, and spoke of them with passion. He was a gift.
ReplyDeleteaA
Hello Gail. You may have viewed this video, one that is, if one sticks with it to the finale, perhaps the most dire, yet inspiring and forth rightful, take on Earth's predicament, compliments, of course, of the worst among us. But, all of us are responsible, and we who've assisted the worst among us by not allowing them access to the have any control whatsoever may be most 'guilty'. i'm often asked, with nary less than the now anticipated stupid response: "Well, what can I do about it?" Plenty. Look at the fucking beautiful clouds, open ALL your goddamn senses, give a fuck! Couldn't hurt. Sorry (not). "Climate Engineering Cataclysm: A Live Presenation" By Dane Wigington. Best to all, robert schick
ReplyDeletehi gail, thinking of you often...
ReplyDeletehttps://phys.org/news/2017-01-drought-forest.html
now that the drought is supposedly "under control" and the trees are going to continue to die because drought was only one element in their demise (if at all), we will be inundated (sorry) by all kinds of explanations (including that they suffered too much under the dry period, even if it was only 4-5 years and trees have survived thousands of similar and worse events without problems). But we will not hear that their demise is caused in a BIG part by the use of cars, trucks and planes.
to Maestro Heart: there are no more (never) beautiful skies or clouds over my city since, I would say, around 2008. Not ONE day of blue sky not marred by contrails or overcasted. Among the reasons for the huge failure of crops in Europe now, notably in Spain, lack of light is one main problem because of dimming caused by all sorts of particulates, water vapour, abnormal cloudiness that permanently veil the light. Until one day, it suddenly clears and the temperatures go bonkers in a week. Do not give me your "Plenty." Keep your superficial and hopeful optimism for your sorry self. Opening all your senses in this city can be very dangerous.
Thank you for your thoughts Michele. Obviously you do not know me, and, of course i do not know the real you. If we were speaking eye to eye i'm fairly confident we would have much in common, much to deeply converse about. For those who do know me personally, both words--superficial and hopeful--would be the last terms applied. But of course neither of us truly know the other's deepest thoughts, do we? i almost never comment anywhere on the internet because words are so easily misunderstood and so often betray the writer. Perhaps of interest to you is my personal definition of 'hope': Hope derails action. Am i optimistic as to the future of this most beautiful planet? No. However, i attempt to not inflict more damage while alive. And i am 'sorry' you have so misunderstood who i am. In one sense we may all be 'sorry selves' for our egregious destructive actions and life-saving nonactions...best, robert
Deletereally sorry maestro, sometines I just loose my reason and snap. let us meet in a "next" "life" where words will not exist.
ReplyDeletemichele (who would remove the dot on the i if she could)
inflicting damage, with every breath
i understand michele. Thank you for your response. All of us snap at times. How could we not? For the precious moments i have remaining i do my passionate best not to inflict any further damage on the planet i so love, albeit with emotions at times that only bring forth more tears than i believed one mere human body could produce. Yes, whatever 'next Life' is offered us i'm certain it wouldn't require words. All is ok Michele. Continue please, to keep breathing. i need to know there remain humans who care for the precious World we were gifted with. And, i do realize how deeply you feel things as i've read such words from you previously. You have not inflicted any damage. Always, robert
DeleteRobert, and Michele - a gracious exchange. Extremely rare, on the internet, and a lovely thing to behold.
ReplyDeleteunfortunately, I am inflicting damage using this computer and I spend most of my present days in front of it... melting away.
ReplyDeleteTears & smooches from Down Under for all three of you!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Phorus, wishing you well from the other side of the pale blue dot.
Delete